PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 06 (of 32)
Wesley, John, 1703-1791 · 86,190 words · 120 reading sections
Part 61
“5. ‘In the beginning, saith _Moses_, God created the heaven and the earth.’ Here, at this _instant_, ended the devil’s power, over the place or kingdom in which he was created. As soon as the whole of his outward, disordered kingdom was thus divided into a _created heaven and earth_, all was taken out of his hands, he…
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“14. Thus it was, that _Adam_ lost the _light_ of the Son of God, and the breath of the Holy Spirit. And this was the _immediate death_ that he died in paradise, a death much more grievous than that which is to bring us all to our graves. It was a death that extinguished all that was divine and holy in human nature, ju…
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“The sickness, pain and corruption of our bodies, is brought upon us by ourselves, in the same manner as the dark, hideous forms of the devils are brought upon them. * How absurd, and even blasphemous would it be, to say, with the scripture and the church, that we are by _nature, children of wrath, and born in sin_, if…
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27. If we had only a _notional knowledge_ that our first father had sinned, and knew no more of his _sinful condition_ than history tells us of it; if we had only _instituted types_ and _figures_ to keep up the remembrance of it in our minds, we should be never the worse for his sins. We should have no hurt by _owning_…
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* So that to be called to the height of all virtue, however excessive it may seem to the _reasonings_ of flesh and blood, is only being called away from every _misery_ and _evil_ that can be avoided by us. 31. * No virtue therefore has any _blameable extreme_ in it, till it _contradicts_ this general end of religion, …
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It is said, that wherever the King is, there is the court. But with much more reason may it be said, that wherever our Saviour came, there was the temple or the church. He came to _feasts_ and _entertainments_ with the same spirit, for the same end, and in the same divine power, as he went to raise a _dead corpse_, nam…
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I will now put the following _case_ in as high terms as the Doctor can well desire. Let it be supposed that some good _bishop_, possessed of as rich a _bishoprick_ as that of _Winchester_, should through his extensive charity for the poor throughout the whole diocese, be forced to use the utmost frugality in family exp…
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38. * What now can be so desirable to a sensible man, as to have the vain, disorderly passions of his heart removed from him, to be filled with such unity, love, and concord, as flow from God, to stand united to, and co-operating with the divine goodness, willing nothing, but what God wills, loving nothing, but what Go…
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40. Now which way soever we consider the lamentable state of religion amongst us, no remedy can be procured by us of the _clergy_, but in this one way, that every _individual_ of the order, from the highest to the lowest, begin in right earnest with himself, open the book of his own heart and life, and consider serious…
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42. * Can my own heart, and God who is greater than our hearts, bear me witness that in my sacred office I have not sought myself, or my own things, but the things of Jesus Christ? If I have changed one flock or station for another, or added one cure to another, have I done it in _singleness of heart_, as unto the Lord…
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44. * Is it not now a flat denial of all this to say, as do some, that the establishment of the gospel in the world, together with the assistances of _human learning_, and _languages_, has been the occasion why the assistance of the Holy Ghost is abated? For if we consult either scripture or experience, must it not be …
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47. To ask whether the assistance of the holy Spirit is to be _ordinary_ or _extraordinary_, is as needless a distinction, as to ask whether a _minister_ of the gospel ought to be an ordinary or extraordinary man. The operation of the holy Spirit in us since the fall, is a supernatural power, and therefore in a just se…
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49. For the sacred office is God’s appointment, to continue through all ages, the spirit and power of Christ for reconciling men to God in the same manner and by the same means of holiness, sacrifice and devotion, which Christ exercised when he was upon earth. We need no other proofs of this, than this one saying of ou…
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51. * It is a fatal deception to imagine, that the life of a minister of God is ever to be a life of ease and worldly repose. For tho’ the temporal sword be not always drawn against them, nor they forced to flee from one city to another, yet the world, the flesh and the devil, are never so difficult to be resisted, as …
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53. I don’t call you from a sober use of human learning, but I would fain persuade you to think nothing worthy of your notice in books and study, but that which applies to the amendment of the heart, which makes you more holy, more divine, more heavenly, than you would be without it. You want nothing, but to have the c…
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It would be no pleasure to me, nor benefit to the world, to discover that _malignity_ of _spirit_, that _undistinguishing head_, that _diabolical calumny_, that _shameful ignorance_, that _indecent sufficiency_, that _unbecoming presumption_, that _nauseous_ dulness, that _ignorance_ of _logic_, that _insensibility_ of…
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Now, there are but two possible ways of justly replying to this; first, either by shewing that these observations are falsely drawn from the apostle’s doctrine and practice, that I have mistaken the spirit of St. _Paul_, and the genius of the gospel, that I am doing what the apostle would not do, was he here in person,…
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For who can shew it to be so contrary to the whole spirit of the gospel, to call in the _assistance_ of the saints, or to deny the cup to the laity, who can shew this to put so entire a stop to salvation by the gospel, as to condemn this _advice_ to young divines, as a reproach to Christianity? For all the ends of the …
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But now, if our natural life is a corrupt, bestial, diabolical life brought forth by the fall, if we want to be born again of the Holy Spirit, because our natural birth is according to the spirit of this world; if nothing of the beast, or the devil, no kind or degree of envy, pride and vanity can enter into the kingdom…
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I shall therefore proceed to tell young divines, that a total renunciation of the spirit, and inclinations of this life, is the one thing necessary to consecrate them to their holy office; that as sure as the church of Christ is not a kingdom of this world, as sure as Jesus Christ came to deliver us from this evil worl…
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I doubt not but some will here charge me with pleading for poverty in the ministry, and with enmity to that maintenance which they have both from the law and the gospel. But this is so far from being true, that I wish every good minister, whom the Spirit of God has called to this office, and governs in it, had much mor…
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A _great divine_ is but a _cant_ expression, unless it signifies a man _greatly advanced_ in the divine life, whose own experience and example is a demonstration of the _reality_ of all the graces of the gospel. No divine has any more of the gospel in him, than that which proves itself by the spirit, and form of his li…
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Part of this I own to be very true, _viz._ that they are men, and have the wants of human nature which must be supplied; and for proof of this, the Doctor might have appealed to St. _Paul_, who, tho’ miraculously called to be an apostle, and separated from the world to be merely a messenger and apostle of Jesus Christ;…
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* The knowledge and love of the virgin state began with Christianity, when the nature of our corruption, and the nature of our redemption were so fully discovered by the gospel. Then it was, that a new degree of heavenly love was kindled in the human nature, and brought forth a state of life that had not been desired, …
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* I shall conclude this matter with a passage taken from the _Serious Call to a devout and Holy Life_; it is a quotation from _Eusebius_, who lived at the time of the first general council, when the faith of our _Nicene Creed_ was established: his words are these, “There have been, saith he, instituted in the church of…
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But the Doctor has a _second reply, Whether you consider the |divinity|, or the |sense| of this, could |George Fox| himself have outdone it_? p. 48. This reply, considered in itself, might have its place amongst those _algebraic quantities_, that are some degrees less than nothing; but with regard to the Doctor’s purpo…
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* _Selfishness_ and _partiality_ are very base qualities, even in the things of this world; but in the doctrines of religion they are of a baser nature. Now this is the _greatest evil_ that the division of the church has brought forth; it raises in every communion a selfish, partial orthodoxy, which consists in courage…
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* There is therefore a _Catholic_ spirit, a _communion of saints_ in the love of God and all goodness, which no one can learn from that which is called orthodoxy in particular churches. It is only to be had by a total dying to all worldly views, by a pure love of God, and by such an unction from above, as delivers the …
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We often hear of people of great zeal and orthodoxy, declaring on their death-beds their strict attachment to the church of _England_, and making solemn protestations against all other churches: but how much better would it be, if such a person was to say, “In this divided state of Christendom, I must conform to some d…
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* The more we know of the corruptions and hindrances of piety in the church of _Rome_, the more we should rejoice, that in every age so many eminent saints, have appeared in it, whom we should thankfully behold as so many great lights hung out by God, to shew the true way to heaven, as so many joyful proofs that Christ…
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To return. Dr. _♦Trapp_ supposing the world running into a charity that would ruin wife and family, asks his charitable _half-thinker_, “Did you never hear that _charity begins_ at home? Did you never read that of St. _Paul_, If any provide not for his own, and especially those of his own house, he hath denied the fait…
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Will the Doctor now say, that this is no proof of that which I affirmed of the apostle, that he would have had a love for those who were become sufferers by their own charity to others? Does not this apostolical bishop make it his boast, and the glory of Christianity; not that they had some, but many such among them? …
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Come we now to consider this bishop according to the spirit, practice and laws of the church in all ages. Any one versed ever so little in the history of the church, must see at the first sight, that this supposed bishop is a true copy of the first apostolical fathers. And if this bishop was to be accounted a madman, b…
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⁷ Præcipimus ut in potestate sua Episcopus Ecclesiæ Res habeat――ex iis autem quibus indiget, (si tamen indiget) ad suas necessitates percipiat. _Canons of the Apostles_, 40.――――eas veluti Deo contemplante dispenset; nec ei liceat ex iis aliquid contingere, aut Parentibus propriis (quæ dei sunt) condonare. Quod si Paupe…
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And the reason of my writing at all, is owing to a book newly published¹ in defence of bishop _Warburton_, in which your lordship, is charged with a multitude of contradictions, and inconsistencies relating to this point. ¹ Free and candid examination of the bishop of London’s sermons, &c. It is not my design to ente…
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_First_, I shall clearly evince, that there is not in all the New Testament, one single text, which either in the letter, or the spirit proves, or has the least tendency, or design to prove, that the _immortality_ of the soul, or its perpetual duration after the death of the body, was not an _universal_, _commonly_ rec…
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But to follow him farther: “St. _Paul_, saith he, observes that Jesus Christ was sent to shew light to the people, that is, to the _Jews_ and to the _Gentiles_. It is plain from hence, that he was a light to the first, in the same sense, in which he was a light to the last; and therefore as he was a light to the Gentil…
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If it be asked then, What is the great discovery, new light and knowledge, declared in these texts, as newly made known to the world by the gospel? It is answered, that the one thing meant both by the letter and spirit of all these, and every other the like passages of scripture, speaking of that mystery, new light, or…
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This was the good news of _life and immortality_ brought to light by a glorious gospel, which shewed the whole counsel of God towards fallen men; how they were before the foundation of the world seen in Christ, _predestinated to be made conformable to his image_, who by all that he was, did and suffered, from his first…
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* For they only can have this eternal life given to them of God, who have the Son: therefore it has no relation to the natural immortality of souls, and they can only have the Son, of whom it can be truly said, “that Christ is of God become wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification to them.” * As another full proof…
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Again, that typical representation does not _necessarily imply, the throwing a thing into shade, and secreting it from vulgar knowledge_, is plain from hence.――Baptism, and bread and wine in the sacrament, are merely corporeal types and figures of spiritual things; but if it was _necessarily essential_ to typical repre…
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For as in the gospel it is never expressly asserted, and yet is fully proved, because unavoidably supposed, and necessarily implied in and by the open, and plain doctrines of the gospel: so it is with the books of _Moses_; they never expressly affirm the natural immortality of the soul, and yet give one, and the same f…
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For immediately after a covenant of redemption was made, the first good man after it, in the very beginning of the world, and the beginning of his own life, after his first act of divine worship, and as soon as God had declared his good pleasure in it, was slaughtered like a beast. Now can there be a fuller demonstrat…
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He will have it, that the faith set forth in this whole chapter, is concerning a faith in the abstract, and not a specific faith in the Messiah. An invention as little grounded in the gospel, as goodness in the abstract, in opposition to specific goodness. Goodness in the abstract, if it hath any meaning, is all goodne…
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Here, by the Spirit of God himself, is made known to us, the true difference between receiving, and not receiving the promises. The fathers, who could only see them afar off, are those who died without receiving the promises, that is, without receiving the things promised. And their children who lived to see the promis…
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The first covenant was so perfect that nothing could be added to it, but the manifestations of that which was promised in it. It was a promise of life and redemption to mankind, to be fulfilled in and by the seed of the woman. Now the promise, and the fulfilling of it, are not (as in human matters) two _distant_, _sepa…
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* This is the unalterable difference between a life of _faith_, and a life of _reasoning_ in the things of God; the former is from God, works with God, and therefore all things are possible to it; the latter is from the serpent, and therefore vain opinions, false judgments, errors and delusions are inseparable from it.…
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_First_, To bring this corrupted people of _Israel_ into a new state of such observances, as might preserve them from the gross superstitions and idolatries to which they were too much inclined. And this, by a _ritual_ of such condescensions to their carnal minds, as might nevertheless be a school of restraints and dis…
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St. _Paul_ says, _God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself_. A comfortable doctrine indeed, and full of hope of immortality; yet only the same comfort and hope of immortality which had been openly preached by _Moses_. When _Moses_ bringeth in the Deity, as saying, _The seed of the woman shall bruise the h…
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Dr. _Warburton_ takes much pains to get rid of the only true sense of the following texts of _Moses_. Thus, _Let us make man in our own image and likeness_. From these words, he says, _it is inferred, that the soul is immaterial_. But he thinks _Moses intimated quite another matter_. And so do I; for to intimate the _i…
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The divine image and likeness cannot consist in something that is peculiar to man. It might as well consist in his shape, as in his faculty of making _syllogisms_; but on the contrary, it must consist in that, and only that, which is, peculiar to God. Nor could man possibly be created in the image and likeness of God, …
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The Doctor, in order to find out _that_ image, and likeness of God in man, of which _Moses_ writes, looks into the constitution of that _two-legged_ animal, who is the _disputer of the world_. As likely to succeed, as if in order to find out _that paradise_, of which _Moses_ writes, he should search for it in the _hund…
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* What therefore can it be called, but a most deplorable blindness in learned reason, to consider man as making his first entrance into paradise in no _better a state than that of dust and clay_, formed into a dead lumpish figure of a man, for this reason, because he was said to be formed out of the dust of the ground?…
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But the general design of the D. L. is to establish this most horrible doctrine, that _Moses_ designedly and industriously secreted from God’s chosen people, all thought of any eternal relation that they had with God; which is the same as saying, that he designedly suppressed the one only possible foundation of true re…
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But to suppose that _Moses_, designedly secreting from them, the knowledge of that eternal relation they had to God, on which the hopes of their forefathers were founded, and on which he himself was made able to chuse the afflictions of Christ, has something very shocking in it. For if _Moses_ was so good a man, becaus…
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But the Doctor has a maxim, by which he proves, that the _Jews_, though wholly confined to earthly hopes, and enjoyments, yet might and ought to have been heavenly minded, _namely_, because _the true foundation of morality, is the will of God_. And yet this very maxim is itself a sufficient proof, than an earthly peopl…
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There are some other egregious errors which I intended to have remarked, but I am already got beyond the proper bounds of a letter.――But holy _David_’s case, I cannot but mention, as sufficient to have deterred the Doctor from an hypothesis, which has obliged him to place this sweet finger of _Israel_ amongst those, wh…
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“In judging, says he, only from the _nature of things_, one should be apt to embrace the opinion of _Diodorus Siculus_, that first the men lived for some time in woods and caves, after the manner of beasts, uttering only _confused sounds_.”¹ And yet it is hardly possible for a man to make a judgment more contrary to th…
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And yet, so unlucky is the Doctor, that no words can give a higher proof, that _Adam_ had not only an articulate speech, but in such a degree of perfection, as none of his natural sons, not the whole tribe of linguists, critics, and grammarians, ever had, or can possibly have. For if it could be supposed, that any man …
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Our Lord’s parable of the _prodigal_ son, contains the whole matter between God and fallen man. It relates nothing particular to this, or that person, but sets forth the strict truth of every man’s state, with regard to his heavenly Father. For every son of _Adam_ has every thing in him, that is said of that prodigal; …
232 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.