PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 01 (of 32)
Wesley, John, 1703-1791 · 86,997 words · 130 reading sections
Part 61
7. This alone is religion, truly so call’d: this alone is in the sight of God of great price. The apostle sums it all up in three particulars, _righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_. And first, _righteousness_. We cannot be at a loss concerning this, if we remember the words of our Lord describing the tw…
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11. With this peace of God, wherever it is fix’d in the soul, there is also _joy in the Holy Ghost_: joy wrought in the heart by the Holy Ghost, by the ever blessed Spirit of God. He it is that worketh in us that calm, humble rejoicing in God, through Christ Jesus, _by whom we have now received the atonement_, καταλλαγ…
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2. Such is the inbred corruption of thy heart, of thy very inmost nature. And what manner of branches canst thou expect to grow, from such an evil root? Hence springs unbelief, ever departing from the living God: Saying, “Who is the Lord that I should serve him? Tush! Thou, God, carest not for it.” Hence independence, …
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6. But suppose perfect obedience for the time to come, could atone for the sins that are past, this would profit thee nothing; for thou art not able to perform it; no, not in any one point. Begin now. Make the trial. Shake off that outward sin that so easily besetteth thee. Thou canst not. How then wilt thou change thy…
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12. Dost thou now believe? Then _the love of God_ is now _shed abroad in thy heart_. Thou lovest him, because he first loved us. And because thou lovest God, thou lovest thy brother also. And being filled with _love_, _peace_, _joy_, thou art also filled with _long-suffering_, _gentleness_, _fidelity_, _goodness_, _mee…
343 wordsSECTION 66THE FIRST-FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT.
ROM. viii. 1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._ 1. BY _them which are in Christ Jesus_, St. _Paul_ evidently means, those who truly believe in him: those who _being justified by faith, have peace with God, through our Lord J…
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5. They who _walk after the Spirit_, are also led by him, into all holiness of conversation. Their speech is _always in grace, seasoned with salt_, with the love and fear of God. _No corrupt communication comes out of their mouth, but_ only _that which is good_; that which is _to the use of edifying_, which is _meet to…
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♦5. They are not condemned, Secondly, for any present sins, for now transgressing the commandments of God. For they do not transgress them? They do not _walk after the flesh but after the Spirit_. This is the continual proof of their _love of God, that they keep his commandments_: even as St. _John_ bears witness, _Who…
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9. They are not condemned, fifthly, for _sins of infirmity_, as they are usually called. (Perhaps it were adviseable rather to call them _infirmities_, that we may not seem to give any countenance to sin, or to extenuate it in any degree, by thus coupling it with infirmity. But if we must retain so ambiguous and danger…
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14. On the other hand, there may be sudden assaults, either from the world, or the God of this world, and frequently from our own evil hearts, which we did not, and hardly could foresee. And by these even a believer, while weak in faith, may possibly be borne down, suppose into a degree of anger, or thinking evil of an…
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4. Thirdly, Is there no condemnation to them which _walk after the Spirit_, by reason of _inward sin_ still remaining, so long as they do not give way thereto; nor by reason of _sin cleaving_ to all they do? Then fret not thyself because of ungodliness, tho’ it still remain in thy heart. Repine not, because thou still …
830 wordsSECTION 72THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE AND OF ADOPTION.
ROMANS viii. 15. _Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear: but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father._ 1. ST. _Paul_ here speaks to those who are the children of God by faith. Ye, saith he, who are indeed his children, have drank into his Spirit. _Ye have not receive…
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2. * And for this very reason, because he is fast _asleep_, he is, in some sense, at _rest_. Because he is _blind_, he is also _secure_: he saith, _Tush, there shall no harm happen unto me_. The darkness which covers him on every side, keeps him in a kind of peace: (so far as peace can consist with the works of the dev…
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7. For all this time, he is the servant of sin. He commits sin, more or less, day by day. Yet he is not troubled: He “is in no bondage;” (as some speak) he feels no condemnation. He contents himself, (even tho’ he should profess to believe that the Christian revelation is of God) with, “Man is frail. We are all weak. E…
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6. * Here ends his pleasing dream, his delusive rest, his false peace, his vain security. His joy now vanishes as a cloud: pleasures, once loved delight no more. They pall upon the taste; he loaths the nauseous sweet; he is weary to bear them. The shadows of happiness flee away, and sink into oblivion. So that he is st…
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10. * This whole struggle of one who is _under the law_, under the _spirit of fear and bondage_, is beautifully described by the apostle in the foregoing chapter, speaking in the person of an awaken’d man. _I_ (saith he) _was alive without the law once_, ver. 9. I had much life, wisdom, strength and virtue; so I though…
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3. Heavenly, healing light now breaks in upon his soul. He _looks on him whom he had pierced_, and _God who out of darkness commanded light to shine, shineth in_ his _heart_. He _sees the light of the_ glorious love _of God, in the face of Jesus Christ_. He hath a divine _evidence of things not seen_ by sense, even of …
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8. * To sum up all. The _natural_ man neither fears nor loves God; one _under the law_, fears; one _under grace_, loves him. The first, has no light in the things of God, but walks in utter darkness; the second sees the painful light of hell; the third, the joyous light of heaven. He that sleeps in death, has a false p…
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In like manner, the evangelical state, or state of love, is frequently mixt with the legal. For few of those who have the spirit of bondage and fear, remain always without hope. The wise and gracious God rarely suffers this; for he remembreth that we are but dust. And he willeth not that _the flesh should fail before h…
615 wordsSECTION 80DISCOURSE I.
ROM. viii. 16. _The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God._ 1. HOW many vain men, not understanding what they spake, neither whereof they affirmed, have wrested this scripture, to the great loss, if not the destruction, of their souls? How many have mistaken the voice of their…
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3. Agreeable to this are all those plain declarations of St. _John_ in his first epistle, _Hereby we know, that we do know him, if we keep his commandments_, chap. ii. ver. 3. _Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected; hereby know we, that we are in him_, that we are indeed the children of God…
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8. That this _testimony of the Spirit of God_ must needs, in the very nature of things, be antecedent to the _testimony of our own spirit_, may appear from this single consideration. We must be holy of heart and holy in life, before we can be conscious that we are so; before we can have _the testimony of our spirit_, t…
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2. And first, how is this testimony to be distinguished from the presumption of a natural mind? It is certain, one who was never convinced of sin, is always ready to flatter himself and to think of himself, especially in spiritual things, more highly than he ought to think. And hence, it is in no wise strange if one wh…
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6. But waving the consideration of whatever he has or has not experienced in time past; by the present marks may we easily distinguish a child of God, from a presumptuous self-deceiver. The scriptures describe that joy in the Lord which accompanies the witness of his Spirit, as an humble joy, a joy that abases to the d…
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9. “But how may one who has the real witness in himself distinguish it from presumption?” How, I pray, do you distinguish day from night? How do you distinguish light from darkness? Or the light of a star, or glimmering taper, from the light of the noon-day sun? Is there not an inherent, obvious, essential difference b…
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14. Well then mayst thou say, _Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift_! Thanks be unto God, who giveth me to _know in whom I have believed_: who _hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into my heart, crying, Abba, Father_, and even now _bearing witness with my Spirit, that I am a child of God_! And see, that not on…
161 wordsSECTION 87DISCOURSE II.
ROM. viii. 16. _The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God._ I. 1. NONE who believes the scriptures to be the word of God, can doubt the _importance_ of such a truth as this: a truth revealed therein, not once only, not obscurely, not incidentally; but frequently, and that in e…
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6. Neither is it questioned, whether there is an _indirect_ witness or testimony, that we are the children of God. This is nearly, if not exactly the same with _the testimony of a good conscience towards God_; and is the result of reason, or reflection on what we feel in our own souls. Strictly speaking, it is a conclu…
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Since therefore the testimony of his Spirit must precede the love of God and all holiness, of consequence it must precede our consciousness thereof. 6. And here properly comes in, to confirm this scriptural doctrine, the experience of the children of God: the experience not of two or three, not of a few, but of a grea…
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2. “But madmen, French prophets and enthusiasts of every kind have imagined they experienced this witness.” They have so. And perhaps not a few of them did, although they did not retain it long. But if they did not, this is no proof at all, that others have not experienced it: as a madman’s _imagining_ himself a king, …
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8. It is objected, fifthly, that “The direct witness of the Spirit, does not secure us from the greatest delusion. And is that a witness fit to be trusted, whose testimony cannot be depended on? That is forced to fly to something else, to prove what it asserts?” I answer. To secure us from all delusion, God gives us tw…
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3. Two inferences may be drawn from the whole. The first, let none ever presume to rest, in any supposed testimony of the Spirit, which is separate from the fruit of it. If the Spirit of God does really testify that we are children of God, the immediate consequence will be the fruit of the Spirit, even, _love_, _joy_, …
457 wordsSECTION 93THE WITNESS OF OUR OWN SPIRIT.
2 COR. i. 12. _This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world._ 1. SUCH is the voice of every true believer in Christ, so long as he abides in faith and love. _He that followeth…
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This is _a lantern unto_ a Christian’s _feet, and a light in all_ his _paths_. This alone he receives as his rule of right or wrong, of whatever is really good or evil. He esteems nothing good, but what is here enjoined, either directly or by plain consequence. He accounts nothing evil but what is here forbidden, eithe…
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10. _We have had our conversation in the world_; even in the world of the ungodly: not only among the children of God (that were, comparatively, a little thing:) but among the children of the devil, among those that _lie in wickedness_, ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ, _in the wicked one_. * What a world is this! How throughly impregnate…
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And yet surely, if any man could, _Paul_ himself might have attained thereto by that wisdom. For we can hardly conceive any, who was more highly favoured with all the gifts both of nature and education. Besides his natural abilities, probably not inferior to those of any person then upon the earth, he had all the benef…
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17. Such is the ground and the nature of that joy, whereby an adult Christian rejoiceth evermore. And from all this we may easily infer, first, That this is not a _natural_ joy. It does not arise from any natural cause: not from any sudden flow of spirits. This may give a transient start of joy. But the Christian _rejo…
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☞ _It may easily be observed, that the preceding discourse, describes the experience of those that are strong in faith. But hereby those that are weak in faith may be discouraged: to prevent which the following discourse may be of use._…
41 wordsSECTION 99ON SIN IN BELIEVERS.
2 COR. v. 17. _If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature._ I. 1. IS there then sin in him that is in Christ? Does sin _remain_ in one that _believes in him_? Is there any sin in them that are _born of_ God, or are they wholly delivered from it? Let no one imagine this to be a question of mere curiosity: or that i…
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4. We allow, that the state of a justified person is inexpressibly great and glorious. He is _born again not of blood, nor of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God_. He is a child of God, a member of Christ, an heir of the kingdom of heaven. _The peace of God which passeth all understanding, keepeth his heart a…
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7. And as this position, There is no sin in a believer, no carnal mind, no bent to back-sliding, is thus contrary to the word of God, so it is to the _experience_ of his children. These continually feel an heart bent to back-sliding, a natural tendency to evil; a proneness to depart from God, and cleave to the things o…
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I have put this objection as strong as possible, that its full weight may appear. Let us now examine it, part by part. And 1 “_That which is born of the Spirit, is spirit_, is altogether good.” I allow the text, but not the comment. For the text affirms this, and no more, That every man who is _born of the Spirit_, is …
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5. “But the _church is the body of Christ_, Col. i. 24. This implies, that its members are washed from all filthiness. Otherwise it will follow, that Christ and _Belial_ are incorporated with each other.” Nay, it will not follow from hence, “Those who are the mystical body of Christ, still feel the flesh lusting again…
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12. “I am not satisfied yet. He that has sin in him, is a slave to sin. Therefore you suppose a man to be justified, while he is a slave to sin. Now if you allow, men may be justified, while they have pride, anger or unbelief in them; nay if you aver, These are (at least, for a time) in all that are justified: what won…
856 wordsSECTION 105THE REPENTANCE OF BELIEVERS.
MARK i. 15. _Repent and believe the gospel._ 1. IT is generally supposed, that repentance and faith are only the gate of religion; that they are necessary only at the beginning of our Christian course, when we are setting out in the way to the kingdom. And this may seem to be confirmed by the great apostle, where exh…
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5. Now self-will, as well as pride, is a species of idolatry: and both are directly contrary to the love of God. The same observation may be made, concerning _the love of the world_. But this likewise even true believers are liable to feel in themselves; and every one of them does feel it, more or less, sooner or later…
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9. _Covetousness_ in every kind and degree is certainly as contrary to this as to the love of God. Whether φιλαργυρία, _the love of money_, which is too frequently _the root of all evils_, or πλεονεξία, literally, a desire of _having more_, or increasing in substance. And how few even of the real children of God, are e…
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13. And how much sin, if their conscience is throughly awake, may they find _cleaving to their actions_ also? Nay, are there not many of these, which though they are such as the world would not condemn, yet cannot be commended, no nor excused, if we judge by the word of God? Are there not many of their actions, which t…
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17. A conviction of their _utter helplesness_, is yet another branch of this repentance. I mean hereby two things; 1. That they are no more able now _of themselves_ to think one good thought, to form one good desire, to speak one good word, or do one good work, than before they were justified: that they have still no k…
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2. And this also is to be understood in a peculiar sense, different from that, wherein we believed in order to justification. Believe the _glad tidings of great salvation_, which God hath prepared for all people. Believe that he who is _the brightness of his Father’s glory, the express image of his person, is able to s…
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6. Thus it is, that in the children of God, repentance and faith exactly answer each other. By repentance we feel the sin remaining in our hearts, and cleaving to our words and actions. By faith we receive the power of God in Christ, purifying our hearts and cleansing our hands. By repentance we are still sensible that…
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It is this repentance and the faith intimately connected with it, which are expressed in those strong lines. “I sin in every breath I draw, Nor do thy will, nor keep thy law On earth as angels do above: But still the fountain open stands, Washes my feet, my heart, my hands, Till I am perfected in love.” 4. We may obs…
239 wordsSECTION 113THE GREAT ASSIZE:
ROM. xiv. 10. _We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ._ 1. HOW many circumstances concur, to raise the awfulness of the present solemnity? The general _concourse_ of people of every age, sex, rank and condition of life, willingly or unwillingly gathered together, not only from the neighbouring but from…
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2. At the same time _the Son of man shall send forth his angels_ over all the earth, _and they shall gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other_.[40] And the Lord himself shall _come with clouds, in his own glory, and the glory of his Father, with ten thousand of his saints, even myriads …
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* Every man, every woman, every infant of days that ever breathed the vital air, will then hear the voice of the Son of God, and start into life, and appear before him. And this seems to be the natural import of that expression, _the dead, small and great_: all universally, all without exception, all of every age, sex …
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10. * It may be answered, it is apparently and absolutely necessary, for the full display of the glory of God, for the clear and perfect manifestation of his wisdom, justice, power and mercy toward the heirs of salvation, that all the circumstances of their life should be placed in open view, together with all their te…
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2. Then the heavens will be shriveled up _as a parchment scroll, and pass away with a great noise_: they will _flee from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and there will be found no place for them_.[53] The very manner of their passing away is disclosed to us by the apostle _Peter_: _in the day of God, the he…
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5. There is one circumstance more which will follow the judgment, that deserves our serious consideration. _We look_, says the apostle, _according to his promise, for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness_.[57] The promise stands in the prophecy of _Isaiah_, _Behold I create new heavens and a new e…
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4. Suffer me to add a few words to all of you who are at this day present before the Lord. Should not you bear it in your minds all the day long, that a more awful day is coming? A large assembly this! But what is it to that which every eye will then behold, the general assembly of all the children of men that ever liv…
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5. _What manner of persons_ then _ought we to be, in all holy conversation and godliness_? We know it cannot be long, before the Lord will descend with the _voice of the archangel, and the trumpet of God_; when every one of us shall appear before him, and _give account of his own works. Wherefore, beloved_, seeing ye _…
303 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.