Read Ebook: The Works of the Rev. John Wesley Vol. 01 (of 32) by Wesley John

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ROMANS viii. 15.

Art thou daily fighting against all sin? And daily more than conqueror? I acknowledge thee for a child of God. O stand fast in thy glorious liberty. Art thou fighting, but not conquering; striving for the mastery, but not able to attain? Then thou art not yet a believer in Christ; but follow on, and thou shalt know the Lord. Art thou not fighting at all, but leading an easy, indolent fashionable life? O how hast thou dared to name the name of Christ? Only to make it a reproach among the Heathen? Awake thou sleeper! Call upon thy God: before the deep swallow thee up.

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

ROM. viii. 16.

Secondly, How is this joint testimony of God's Spirit and our own, clearly and solidly distinguished, from the presumption of a natural mind; and from the delusion of the devil?

He that now loves God, that delights and rejoices in him, with an humble joy, and holy delight, and an obedient love, is a child of God:

But I thus love, delight, and rejoice in God;

Therefore I am a child of God:

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

ROM. viii. 16.

Then, only then we feel Our interest in his blood, And cry with joy unspeakable, Thou art my Lord, my God.

Since therefore the testimony of his Spirit must precede the love of God and all holiness, of consequence it must precede our consciousness thereof.

Thy sins are forgiven! Accepted thou art! I listened, and heaven Sprung up in my heart.

"I give up every plea, beside Lord, I am damned--But thou hast died!"

"Nay many who pleaded strongly for this, have utterly decried the bible." Perhaps so; but this was no necessary consequence: thousands plead for it, who have the highest esteem for the bible.

"Yea, but many have fatally deceived themselves hereby, and got above all conviction."

And yet a scriptural doctrine is no worse, tho' men abuse it to their own destruction.

True followers of their lamb-like Lord.

THE WITNESS OF OUR OWN SPIRIT.

We are then simple of heart, when the eye of our mind is singly fixt on God: when in all things we aim at God alone, as our God, our portion, our strength, our happiness, our exceeding great reward, our all, in time and eternity. This is simplicity; when a steddy view, a single intention of promoting his glory, of doing and suffering his blessed will, runs thro' our whole soul, fills all our heart, and is the constant spring of all our thoughts, desires and purposes.

"O that my tender soul might fly The first, abhorr'd approach of ill: Quick, as the apple of an eye The slightest touch of sin to feel."

ON SIN IN BELIEVERS.

Carrying on his work within, Striving 'till he cast out sin.

Nay, it will not follow from hence, "Those who are the mystical body of Christ, still feel the flesh lusting against the Spirit," that Christ has any fellowship with the devil, or with that sin which he enables them to resist and overcome.

Earth and heaven all agree; All his one great family.

I do not suppose any man who is justified, is a slave to sin. Yet I do suppose, sin remains in all that are justified. "But if sin remains in a believer, he is a sinful man: if pride, for instance, then he is proud: if self-will, then he is self-willed; if unbelief, then he is an unbeliever; consequently, no believer at all. How then does he differ from unbelievers, from unregenerate men?"

THE REPENTANCE OF BELIEVERS.

MARK i. 15.

But in what sense are we to repent and believe, after we are justified? This is an important question, and worthy of being considered with the utmost attention.

But likewise, in the full assurance of faith,

For by that faith in his life, death and intercession for us, renewed from moment to moment, we are every whit clean, and there is not only now no condemnation for us, but no such desert of punishment as was before, the Lord cleansing both our hearts and lives.

Break off the yoke of inbred sin And fully set my spirit free! I cannot rest, till pure within, Till I am wholly lost in thee!

He ever lives above, For us to intercede, His all-atoning love, His precious blood to plead.

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."

THE GREAT ASSIZE:

ROM. xiv. 10.

"To smooth and lengthen out the boundless space, And spread an area for all human race."

To "justify the ways of God to man."

See, see! He cometh! He maketh the clouds his chariots! He rideth upon the wings of the wind! A devouring fire goeth before him, and after him a flame burneth! See, he sitteth upon his throne, cloathed with light as with a garment, arrayed with majesty and honour! Behold his eyes are as a flame of fire, his voice as the sound of many waters!

THE MEANS OF GRACE.

MALACHI iii. 7.

Nay, it is not impossible, some of these holy men did at length themselves fall into this opinion: in particular, those who, not by choice, but by the providence of God, were cut off from all these ordinances: perhaps wandering up and down, having no certain abiding-place, or dwelling in dens and caves of the earth. These experiencing the grace of God in themselves, though they were deprived of all outward means, might infer, that the same grace would be given to them, who of set purpose abstained from them.

The chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret, or with the great congregation; searching the scriptures and receiving the Lord's supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of him; and these we believe to be ordained of God, as the ordinary channels of conveying his grace to the souls of men.

And in fact, he hath not left us undetermined; he hath shewn us the way wherein we should go. We have only to consult the oracles of God, to inquire what is written there? And if we simply abide by their decision, there can no possible doubt remain.

The objection, "That this is not a command, but only an assertion, that they did search the scriptures," is shamelessly false. I desire those who urge it, to let us know, how a command can be more clearly expressed, than in those terms, ???????? ??? ??????. It is as peremptory as so many words can make it.

Here then the direction first given by our Lord, is expresly repeated by the apostle. Let him eat; let him drink: Words not implying a bare permission only, but a clear, explicit command; a command to all those who either already are filled with peace and joy in believing, or can truly say, "The remembrance of our sins is grievous unto us, the burden of them is intolerable."

If it really had been as you assert, it is certain Christ must have known it. And if he had known it, he would surely have warned us, he would have revealed it long ago. Therefore because he has not, because there is no tittle of this in the whole revelation of Jesus Christ, I am as fully assured your assertion is false, as that this revelation is of God.

I do expect, that he will fulfil his word, that ?he will meet and bless me in this way. Yet not for the sake of any works which I have done, nor for the merit of my righteousness: But merely through the merits and sufferings and love of his Son, in whom he is always well-pleased.

Let us examine the scriptures to which you refer. The first of them, with the context, runs thus:

So that this objection is the weakest of all. And in spight of all, that great truth must stand unshaken, that all who desire the grace of God, are to wait for it, in the means which he hath ordained.

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