502 History of Methodism 



and innocent cause, for if he did there could be no innocent op- 

 pressed man to be relieved, nor any oppressor to be punished. And 

 if it be consistent with the justice and righteousness of Providence 

 to permit such things for some time, we must conclude that it is at 

 the discretion of Providence how long good men shall be oppressed 

 and the oppressor go unpunished." And there are very many cases 

 of war, concerning which God may declare nothing; and although 

 in such cases they that yield and quit their title, rather than their 

 charity and the care of so many lives, are the wisest and best men, 

 yet if neither party will do this, let none decree judgments from 

 Heaven and thunder from their tribunals where no voice from God 

 has declared the sentence. But in cases of evident tyranny and 

 injustice do like the good Samaritan, who dressed the wounded man 

 but never pursued the thief; do works of charity to the afflicted, 

 and bear your wrongs with nobleness of soul, looking up to Jesus, 

 who endured the cross, despising the shame; and never take upon 

 you the office of God, who will judge the nations righteously, and 

 when he has delivered up your bodies will rescue your souls from 

 the hands of unrighteous oppressors. If he raises up the Assyrians 

 to punish the Israelites, and the Egyptians to destroy the Assyrians, 

 and the Ethiopians to scourge the Egyptians — at the last his own 

 hand shall sever the good from the bad in the day when he makes 

 up his jewels. 



Let no Christian man, therefore, make any judgment concerning 

 his condition or his cause by the external event of things, but by 

 the word of God. Let none distrust the Almighty or charge God 

 foolishly because in the on-goings of his plan for the government 

 of the world results are often evolved which fail to harmonize with 

 the suggestions of finite wisdom: rather let all render a loving 

 obedience to the will of Him who is just, and wise, and holy, and 

 good, and cheerfully acquiesce in every dispensation of His provi- 

 dence as constituting a part of that great disciplinary process by 

 which the just are taught to live by faith and not by sight, and by 

 which they are purified and strengthened for final victory. "Look 

 not back upon him that strikes thee, but upward to God who sup- 

 ports thee; and then consider if the loss of thy estate hath taught 

 thee to despise the world ; whether thy poor fortune hath made thee 

 poor in spirit, and if thy uneasy prison sets thy soul at liberty and 

 knocks off the fetters of a worse captivity. For then the rod of 

 suffering turns into crowns and scepters, when every suffering is a 

 precept, and every change of condition produces a holy resolution; 



