CHRISTIAN LETTERS. By Mr. JOSEPH ALLEINE

To the READER.

THE letters of Mr.
Samuel Rutherford, have been generally admired by all the children of God, into whose hands they have fallen, for the vein of piety, trust in God, and holy zeal, which runs through them. The same piety, zeal, and confidence in God, shine through all the letters of Mr.
Alleine: so that in this respect he may well be stiled, the English Rutherford. But yet there is a very discernible difference between them: in piety and fervour of spirit they are the same: but the fervour of the one more resembles that of St.
Paul, of the other, that of St.
John. They were both men of the most intrepid courage: but in love Mr.
Alleine has the pre-eminence. He seems to excel in bowels of mercies, meekness, gentleness, in tenderness, mildness, and sweetness of spirit, even to his bitterest enemies. I do not therefore scruple to
give these letters the preference, even to Mr.
Rutherford’s: as expressing, in a still higher degree, the love that is long-suffering and kind, which is not provoked, which thinketh no evil, and which hopeth, believeth, and endureth all things.

JOHN WESLEY.

London,
March 7, 1767.