PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 09 (of 32)
Wesley, John, 1703-1791 · 82,523 words · 142 reading sections
Part 61
_A fervent well-wisher of your temporal and eternal affairs_,…
9 wordsSECTION 62JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common goal at |Ivelchester|, July 24, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 63LETTER V.
_To my most dearly beloved friends, in |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most endeared Christians._ MY heart is with you, though I am absent. Dear fellow soldiers under the captain of our salvation, consider your calling, and approve yourselves men of resolution; be discouraged with no difficulties of your present warfar…
927 wordsSECTION 64JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common gaol at |Ivelchester|, August 31, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 65LETTER VI.
_To the beloved friends, the flock of Christ in |Taunton|, salvation._ _Most dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown_:…
22 wordsSECTION 66Part 66
I MUST say of you as _David_ did of _Jonathan_, Very pleasant have you been unto me, and your love to me is wonderful. And as I have formerly taken great content in that my lot was cast among you, so I rejoice in my present lot, that I am called to approve my love to you by suffering for you; for you, I say; for you kn…
972 wordsSECTION 67Part 67
I am, _Your’s in the bowels of the Lord Jesus_,…
10 wordsSECTION 68JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common gaol, in |Ivelchester|, September 11, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 69LETTER VII.
[How to shew love to ministers, and to live joyfully.] _To the most loving and dearly beloved, my Christian friends in |Taunton|, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ_. _Most endeared brethren_, I HAVE received your moving letter, and could not look over _such_ tender expressio…
936 wordsSECTION 70JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the prison at |Ivelchester|, September 18, 1663._…
9 wordsSECTION 71LETTER VIII.
[Remember Christ crucified; and crucify sin.] _To the faithful and well-beloved people, the servants of Christ in |Taunton|, salvation_. _Most dear Christians_,…
22 wordsSECTION 72Part 72
I AM by office a remembrancer, the Lord’s remembrancer for you, and your remembrancer in the behalf of Christ. My business is with the apostle, to stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. And who shall I remember you of, but your intercessor with the Father, who hath you always in remembrance, appearing in the pr…
961 wordsSECTION 73Part 73
_The ready servant of your faith and joy_,…
8 wordsSECTION 74JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the prison at |Ivelchester|, October 14th, 1663._…
9 wordsSECTION 75LETTER IX.
[On daily self-examination.] _To the most beloved people, the flock of Christ in |Taunton|, salvation_. _Most dear brethren_, BRETHREN how stands it with you? Doth the main work go on? do your souls prosper? This is my care; beware that you flag not, that you faint not now in the evil day. I understand that your dan…
607 wordsSECTION 76JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common gaol at |Ivelchester|, October 20, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 77LETTER X.
[Motives and marks of growth.] _To the most loving and best beloved, the servants of Christ in |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most dear and tender friends_: WHOSE I am, and whom under God I desire to serve; to build you up in holiness, and comfort, hath been through grace my great ambition. This is that which I labou…
900 wordsSECTION 78Part 78
_Sixthly, If you grow more vile in your own eyes._ Do you grow more out of love with men’s esteem, set less by it? Are you not marvellous tender of being slighted? Can you rejoice to see others preferred before you? Can you heartily value and love them that think meanly of you? _Seventhly, If you grow more quick of se…
129 wordsSECTION 79JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common gaol, in |Ivelchester|, October 31, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 80LETTER XI.
_To my dearly beloved, the inhabitants of |Taunton|, grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ_. _Most dearly beloved_, I HAVE been through mercy many years with you, and should be willingly so many years a prisoner for you, so I might further your salvation. I must again and again thank …
651 wordsSECTION 81Part 81
*I know many are spun with a finer thread, and are not so far from the kingdom of God. But I must again warn you of staying in the suburbs of the city of refuge. O what pity is it that any should perish at the gates! That any should escape the pollutions of the world, and do many things, yea, and suffer too, and yet fa…
543 wordsSECTION 82LETTER XII.
[How to live to God.] _To the beloved people, the inhabitants of |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most endeared Christians_, BELOVED, I am, without a compliment, the devoted servant of your soul’s prosperity: may the Lord Jesus be set up in your hearts: may his name ever live in you, and I have what I ask. If this work…
809 wordsSECTION 83JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the prison at |Ivelchester|, November 14, 1663._…
9 wordsSECTION 84LETTER XIII.
_To the beloved people, the flock of God in |Taunton|, grace and peace_. _Most dear friends and brethren_, I HAVE sent these few lines, to beseech you by these bonds, which I gladly endure for your sakes, to hold forth, and hold fast the profession of your faith without wavering. The Lord make you stedfast in the hol…
828 wordsSECTION 85JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common Gaol, at |Ivelchester|, December 3, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 86LETTER XIV.
_To the flock of Christ in |Taunton|, grace and peace_. _Most endeared friends_, I WOULD have you count nothing as certain but Christ’s love and care. This you may build upon: you need not fear lest time and distance should wear out the remembrance of you with him. Do any of you question whether you are so happy, as …
820 wordsSECTION 87JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common goal, in |Ivelchester|, January 20, 1663._…
10 wordsSECTION 88LETTER XV.
[What do you more than others?] _To the most dearly beloved, the servants of God, in |Taunton|, grace and peace_. _Most loving and entirely beloved_, YOU are a great joy to me. I know not what thanks to render to the Lord for you, when I hear of your constancy and fidelity, and zeal, in adhering to him, and his ways…
905 wordsSECTION 89Part 89
Fourthly, _He hath provided for them other manner of things than for others_. These are the little flock to whom it is his good pleasure to give the kingdom: great are the preparations for them. The Father hath prepared the kingdom for them from the foundations of the world: the Son is gone to heaven on purpose to prep…
323 wordsSECTION 90LETTER XVI.
_To the servants of God in |Taunton|, salvation._ _Most endeared Christians_, I AM your’s, and love to be so, being ambitious not to have dominion over your faith, but to be a helper of your joy. Christ’s officers are so your rulers in the Lord, as yet to preach not themselves, but the Lord Jesus Christ, and themselv…
939 wordsSECTION 91LETTER XVII.
_To the servants of God in |Taunton|, salvation._ _Most endeared Christians_, I SEND you a few prison counsels. 1. _To improve for eternity, the advantages of your present state._ Though you are at many disadvantages with respect to the public ordinances, yet you have many most happy privileges. Oh what a mercy have…
865 wordsSECTION 92JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the common gaol at |Ivelchester|, March 5, 1665._…
10 wordsSECTION 93LETTER XVIII.
_To the loving and most beloved people, the servants of God in |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most dearly beloved_, *ALTHOUGH I am forced at the present, to be at a distance from you, yet I would not have you ignorant, that the care of your eternal welfare is always living upon my heart. Therefore as my beloved friend…
712 wordsSECTION 94JOS. ALLEINE.
_Dorchester_, July 7, 1663.…
4 wordsSECTION 95LETTER XIX.
[The character and privileges of true believers.] _To the most beloved people, the servants of God in |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most dearly beloved_, I REJOICE to hear of God’s continual goodness towards you; he is your shepherd, and therefore it is that you do not want. Me you have not always, but he is ever wi…
935 wordsSECTION 96Part 96
I am, _The fervent well-wisher of your souls_,…
8 wordsSECTION 97JOS. ALLEINE.
_Devizes_, June 29, 1666.…
4 wordsSECTION 98LETTER XX.
[Of the love of Christ.] _To the servants of God in |Taunton|, salvation_, _Most dearly beloved_, OH that my letters in my absence might be useful to you! It is my joy to serve you, and my love to you is without dissimulation: Witness my twice lost liberties, and my impaired health, all which I might have preserved,…
873 wordsSECTION 99JOS. ALLEINE.
_August 11, 1665._…
4 wordsSECTION 100LETTER XXI.
_To the beloved people, the inhabitants of |Taunton|, grace and peace._ _Most dear friends_, MY chief joy is, that my beloved is mine and I am his. But next to that I have no joy so great as that you are mine and I am yours, and you are Christ’s. My relation to Christ is above all: he is my life and my peace, my rich…
887 wordsSECTION 101Part 101
Thirdly, _Lest you keep up a barren and fruitless profession_. See to it, that you be not only professors, but proficients. Many think all is well because they go on in the exercises of religion; but alas! You may keep on praying and hearing all the week long, and yet be not one jot the farther. Many there are that kee…
236 wordsSECTION 102JOS. ALLEINE.
Devizes, _June 22, 1666_.…
4 wordsSECTION 103LETTER XXII.
[An admiration of the love of God.] _To the most loving and best beloved, the servants of God in |Taunton|, salvation._ _My most dear friends_, I LOVE you, and long for you in the Lord, and I am weary with forbearing that good and blessed work that the Lord hath committed to me, for the furtherance of your salvation…
825 wordsSECTION 104LETTER XXIII.
_To the servants of Christ in |Huntingdon|, grace and peace._ _Most dear Christians_, I THANKFULLY acknowledge, both to God and you, that I am many ways obliged to love and serve you, and surely, when the Lord shall turn our captivity, I will (through his grace) endeavour to shew myself thankful. I am the more sensib…
768 wordsSECTION 105Part 105
Again, the husbandman hath no such increase to look for as you. If he were sure, that every corn would bear a crown, with what joy, rather than patience, would he go through all his cost and labour? Why, brethren, such is a believer’s increase. Every grain shall produce a crown; and every tear shall bring forth a pearl…
341 wordsSECTION 106JOS. ALLEINE.
_From the Prison at |Ivelchester|, October 28, 1663._…
9 wordsSECTION 107LETTER XXIV.
[To his wife.] _My most dear Theodosia_, THOU seemest to have been long from me; let nothing any longer detain thee, but my sister’s necessity, or father’s authority. I am in a comfortable state of health, through divine goodness, to which be glory for ever. See that thou love and admire that fountain of our life, an…
433 wordsSECTION 108JOS. ALLEINE.
[To his wife.] _My dear heart_, *MY heart is now a little at rest to write to thee. I have been these three days much disturbed. Strong sollicitations I have had from several hands, to accept very honourable preferment; but I have not found the invitations to suit with the inclinations of my own heart, as I was confi…
876 wordsSECTION 109LETTER XXVI.
[God is a satisfying Portion.] _My most dear friend_, HAD not my right hand long since forgot her cunning, and the Almighty shook the pen out of my hand, I should long e’er this have written to thee; but it is a wonder of divine power and goodness that my soul had not before this time dwelt in silence, and that death…
893 wordsSECTION 110Part 110
Thy cautions are acceptable to me, I desire to provide for manifold changes and storms. I know I am not yet in the harbour; O pray with me that I may not enter into temptation; for I am very weak in spirit, as well as in body, God knoweth. Somewhere or other I must break off, and thou wilt say, it is time to shut up. F…
119 wordsSECTION 111FRIEND.
_Bath, October 12, 1668._…
5 wordsSECTION 112LETTER XXVII.
_Dear Cousin_, THE welcome tidings of your safe arrival at _Barbadoes_ is come to my ears; as also the news of your escape from a perilous sickness, for which I bless the Lord. I have considered, that God had bereft you of a careful father, and that your mother takes but little care for you; so that you have none near…
860 wordsSECTION 113JOS. ALLEINE.
_August 19, 1668._ ♦ “yo” replaced with “you”…
8 wordsSECTION 114LETTER XXVIII.
_Dear friend_, *YOUR letter was exceeding welcome to me, not only as reviving the remembrance of our old friendship, but also, as bringing me news of some spiritual good that you received by me, which is the best tidings that I can receive: For what do I live for, but to be useful to souls in my generation? *I desire …
877 wordsSECTION 115LETTER XXIX.
[To a minister in prison.] _Worthy Sir_, IT was but a little after my release from my own confinement, but I heard of yours: and now write to you, as one that hath taken a higher degree than ever, being commenced prisoner of Christ. I was once affected with the picture of a devout man, to whom a voice came down from …
875 wordsSECTION 116Part 116
’Tis the shame of religion, that Christians are so unlike themselves, unless upon their knees. Our lives and language should tell the world what we are, and whither we are going. Christians, let little things content you in the world, but aspire after great things in the grace of God. Many little think what high degree…
578 wordsSECTION 117JOS. ALLEINE.
_January 10, 1664._…
4 wordsSECTION 118LETTER XXX.
_To the most beloved people, the servants of God in |Taunton|, salvation._ _Most dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown._ MY heart’s desire and prayer for you is, that you may be saved. This is that which I have been praying and studying, and preaching for these many _years_: and this is the end of my suffer…
826 wordsSECTION 119Part 119
*1. _Personal godliness._ Let it be your first care to set up Christ in your hearts. See that you make all your worldly interests stoop to him, that you be entirely and unreservedly devoted to him. If you deliberately and ordinarily harbour any sin, you are undone. See that you unfeignedly take the laws of Christ, as t…
878 wordsSECTION 120Part 120
3. _Often take account of the souls under your care, concerning their spiritual estates._ Make enquiry into their conditions, insist much upon the sinfulness and misery of their natural estate, and upon the necessity of regeneration, in order to their salvation. Admonish them gravely of their sins; encourage beginnings…
829 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.