Wesley now began to apply himself with diligence to the study of divinity. He writes: “When I was about twenty-two, my father pressed me to enter into holy orders. At the same time the providence of God directing me to Kempis’s ‘Christian’s Pattern,’ I began to see that true religion was seated in the heart, and that God’s law extended to all our thoughts as well as words and actions. I was, however, angry at Kempis for being too strict; though I read him only in Dean Stanhope’s translation. Yet I had frequently much sensible comfort in reading him, such as I was an utter stranger to before. Meeting likewise with a religious friend, which I never had till now, I began to alter the whole form of my conversation, and to set in earnest upon a new life. I set apart an hour or two a day for religious retirement. I communicated every week. I watched against all sin, whether in word or deed. I began to aim at, and to pray for, inward holiness. So that now, doing so much and living so good a life, I doubted not that I was a good Christian.”[29] What a confession! It was eleven years since Wesley left the parental roof; but he never had a _religious friend_ till now. No wonder he had gone astray. Having written to his mother, stating some of the difficulties which he had found in Kempis, she, on the 8th June, 1725, sent him a long letter, which, however adapted to an enlightened Christian, was useless, if not misleading, to an anxious inquirer not yet converted. The entire letter is before us, containing, besides a large amount of Christian casuistry, some family affairs of painful interest. These we pass over, and merely give an extract in reference to Kempis:— “I have Kempis by me; but have not read him lately. I cannot recollect the passages you mention; but, believing you do him justice, I do positively aver that he is extremely in the wrong in that impious, I was about to say blasphemous, suggestion, that God, by an irreversible decree, has determined any man to be miserable even in this world. His intentions, as Himself, are holy, just, and good; and all the miseries incident to men here or hereafter proceed from themselves. I take Kempis to have been an honest weak man, that had more zeal than knowledge. “Your brother has brought us a heavy reckoning for you and Charles. God be merciful to us all! Dear Jack, I earnestly beseech Almighty God to bless you. Adieu! “SUSANNAH WESLEY.” Ten days after the date of his mother’s letter, he wrote to her again, as follows:— “_June 18, 1725._