Was John Wesley a Pretender?There is nothing more deadly than

self-deception. An individual who hasbelieved a lie of his or her own makinghas a vested interest in seeing to it thatthey are not shown to be a liar. That be-ing the case, there can hardly be a moredeadly self-deception than the belief thatone has been born again when, in fact,one has not. Nonetheless, such is thementality of a multitude who content-edly coast down that broad road to Hell.

Unfortunately, since these folks arethe ones who have told themselves theBIG LIE, they can hardly be expected toreadily admit their own deception. Theywould rather go on believing God willaccept them for this reason or the other.

Jesus described the horror thatawaits these poor deluded souls this way:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord,Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of

heaven; but he who does the will of MyFather who is in heaven. Many will sayto Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did wenot prophesy in Your name, and in Yourname cast out demons, and in Your nameperform many miracles?’ And then I willdeclare to them, ‘I never knew you; DE-

PART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE

LAWLESSNESS.’”(Matthew 7:21–23)

Notice what Jesus said: “I neverknew you.” Most folks will not readilyaccept the fact that salvation has alwaysbeen a matter of WHO YOU KNOW ratherthan WHAT YOU DO or WHAT YOU SAY. Bythat I mean, if you know the One Who isTruth, and you believe in Him, you willbe saved. The question to be answered istwo-fold: 1) Where can you find theTruth; and 2) How can you be found inHim?

I’ll leave it up to you to decidewhere you think you can find the Truththis side of the Abyss. Here I want to drawattention to the fact that the first conditionof salvation has nothing to do with whatyou do or say, it has everything to do withwhether you have repented and been bornagain. I am going to do that by showingyou that part of John Wesley’s Journalthat recounts his “conversion” experi-ence. You can then compare his experi-ence with your own experience and withthat of Charles Finney. (See “CharlesFinney: My Conversion to Christ,” TheVoice of Elijah, January 1992.)

Before I do that, however, I want tofocus on the second part of the question I

A Question for the Sleeper:Are You Aware You Are Snoring?

The things God has called me to teach are not meant for the ears of Pretend-ers. Therefore, I believe He has taught me—over the past decade—many of thecharacteristic signs Pretenders exhibit so that I might be better able to recognizeand avoid them. Under those circumstances, I thought it only right in this issue togive Pretenders an opportunity to recognize themselves for what they are. Thatis, I thought I should at least try to awaken them to the point where they mightunderstand that, although they do not themselves know they are sleeping, theirstate is quite obvious to those who are fully awake. It is, after all, generally ac-knowledged that snoring indicates sleep.

Since I have not been called to evangelize the unsaved, I have chosen to usewords originally spoken by John Wesley, a man who saw multitudes awakenedunder his ministry as an Evangelist in the 18th century. Although much of whatWesley has stated stands in need of some correction in the stark light of thethings God has called me to restore and teach True Believers in these Last Days,I am certain the basic Truth of the Gospel message he preached will still soar likean arrow into the heart of one who has ears to hear. I am just as certain the Pre-tenders who are enjoying their sleep will reject any and all attempts to rousethem. Such is the folly of the wicked. Having said that, I should explain a fewthings for the benefit of those of you who, for one reason or another, have an in-terest in learning what I teach.

Jesus and the Apostles exhorted all who heard them to “repent and believe in

INSIDE° Letters to the Editor . . 2

See Wesley on Page 3See Sleeper on Page 18

Volume 5, Number 4 October 1994

2 October 1994

Published Quarterlyby Voice of Elijah, Inc.

Ken Brooks,

Executive Editor

Sara Brooks,

Managing Editor

Volume 5

Number 4

October 1994

All correspondenceshould be addressed to:

Voice of Elijah, Inc.

P.O. Box 28201

Dallas, TX 75228

Subscription rates:(1 year, U.S. Funds)

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Articles publishedby permission ofThe Elijah Project.

Except when otherwise notedScripture taken from theNEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE,

© 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972,

1973, 1975, 1977, 1987, 1988.

The Lockman Foundation.

Used by permission.

Bolded Scripture reflects the em-phasis of the author.

Copyright © 1994, 2008by Voice of Elijah, Inc.

In September, we sent out a compli-mentary copy of The Voice of ElijahUpdate to all our current subscribers.Hopefully, you have had time to reviewit by now. Our goal was to provide eachof you the opportunity to see firsthand

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posed above: How can you be “found inHim, not having a righteousness of” your“own derived from {the} Law, but thatwhich is through faith in Christ, the righ-teousness which {comes} from God on thebasis of faith” (Phil. 3:9)? Specifically, Iwant to discuss a singular prerequisite ofthat all-important experience—honest re-pentance that results in the newbirth—without which no one can becomea member of the Body of Jesus Christ andthereafter be found in Him.

Repent and BelieveLet’s begin by looking at how suc-

cinctly Mark describes the substance ofthe message Jesus preached:

And after John had been taken into cus-tody, Jesus came into Galilee, preach-ing the gospel of God, and saying, “Thetime is fulfilled, and the kingdom ofGod is at hand; repent and believe inthe gospel.”(Mark 1:14–15)

Concerning the repentance men-tioned in this passage, Luke tells us Jesussaid this on another occasion:

Now on the same occasion there weresome present who reported to Him aboutthe Galileans, whose blood Pilate hadmingled with their sacrifices. And Heanswered and said to them, “Do yousuppose that these Galileans were{greater} sinners than all {other}Galileans, because they suffered this{fate}? I tell you, no, but unless you re-pent, you will all likewise perish. Or doyou suppose that those eighteen onwhom the tower in Siloam fell and killedthem, were {worse} culprits than all themen who live in Jerusalem? I tell you,no, but unless you repent, you will alllikewise perish.”(Luke 13:1–5)

Luke also says that, when Jesus re-vealed the hidden message of the OldTestament to His disciples after His res-urrection, He told them they were topreach the same message He hadpreached:

Now He said to them, “These are Mywords which I spoke to you while I wasstill with you, that all things which arewritten about Me in the Law of Mosesand the Prophets and the Psalms must befulfilled.” Then He opened their mindsto understand the Scriptures, and Hesaid to them, “Thus it is written, that theChrist should suffer and rise againfrom the dead the third day; and that re-pentance for forgiveness of sins shouldbe proclaimed in His name to all the na-tions, beginning from Jerusalem. Youare witnesses of these things.”(Luke 24:44–48)

Did you notice Jesus said “repen-tance for forgiveness of sins”? Thatphrase adds a bit to our understanding ofthe matter. Repentance is necessary toobtain God’s forgiveness so that onemight be born again. Several passages inthe Book of Acts indicate that 1) theApostles did just as Jesus had com-manded them, and 2) the purpose of re-pentance is to obtain God’s forgiveness:

And Peter {said} to them, “Repent, andlet each of you be baptized in the nameof Jesus Christ for the forgiveness ofyour sins; and you shall receive the giftof the Holy Spirit.”(Acts 2:38)

“Repent therefore and return, that yoursins may be wiped away, in order thattimes of refreshing may come from thepresence of the Lord.”(Acts 3:19)

“Therefore repent of this wickedness ofyours, and pray the Lord that if possi-ble, the intention of your heart may beforgiven you.”(Acts 8:22)

The following passage illustratesthe meaning of the Greek term usuallytranslated “repent”:

“Be on your guard! If your brother sins,rebuke him; and if he repents, forgivehim. And if he sins against you seventimes a day, and returns to you seventimes, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”(Luke 17:3–4)

That passage tells us the Greekword translated “repent” actually has ameaning more or less the same as theEnglish word apologize. From that wecan see God expects us to apologize forthe sins we have committed against Himbefore He will forgive us. So now weknow the original Gospel message em-phasized the need for people to apolo-gize in order to establish a friendlyrelationship with God. The difficulty inthat regard for most “Christians” todaylies in the fact that the “easy-believism”advocates have thoroughly convincedthem they haven’t done anything all thatbad, at least not anything for which theyneed to offer a sincere “apology” to theloving, all-caring God they preach.

You can easily understand why“repentance” is a mere formality forthese deluded folks, if indeed it is evenmentioned in connection with the newbirth. They think the most one has to doto “become a Christian” is to say, “I’msorry for my sins” and “presto!” you area “Christian.” Unfortunately, there is abit more than that to the new birth.

You see, God has us over that pro-verbial barrel. He “grants” an opportu-nity for repentance only to those whomeet certain specific criteria. Lest somefool Pretender hasten to contradict thatlittle bit of Truth, let me point out I didn’tsay that God “grants” repentance. Imerely said He “grants” an opportunityfor repentance. However, the Apostlesput that simple Truth more bluntly. Theysaid God “grants” repentance. Whilestanding before the Jewish Council in Je-rusalem, Peter and the rest of the Apos-tles who followed Jesus put it this way:

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus,whom you had put to death by hangingHim on a cross. He is the one whom Godexalted to His right hand as a Prince anda Savior, to grant repentance to Israel,and forgiveness of sins.”(Acts 5:30–31)

The Apostle Paul said exactly thesame thing in a letter to Timothy:

October 1994 3

WesleyFrom Page 1

“The Greek wordtranslated ‘repent’

actually has a mean-ing more or less thesame as the English

word apologize.”

And the Lord’s bond-servant must not bequarrelsome, but be kind to all, able toteach, patient when wronged, with gen-tleness correcting those who are in op-position, if perhaps God may grantthem repentance leading to the knowl-edge of the truth.(2 Timothy 2:24–25)

We could talk at some length con-cerning the fact that the only way anyoneis ever going to gain “the knowledge ofthe truth” that I teach is if God first“grants” them “repentance leading to” it.But that’s an entirely different subject,and since I have not been called to evan-gelize the unregenerate, I’ll let it go atthat. However, as an introduction to thesubject, I refer you to what John Calvinwrote. [See “The Natural Man Is an Idiot(When It Comes to the Truth)” TheVoice of Elijah, October 1993.]

The verb translated “grant” in thetwo passages I quoted above is a very or-dinary Greek verb meaning “to give.” Sothat makes it unanimous. The Apostlesall knew that God “gives” repentance towhomsoever He deems worthy. Conse-quently, there should be little doubt thatit is not sufficient for someone to casu-ally decide they are going to say “I’msorry.” They must first be “given” some-thing that makes honest “repentance”possible. What do you think that mightthat be?

Well, Jesus said one of the works ofthe Holy Spirit is to “convict the worldconcerning sin”:

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your ad-vantage that I go away; for if I do not goaway, the Helper shall not come to you;but if I go, I will send Him to you. AndHe, when He comes, will convict theworld concerning sin, and righteous-ness, and judgment.”(John 16:7–8)

The Greek word that Jesus used todescribe the “conviction” of the HolySpirit actually has the meaning of “con-front” or “rebuke.” It is the same wordHe used when He said this:

“And if your brother sins, go and re-prove him in private; if he listens to you,you have won your brother.”(Matthew 18:15)

The word translated “reprove” inthat verse is the same word translated“convict” in John 16:8. That tells us oneof the works of the Holy Spirit is to “con-front” or “rebuke” the unregenerate sothat they might be able to understand themagnitude of their sin, their total lack ofrighteousness, and the fact that theystand under the judgment of God. Onlythen can they “repent” with honest sor-row for sin rather than “repenting” be-cause they are facing some difficultcircumstance in life. Paul describes thedifference between those two types ofrepentance this way:

For though I caused you sorrow by myletter, I do not regret it; though I did re-gret it—{for} I see that that letter causedyou sorrow, though only for a while—Inow rejoice, not that you were made sor-rowful, but that you were made sorrow-ful to {the point of} repentance; for youwere made sorrowful according to {thewill of} God, in order that you might notsuffer loss in anything through us. Forthe sorrow that is according to {the willof} God produces a repentance withoutregret, {leading} to salvation; but thesorrow of the world produces death.For behold what earnestness this verything, this godly sorrow, has produced inyou: what vindication of yourselves,what indignation, what fear, what long-ing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong!In everything you demonstrated your-selves to be innocent in the matter.(2 Corinthians 7:8–11)

At various times in the history ofthe Church the Holy Spirit has accom-plished a sovereign work of God througha wholesale “convicting” people of sinand “giving” them the opportunity tohonestly “repent.” In doing that, Godwas merely fulfilling what He had prom-ised through the Prophet Joel:

“And it will come about after thisThat I will pour out My Spirit on all

mankind;And your sons and daughters will

prophesy,Your old men will dream dreams,Your young men will see visions.And even on the male and female

servantsI will pour out My Spirit in those days.And I will display wonders in the sky

and on the earth,Blood, fire, and columns of smoke.The sun will be turned into darkness,And the moon into blood,Before the great and awesome day of

the LORD comes.And it will come about that whoever

calls on the name of the LORD

Will be delivered;For on Mount Zion and in JerusalemThere will be those who escape,As the LORD has said,Even among the survivors whom the

LORD calls.”(Joel 2:28–32)

The widespread revivals that oc-curred during the First and Second GreatAwakenings were the direct result of theoutpouring of the Holy Spirit. Great multi-tudes sought salvation by humbly repent-ing when God sovereignly convicted themof sin. John Wesley (1703–91) preached“hell-fire and damnation” during the FirstGreat Awakening. Charles Finney(1792–1875) preached much the samemessage during the Second Great Awak-ening. However, the message these twomen preached was secondary to the sover-eign working of God’s Holy Spirit as Heused the message they preached to “con-vict” people of their sin, thereby “giving”them opportunity for repentance.

4 October 1994

“The Apostles all knewthat God ‘gives’repentance to

whomsoever Hedeems worthy.”

“‘Easy-believism’ advocates have thoroughly convinced them they haven’tdone anything all that bad, at least not anything for which they need to

offer a sincere ‘apology’ to the loving, all-caring God they preach.”

We are on the verge of witnessingthe final awesome outpouring of God’sHoly Spirit on “mankind.” (The text inJoel 2:28 literally says “all flesh.”) Thatsovereign work of God should beginsometime within the next two decades.Keep in mind, however, I’m not talkingabout the giddy happiness and “Praise theLord!” phoniness associated with the ig-norant advocates of the “easy-believism”school of thought. I’m talking about thegood “old-fashioned” sorrow for sin thatwas characteristic of those who weresaved during the First and Second GreatAwakenings.

Do you have doubts whether youhave been born again? Let me encourageyou to err on the side of caution. If youhave already experienced the new birth,you understand exactly what I have ex-plained here because you know all aboutthe incredible conviction of the HolySpirit that comes when He “rebukes” andthe sudden release that follows when Hehas completed His work of regeneration.Nobody has to tell you that you havebeen born again. You have an abiding in-ternal “witness” to the Truth. (See “AQuestion for the Sleeper: Are YouAware You Are Snoring?” in this issue.)

If you are seeking Truth, don’t settlefor anything less than the genuine thing.Repentance comes easy to one who joy-fully responds to the opportunity offeredby the awesome conviction of the HolySpirit. Repentance does not come at all tothe one who has not experienced the heav-enly rebuke or the one who has refused toagree with God’s assessment of his or herdespicable character. So don’t pay any at-tention to the arrogant Pretenders whocontradict what I have written here. Theyspeak from total ignorance, not knowinganything at all about the new birth.

If you have been born again, youknow beyond a shadow of all doubt thatthe Holy Spirit has accomplished a sov-ereign work of God in your life. After all,how can anyone apologize to God with a“broken and contrite heart” (Psalm51:16–17) and not know that God hasforgiven him/her?

As you read what John Wesley has

written in his Journal keep in mind that hepreached to hundreds of thousands duringhis lifetime and saw great multitudessaved as the Holy Spirit sovereignly con-victed them of their sin. Yet, amazingly,what Wesley has written may well indi-cate his own conversion experiencelacked that single all-important ingredi-ent: repentance. Be that as it may, Godnevertheless used him to preach the Truthconcerning salvation because he waswilling to be used. Will John Wesley hearthose horrifying words “I never knewyou” when he meets Christ face to face? Idon’t know. I’ll let you decide that ques-tion for yourself.

The portion of the Journal includedhere begins immediately after Wesley re-turned from Georgia, where he hadserved as an Anglican missionary for twoyears and three months. His work in thecolony had been a failure, but during thattime he had come under the influence ofseveral Moravian missionaries fromHerrnhut who taught him concerning theProtestant doctrine of salvation by faith.These, in turn, evidently put him in touchwith Peter Böhler, a Moravian missionaryto England.

Wesley’s Journal indicates hewasted no time in contacting Böhler uponhis return to England. It also tells us he setout for Herrnhut less than five monthslater. It is clear from all this that he gainedthe things he preached concerning salva-tion by faith from the Moravians. It is notnearly as clear that he experienced thenew birth personally. Did he “repent andbelieve in the Gospel” when he was re-buked by the Holy Spirt? Or did he decidethat all he needed was to believe that hebelieved? That is, did he decide to believea delusion? You decide.

John Wesley’s Journal1738. February 1, Wed. —After

reading prayers and explaining a portionof Scripture to a large company at theinn, I left Deal, and came in the eveningto Faversham.

I here read prayers, and explainedthe Second Lesson to a few of those who

were called Christians, but were indeedmore savage in their behaviour than thewildest Indians I have yet met with.

Fri. 3. —I came to Mr. Delamotte’sat Blendon, where I expected a cold re-ception. But God had prepared the waybefore me; and I no sooner mentionedmy name, than I was welcomed in such amanner as constrained me to say, ‘SurelyGod is in this place, and I knew it not!Blessed be ye of the Lord! Ye haveshown more kindness in the latter endthan in the beginning.’

In the evening I came once more toLondon, whence I had been absent twoyears and near four months.

Many reasons I have to bless God,though the design I went upon did nottake effect, for my having been carriedinto that strange land, contrary to all mypreceding resolutions. Hereby I trust Hehath in some measure ‘humbled me andproved me, and shown me what was inmy heart.’ Hereby I have been taught to‘beware of men.’ Hereby I am come toknow assuredly that, if ‘in all our wayswe acknowledge God,’ He will, wherereason fails, ‘direct our path,’ by lot or bythe other means which He knoweth.Hereby I am delivered from the fear ofthe sea, which I had both dreaded and ab-horred from my youth.

Hereby God has given me toknow many of His servants; particu-larly those of the church of Herrnhut.Hereby my passage is opened to the writ-ings of holy men in the German, Spanish,and Italian tongues. I hope, too, somegood may come to others hereby. All inGeorgia have heard the word of God.Some have believed, and begun to runwell. A few steps have been taken to-wards publishing the glad tidings both tothe African and American heathen.Many children have learned ‘how theyought to serve God,’ and to be useful totheir neighbour. And those whom it mostconcerns have an opportunity of know-ing the true state of their infant colony,and laying a firmer foundation of peaceand happiness to many generations.

Sat. 4. —I told my friends some ofthe reasons which a little hastened my re-

October 1994 5

“The widespread revivals that occurred during the First and Second GreatAwakenings were the direct result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”

turn to England. They all agreed it wouldbe proper to relate them to the Trusteesof Georgia.

Accordingly the next morning Iwaited on Mr. Oglethorpe, but had nottime to speak on that head. In the after-noon I was desired to preach at St. Johnthe Evangelist’s. I did so on those strongwords, ‘if any man be in Christ, he is anew creature.’ I was afterwards in-formed, many of the best in the parishwere so offended, that I was not topreach there any more.

Mon. 6. —I visited many of my oldfriends, as well as most of my relations. Ifind the time is not yet come when I amto be ‘hated of all men.’ Oh may I beprepared for that day!

Tues. 7.—(A day much to be re-membered.) At the house of Mr.Weinantz, a Dutch merchant, I metPeter Böhler, Schulius, Richter, andWensel Neisser, just then landed fromGermany. Finding they had no acquain-tance in England, I offered to procurethem a lodging, and did so near Mr.Hutton’s, where I then was. And fromthis time I did not willingly lose anyopportunity of conversing with them,while I stayed in London.

Wed. 8. —I went to Mr. Oglethorpeagain, but had no opportunity of speak-ing as I designed. Afterwards I waited onthe Board of Trustees, and gave them ashort but plain account of the state of thecolony: an account, I fear, not a little dif-fering from those which they had fre-quently received before; and for which Ihave reason to believe some of themhave not forgiven me to this day.

Sun. 12. —I preached at St. An-drew’s, Holborn, on ‘Though I give allmy goods to feed the poor, and though Igive my body to be burned, and have notcharity, it profiteth me nothing.’ Oh,hard sayings! Who can hear them? Heretoo, it seems, I am to preach no more.

Wed. 15. —I waited on the Trusteesagain, and gave them in writing the sub-stance of what I had said at the lastBoard. Whatsoever further questionsthey asked concerning the state of theprovince, I likewise answered to the bestof my knowledge.

Fri. 17. —I set out for Oxfordwith Peter Böhler, where we werekindly received by Mr. Sarney, the onlyone now remaining here of many who, at

our embarking for America, were used to‘take sweet counsel together,’ and re-joice in ‘bearing the reproach of Christ.’

Sat. 18. we went to Stanton Har-court, to Mr. Gambold, and found my oldfriend recovered from his mystic delu-sion, and convinced that St. Paul was abetter writer than either Tauler or JacobBehmen. The next day I preached oncemore at the Castle (in Oxford) to a nu-merous and serious congregation.

All this time I conversed muchwith Peter Böhler; but I understood himnot, and least of all when he said, Mifrater, mi frater, excoquenda est ista tuaphilosophia. ‘My brother, my brother,that philosophy of yours must be purgedaway.’

Mon. 20. —I returned to London.On Tuesday I preached at Great St.Helen’s on ‘If any man will come afterMe, let him deny himself, and take up hiscross daily, and follow Me.’

Wed. 22. —I was with the Trusteesagain, to whom I then gave a short account(and afterwards delivered it to them inwriting) of the reasons why I left Georgia.

Sun. 26. —I preached at six at St.Lawrence’s; at ten in St. KatherineCree’s church; and in the afternoon at St.John’s, Wapping. I believe it pleasedGod to bless the first sermon most, be-cause it gave most offense; being in-deed an open defiance of that mystery ofiniquity which the world calls prudence,grounded on those words of St. Paul tothe Galatians, ‘As many as desire tomake a fair show in the flesh, they con-strain you to be circumcised; only lestthey should suffer persecution for thecross of Christ.’

Mon. 27. —I took coach for Salis-bury, and had several opportunities ofconversing seriously with my fellow trav-ellers. But endeavouring to mend the wis-dom of God by the worldly wisdom ofprefacing serious with light conversation,and afterwards following that advice ofthe Mystics, ‘Leave them to themselves,’all I had said was written on the sand.‘Lord, lay not this sin to’ my ‘charge!’

Tues. 28. —I saw my mother oncemore. The next day I prepared for myjourney to my brother at Tiverton. But onThursday morning, March 2, a messagethat my brother Charles was dying at Ox-ford obliged me to set out for that placeimmediately. Calling at an odd house in

the afternoon, I found several personsthere who seemed well-wishers to reli-gion, to whom I spake plainly; as I did inthe evening, both to the servants andstrangers at my inn.

With regard to my own behaviour,I now renewed and wrote down my for-mer resolutions:

1. To use absolute openness andunreserve with all I should conversewith.

2. To labour after continual seri-ousness, not willingly indulging myselfin any the least levity of behaviour, or inlaughter, —no, not for a moment.

3. To speak no word which doesnot tend to the glory of God; in particu-lar, not to talk of worldly things. Othersmay, nay, must. But what is that to thee?And,

4. To take no pleasure which doesnot tend to the glory of God; thankingGod every moment for all I do take, andtherefore rejecting every sort and degreeof it which I feel I cannot so thank Him inand for.

March 4, Sat. —I found my brotherat Oxford, recovering from his pleurisy;and with him Peter Böhler, by whom (inthe hand of the great God) I was, onSunday the 5th, clearly convinced ofunbelief, of the want of that faithwhereby alone we are saved.

Immediately it struck into mymind, ‘Leave off preaching. How canyou preach to others, who have not faithyourself?’ I asked Böhler whether hethought I should leave it off or not. Heanswered, ‘By no means.’ I asked, ‘Butwhat can I preach?’ He said, ‘Preachfaith till you have it; and then, becauseyou have it, you will preach faith.’

Accordingly, Monday the 6th, Ibegan preaching this new doctrine,though my soul started back from thework. The first person to whom I offeredsalvation by faith alone was a prisonerunder sentence of death. His name wasClifford. Peter Böhler had many timesdesired me to speak to him before. But Icould not prevail on myself so to do; be-ing still (as I had been many years) azealous assertor of the impossibility of adeath-bed repentance.

Fri. 10. —Peter Böhler returnedto London.

Tues. 14. —I set out for Manches-ter with Mr. Kinchin, Fellow of Corpus

6 October 1994

Christi, and Mr. Fox, late a prisoner inthe city prison. Between five and six wecalled at Chapel-on-the-Heath, wherelived a poor man, sometime prisoner inthe Castle of Oxford. He was not athome; but his wife came to us, to whomMr. Kinchin spoke a few words, whichso melted her heart that she burst out intotears, and we went on rejoicing andpraising God.

About eight, it being rainy and verydark, we lost our way; but before ninecame to Shipston [on Stour], having rodeover, I know not how, a narrowfoot-bridge, which lay across a deepditch near the town. After supper I readprayers to the people of the inn, and ex-plained the Second Lesson; I hope not invain.

The next day we dined at Birming-ham, and, soon after we left it, were re-proved for our negligence there (inletting those who attended us go withouteither exhortation or instruction), by asevere shower of hail. At Hednesford,about five, we endeavoured to be morefaithful; and all who heard seemed seri-ous and affected.

In the evening we came to Stafford.The mistress of the house joined with usin family prayer. The next morning oneof the servants appeared deeply affected,as did the ostler before we went. Soon af-ter breakfast, stepping into the stable, Ispake a few words to those who werethere. A stranger who heard me said,‘Sir, I wish I was to travel with you’; andwhen I went into the house, followed me,and began abruptly, ‘Sir, I believe youare a good man, and I come to tell you alittle of my life.’ The tears stood in hiseyes all the time he spoke; and we hopednot a word which was said to him waslost.

At Newcastle, whither we cameabout ten, some to whom we spoke at ourinn were very attentive; but a gay youngwoman waited on us, quite unconcerned.However, we spoke on. When we wentaway she fixed her eyes, and neithermoved nor said one word, but appearedas much astonished as if she had seen onerisen from the dead.

Coming to Holmes Chapel aboutthree, we were surprised at being showninto a room where a cloth and plates werelaid. Soon after two men came in to din-ner. Mr. Kinchin told them, if they

pleased, that gentleman would ask ablessing for them. They stared, and, as itwere, consented; but sat still while I didit, one of them with his hat on. We beganto speak on turning to God, and went on,though they appeared utterly regardless.After a while their countenanceschanged, and one of them stole off hishat, and, laying it down behind him, saidall we said was true; but he had been agrievous sinner, and not considered it ashe ought; but he was resolved, withGod’s help, now to turn to Him in ear-nest. We exhorted him and his compan-ion, who now likewise drank in everyword, to cry mightily to God, that Hewould ‘send them help from His holyplace.’

Being faint in the evening, I calledat Altrincham, and there lit upon aQuaker, well skilled in, and therefore (asI soon found) sufficiently fond of, con-troversy. After an hour spent therein(perhaps not in vain), I advised him todispute as little as possible; but ratherfollow after holiness, and walk humblywith his God. Late at night we reachedManchester.

Fri. 17, we spent entirely with Mr.Clayton, by whom, and the rest of ourfriends here, we were much refreshedand strengthened. Mr. Hoole, the rectorof St. Ann’s Church, being taken ill thenext day, on Sunday the 19th, Mr.Kinchin and I officiated at Salford Cha-pel in the morning, by which means Mr.Clayton was at liberty to perform the ser-vice of St. Ann’s; and in the afternoon Ipreached there on those words of St.Paul, ‘If any man be in Christ, he is a newcreature.’

Early in the morning we left Man-chester, taking with us Mr. Kinchin’sbrother, for whom we came, to be enteredat Oxford. We were fully determined tolose no opportunity of awakening, in-structing, or exhorting any whom wemight meet with in our journey. AtKnutsford, where we first stopped, all wespake to thankfully received the word ofexhortation. But at Talk-o’-th’-Hill,where we dined, she with whom we werewas so much of a gentlewoman that fornear an hour our labour seemed to be invain. However, we spoke on. Upon a sud-den she looked as one just awaked out of asleep. Every word sank into her heart. Norhave I seen so entire a change both in the

eyes, face, and manner of speaking of anyone in so short a time.

About five, Mr. Kinchin riding by aman and woman double-horsed, the mansaid, ‘Sir, you ought to thank God it is afair day; for if it rained, you would besadly dirty with your little horse.’ Mr.Kinchin answered, ‘True; and we oughtto thank God for our life, and health, andfood, and raiment, and all things.’ Hethen rode on, Mr. Fox following; the mansaid, ‘Sir, my mistress would be glad tohave some more talk with that gentle-man.’ We stayed, and when they cameup began to search one another’s hearts.They came to us again in the evening atour inn at Stone, where I explained bothto them and many of their acquaintancewho were come together that great truth,Godliness hath the promise both of thislife and of that which is to come.

Tues. 21. —Between nine and tenwe came to Hednesford. Just then onewas giving an account of a youngwoman who had dropped down deadthere the day before. This gave us a fairoccasion to exhort all that were present,‘so to number’ their own ‘days’ that theymight apply their ‘hearts unto wisdom.’

In the afternoon one overtook uswhom we soon found more inclined tospeak than to hear. However, we spoke,and spared not. In the evening we over-took a young man, a Quaker, who after-wards came to us to our inn at Henley,whither he sent for the rest of his family tojoin with us in prayer; to which I added, asusual, the exposition of the Second Les-son. Our other companion went with us amile or two in the morning; and then notonly spoke less than the day before, buttook in good part a serious caution againsttalkativeness and vanity.

An hour after we were overtook byan elderly gentleman, who said he wasgoing to enter his son at Oxford. Weasked, ‘At what college?’ He said he didnot know, having no acquaintance thereon whose recommendation he could de-pend. After some conversation, he ex-pressed a deep sense of the goodprovidence of God; and told us he knewGod had cast us in his way in answer tohis prayer. In the evening we reachedOxford, rejoicing in our having receivedso many fresh instances of that greattruth, ‘In all thy ways acknowledge Him,and He shall direct thy paths.’

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Thur. 23. —I met Peter Böhleragain, who now amazed me more andmore by the account he gave of thefruits of living faith, —the holinessand happiness which he affirmed toattend it. The next morning I beganthe Greek Testament again, resolvingto abide by ‘the law and the testi-mony’; and being confident that Godwould hereby show me whether thisdoctrine was of God.

Sun. 26. —I preached at Whitamon ‘the new creature,’ and went in theevening to a society in Oxford, where (asmy manner then was at all societies), af-ter using a collect or two and the Lord’sPrayer, I expounded a chapter in the NewTestament, and concluded with three orfour more collects and a psalm.

Mon. 27. —Mr. Kinchin went withme to the Castle, where, after readingprayers, and preaching on ‘It is ap-pointed unto men once to die,’ we prayedwith the condemned man, first in severalforms of prayer, and then in such wordsas were given us in that hour. He kneeleddown in much heaviness and confu-sion, having ‘no rest in’ his ‘bones, byreason of’ his ‘sins.’ After a space herose up, and eagerly said, ‘I am nowready to die. I know Christ has takenaway my sins; and there is no morecondemnation for me.’ The same com-posed cheerfulness he showed when hewas carried to execution; and in his lastmoments he was the same, enjoying aperfect peace, in confidence that he was‘accepted in the Beloved.’

April 1, Sat. —Being at Mr. Fox’ssociety, my heart was so full that I couldnot confine myself to the forms of prayerwhich we were accustomed to use there.Neither do I purpose to be confined tothem any more; but to pray indifferently,with a form or without, as I may find suit-able to particular occasions.

Sun. 2. —Being Easter Day, Ipreached in our College chapel on ‘Thehour cometh, and now is, when the deadshall hear the voice of the Son of God,and they that hear shall live.’ I preachedin the afternoon, first at the Castle, andthen at Carfax, on the same words. ‘I seethe promise; but it is afar off.’

Believing it would be better for meto wait for the accomplishment of it in si-lence and retirement, on Monday the 3rdI complied with Mr. Kinchin’s desire,

and went to him at Dummer, in Hamp-shire. But I was not suffered to stay herelong; being earnestly pressed to come upto London, if it were only for a few days.Thither, therefore, I returned, on Tues-day the 18th.

Sat. 22. —I met Peter Böhler oncemore. I had now no objection to whathe said of the nature of faith; namely,that it is (to use the words of ourChurch) ‘a sure trust and confidencewhich a man hath in God, thatthrough the merits of Christ his sinsare forgiven and he reconciled to thefavour of God.’

Neither could I deny either the hap-piness or holiness which he described asfruits of this living faith. ‘The Spirit itselfbeareth witness with our spirit that weare the children of God,’ and ‘He that be-lieveth hath the witness in himself’ fullyconvinced me of the former; as ‘Whatso-ever is born of God doth not commit sin,’and ‘Whosoever believeth is born ofGod’ did of the latter. But I could notcomprehend what he spoke of an instan-taneous work.

I could not understand how thisfaith should be given in a moment: how aman could at once be thus turned fromdarkness to light, from sin and misery torighteousness and joy in the Holy Ghost. Isearched the Scriptures again touchingthis very thing, particularly the Acts of theApostles: but, to my utter astonishment,found scarce any instances there of otherthan instantaneous conversions; scarceany so slow as that of St. Paul, who wasthree days in the pangs of the new birth. Ihad but one retreat left; namely, ‘Thus, Igrant, God wrought in the first ages ofChristianity; but the times are changed.What reason have I to believe He works inthe same manner now?’

But on Sunday the 23rd, I was beatout of this retreat too, by the concurringevidence of several living witnesses;who testified God had thus wrought inthemselves, giving them in a momentsuch a faith in the blood of His Son astranslated them out of darkness intolight, out of sin and fear into holiness andhappiness. Here ended my disputing. Icould now only cry out, ‘Lord, helpThou my unbelief!’

I asked Peter Böhler againwhether I ought not to refrain fromteaching others. He said, ‘No; do not

hide in the earth the talent God hathgiven you.’ Accordingly, on Tuesdaythe 25th, I spoke clearly and fully atBlendon to Mr. Delamotte’s family ofthe nature and fruits of faith. Mr.Broughton and my brother were there.Mr. Broughton’s great objection was, hecould never think that I had not faith,who had done and suffered such things.My brother was very angry, and told me Idid not know what mischief I had doneby talking thus. And, indeed, it didplease God then to kindle a fire which Itrust shall never be extinguished.

On Wednesday the 26th, the dayfixed for my return to Oxford, I oncemore waited on the Trustees for Georgia;but, being straitened for time, wasobliged to leave the papers for themwhich I had designed to give into theirown hands. One of these was the instru-ment whereby they had appointed meminister of Savannah; which, having nomore place in those parts, I thought it notright to keep any longer.

Peter Böhler walked with me afew miles, and exhorted me not to stopshort of the grace of God. AtGerrard’s Cross I plainly declared tothose whom God gave into my handsthe faith as it is in Jesus; as I did nextday to a young man I overtook on theroad, and in the evening to our friendsat Oxford. A strange doctrine, whichsome, who did not care to contradict,yet knew not what to make of; but oneor two, who were thoroughly bruisedby sin, willingly heard and received itgladly.

In the day or two following I wasmuch confirmed in the ‘truth that is aftergodliness’ by hearing the experiences ofMr. Hutchins, of Pembroke College, andMrs. Fox; two living witnesses that Godcan (at least, if He does not always) givethat faith whereof cometh salvation in amoment, as lightning falling fromheaven.

May 1, Mon. —The return of mybrother’s illness obliged me again to has-ten to London. In the evening I foundhim at James Hutton’s, better as to hishealth than I expected; but stronglyaverse from what he called ‘the newfaith.’

This evening our little society be-gan, which afterwards met in Fetter Lane.Our fundamental rules were as follow:

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In obedience to the command ofGod by St. James, and by the advice ofPeter Böhler, it is agreed by us,

1. That we will meet together oncea week to ‘confess our faults one to an-other, and pray one for another, that wemay be healed.’

2. That the persons so meeting bedivided into several bands, or little com-panies, none of them consisting of fewerthan five or more than ten persons.

3. That every one in order speak asfreely, plainly, and concisely as he can,the real state of his heart, with his severaltemptations and deliverances, since thelast time of meeting.

4. That all the bands have a confer-ence at eight every Wednesday evening,begun and ended with singing and prayer.

5. That any who desire to be admit-ted into the society be asked, ‘What areyour reasons for desiring this? Will yoube entirely open; using no kind of re-serve? Have you any objection to any ofour orders?’ (which may then be read).

6. That when any new member isproposed, every one present speakclearly and freely whatever objection hehas to him.

7. That those against whom no rea-sonable objection appears be, in orderfor their trial, formed into one or moredistinct bands, and some person agreedon to assist them.

8. That after two months’ trial, if noobjection then appear, they may be ad-mitted into the society.

9. That every fourth Saturday beobserved as a day of general interces-sion.

10. That on the Sunday seven-nightfollowing be a general lovefeast, fromseven till ten in the evening.

11. That no particular member beallowed to act in anything contrary toany order of the society; and that if anypersons, after being thrice admonished,do not conform thereto, they be not anylonger esteemed as members.

Wed. 3. —My brother had a longand particular conversation with PeterBöhler. And it now pleased God to openhis eyes; so that he also saw clearly whatwas the nature of that one true livingfaith, whereby alone, ‘through grace, weare saved.’

Thur. 4. —Peter Böhler left Lon-don, in order to embark for Carolina.

Oh what a work hath God begun, sincehis coming into England! Such an one asshall never come to an end till heavenand earth pass away. Friday and Satur-day I was at Blendon. They now—be-lieved our report.’ Oh may ‘the arm ofthe Lord’ be speedily ‘revealed untothem’!

Sun. 7. —I preached at St. Law-rence’s in the morning, and afterwards atSt. Katherine Cree’s church. I was en-abled to speak strong words at both, andwas therefore the less surprised at beinginformed I was not to preach any more ineither of those churches.

Tues. 9. —I preached at Great St.Helen’s, to a very numerous congrega-tion, on ‘He that spared not His own Son,but delivered Him up for us all, how shallHe not with Him also freely give us allthings?’ My heart was now so enlargedto declare the love of God to all that wereoppressed by the devil, that I did notwonder in the least when I was after-wards told, ‘Sir, you must preach here nomore.’

Wed. 10. —Mr. Stonehouse, vicarof Islington, was convinced of ‘the truthas it is in Jesus.’ From this time till Satur-day the 13th, I was sorrowful and veryheavy; being neither able to read, normeditate, nor sing, nor pray, nor do anything. Yet I was a little refreshed by PeterBöhler’s letter, which I insert in his ownwords:

[I have omitted Böhler’s letter as itwas written in the original language.]

[Brother,]I love you greatly, and think much of youin my journey, wishing and praying thatthe tender mercies of Jesus Christ theCrucified, whose bowels were moved to-wards you more than six thousand yearsago, may be manifested to your soul:that you may taste, and then see, how ex-ceedingly the Son of God has loved you,and loves you still; and that so you maycontinually trust in Him, and feel His lifein yourself. Beware of the sin of unbelief;and if you have not conquered it yet, seethat you conquer it this very day, throughthe blood of Jesus Christ. Delay not, Ibeseech you, to believe in your JesusChrist; but so put Him in mind of Hispromises to poor sinners that He may notbe able to refrain from doing for youwhat He hath done for so many others.

Oh how great, how inexpressible, howunexhausted is His love! Surely He isnow ready to help; and nothing can of-fend Him but our unbelief. Believe,therefore. Greet in my name yourbrother Charles and Hall; and admon-ish one another to believe, and then towalk circumspectly in the sight of God,to fight lawfully against the devil and theworld, and to crucify and to tread all sinunder your feet, as far as you are permit-ted through the grace of the secondAdam, whose life exceeds the death ofthe first Adam, and whose grace far sur-passes the corruption and damnation ofthe first Adam. The Lord bless you!Abide in faith, love, teaching, the com-munion of saints; and briefly, in allwhich we have in the New Testament. Iam,Your unworthy brother,PETER BÖHLER.

Sun. 14. —I preached in the morn-ing at St. Ann’s, Aldersgate, and in theafternoon at the Savoy chapel, free sal-vation by faith in the blood of Christ. Iwas quickly apprised that at St. Ann’slikewise I am to preach no more.

So true did I find the words of afriend, wrote to my brother about thistime:

I have seen upon this occasion morethan ever I could have imagined, how in-tolerable the doctrine of faith is to themind of man, and how peculiarly intoler-able to religious men. One may say themost unchristian things, even down toDeism; the most enthusiastic things, sothey proceed but upon mental raptures,lights, and unions; the most severethings, even the whole rigour of asceticmortification; and all this will be for-given. But if you speak of faith in such amanner as makes Christ a Saviour to theutmost, a most universal help and ref-uge; in such a manner as takes away glo-rying, but adds happiness to wretchedman; as discovers a greater pollution inthe best of us than we could before ac-knowledge, but brings a greater deliver-ance from it than we could before expect,—if any one offers to talk at this rate, heshall be heard with the same abhorrenceas if he was going to rob mankind of theirsalvation, their Mediator, or their hopesof forgiveness. I am persuaded that aMontanist or a Novatian, who from the

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height of his purity should look downwith contempt upon poor sinners, andexclude them from all mercy, would notbe thought such an overthrower of thegospel as he who should learn, from theAuthor of it, to be a friend of publicansand sinners, and to sit down upon thelevel with them as soon as they begin torepent. But this is not to be wondered at.For all religious people have such aquantity of righteousness, acquired bymuch painful exercise, and formed atlast into current habits; which is theirwealth, both for this world and the next.Now, all other schemes of religion areeither so complaisant as to tell them theyare very rich, and have enough to tri-umph in; or else only a little rough, butfriendly in the main, by telling them theirriches are not yet sufficient, but by sucharts of self-denial and mental refinementthey may enlarge the stock. But the doc-trine of faith is a downright robber. Ittakes away all this wealth, and only tellsus it is deposited for us with somebodyelse, upon whose bounty we must livelike mere beggars. Indeed, they that aretruly beggars, vile and filthy sinners tillvery lately, may stoop to live in this de-pendent condition—it suits them wellenough. But they who have long distin-guished themselves from the herd of vi-cious wretches, or have even gonebeyond moral men, —for them to be toldthat they are either not so well, or but thesame needy, impotent, insignificant ves-sels of mercy with the others, this is moreshocking to reason than transubstantia-tion. For reason had rather resign itspretensions to judge what is bread orflesh, than have this honour wrestedfrom it—to be the architect of virtue andrighteousness. But where am I running?My design was only to give you warningthat, wherever you go, this ‘foolishnessof preaching’ will alienate hearts fromyou and open mouths against you.

Fri. 19. —My brother had a secondreturn of his pleurisy. A few of us spentSaturday night in prayer. The next day,being Whit Sunday, after hearing Dr.Heylyn preach a truly Christian sermon(on ‘They were all filled with the HolyGhost’; ‘and so,’ said he, ‘may all you be,if it is not your own fault’), and assistinghim at the Holy Communion (his curatebeing taken ill in the church), I received

the surprising news that my brother hadfound rest to his soul. His bodily strengthreturned also from that hour. ‘Who is sogreat a God as our God?’

I preached at St. John’s, Wapping,at three, and at St. Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf,in the evening. At these churches like-wise I am to preach no more. At St.Antholin’s I preached on the Thursdayfollowing.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes-day, I had continual sorrow and heavi-ness’ in my ‘heart’; something of which Idescribed, in the broken manner I wasable, in the following letter to a friend:

Oh, why is it that so great, so wise, soholy a God will use such an instrumentas me! Lord, ‘let the dead bury theirdead!’ But wilt Thou send the dead toraise the dead? Yea, Thou sendest whomThou wilt send, and showest mercy bywhom Thou wilt show mercy! Amen! Beit then according to Thy will! If Thouspeak the word, Judas shall cast out dev-ils. I feel what you say (though notenough), for I am under the same con-demnation. I see that the whole law ofGod is holy, just, and good. I know everythought, every temper of my soul, oughtto bear God’s image and superscription.But how am I fallen from the glory ofGod! I feel that ‘I am sold under sin.’ Iknow that I too deserve nothing butwrath, being full of all abominations;and having no good thing in me to atonefor them, or to remove the wrath of God.All my works, my righteousness, myprayers, need an atonement for them-selves. So that my mouth is stopped. Ihave nothing to plead. God is holy, I amunholy. God is a consuming fire; I am al-together a sinner, meet to be consumed.Yet I hear a voice (and is it not the voiceof God?) saying, ‘Believe, and thou shaltbe saved. He that believeth is passedfrom death unto life. God so loved theworld that He gave His only-begottenSon, that whosoever believeth in Himshould not perish, but have everlastinglife.’ Oh let no one deceive us by vainwords, as if we had already attained thisfaith! By its fruits we shall know. Do wealready feel ‘peace with God’ and ‘joy inthe Holy Ghost’? Does ‘His Spirit bearwitness with our spirit, that we are thechildren of God?’ Alas! With mine Hedoes not. Nor, I fear, with yours. O Thou

Saviour of men, save us from trusting inanything but Thee! Draw us after Thee!Let us be emptied of ourselves, and thenfill us with all peace and joy in believing;and let nothing separate us from Thylove, in time or in eternity.

What occurred on Wednesday the24th, I think best to relate at large, afterpremissing what may make it the betterunderstood. Let him that cannot receiveit ask of the Father of lights that Hewould give more light to him and me.

1. I believe, till I was about tenyears old I had not sinned away that‘washing of the Holy Ghost’ whichwas given me in baptism; having beenstrictly educated and carefully taughtthat I could only be saved ‘by univer-sal obedience, by keeping all the com-mandments of God’; in the meaning ofwhich I was diligently instructed. Andthose instructions, so far as they re-spected outward duties and sins, I gladlyreceived and often thought of. But allthat was said to me of inward obedienceor holiness I neither understood nor re-membered. So that I was indeed as igno-rant of the true meaning of the law as Iwas of the gospel of Christ.

2. The next six or seven years werespent at school; where, outward re-straints being removed, I was much morenegligent than before, even of outwardduties, and almost continually guilty ofoutward sins, which I knew to be such,though they were not scandalous in theeye of the world. However, I still read theScriptures, and said my prayers morningand evening. And what I now hoped tobe saved by, was, (1) not being so bad asother people; (2) having still a kindnessfor religion; and (3) reading the Bible,going to church, and saying my prayers.

3. Being removed to the Universityfor five years, I still said my prayers bothin public and in private, and read, withthe Scriptures, several other books of re-ligion, especially comments on the NewTestament. Yet I had not all this while somuch as a notion of inward holiness;nay, went on habitually, and for the mostpart very contentedly, in some or otherknown sin: indeed, with some intermis-sion and short struggles, especially be-fore and after the Holy Communion,which I was obliged to receive thrice ayear. I cannot well tell what I hoped to be

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saved by now, when I was continuallysinning against that little light I had; un-less by those transient fits of what manydivines taught me to call repentance.

4. When I was about twenty-two,my father pressed me to enter intoholy orders. At the same time, the provi-dence of God directing me to Kempis’sChristian Pattern, I began to see, thattrue religion was seated in the heart, andthat God’s law extended to all ourthoughts as well as words and actions. Iwas, however, very angry at Kempis forbeing too strict; though I read him only inDean Stanhope’s translation. Yet I hadfrequently much sensible comfort inreading him, such as I was an utterstranger to before; and meeting likewisewith a religious friend, which I never hadtill now, I began to alter the whole formof my conversation, and to set in earnestupon a new life. I set apart an hour or twoa day for religious retirement. I commu-nicated every week. I watched against allsin, whether in word or deed. I began toaim at, and pray for, inward holiness. Sothat now, ‘doing so much, and living sogood a life,’ I doubted not but I was agood Christian.

5. Removing soon after to anotherCollege, I executed a resolution which Iwas before convinced was of the utmostimportance, shaking off at once all mytrifling acquaintance. I began to seemore and more the value of time. I ap-plied myself closer to study. I watchedmore carefully against actual sins; I ad-vised others to be religious, according tothat scheme of religion by which I mod-elled my own life. But meeting now withMr. Law’s Christian Perfection and Se-rious Call, although I was much of-fended at many parts of both, yet theyconvinced me more than ever of the ex-ceeding height and breadth and depth ofthe law of God. The light flowed in somightily upon my soul, that everythingappeared in a new view. I cried to Godfor help, and resolved not to prolong thetime of obeying Him as I had never donebefore. And by my continued endeavourto keep His whole law, inward and out-ward, to the utmost of my power, I waspersuaded that I should be accepted ofHim, and that I was even then in a state ofsalvation.

6. In 1730 I began visiting the pris-ons; assisting the poor and sick in town;

and doing what other good I could, bymy presence or my little fortune, to thebodies and souls of all men. To this end Iabridged myself of all superfluities, andmany that are called necessaries of life. Isoon became a by-word for so doing, andI rejoiced that my name was cast out asevil. The next spring I began observingthe Wednesday and Friday Fasts, com-monly observed in the ancient Church;tasting no food till three in the afternoon.And now I knew not how to go any fur-ther. I diligently strove against all sin. Iomitted no sort of self-denial which Ithought lawful; I carefully used, both inpublic and in private, all the means ofgrace at all opportunities. I omitted nooccasion of doing good; I for that reasonsuffered evil. And all this I knew to benothing, unless as it was directed towardinward holiness. Accordingly this, theimage of God, was what I aimed at in all,by doing His will, not my own. Yetwhen, after continuing some years in thiscourse, I apprehended myself to be neardeath, I could not find that all this gaveme any comfort or any assurance of ac-ceptance with God. At this I was then nota little surprised; not imagining I hadbeen all this time building on the sand,nor considering that ‘other foundationcan no man lay than that which is laid’ byGod, ‘even Christ Jesus.’

7. Soon after, a contemplative manconvinced me still more than I was con-vinced before, that outward works arenothing, being alone; and in several con-versations instructed me how to pursueinward holiness, or a union of the soulwith God. But even of his instructions(though I then received them as thewords of God) I cannot but now observe(1) that he spoke so incautiously againsttrusting in outward works, that he dis-couraged me from doing them at all; (2)that he recommended (as it were, to sup-ply what was wanting in them) mentalprayer, and the like exercises, as themost effectual means of purifying thesoul and uniting it with God. Now thesewere, in truth, as much my own works asvisiting the sick or clothing the naked;and the union with God thus pursued wasas really my own righteousness as any Ihad before pursued under another name.

8. In this refined way of trusting tomy own works and my own righteous-ness (so zealously inculcated by the

Mystic writers), I dragged on heavily,finding no comfort or help therein till thetime of my leaving England. On ship-board, however, I was again active inoutward works; where it pleased Godof His free mercy to give me twenty-sixof the Moravian brethren for compan-ions, who endeavoured to show me ‘amore excellent way.’ But I understoodit not at first. I was too learned and toowise. So that it seemed foolishnessunto me. And I continued preaching,and following after, and trusting in, thatrighteousness whereby no flesh can bejustified.

9. All the time I was at Savannah Iwas thus beating the air. Being ignorantof the righteousness of Christ, which, bya living faith in Him, bringeth salvation‘to every one that believeth.’ I sought toestablish my own righteousness; and solaboured in the fire all my days. I wasnow properly ‘under the law’; I knewthat ‘the law’ of God was ‘spiritual; Iconsented to it that it was good.’ Yea, ‘Idelighted in it, after the inner man.’ Yetwas I ‘carnal, sold under sin.’ Every daywas I constrained to cry out, ‘What I do, Iallow not: for what I would, I do not; butwhat I hate, that I do. To will is’ indeed‘present with me: but how to performthat which is good, I find not. For thegood which I would, I do not; but the evilwhich I would not, that I do. I find a law,that when I would do good, evil is pres-ent with me’: even ‘the law in my mem-bers, warring against the law of mymind,’ and still ‘bringing me intocaptivity to the law of sin.’

10. In this vile, abject state of bond-age to sin, I was indeed fighting continu-ally, but not conquering. Before, I hadwillingly served sin: now it was unwill-ingly; but still I served it. I fell, and rose,and fell again. Sometimes I was over-come, and in heaviness: sometimes Iovercame, and was in joy. For as in theformer state I had some foretastes of theterrors of the law; so had I in this, of thecomforts of the gospel. During thiswhole struggle between nature andgrace, which had now continued aboveten years, I had many remarkable returnsto prayer, especially when I was in trou-ble; I had many sensible comforts, whichare indeed no other than short anticipa-tions of the life of faith. But I was still‘under the law,’ not ‘under grace’ (the

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state most who are called Christians arecontent to live and die in); for I was onlystriving with, not freed from, sin. Neitherhad I the witness of the Spirit with myspirit, and indeed could not; for I ‘soughtit not by faith, but as it were by the worksof the law.’

11. In my return to England, Janu-ary 1738, being in imminent danger ofdeath, and very uneasy on that account, Iwas strongly convinced that the cause ofthat uneasiness was unbelief; and that thegaining a true, living faith was the ‘onething needful’ for me. But still I fixed notthis faith on its right object: I meant onlyfaith in God, not faith in or throughChrist. Again, I knew not that I waswholly void of this faith; but onlythought I had not enough of it. So thatwhen Peter Böhler, whom God preparedfor me as soon as I came to London, af-firmed of true faith in Christ (which isbut one) that it had those two fruits insep-arably attending it, ‘dominion over sinand constant peace from a sense of for-giveness,’ I was quite amazed, andlooked upon it as a new gospel. If thiswas so, it was clear I had not faith. But Iwas not willing to be convinced of this.Therefore I disputed with all my might,and laboured to prove that faith might bewhere these were not: for all the scrip-tures relating to this I had been long sincetaught to construe away; and to call allPresbyterians who spoke otherwise. Be-sides, I well saw no one could, in the na-ture of things, have such a sense offorgiveness, and not ‘feel it.’ But I felt itnot. If, then, there was no faith withoutthis, all my pretensions to faith droppedat once.

12. When I met Peter Böhler again,he consented to put the dispute upon theissue which I desired, namely, Scriptureand experience. I first consulted theScripture. But when I set aside theglosses of men, and simply consideredthe words of God, comparing them to-gether, endeavouring to illustrate the ob-scure by the plainer passages, I foundthey all made against me, and was forcedto retreat to my last hold, ‘that experi-ence would never agree with the literalinterpretation of those scriptures. Norcould I therefore allow it to be true, till Ifound some living witnesses of it.’ He re-plied, he could show me such at anytime; if I desired it, the next day. And ac-

cordingly the next day he came againwith three others, all of whom testi-fied, of their own personal experience,that a true living faith in Christ is in-separable from a sense of pardon forall past and freedom from all presentsins. They added with one mouth thatthis faith was the gift, the free gift ofGod; and that He would surely bestow itupon every soul who earnestly and per-severingly sought it . I was nowthroughly convinced; and, by the graceof God, I resolved to seek it unto the end,(1) By absolutely renouncing all depend-ence, in whole or in part, upon my ownworks or righteousness; on which I hadreally grounded my hope of salvation,though I knew it not, from my youth up;(2) by adding to the constant use of allthe other means of grace, continualprayer for this very thing, justifying, sav-ing faith, a full reliance on the blood ofChrist shed for me; a trust in Him, as myChrist, as my sole justification, sanctifi-cation, and redemption.

13. I continued thus to seek it(though with strange indifference, dull-ness, and coldness, and unusually fre-quent relapses into sin) till Wednesday,May 24. I think it was about five thismorning, that I opened my Testament onthose words, Ta\ me/gista h(min kai\ti/mia e(pagge/lmata dedw/rhtai,i( /ha ge/nhsqe qei/aj koinwnoi\qu/sewj. ‘There are given unto us ex-ceeding great and precious promises,even that ye should be partakers of the di-vine nature’ (2 Pet. i. 4).

Just as I went out, I opened it againon those words, ‘Thou art not far fromthe kingdom of God.’ In the afternoon Iwas asked to go to St. Paul’s. The anthemwas, ‘Out of the deep have I called untoThee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O letThine ears consider well the voice of mycomplaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be ex-treme to mark what is done amiss, OLord, who may abide it? For there ismercy with Thee; therefore shalt Thoube feared. O Israel, trust in the Lord: forwith the Lord there is mercy, and withHim is plenteous redemption. And Heshall redeem Israel from all his sins.’

14. In the evening I went very un-willingly to a society in AldersgateStreet, where one was reading Luther’spreface to the Epistle to the Romans.About a quarter before nine, while he

was describing the change which Godworks in the heart through faith inChrist, I felt my heart strangelywarmed. I felt I did trust in Christ,Christ alone for salvation; and an as-surance was given me that He hadtaken away my sins, even mine, andsaved me from the law of sin and death.

15. I began to pray with all mymight for those who had in a more espe-cial manner despitefully used me andpersecuted me. I then testified openly toall there what I now first felt in my heart.But it was not long before the enemysuggested, ‘This cannot be faith; forwhere is thy joy!’ Then was I taught thatpeace and victory over sin are essentialto faith in the Captain of our salvation;but that, as to the transports of joy thatusually attend the beginning of it, espe-cially in those who have mourneddeeply, God sometimes giveth, some-times withholdeth them, according to thecounsels of His own will.

16. After my return home, I wasmuch buffeted with temptations; butcried out, and they fled away. They re-turned again and again. I as often liftedup my eyes, and He ‘sent me help fromHis holy place.’ And herein I found thedifference between this and my formerstate chiefly consisted. I was striving,yea, fighting with all my might under thelaw, as well as under grace. But then Iwas sometimes, if not often, conquered;now, I was always conqueror.

17. Thur. 25. —The moment Iawaked, ‘Jesus, Master,’ was in my heartand in my mouth; and I found all mystrength lay in keeping my eye fixedupon Him, and my soul waiting on Himcontinually. Being again at St. Paul’s inthe afternoon, I could taste the goodword of God in the anthem, which be-gan, ‘My song shall be always of the lov-ing-kindness of the Lord: with my mouthwill I ever be showing forth Thy truthfrom one generation to another.’ Yet theenemy injected a fear, ‘If thou dost be-lieve, why is there not a more sensiblechange?’ I answered (yet not I), ‘That Iknow not. But this I know, I have “nowpeace with God.” And I sin not to-day,and Jesus my Master has forbid me totake thought for the morrow.’

18. ‘But is not any sort of fear,’continued the tempter, ‘a proof that thoudost not believe?’ I desired my Master to

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answer for me, and opened His Bookupon those words of St. Paul, ‘Withoutwere fightings, within were fears.’ Then,inferred I, well may fears be within me;but I must go on, and tread them undermy feet.

Fri. 26. —My soul continued inpeace, but yet in heaviness because ofmanifold temptations. I asked Mr.Töltschig, the Moravian, what to do. Hesaid, ‘You must not fight with them, asyou did before, but flee from them themoment they appear, and take shelter inthe wounds of Jesus.’ The same Ilearned also from the afternoon anthem,which was, ‘My soul truly waiteth stillupon God: for of Him cometh my salva-tion; He verily is my strength and mysalvation, He is my defence, so that Ishall not greatly fall. O put your trust inHim always, ye people; pour out yourhearts before Him; for God is our hope.’

Sat. 27. —Believing one reason ofmy want of joy was want of time forprayer, I resolved to do no business till Iwent to church in the morning, but tocontinue pouring out my heart beforeHim. And this day my spirit was en-larged; so that though I was now also as-saulted by many temptations, I was morethan conqueror, gaining more powerthereby to trust and to rejoice in God mySaviour.

Sun. 28. —I walked in peace, butnot in joy. In the same even, quiet state Iwas till the evening, when I was roughlyattacked in a large company as an enthu-siast, a seducer, and a setter-forth of newdoctrines. By the blessing of God, I wasnot moved to anger, but after a calm andshort reply went away; though not withso tender a concern as was due to thosewho were seeking death in the error oftheir life.

This day I preached in the morningat St. George’s, Bloomsbury, on ‘This isthe victory that overcometh the world,even our faith,’ and in the afternoon atthe chapel in Long Acre on God’s justi-fying the ungodly; the last time (I under-stand) I am to preach at either. ‘Not as Iwill, but as Thou wilt.’

Mon. 29. —I set out for Dummerwith Mr. Wolf, one of the first-fruits ofPeter Böhler’s ministry in England. Iwas much strengthened by the grace ofGod in him: yet was his state so far abovemine, that I was often tempted to doubt

whether we had one faith. But, withoutmuch reasoning about it, I held here:‘Though his be strong and mine weak,yet that God hath given some degree offaith even to me, I know by its fruits. ForI have constant peace; not one uneasythought. And I have freedom from sin;not one unholy desire.’

Yet on Wednesday did I grieve theSpirit of God, not only by not watchingunto prayer, but likewise by speakingwith sharpness instead of tender love ofone that was not sound in the faith. Im-mediately God hid His face, and I wastroubled; and in this heaviness I contin-ued till the next morning, June 1, when itpleased God, while I was exhorting an-other, to give comfort to my soul, and,after I had spent some time in prayer, todirect me to those gracious words, ‘Hav-ing therefore boldness to enter into theholiest by the blood of Jesus, let us drawnear with a true heart in full assurance offaith. Let us hold fast the profession ofour faith without wavering (for He isfaithful that promised); and let us con-sider one another to provoke unto loveand to good works.’

June 3, Sat. —I was so strongly as-saulted by one of my old enemies, that Ihad scarce strength to open my lips, oreven to look up for help. But after I hadprayed, faintly, as I could, the temptationvanished away.

Sun. 4. —Was indeed a feast-day.For from the time of my rising till pastone in the afternoon, I was praying, read-ing the Scriptures, singing praise, or call-ing sinners to repentance. All these daysI scarce remember to have opened theTestament, but upon some ‘great andprecious promise.’ And I saw more thanever that the gospel is in truth but onegreat promise, from the beginning of it tothe end.

Tues. 6. —I had still more comfort,and peace, and joy; on which I fear I be-gan to presume: for in the evening I re-ceived a letter from Oxford which threwme into much perplexity. It was assertedtherein, ‘That no doubting could consistwith the least degree of true faith; thatwhoever at any time felt any doubt orfear was not weak in faith, but had nofaith at all; and that none hath any faithtill the law of the Spirit of life has madehim wholly free from the law of sin anddeath.’

Begging of God to direct me, Iopened my Testament on 1 Cor. iii. 1,&c., where St. Paul speaks of thosewhom he terms ‘babes in Christ,’ whowere ‘not able to bear strong meat,’ nay(in a sense) ‘carnal’; to whom neverthe-less he says, ‘ye are God’s building, yeare the temple of God.’ Surely, then,these men had some degree of faith;though, it is plain, their faith was butweak.

After some hours spent in theScripture and prayer, I was much com-forted. Yet I felt a kind of soreness in myheart, so that I found my wound was notfully healed. O God, save Thou me, andall that are ‘weak in the faith,’ from‘doubtful disputations!’

Wed. 7. —I determined, if Godshould permit, to retire for a short timeinto Germany. I had fully proposed, be-fore I left Georgia, so to do, if it shouldplease God to bring me back to Europe.And I now clearly saw the time wascome. My weak mind could not bear tobe thus sawn asunder. And I hoped theconversing with those holy men whowere themselves living witnesses of thefull power of faith, and yet able to bearwith those that are weak, would be ameans, under God, of so establishing mysoul, that I might go on from faith to faithand ‘from strength to strength.’

Thur. 8. —I went to Salisbury, totake leave of my mother. The next day Ileft Sarum, and on Saturday came toStanton Harcourt. Having preached faithin Christ there on Sunday the 11th, I wenton to Oxford; and thence on Monday toLondon, where I found Mr. Ingham justsetting out. We went on board the nextday, Tuesday the 13th, and fell down toGravesend that night.

ConclusionJohn Wesley was obviously a com-

plex personality with an inherent bent to-ward “godliness.” The journal entriesincluded here disclose he spent the firstyears of his life trying to do all he possi-bly could to be worthy of salvation. Theentry of February 6 (p. 6) indicates hemay have found the idea of being “hatedby all men” attractive. Indeed, the entryof February 26 (p. 7) conveys the notionhe judged his effectiveness by whetheror not “it gave most offense.”

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The list of resolutions he made onMarch 2 (February 28 entry, p. 7) reveala man totally consumed with the idea hecould somehow do something to makehimself worthy. A mere three days later,however, he is convinced his centralproblem is he lacks “faith.” If you readhim closely, he seems to identify believ-ing with the born-again experience.

When he questions whether heshould continue preaching, others en-courage him to continue, telling him to“preach faith till you have it; and then,because you have it, you will preachfaith.” To my way of thinking, that was amistake—a mistake on the part of thosewho would give him such advice, and amistake on Wesley’s part to follow it. Heshould have devoted himself immedi-ately to seeking salvation. As it was, hewas later reproached for havingpreached concerning something he hadnever experienced. That could only haveincreased the pressure on him to attainthe experience at all costs—even at thecost of self-delusion.

The entry for March 17 (p. 8)clearly reveals the mind of a man con-sumed by the idea of leading people toChrist even though just two weeks ear-lier he had decided he was himself notsaved. He writes, “We were fully deter-mined to lose no opportunity of awaken-ing, instructing, or exhorting any whomwe might meet with in our journey.” Hethen recounts the effect his preachinghad on a woman at the inn. You can seefrom that one entry alone how he mighthave continued unsaved throughout hisentire life doing just as he was alreadydoing.

Wesley tells us that, on March 27(p. 9), the message he preached resultedin the conversion of a condemned pris-oner. However, he clearly revealswhere he got that message in what hewrites for the entry of April 22 (p. 9). Ifyou compare the statements made therewith the things he preached twentyyears later, you will find an exact equiv-alent. (See “A Question for the Sleeper:Are You Aware You Are Snoring?” inthis issue.)

It can hardly be denied that Wesleywas merely preaching the message hegained from Peter Böhler and theMoravians. Neither can one deny that 1)he was preaching that message before he

was himself “converted,” and 2) hispreaching was resulting in people beingsaved.

Wesley tells us his own conversioncame after three days of “‘continual sor-row and heaviness’ in my ‘heart.’” Thatstatement could aptly describe the feel-ings one has while under the convictionof the Holy Spirit. However, if you readwhat he writes as a preface to the experi-ence he had on May 24 (p. 12), you canonly be left to wonder whether his under-standing of what was necessary for himto be saved may well have been the verything that prevented his salvation. Thatis, he may have been so firmly convincedthat belief was the only thing he lackedthat he could not see himself as a sinner.He could have thereby overlooked thesingular importance of repentance as aprerequiste to the new birth experience.

As evidence of that fact it should benoted he indicates that, as a good Angli-can, he believed he gained a “washing ofthe Holy Ghost” by being baptized as aninfant. He tells us he was seriously reli-gious and legalistically sought to adhereto the moral law. Although he readily ad-mits he was ignorant of “the gospel ofChrist,” that is not necessarily an admis-sion that he saw himself as unsaved.

He says he entered the ministry attwenty-two at his father’s urging andshortly thereafter began to seek a deeperChristian life by reading what others hadwritten. He made resolutions to do thisand do that, and to deny himself in vari-ous ways. Yet he found nothing that gavehim any assurance he was pleasing God.

On his way to America as a mis-sionary, Wesley heard the message ofsalvation by faith from a group oftwenty-six Moravian missionaries. Twoyears and three months later, on his re-turn to England, he was convinced helacked the faith they preached. Less thanfour months later he had his “conversionexperience” in which his central focuswas not repentance but rather whether ornot he believed.

Perhaps it is nothing more than thelanguage Wesley used to describe hisconversion that makes me questionwhether or not he understood he had torepent of his sins and ask forgiveness.Yet I cannot ignore the possibility thatsomething sinister is lurking behind hisexistential description of what is actually

a very down-to-earth experience. Hesays, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. Ifelt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone forsalvation; and an assurance was givenme that He had taken away my sins, evenmine, and saved me from the law of sinand death.” That sounds like he suddenlydecided to believe he believed.

I can see Wesley had a strong con-cern for whether or not he believed, butwhere does he mention he repented? Idon’t see it. In what he says immedi-ately following, I also see he had a con-cern for those who had wronged him.But that could be a “holier-than-thou”response. Moreover, I find his lack ofjoy disturbing. If you have just askedGod’s forgiveness and you know Hehas granted it because you honestly be-lieve, you should at the very least expe-rience a huge sense of relief that you nolonger have to carry a heavy load ofguilt.

All these things make his accountof his “conversion” seem more than a lit-tle suspect to my way of thinking. Thestatement that “I felt my heart strangelywarmed” tends more to mysticism thanto the reality of the new-birth experiencein one who has gone through the honestsoul-searching—the weeping and wail-ing—that accompanied the conversionof the thousands who heard the Gospelmessage John Wesley preached.

Was John Wesley a Pretender? Ican’t say one way or the other. On the ba-sis of available evidence, I could go eitherway. What do you think? Just so that weleave no obvious stone unturned, how-ever, I’ve included in this issue the tran-script of several of the sermons JohnWesley preached. One of them is the ser-mon he preached at Stanton Harcourt onSunday, June 11th, two days before heembarked for Germany where he soakedup the theological beliefs of theMoravians.

I have no doubt many of theMoravians knew all about what God re-quires for one to be born again. The onlyquestion I have is whether John Wesleyintellectually understood something hehad never experienced personally. Didhis life-long reliance on good works pre-vent him from actually seeing himself as asinner in desperate need of forgiveness? Ican’t honestly say what I think, one wayor the other. God knows. ■

14 October 1994

the gospel” (Mark 1:15) so that they mightescape the wrath of God. The Greek wordtranslated “gospel” in the New Testamentliterally means “good news.” The “goodnews” these men preached was that Godhad fulfilled in Jesus Christ all that He hadpromised through Moses and the Proph-ets, thereby providing a means whereby allmen—Jew and Gentile alike—could besaved.

Don’t let that seemingly simpleTruth mislead you. It packs a potentpower to totally transform the one whobelieves it. Yet one can be deliveredfrom the wrath of God by believing andclinging to that central Truth with little,if any, knowledge at all of the things Godpromised through Moses and the Proph-ets. The history of the Church over thepast 1,800 years since the loss of The Ap-ostolic Teaching will ultimately stand asmute testimony to that fact.

What I am saying is this: The Teach-ing of Moses and The Teaching of theProphets existed long before it became thebasis for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thatis, Moses and the Prophets made specificstatements concerning the Messiah Whowould one day come to save Israel fromsin long before it became known that JesusChrist was the One of Whom they spoke.That is why you can today be born againand still have little or no knowledge what-soever of The Apostolic Teaching God hascalled me to restore and teach.

Since I am not an Evangelist, I do notseek to “convert” anyone. On the contrary,as I have explained elsewhere, my callingdemands that I strive to teach only thosewho have already been born again. That is,my ministry as a Teacher begins where theministry of the Evangelist leaves off. Thatis why I commend to you the words ofJohn Wesley, a man who ministered as anEvangelist and saw a phenomenal out-pouring of God’s Holy Spirit wherever hepreached in his own day.

The evidence indicates John Wesleyaccurately preached the basics of the Gos-pel of Jesus Christ. Multiplied thousandsheard that simple message and believed it.Consequently, they repented and wereborn again—that is, they became True Be-lievers. Millions more have responded in

like fashion to that same simple messageover the years since.

I readily admit John Wesley erredgreatly in emphasizing experiential evi-dence as a logical means of validatingTruth. However, that error hardly cancelsout the basic Truth of the Gospel messagehe preached. I’m sure those who want tocontinue in their pretense will also findfault with his incipient mysticism. Let Pre-tenders seek cover where they will. Theywill discover too late it provides no protec-tion at all against the wrath of God. Thosewho have been born again can see thatWesley understood the essential Truth ofthe Gospel message and that he has statedit more or less accurately here.

First, Wesley has emphasized thatsaving faith (belief) must have a definitecontent. He has also explained that thecontent of saving faith (belief) must be thefoundational belief according to whichone conducts his or her life. That shouldput True Believers on to the lie of thecliché-spouting Pretenders who are strut-ting around in the Church today, sayingone thing and living another.

Second, he has emphasized it is pos-sible for a person to say and do all the rightthings without having produced the para-mount thing God requires: repentance.Perhaps that will enlighten some Pretend-ers who are counting on their own good“godliness” to provide favorable evidencewhen they finally stand before the Lord ofall Creation.

Third, Wesley has emphasized thatall those who have been born again have adefinite “witness” within themselves.Here he has erred in his understanding ofthe Hebrew idiom “keep the command-ments.” That is, he assumes it pertains tooutward activity. But he has hit the nailsquarely on the head in affirming that thepurpose of the “witness” within the TrueBeliever is for the Believer’s own benefit,not for the benefit of others.

His explanation of the nature of thatinternal “witness” is also somewhat mis-leading. That is because born-again Be-lievers in his day knew only the existentialelement in the new-birth experience.Therefore, his explanation tends towardmysticism. But that is only because helacked crucial information concerning theobjective/subjective nature of the Truththat the Church lost when it lost The Apos-tolic Teaching.

The Truth of the Gospel messagethat men like John Calvin, John Wesley,and Charles Finney preached can still beheard in some segments of the Church tothis very day. For that reason, True Believ-ers are still coming to a saving knowledgeof the Truth. Those are the “Christians” Ihave been called to reach with The Apos-tolic Teaching. But I do not expect thattask to be easy.

True Believers who have respondedto the Gospel message by repenting andbegging God’s forgiveness face a daunt-ingly unprecedented circumstance: Pre-tenders have managed to so thoroughlydistort the Truth of the Gospel messagethat most “Christians” who think they havebeen born again are actually nothing morethan Pretenders who believe a lie that ismore to their liking than the Truth. Mostare also completely unaware of the historicunderstanding of what it actually means tobe “born again.”

It is not for the benefit of Pretendersthat I have chosen to provide the followinginformation. God has not called me to dis-pel their delusion. I do it to provide TrueBelievers an opportunity to see through thevarious forms of idiocy one finds in theChurch today so that they might respondby seeking a greater knowledge of theTruth of The Apostolic Teaching.

It is not my responsibility to urgeanyone to believe my message, nor is it myconcern whether anyone chooses to do so.I have no doubt those who love the Truthwill hear. But on the off chance that a fewPretenders might also cease snoring longenough to contemplate the desperate na-ture of their dire circumstances before thewrath of God falls, here are the words of aman God used to preach the Truth to anearlier generation of Believers.

Salvation By Faith:June 11, 1738“By grace are ye saved through faith.”Eph. ii. 8.

1. All the blessings which God hathbestowed upon man, are of his mere grace,bounty, or favour; his free, undeserved fa-vour; favour altogether undeserved; manhaving no claim to the least of his mercies.It was free grace that “formed man of thedust of the ground, and breathed into him aliving soul,” and stamped on that soul the

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image of God, and “put all things under hisfeet.” The same free grace continues to us,at this day, life, and breath, and all things.For there is nothing we are, or have, or do,which can deserve the least thing at God’shand. “All our works, thou, O God! hastwrought in us.” These, therefore, are somany more instances of free mercy: Andwhatever righteousness may be found inman, this is also the gift of God.

2. Wherewithal then shall a sinfulman atone for any the least of his sins?with his own works? No. Were they everso many, or holy, they are not his own, butGod’s. But indeed they are all unholy andsinful themselves, so that every one ofthem needs a fresh atonement. Only cor-rupt fruit grows on a corrupt tree. And hisheart is altogether corrupt and abominable;being “come short of the glory of God,”the glorious righteousness at first im-pressed on his soul, after the image of hisgreat Creator. Therefore, having nothing,neither rightousness nor works, to plead,his mouth is utterly stopped before God.

3. If then sinful men find favour withGod, it is “grace upon grace!” If Godvouchsafe still to pour fresh blessingsupon us, yea, the greatest of all blessings,salvation; what can we say to these things,but, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeak-able gift!” And thus it is. Herein “Godcommendeth his love toward us, in that,while we were yet sinners, Christ died” tosave us. “By grace,” then, “are ye savedthrough faith.” Grace is the source, faiththe condition, of salvation.

Now, that we fall not short of thegrace of God, it concerns us carefully to in-quire,

I. What faith it is through which weare saved.

II. What is the salvation which isthrough faith.

III. How we may answer some ob-jections.

I. What faith it is through which weare saved.

1. And, First, it is not barely the faithof a Heathen.

Now, God requireth of a Heathen tobelieve, “that God is; that he is a rewarderof them that diligently seek him;” and thathe is to be sought by glorifying him asGod, by giving him thanks for all things,and by a careful practice of moral virtue, ofjustice, mercy, and truth, toward their fel-low-creatures. A Greek or Roman, there-

fore, yea, a Scythian or Indian, waswithout excuse if he did not believe thusmuch: The being and attributes of God, afuture state of reward and punishment, andthe obligatory nature of moral virtue. Forthis is barely the faith of a Heathen.

2. Nor, Secondly, is it the faith of adevil, though this goes much farther thanthat of a Heathen. For the devil believes,not only that there is a wise and powerfulGod, gracious to reward, and just to pun-ish; but also, that Jesus is the Son of God,the Christ, the Saviour of the world. So wefind him declaring, in express terms, (Lukeiv. 34,) “I know thee who thou art; theHoly One of God.” Nor can we doubt butthat unhappy spirit believes all thosewords which came out of the mouth of theHoly One; yea, and whatsoever else waswritten by those holy men of old, of two ofwhom he was compelled to give that glori-ous testimony, “These men are the ser-vants of the Most High God, who showunto you the way of salvation.”

Thus much, then, the great enemy ofGod and man believes and trembles in be-lieving,—that God was made manifest inthe flesh; that he will “tread all enemies un-der his feet;” and that “all Scripture wasgiven by inspiration of God.” Thus fargoeth the faith of a devil.

3. Thirdly. The faith through whichwe are saved, in that sense of the wordwhich will hereafter be explained, is notbarely that which the Apostles themselveshad while Christ was yet upon earth;though they so believed on him as to leaveall and follow him; although they had thenpower to work miracles, to “heal all man-ner of sickness, and all manner of disease;”yea, they had then “power and authorityover all devils;” and, which is beyond allthis, were sent by their Master to “preachthe kingdom of God.”

4. What faith is it then throughwhich we are saved? It may be an-swered, First, in general, it is a faith inChrist: Christ, and God throughChrist, are the proper objects of it.Herein, therefore, it is sufficiently, abso-lutely distinguished from the faith either ofancient or modern Heathens. And from thefaith of a devil it is fully distinguished bythis, —it is not barely a speculative, ratio-nal thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train ofideas in the head; but also a disposition ofthe heart. For thus saith the Scripture,“With the heart man believeth unto righ-

teousness,” and, “If thou shalt confess withthy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believewith thy heart, that God hath raised himfrom the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

5. And herein does it differ from thatfaith which the Apostles themselves hadwhile our Lord was on earth, that it ac-knowledges the necessity and merit of hisdeath, and the power of his resurrection. Itacknowledges his death as the only suffi-cient means of redeeming man from deatheternal, and his resurrection as the restora-tion of us all to life and immortality; inas-much as he “was delivered for our sins,and rose again for our justification.”Christian faith is then, not only an as-sent to the whole gospel of Christ, butalso a full reliance on the blood ofChrist; a trust in the merits of his life,death, and resurrection; a recumbencyupon him as our atonement and our life,as given for us, and living in us; and, inconsequence hereof, a closing with him,and cleaving to him, as our “wisdom,righteousness, sanctification, and re-demption,” or, in one word, our salva-tion.

II. What salvation it is, which isthrough this faith, is the Second thing to beconsidered.

1. And, First, whatsoever else it im-ply, it is a present salvation. It is somethingattainable, yea, actually attained, on earth,by those who are partakers of this faith. Forthus saith the Apostle to the believers atEphesus, and in them to the believers of allages, not, Ye shall be, (though that also istrue,) but, “Ye are saved through faith.”

2. Ye are saved (to comprise all inone word) from sin. This is the salvationwhich is through faith. This is that greatsalvation foretold by the angel, before Godbrought his First-begotten into the world:“Thou shalt call his name JESUS: For heshall save his people from their sins.” Andneither here, nor in other parts of holy writ,is there any limitation or restriction. All hispeople, or, as it is elsewhere expressed, “allthat believe in him,” he will save from alltheir sins; from original and actual, pastand present sin, “of the flesh and of thespirit.” Through faith that is in him, theyare saved both from the guilt and from thepower of it.

3. First. From the guilt of all past sin:For, whereas all the world is guilty beforeGod, insomuch that should he “be extremeto mark what is done amiss, there is none

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that could abide it;” and whereas, “by thelaw is” only “the knowledge of sin,” but nodeliverance from it, so that, “by fulfillingthe deeds of the law, no flesh can be justi-fied in his sight;” now “the righteousnessof God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, ismanifested unto all that believe.” Now“they are justified freely by his grace,through the redemption that is in JesusChrist.” “Him God hath set forth to be apropitiation through faith in his blood, todeclare his righteousness for (or by) the re-mission of the sins that are past.” Now hathChrist taken away “the curse of the law,being made a curse for us.” He hath “blot-ted out the handwriting that was against us,taking it out of the way, nailing it to hiscross.” “There is, therefore, no condemna-tion now, to them which” believe “inChrist Jesus.”

4. And being saved from guilt, theyare saved from fear. Not indeed from a fil-ial fear of offending; but from all servilefear; from that fear which hath torment;from fear of punishment; from fear of thewrath of God, whom they now no longerregard as a severe Master, but as an indul-gent Father. “They have not received againthe spirit of bondage, but the Spirit ofadoption, whereby they cry, Abba, Father:The Spirit itself also bearing witness withtheir spirits, that they are the children ofGod.” They are also saved from the fear,though not from the possibility, of fallingaway from the grace of God, and comingshort of the great and precious promises.Thus have they “peace with God throughour Lord Jesus Christ. They rejoice in hopeof the glory of God. And the love of God isshed abroad in their hearts, through theHoly Ghost which is given unto them.”And hereby they are persuaded, (thoughperhaps not at all times, nor with the samefulness of persuasion,) that “neither death,nor life, nor things present, nor things tocome, nor height, nor depth, nor any othercreature, shall be able to separate themfrom the love of God, which is in Christ Je-sus our Lord.”

5. Again, through this faith they aresaved from the power of sin, as well asfrom the guilt of it. So the Apostle de-clares, “ye know that he was manifested totake away our sins; and in him is no sin.Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not.”(1 John iii. 5, &c.) Again, “little children,let no man deceive you. He thatcommitteth sin is of the devil. Whosoever

believeth, is born of God. And whosoeveris born of God doth not commit sin, for hisseed remaineth in him: And he cannot sin,because he is born of God.” Once more,“We know, that whosoever is born of Godsinneth not: But he that is begotten of God,keepeth himself, and that wicked onetoucheth him not.” (1 John v. 18.)

6. He that is, by faith, born of God,sinneth not (1.) By any habitual sin; for allhabitual sin is sin reigning: But sin cannotreign in any that believeth. Nor (2.) By anywillful sin; for his will, while he abideth inthe faith, is utterly set against all sin, andabhorreth it as deadly poison. Nor (3.) Byany sinful desire; for he continuallydesireth the holy and perfect will of God;and any tendency to an unholy desire, he,by the grace of God, stifleth in the birth.Nor (4.) Doth he sin by infirmities,whether in act, word, or thought; for his in-firmities have no concurrence of his will;and without this they are not properly sins.Thus, “he that is born of God doth notcommit sin:” And though he cannot say,he hath not sinned, yet now “he sinnethnot.”

7. This then is the salvation whichis through faith, even in the presentworld: A salvation from sin, and theconsequences of sin, both often ex-pressed in the word justification; which,taken in the largest sense, implies a de-liverance from guilt and punishment,by the atonement of Christ actually ap-plied to the soul of the sinner now be-lieving on him, and a deliverance fromthe power of sin, through Christ formedin his heart. So that he who is thus justi-fied, or saved by faith, is indeed bornagain. He is born again of the Spirit untoa new life, which “is hid with Christ inGod.” And as a new-born babe he gladlyreceives the adolon, “sincere milk of theword, and grows thereby;” going on in themight of the Lord his God, from faith tofaith, from grace to grace, until at length,he come unto “a perfect man, unto themeasure of the stature of the fulness ofChrist.”

III. The First usual objection to thisis,

1. That “to preach salvation, or justi-fication, by faith only, is to preach againstholiness and good works.” To which ashort answer might be given: “It would beso, if we spake, as some do, of a faithwhich was separate from these: But we

speak of a faith which is not so, but pro-ductive of all good works, and all holi-ness.”

2. But it may be of use to consider itmore at large; especially since it is no newobjection, but as old as St. Paul’s time: Foreven then it was asked, “Do we not makevoid the law through faith?” We answer,First, all who preach not faith, do mani-festly make void the law; either directlyand grossly, by limitations and commentsthat eat out all the spirit of the text; or, indi-rectly, by not pointing out the only meanswhereby it is possible to perform it.Whereas, Secondly, “we establish thelaw,” both by showing its full extent andspiritual meaning; and by calling all to thatliving way, whereby “the righteousness ofthe law may be fulfilled in them.” These,while they trust in the blood of Christalone, use all the ordinances which he hathappointed, do all the “good works whichhe had before prepared that they shouldwalk therein,” and enjoy and manifest allholy and heavenly tempers, even the samemind that was in Christ Jesus.

3. “But does not preaching this faithlead men into pride?” We answer, Acci-dentally it may: Therefore ought every be-liever to be earnestly cautioned, in thewords of the great Apostle, “Because ofunbelief” the first branches “were brokenoff; and thou standest by faith. Be nothigh-minded, but fear. If God spared notthe natural branches, take heed lest hespare not thee. Behold, therefore, thegoodness and severity of God! On themwhich fell severity; but towards thee good-ness, if thou continue in his goodness; oth-erwise thou also shalt be cut off.” Andwhile he continues therein, he will remem-ber those words of St. Paul, foreseeing andanswering this very objection, (Rom. iii.27,) “Where is boasting then? It is ex-cluded. By what law? of works? Nay: Butby the law of faith.” If a man were justifiedby his works, he would have whereof toglory. But there is no glorying for him“that worketh not, but believeth on himthat justifieth the ungodly.” (Rom. iv. 5.)To the same effect are the words both pre-ceding and following the text: (Eph. ii. 4,&c.) “God, who is rich in mercy, evenwhen we were dead in sins, hath quick-ened us together with Christ, (by grace yeare saved,) that he might show the exceed-ing riches of his grace in his kindness to-ward us through Christ Jesus. For, by

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grace are ye saved through faith; and thatnot of yourselves.” Of yourselves comethneither your faith nor your salvation: “It isthe gift of God;” the free, undeserved gift;the faith through which ye are saved, aswell as the salvation, which he of his owngood pleasure, his mere favour, annexesthereto. That ye believe, is one instance ofhis grace; that, believing, ye are saved, an-other. “Not of works, lest any man shouldboast.” For all our works, all our righteous-ness, which were before our believing,merited nothing of God but condemnation:So far were they from deserving faith,which therefore, whenever given, is not ofworks. Neither is salvation of the workswe do when we believe: For it is then Godthat worketh in us: And, therefore, that hegiveth us a reward for what he himselfworketh, only commendeth the riches ofhis mercy, but leaveth us nothing whereofto glory.

4. “However, may not the speakingthus of the mercy of God, as saving or jus-tifying freely by faith only, encourage menin sin?” Indeed it may and will: Many will“continue in sin that grace may abound:”But their blood is upon their own head.The goodness of God ought to lead themto repentance; and so it will those whoare sincere of heart. When they knowthere is yet forgiveness with him, theywill cry aloud that he would blot outtheir sins also, through faith which is inJesus. And if they earnestly cry, andfaint not; if they seek him in all themeans he hath appointed; if they refuseto be comforted till he come; “he willcome, and will not tarry.” And he can domuch work in a short time. Many are theexamples, in the Acts of the Apostles, ofGod’s working this faith in men’s hearts,even like lightning falling from heaven. Soin the same hour that Paul and Silas beganto preach, the jailor repented, believed, andwas baptized; as were three thousand, bySt. Peter, on the day of Pentecost, who allrepented and believed at his first preach-ing. And, blessed be God, there are nowmany living proofs that he is still “mightyto save.”

5. Yet to the same truth, placed in an-other view, a quite contrary objection ismade: “If a man cannot be saved by all thathe can do, this will drive men to despair.”True, to despair of being saved by theirown works, their own merits, or righteous-ness. And so it ought; for none can trust in

the merits of Christ, till he has utterly re-nounced his own. He that “goeth about toestablish his own righteousness,” cannotreceive the righteousness of God. Therighteousness which is of faith cannot begiven him while he trusteth in that which isof the law.

6. “But this,” it is said, “is an uncom-fortable doctrine.” The devil spoke likehimself, that is, without either truth orshame, when he dared to suggest to menthat it is such. It is the only comfortableone, it is “very full of comfort,” to allself-destroyed, self-condemned sinners.That “whosoever believeth on him shallnot be ashamed: That the same Lord overall is rich unto all that call upon him:” Hereis comfort, high as heaven, stronger thandeath! What! Mercy for all? for Zaccheus,a public robber? For Mary Magdalene, acommon harlot? Methinks I hear one say,“Then I, even I, may hope for mercy!” Andso thou mayest, thou afflicted one, whomnone hath comforted! God will not cast outthy prayer. Nay, perhaps, he may say thenext hour, “Be of good cheer, thy sins areforgiven thee;” so forgiven, that they shallreign over thee no more; yea, and that “theHoly Spirit shall bear witness with thyspirit that thou art a child of God.” O gladtidings! Tidings of great joy, which aresent unto all people! “Ho, every one thatthirsteth, come ye to the waters: Come ye,and buy, without money and withoutprice.” Whatsoever your sins be, “thoughred, like crimson,” though more than thehairs of your head, “return ye unto theLord, and he will have mercy upon you;and to our God, for he will abundantly par-don.”

7. When no more objections occur,then we are simply told, that “salvation byfaith only ought not to be preached as thefirst doctrine, or, at least, not to bepreached to all.” But what saith the HolyGhost? “Other foundation can no man laythan that which is laid, even Jesus Christ.”So then, that “whosoever believeth on himshall be saved,” is, and must be, the foun-dation of all our preaching; that is, must bepreached first. “Well, but not to all.” Towhom, then, are we not to Preach it?Whom shall we except? the poor? Nay;they have a peculiar right to have the gos-pel preached unto them. The unlearned?No. God hath revealed these things untounlearned and ignorant men from the be-ginning. The young? By no means. “Suf-

fer these,” in anywise, to come unto Christ,“and forbid them not.” The sinners? Leastof all. “He came not to call the righteous,but sinners to repentance.” Why then, ifany, we are to except the rich, the learned,the reputable, the moral men. And, it istrue, they too often except themselvesfrom hearing; yet we must speak the wordsof our Lord. For thus the tenor of our com-mission runs, “Go and preach the gospel toevery creature.” If any man wrest it, or anypart of it, to his destruction, he must bearhis own burden. But still, “as the Lordliveth, whatsoever the Lord saith unto us,that we will speak.”

8. At this time, more especially, willwe speak, that “by grace are ye savedthrough faith:” Because, never was themaintaining this doctrine more seasonablethan it is at this day. Nothing but this caneffectually prevent the increase of theRomish delusion among us. It is endless toattack, one by one, all the errors of thatChurch. But salvation by faith strikes at theroot, and all fall at once where this is estab-lished. It was this doctrine, which ourChurch justly calls the strong rock andfoundation of the Christian religion, thatfirst drove Popery out of these kingdoms;and it is this alone can keep it out. Nothingbut this can give a check to that immoralitywhich hath “overspread the land as aflood.” Can you empty the great deep,drop by drop? Then you may reform us bydissuasives from particular vices. But letthe “righteousness which is of God byfaith” be brought in, and so shall its proudwaves be stayed. Nothing but this can stopthe mouths of those who “glory in theirshame, and openly deny the Lord thatbought them.” They can talk as sublimelyof the law, as he that hath it written, byGod, in his heart. To hear them speak onthis head might incline one to think theywere not far from the kingdom of God: Buttake them out of the law into the gospel;begin with the righteousness of faith; withChrist, “the end of the law to every one thatbelieveth;” and those who but now ap-peared almost, if not altogether Christians,stand confessed the sons of perdition; asfar from life and salvation (God be merci-ful unto them!) as the depth of hell fromthe height of heaven.

9. For this reason the adversary sorages whenever “salvation by faith” isdeclared to the world: For this reason didhe stir up earth and hell, to destroy those

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who first preached it. And for the samereason, knowing that faith alone couldoverturn the foundations of his kingdom,did he call forth all his forces, and em-ploy all his arts of lies and calumny, toaffright Martin Luther from reviving it.Nor can we wonder thereat; for, as thatman of God observes, “How would it en-rage a proud strong man armed, to bestopped and set at nought by a little childcoming against him with a reed in hishand!” especially, when he knew that lit-tle child would surely overthrow himand tread him under foot. Even so, LordJesus! Thus hath thy strength been ever“made perfect in weakness!” Go forth,then, thou little child that believest inhim, and his “right hand shall teach theeterrible things!” Though thou be as help-less and weak as an infant of days, thestrong man shall not be able to stand be-fore thee. Thou shalt prevail over him,and subdue him, and overthrow him, andtrample him under thy feet. Thou shaltmarch on, under the great Captain of thysalvation, “conquering and to conquer,”until all thine enemies are destroyed, and“death is swallowed up in victory.”

Now, “thanks be to God, whichgiveth us the victory through our LordJesus Christ;” to whom, with the Fatherand the Holy Ghost, be blessing, andglory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,and honour and power, and might, forever and ever. Amen.

The Almost Christian:July 25, 1741“Almost thou persuadest me to be aChristian.” Acts xxvi. 28.

And many there are who go thus far:Ever since the Christian religion was in theworld, there have been many, in every ageand nation, who were almost persuaded tobe Christians. But seeing it avails nothingbefore God to go only thus far, it highlyimports us to consider,

First. What is implied in being al-most,

Secondly. What in being altogether,a Christian.

I. (I.) 1. Now in the being almost aChristian is implied, First, heathen hon-esty. No one, I suppose, will make anyquestion of this; especially, since by hea-then honesty here, I mean not that which

is recommended in the writings of theirphilosophers only, but such as the com-mon Heathens expected one of another,and many of them actually practised. Bythe rules of this they were taught, thatthey ought not to be unjust; not to takeaway their neighbour’s goods, either byrobbery or theft; not to oppress the poor,neither to use extortion toward any; notto cheat, or over-reach either the poor orrich, in whatsoever commerce they hadwith them; to defraud no man of hisright; and, if it were possible, to owe noman anything.

2. Again: The common Heathens al-lowed, that some regard was to be paid totruth, as well as to justice. And accord-ingly, not only held him in abominationwho was forsworn, who called God to wit-ness to a lie; but him also who was knownto be a slanderer of his neighbour, whofalsely accused any man. And, indeed, lit-tle better did they esteem wilful liars of anysort; accounting them the disgrace of hu-man kind, and the pests of society.

3. Yet again: There was a sort of loveand assistance which they expected onefrom another. They expected whatever as-sistance any one could give another, with-out prejudice to himself. And this theyextended not only to those little offices ofhumanity which are performed withoutany expense or labour, but likewise to thefeeding the hungry, if they had food tospare; the clothing the naked with theirown superfluous raiment; and, in general,the giving, to any that needed, such thingsas they needed not themselves. Thus far, inthe lowest account of it, heathen honestywent; the first thing implied in the being al-most a Christian.

(II.) 4. A Second thing implied inthe being almost a Christian, is, the hav-ing a form of godliness, of that godlinesswhich is prescribed in the gospel ofChrist; the having the outside of a realChristian. Accordingly, the AlmostChristian does nothing which the gospelforbids. He taketh not the name of God invain; he blesseth and curseth not; hesweareth not at all, but his communicationis, Yea, yea; Nay, nay. He profanes not theday of the Lord, nor suffers it to be pro-faned, even by the stranger that is withinhis gates.

He not only avoids all actual adul-tery, fornication, and uncleanness, but ev-ery word, or look, that either directly or

indirectly tends thereto; nay, and all idlewords, abstaining both from detraction,backbiting, tale-bearing, evil speaking,and from “all foolish talking and jesting,”—eutrapelia, a kind of virtue in theheathen moralist’s account; —briefly,from all conversation that is not “good tothe use of edifying,” and that, conse-quently, “grieves the Holy Spirit of God,whereby we are sealed to the day of re-demption.”

5. He abstains from “wine wherein isexcess;” from revellings and gluttony. Heavoids, as much as in him lies, all strife andcontention, continually endeavouring tolive peaceably with all men. And, if he suf-fer wrong, he avengeth not himself, neitherreturns evil for evil. He is no railer, nobrawler, no scoffer, either at the faults orinfirmities of his neighbour. He does notwillingly wrong, hurt, or grieve any man;but in all things acts and speaks by thatplain rule, “Whatsoever thou wouldest nothe should do unto thee, that do not thou toanother.”

6. And in doing good, he does notconfine himself to cheap and easy officesof kindness, but labours and suffers for theprofit of many, that by all means he mayhelp some. In spite of toil or pain, “whatso-ever his hand findeth to do, he doeth it withhis might;” whether it be for his friends orfor his enemies, for the evil or for the good.For, being “not slothful” in this or in any“business,” as he “hath opportunity” hedoeth “good,” all manner of good, “to allmen;” and to their souls as well as theirbodies. He reproves the wicked, instructsthe ignorant, confirms the wavering,quickens the good, and comforts the af-flicted. He labours to awaken those thatsleep, to lead those whom God hath al-ready awakened to the “fountain openedfor sin and for uncleanness,” that they maywash therein and be clean; and to stir upthose who are saved, through faith, toadorn the gospel of Christ in all things.

7. He that hath the form of godli-ness, uses also the means of grace; yea,all of them, and at all opportunities. Heconstantly frequents the house of God;and that, not as the manner of some is,who come into the presence of the MostHigh, either loaded with gold and costlyapparel, or in all the gaudy vanity ofdress, and either by their unseasonablecivilities to each other, or the impertinentgaiety of their behaviour, disclaim all

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pretensions to the form as well as to thepower of godliness. Would to God therewere none even among ourselves whofall under the same condemnation! whocome into this house, it may be, gazingabout, or with all the signs of the mostlistless, careless indifference, thoughsometimes they may seem to use a prayerto God for his blessing on what they areentering upon; who, during that awfulservice, are either asleep, or reclined inthe most convenient posture for it; or, asthough they supposed God was asleep,talking with one another, or lookinground, as utterly void of employment:Neither let these be accused of the formof godliness. No; he who has even thisbehaves with seriousness and attentionin every part of that solemn service.More especially when he approaches thetable of the Lord, it is not with a light orcareless behaviour, but with an air, ges-ture, and deportment, which speaksnothing else but, “God be merciful to me,a sinner!”

8. To this, if we add the constantuse of family prayer, by those who aremasters of families, and the settingtimes apart for private addresses toGod, with a daily seriousness of be-haviour; he who uniformly practisesthis outward religion, has the form ofgodliness. There needs but one thingmore in order to his being almost aChristian, and that is, sincerity.

(III.) 9. By sincerity I mean, a real,inward principle of religion, fromwhence these outward actions flow.And, indeed, if we have not this, we havenot heathen honesty; no, not so much ofit as will answer the demand of a heathenEpicurean poet. Even this poor wretch,in his sober intervals, is able to testify,

Oderunt peccare boni, virtutus amore;Oderunt peccare mali, formidinepoenoe.

[Translation: Good men avoid sinfrom love of virtue; Wicked men avoidsin from fear of punishment.]

So that, if a man only abstains fromdoing evil in order to avoid punishment,Non pasces in cruce corvos, [Transla-tion: You will not be hanged.] saith thePagan;

there, “thou hast thy reward.” Buteven he will not allow such a harmlessman as this to be so much as a good Hea-

then. If, then, any man, from the samemotive, viz., to avoid punishment, toavoid the loss of his friends, or his gain,or his reputation, should not only abstainfrom doing evil, but also do ever so muchgood; yea, and use all the means of grace;yet we could not, with any propriety, say,this man is even almost a Christian. If hehas no better principle in his heart, he isonly a hypocrite altogether.

10. Sincerity, therefore, is neces-sarily implied in the being almost aChristian; a real design to serve God, ahearty desire to do his will. It is necessar-ily implied, that a man have a sincereview of pleasing God in all things; in allhis conversation; in all his actions; in allhe does, or leaves undone. This design, ifany man be almost a Christian, runsthrough the whole tenor of his life. Thisis the moving principle, both in his doinggood, his abstaining from evil, and hisusing the ordinances of God.

11. But here it will probably be in-quired, “Is it possible that any man livingshould go so far as this, and, neverthe-less, be only almost a Christian? Whatmore than this can be implied in the be-ing a Christian altogether?” I answer,First, that it is possible to go thus far, andyet be but almost a Christian, I learn, notonly from the oracles of God, but alsofrom the sure testimony of experience.

12. Brethren, great is “my boldnesstowards you in this behalf.” And “for-give me this wrong,” if I declare my ownfolly upon the house-top, for yours andthe gospel’s sake. —Suffer me, then, tospeak freely of myself, even as of an-other man. I am content to be abased, soye may be exalted, and to be yet morevile for the glory of my Lord.

13. I did go thus far for many years,as many of this place can testify; usingdiligence to eschew all evil, and to have aconscience void of offence; redeemingthe time; buying up every opportunity ofdoing all good to all men; constantly andcarefully using all the public and all theprivate means of grace; endeavouring af-ter a steady seriousness of behaviour, atall times, and in all places; and, God ismy record, before whom I stand, doingall this in sincerity; having a real designto serve God; a hearty desire to do hiswill in all things; to please him who hadcalled me to “fight the good fight,” and to“lay hold of eternal life.” Yet my own

conscience beareth me witness in theHoly Ghost, that all this time I was butalmost a Christian.

II. If it be inquired, “What morethan this is implied in the being alto-gether a Christian?” I answer,

(I.)1. First. The love of God. For thussaith his word “Thou shalt love the Lordthy God, with all thy heart, and with all thysoul, and with all thy mind, and with all thystrength.” Such a love is this, as engrossesthe whole heart, as takes up all the affec-tions, as fills the entire capacity of the soul,and employs the utmost extent of all itsfaculties. He that thus loves the Lord hisGod, his spirit continually “rejoiceth inGod his Saviour.” His delight is in theLord, his Lord and his All, to whom “in ev-erything he giveth thanks. All his desire isunto God, and to the remembrance of hisname.” His heart is ever crying out,“Whom have I in heaven but thee? andthere is none upon earth that I desire besidethee.” Indeed, what can he desire besideGod? Not the world, or the things of theworld: For he is “crucified to the world,and the world crucified to him.” He is cru-cified to “the desire of the flesh, the desireof the eye, and the pride of life.” Yea, he isdead to pride of every kind: For “ love isnot puffed up;” but he that dwelling in lovedwelleth in God, and God in him,” is lessthan nothing in his own eyes.

(II.) 2. The Second thing implied inthe being altogether a Christian, is, thelove of our neighbour. For thus said ourLord, in the following words, is “Thoushalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” If anyman ask, “Who is my neighbour?” we re-ply, Every man in the world; every child ofHis who is the Father of the spirits of allflesh. Nor may we in anywise except ourenemies, or the enemies of God and theirown souls.

But every Christian loveth these alsoas himself, yea, “as Christ loved us.” Hethat would more fully understand whatmanner of love this is, may consider St.Paul’s description of it. It is “long-suffer-ing and kind.” It “envieth not.” It is notrash or hasty in judging. It “is not puffedup;” but maketh him that loves, the least,the servant of all. Love “doth not behave it-self unseemly;” but becometh “all thingsto all men.” She “seeketh not her own;” butonly the good of others, that they may besaved. “Love is not provoked.” It castethout wrath, which he who hath is wanting in

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love. “It thinketh no evil. It rejoiceth not ininiquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. Itcovereth all things, believeth all things,hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

(III.) 3. There is yet one thingmore that may be separately consid-ered, though it cannot actually be sep-arate from the preceding, which isimplied in the being altogether a Chris-tian; and that is the ground of all, evenfaith. Very excellent things are spokenof this throughout the oracles of God.“Every one,” saith the beloved disciple,“that believeth, is born of God.” “To asmany as received him, gave he power tobecome the sons of God, even to themthat believe on his name.” And, “this isthe victory that overcometh the world,even our faith.” Yea, our Lord himselfdeclares, “He that believeth in the Sonhath everlasting life; and cometh not intocondemnation, but is passed from deathunto life.”

4. But here let no man deceive hisown soul. “It is diligently to be noted,the faith which bringeth not forth repen-tance, and love, and all good works, isnot that right living faith, but a dead anddevilish one. For, even the devils believethat Christ was born of a virgin; that hewrought all kinds of miracles, declaringhimself very God; that, for our sakes, hesuffered a most painful death, to redeemus from death everlasting; that he roseagain the third day; that he ascended intoheaven; and sitteth at the right hand of theFather, and at the end of the world shallcome again to judge both the quick anddead. These articles of our faith the devilsbelieve, and so they believe all that iswritten in the Old and New Testament.And yet for all this faith, they be but dev-ils. They remain still in their damnable es-tate, lacking the very true Christian faith.”

5. “The right and true Christianfaith is,” (to go on in the words of ourown Church,) “not only to believe thatholy Scripture and the articles of ourfaith are true, but also to have a sure trustand confidence to be saved from ever-lasting damnation by Christ. It is a suretrust and confidence which a man hath inGod, that, by the merits of Christ, his sinsare forgiven, and he reconciled to the fa-vour of God; whereof doth follow a lov-ing heart, to obey his commandments.”

6. Now, whosoever has this faith,which “purifies the heart” (by the power

of God, who dwelleth therein) frompride, anger, desire, “from all unrigh-teousness,” from “all filthiness of fleshand spirit;” which fills it with love stron-ger than death, both to God and to allmankind; love that doeth the works ofGod, glorying to spend and to be spentfor all men, and that endureth with joy,not only the reproach of Christ, the beingmocked, despised, and hated of all men,but whatsoever the wisdom of God per-mits the malice of men or devils to in-flict; whosoever has this faith, thusworking by love, is not almost only, butaltogether, a Christian.

7. But who are the living witnessesof these things? I beseech you, brethren,as in the presence of that God beforewhom “hell and destruction are without acovering, —how much more the heartsof the children of men!” —that each ofyou would ask his own heart, “Am I ofthat number? Do I so far practise justice,mercy, and truth, as even the rules ofheathen honesty require? If so, have I thevery outside of a Christian? the form ofgodliness? Do I abstain fromevil,—from whatsoever is forbidden inthe written word of God? Do I, whatevergood my hand findeth to do, do it withmy might? Do I seriously use all the ordi-nances of God at all opportunities? And,is all this done with a sincere design anddesire to please God in all things?”

8. Are not many of you conscious,that you never came thus far; that youhave not been even almost a Christian;that you have not come up to the standardof heathen honesty; at least, not to theform of Christian godliness? —Muchless hath God seen sincerity in you, a realdesign of pleasing him in all things. Younever so much as intended to devote allyour words and works, your business,studies, diversions, to his glory. Younever even designed or desired, thatwhatsoever you did should be done “inthe name of the Lord Jesus,” and as suchshould be “a spiritual sacrifice, accept-able to God through Christ.”

9. But, supposing you had, do gooddesigns and good desires make a Chris-tian? By no means, unless they arebrought to good effect. “Hell is paved,”saith one, “with good intentions.” Thegreat question of all, then, still remains.Is the love of God shed abroad in yourheart? Can you cry out, “My God, and

my All?” Do you desire nothing but him?Are you happy in God? Is he your glory,your delight, your crown of rejoicing?And is this commandment written inyour heart, “That he who loveth Godlove his brother also?” Do you then loveyour neighbour as yourself? Do you loveevery man, even your enemies, even theenemies of God, as your own soul? asChrist loved you? Yea, dost thou believethat Christ loved thee, and gave himselffor thee? Hast thou faith in his blood?Believest thou the Lamb of God hathtaken away thy sins, and cast there as astone into the depth of the sea? that hehath blotted out the handwriting that wasagainst thee, taking it out of the way,nailing it to his cross? Hast thou indeedredemption through his blood, even theremission of thy sins? And doth his Spiritbear witness with thy spirit, that thou arta child of God?

10. The God and Father of our LordJesus Christ, who now standeth in themidst of us, knoweth, that if any man diewithout this faith and this love, good itwere for him that he had never beenborn. Awake, then, thou that sleepest,and call upon thy God: Call in the daywhen he may be found. Let him not rest,till he make “his goodness to pass beforethee,” till he proclaim unto thee the nameof the Lord: “The Lord, the Lord God,merciful and gracious, long-suffering,and abundant in goodness and truth,keeping mercy for thousands, forgivinginiquity, and transgression, and sin.” Letno man persuade thee, by vain words, torest short of this prize of thy high calling.But cry unto Him day and night, who,“while we were without strength, diedfor the ungodly,” until thou knowest inwhom thou hast believed, and canst say,“My Lord, and my God!” Remember,“always to pray, and not to faint,” tillthou also canst lift up thy hand untoheaven, and declare to Him that livethfor ever and ever, “Lord, thou knowestall things, thou knowest that I love thee.”

11. May we all thus experiencewhat it is to be, not almost only, but alto-gether Christians; being justified freelyby his grace, through the redemption thatis in Jesus; knowing we have peace withGod through Jesus Christ; rejoicing inhope of the glory of God; and having thelove of God shed abroad in our hearts, bythe Holy Ghost given unto us!

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Awake, Thou That Sleepest:April 4, 1742“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arisefrom the dead, and Christ shall give theelight.”Ephesians v. 14.

In discoursing on these words, Ishall, with the help of God, First. De-scribe the sleepers, to whom they arespoken:

Secondly. Enforce the exhortation,“Awake, thou that sleepest, and arisefrom the dead:” And,

Thirdly. Explain the promise madeto such as do awake and arise: “Christshall give thee light.”

I. 1. And, First as to the sleepershere spoken to. By sleep is signified thenatural state of man; that deep sleep of thesoul, into which the sin of Adam hath castall who spring from his loins; that supine-ness, indolence, and stupidity, that insen-sibility of his real condition, whereinevery man comes into the world, and con-tinues till the voice of God awakes him.

2. Now, “they that sleep, sleep inthe night.” The state of nature is a state ofutter darkness; a state wherein “darknesscovers the earth, and gross darkness thepeople.” The poor unawakened sinner,how much knowledge soever he mayhave as to other things, has no knowl-edge of himself: In this respect “heknoweth nothing yet as he ought toknow.” He knows not that he is a fallenspirit, whose only business in the pres-ent world is, to recover from his fall, toregain that image of God wherein hewas created. He sees no necessity forthe one thing needful, even that in-ward universal change, that “birthfrom above,” figured out by baptism,which is the beginning of that totalrenovation, that sanctification ofspirit, soul, and body, “without whichno man shall see the Lord.”

3. Full of all diseases as he is, hefancies himself in perfect health. Fastbound in misery and iron, he dreams thathe is at liberty. He says, “Peace! Peace!”while the devil, as “a strong man armed,”is in full possession of his soul. He sleepson still, and takes his rest, though hell ismoved from beneath to meet him;though the pit, from whence there is noreturn, hath opened its mouth to swallow

him up. A fire is kindled around him, yethe knoweth it not; yea, it burns him, yethe lays it not to heart.

4. By one who sleeps, we are, there-fore, to understand (and would to God wemight all understand it!) a sinner satisfiedin his sins; contented to remain in hisfallen state, to live and die without the im-age of God; one who is ignorant both ofhis disease, and of the only remedy for it;one who never was warned, or never re-garded the warning voice of God, “to fleefrom the wrath to come;” one that neveryet saw he was in danger of hell-fire, orcried out in the earnestness of his soul,“What must I do to be saved?”

5. If this sleeper be not outwardlyvicious, his sleep is usually the deepestof all: Whether he be of the Laodiceanspirit, in “neither cold nor hot,” but aquiet, rational, inoffensive, good-na-tured professor of the religion of his fa-thers; or whether he be zealous andorthodox, and, “after the most straitestsect of our religion,” live “a Pharisee;”that is, according to the scriptural ac-count, one that justifies himself; one thatlabours to establish his own righteous-ness, as the ground of his acceptancewith God.

6. This is he, who, “having a formof godliness, denies the powerthereof;” yea, and probably reviles it,wheresoever it is found, as mere ex-travagance and delusion. Meanwhile,the wretched self-deceiver thanks God,that he is “not as other men are; adulter-ers, unjust, extortioners:” No, he doethno wrong to any man. He “fasts twice in aweek,” uses all the means of grace, isconstant at church and sacrament; yea,and “gives tithes of all that he has;” doesall the good that he can: “Touching therighteousness of the law,” he is “blame-less:” He wants nothing of godliness, butthe power; nothing of religion, but thespirit; nothing of Christianity, but thetruth and the life.

7. But know ye not, that, howeverhighly esteemed among men such aChristian as this may be, he is an abom-ination in the sight of God, and an heirof every woe which the Son of God, yes-terday, to-day, and for ever, denouncesagainst “Scribes and Pharisees, hypo-crites?” He hath “made clean the outsideof the cup and the platter,” but within isfull of all filthiness. “An evil disease

cleaveth still unto him, so that his inwardparts are very wickedness.” Our Lordfitly compares him to a “ painted sepul-chre,” which “appears beautiful without;”but, nevertheless, is “full of dead men’sbones, and of all uncleanness.” Thebones, indeed, are no longer dry; the sin-ews and flesh are come upon them, andthe skin covers them above: But there isno breath in them, no Spirit of the livingGod. And, “if any man have not the Spiritof Christ, he is none of his.” “Ye areChrist’s, if so be that the Spirit of Goddwell in you:” But, if not, God knoweththat ye abide in death, even until now.

8. This is another character of thesleeper here spoken to. He abides indeath, though he knows it not. He is deadunto God, “dead in trespasses and sins.”For, “to be carnally minded is death.”Even as it is written, “By one man sin en-tered into the world, and death by sin;and so death passed upon all men,” notonly temporal death, but likewise spiri-tual and eternal. “In that day that thoueatest,” said God to Adam, “thou shaltsurely die:” Not bodily, (unless as hethen became mortal,) but spiritually:Thou shalt lose the life of thy soul; thoushalt die to God; shalt be separated fromhim, thy essential life and happiness.

9. Thus first was dissolved the vitalunion of our soul with God; insomuchthat “in the midst of” natural “life, weare” now in spiritual “death.” And hereinwe remain till the Second Adam becomesa quickening Spirit to us, till he raises thedead, the dead in sin, in pleasure, riches,or honours. But, before any dead soul canlive, he “hears” (hearkens to) “the voiceof the Son of God:” He is made sensibleof his lost estate, and receives the sen-tence of death in himself. He knows him-self to be “dead while he liveth;” dead toGod, and all the things of God; having nomore power to perform the actions of aliving Christian, than a dead body to per-form the functions of a living man.

10. And most certain it is, that onedead in sin has not “senses exercised todiscern spiritual good and evil.” “Havingeyes, he sees not; he hath ears, and hearsnot.” He doth not “taste and see that theLord is gracious.” He “hath not seen Godat any time,” nor “heard his voice,” nor“handled the word of life.” In vain is thename of Jesus “like ointment pouredforth, and all his garments smell of

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myrrh, aloes, and cassia.” The soul thatsleepeth in death, hath no perception ofany objects of this kind. His heart is “pastfeeling,” and understandeth none ofthese things.

11. And hence, having no spiri-tual senses, no inlets of spiritual knowl-edge, the natural man receiveth not thethings of the Spirit of God; nay, he is sofar from receiving them, that whatso-ever is spiritually discerned is merefoolishness unto him. He is not contentwith being utterly ignorant of spiritualthings, but he denies the very existenceof them. And spiritual sensation itself isto him the foolishness of folly. “How,”saith he, “can these things be? How canany man know that he is alive to God?”Even as you know that your body is nowalive. Faith is the life of the soul; and if yehave this life abiding in you, ye want nomarks to evidence it to yourself, butelegxoj Pneumatoj, that divine con-sciousness, that witness of God, which ismore and greater than ten thousand hu-man witnesses.

12. If he doth not now bear witnesswith thy spirit, that thou art a child of God,O that he might convince thee, thou poorunawakened sinner, by his demonstrationand power, that thou art a child of thedevil! O that, as I prophesy, there Mightnow be “a noise and a shaking;” and may“the bones come together, bone to hisbone!” Then, “come from the four winds,O Breath! and breathe on these slain, thatthey may live!” And do not ye hardenyour hearts, and resist the Holy Ghost,who even now is come to convince you ofsin, “because you believe not on the nameof the only begotten Son of God.”

II. 1. Wherefore, “awake, thou thatsleepest, and arise from the dead.” Godcalleth thee now by my mouth; and bidsthee know thyself, thou fallen spirit, thytrue state and only concern below. “Whatmeanest thou, O sleeper? Arise! Callupon thy God, if so be thy God will thinkupon thee, that thou perish not. A mightytempest is stirred up round about thee, andthou art sinking into the depths of perdi-tion, the gulf of God’s judgments. If thouwouldest escape them, cast thyself intothem. “Judge thyself, and thou shalt notbe judged of the Lord.”

2. Awake, awake! Stand up thismoment, lest thou “drink at the Lord’shand the cup of his fury.” Stir up thyself

to lay hold on the Lord, the Lord thyRighteousness, mighty to save! “Shakethyself from the dust.” At least, let theearthquake of God’s threatenings shakethee. Awake, and cry out with the trem-bling Jailor, “What must I do to besaved?” And never rest till thou believeston the Lord Jesus, with a faith which ishis gift, by the operation of his Spirit.

3. If I speak to any one of you,more than to another, it is to thee whothinkest thyself unconcerned in thisexhortation. “I have a message fromGod unto thee.” In his name, I warnthee “to flee from the wrath to come.”Thou unholy soul, see thy picture in con-demned Peter, lying in the dark dungeon,between the soldiers, bound with twochains, the keepers before the door keep-ing the prison. The night is far spent, themorning is at hand, when thou art to bebrought forth to execution. And in thesedreadful circumstances, thou art fastasleep; thou art fast aleep in the devil’sarms, on the brink of the pit, in the jawsof everlasting destruction!

4. O may the Angel of the Lordcome upon thee, and the light shine intothy prison! And mayest thou feel thestroke of an Almighty Hand, raisingthee, with, “Arise up quickly, gird thy-self, and bind on thy sandals, cast thygarments about thee, and follow me.”

5. Awake, thou everlasting spirit,out of thy dream of worldly happiness!Did not God create thee for himself?Then thou canst not rest till thou restestin him. Return, thou wanderer! Fly backto thy ark. This is not thy home. Thinknot of building tabernacles here. Thouart but a stranger, a sojourner upon earth;a creature of a day, but just launching outinto an unchangeable state. Make haste.Eternity is at hand. Eternity depends onthis moment; an eternity of happiness oran eternity of misery!

6. In what state is thy soul? WasGod, while I am yet speaking, to requireit of thee, art thou ready to meet deathand judgment? Canst thou stand in hissight, who is of “purer eyes than to be-hold iniquity?” Art thou “meet to be par-taker of the inheritance of the saints inlight?” Hast thou “fought a good fight,and kept the faith?” Hast thou securedthe one thing needful? Hast thou recov-ered the image of God, even righteous-ness and true holiness? Hast thou put off

the old man, and put on the new? Artthou clothed upon with Christ?

7. Hast thou oil in thy lamp? gracein thy heart? Dost thou “love the Lordthy God with all thy heart, and with allthy mind, and with all thy soul, and withall thy strength?” Is that mind in theewhich was also in Christ Jesus? Art thoua Christian indeed; that is, a new crea-ture? Are old things passed away, and allthings become new?

8. Art thou a “partaker of the divinenature?” Knowest thou not, that “Christis in thee, except thou be reprobate?”Knowest thou, that God “dwelleth inthee, and thou in God, by his Spirit,which he hath given thee?” Knowestthou not that “thy body is a temple of theHoly Ghost, which thou hast of God?”Hast thou the witness in thyself? the ear-nest of thine inheritance? Hast thou “re-ceived the Holy Ghost?” Or, dost thoustart at the question, not knowing“whether there be any Holy Ghost?”

9. If it offends thee, be thou as-sured, that thou neither art a Chris-tian, nor desirest to be one. Nay, thyvery prayer is turned into sin; andthou hast solemnly mocked God thisvery day, by praying for the inspira-tion of his Holy Spirit, when thou didstnot believe there was any such thing tobe received.

10. Yet, on the authority of God’sword, and our own Church, I must repeatthe question, “Hast thou received theHoly Ghost?” If thou hast not, thou artnot yet a Christian. For a Christian is aman that is “anointed with the HolyGhost and with power.” Thou art not yetmade a partaker of pure religion and un-defiled. Dost thou know what religionis? that it is a participation of the divinenature; the life of God in the soul of man;Christ formed in the heart; “Christ inthee, the hope of glory?” happiness analholiness; heaven begun upon earth? “akingdom of God within thee; not meatand drink,” no outward thing; “but righ-teousness, and peace, and joy in the Holyghost?” an everlasting kingdom broughtinto thy soul; “peace of God, that passethall understanding;” a “joy unspeakable,and full of glory?”

11. Knowest thou, that, “in JesusChrist, neither circumcision availethanything, nor uncircumcision; but faiththat worketh by love;” but a new cre-

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ation? Seest thou the necessity of that in-ward change, that spiritual birth, that lifefrom the dead, that holiness? And artthou throughly convinced, that without itno man shall see the Lord? Art thou la-bouring after it? “giving all diligence tomake thy calling and election sure?”working out thy salvation with fear andtrembling?” “agonizing to enter in at thestrait gate?” Art thou in earnest about thysoul? And canst thou tell the Searcher ofhearts, “Thou, O God, art the thing that Ilong for? Lord, thou knowest all things!Thou knowest that I would love thee!”

12. Thou hopest to be saved; butwhat reason hast thou to give of the hopethat is in thee? Is it because thou hastdone no harm? or, because thou hastdone much good? or, because thou artnot like other men; but wise, or learned,or honest, and morally good; esteemedof men, and of a fair reputation? Alas!All this will never bring thee to God. It isin his account lighter than vanity. Dostthou know Jesus Christ, whom he hathsent? Hath he taught thee, that “by gracewe are saved through faith; and that notof ourselves: It is the gift of God: Not ofworks, lest any man should boast?” Hastthou received the faithful saying, as thewhole foundation of thy hope, “that Je-sus Christ came into the world to savesinners? Hast thou learned what thatmeaneth, “I came not to call the righ-teous, but sinners to repentance. I am notsent, but unto the lost sheep?” Art thou(he that heareth, let him understand!)lost, dead, damned already? Dost thouknow thy deserts? Dost thou feel thywants? Art thou “poor in spirit?” mourn-ing for God, and refusing to be com-forted? Is the prodigal “come tohimself,” and well content to be there-fore thought “beside himself, by thosewho are still feeding upon the huskswhich he hath left? Art thou willing tolive godly in Christ Jesus? And dost thoutherefore suffer persecution? Do mensay all manner of evil against theefalsely, for the Son of Man’s sake?

13. O that in all these questions yemay hear the voice that awakes the dead;and feel that hammer of the word, whichbreaketh the rocks in pieces!” If ye willhear his voice to-day, while it is calledto-day, harden not your hearts.” Now,“awake, thou that sleepest” in spiritualdeath; that thou sleep not in death eter-

nal! Feel thy lost estate, and “arise fromthe dead.” Leave thine old companionsin sin and death. Follow thou Jesus, andlet the dead bury their dead. “Save thy-self from this untoward generation.”“Come out from among them, and bethou separate, and touch not the uncleanthing, and the Lord shall receive thee.”“Christ shall give thee light.”

III. l. This promise, I come, lastly,to explain. And how encouraging a con-sideration is this, that whosoever thouart, who obeyest his call, thou canst notseek his face in vain! If thou even now“awakest, and arisest from the dead,” hehath bound himself to “give thee light.”“The Lord shall give thee grace andglory;” the light of his grace here, and thelight of his glory when thou receivest thecrown that fadeth not away.” Thy lightshall break forth as the morning, and thydarkness be as the noonday.” “God, whocommanded the light to shine out ofdarkness, shall shine in thy heart; to givethe knowledge of the glory of God ill theface of Jesus Christ.” “On them that fearthe Lord shall the Sun of Righteousnessarise with healing ill his wings.” And inthat day it shall be said unto thee, rise,shine; for thy light is come, and the gloryof the Lord is risen upon thee.” ForChrist shall reveal himself in thee: Andhe is the true Light.

2. God is light, and will give him-self to every awakened sinner thatwaiteth for him: And thou shalt then be atemple of the living God, and Christ shall“dwell in thy heart by faith:” And, “be-ing rooted and grounded in love, thoushalt be able to comprehend with allsaints, what is the breadth, and length,and depth and height of that love ofChrist which passeth knowledge.”

3. Ye see your calling, brethren.We are called to be “an habitation of Godthrough his Spirit;” and through hisSpirit dwelling in us, to be saints here,and partakers of the inheritance of thesaints in light. So exceeding great are thepromises which are given unto us, actu-ally given unto us who believe! For byfaith “we receive, not the spirit of theworld, but the Spirit which is of God,”—the sum of all the promises, —”that wemay know the things that are freely givento us of God.”

4. The Spirit of Christ is that greatgift of God, which, at sundry times, and

in divers manners, he hath promised toman, and hath fully bestowed since thetime that Christ was glorified. Thosepromises, before made to the fathers, hehath thus fulfilled: “I will put my Spiritwithin you, and cause you to walk in mystatutes.” (Ezek xxxvi. 27.) “I will pourwater upon him that is thirsty, and floodsupon the dry ground: I will pour mySpirit upon thy seed, and my blessingupon thine offspring.” (Isaiah xliv. 3.)

5. Ye may all be living witnesses ofthese things; of remission of sins, and thegift of the Holy Ghost. “If thou canst be-lieve, all things are possible to him thatbelieveth.” “Who among you is therethat feareth the Lord; and” yet walkethon “in darkness, and hath no light?” I askthee, in the name of Jesus, believest thouthat his arm is not shortened at all? thathe is still mighty to save? that he is thesame yesterday, to-day, and for ever?that he hath now power on earth to for-give sins?’ Son, be of good cheer, thysins are forgiven.’ God, for Christ’ssake, hath forgiven thee. Receive this,“not as the word of man; but as it is in-deed the word of God;” and thou art jus-tified freely through faith. Thou shalt besanctified also through faith which is inJesus, and shalt set to thy seal, eventhine, that “God hath given unto us eter-nal life, and this life is in his Son.”

6. Men and brethren, let me freelyspeak unto you; and suffer ye the word ofexhortation, even from one the least es-teemed in the Church. Your consciencebeareth you witness in the Holy Ghost,that these things are so, if so be ye havetasted that the Lord is gracious. “Thisis eternal life, to know the only trueGod, and Jesus Christ whom he hathsent.” This experimental knowledge,and this alone, is true Christianity. Heis a Christian who hath received theSpirit of Christ. He is not a Christianwho hath not received him. Neither is itpossible to have received him, and notknow it. “For, at that day,” (when hecometh, saith our Lord,) “ye shallknow that I am in my Father, and youin me, and I in you.” This is that“Spirit of Truth, whom the world can-not receive, because it seeth him not,neither knoweth him: But ye knowhim; for he dwelleth with you, andshall be in you.” (John xiv. 17.)

7. The world cannot receive him,

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but utterly reject the Promise of the Fa-ther, contradicting and blaspheming. Butevery spirit which confessed not this isnot of God. Yea, “this is that spirit ofAntichrist, whereof ye have heard that itshould come into the world: and evennow it is in the world.” He is Antichristwhosoever denies the inspiration of theHoly Ghost, or that the indwelling Spiritof God is the common privilege of all be-lievers, the blessing of the gospel, the un-speakable gift, the universal promise, thecriterion of a real Christian.

8. It nothing helps them to say, “wedo not deny the assistance of God’sSpirit; but only this inspiration, this re-ceiving the Holy Ghost, and being sensi-ble of it. It is only this feeling of theSpirit? this being moved by the Spirit, orfilled with it, which we deny to have anyplace in sound religion.” But, in only de-nying this, you deny the whole Scrip-tures; the whole truth, and promise, andtestimony of God.

9. Our own excellent Churchknows nothing of this devilish distinc-tion; but speaks plainly of “feeling theSpirit of Christ;” of being “moved by theHoly Ghost,” and knowing and “feelingthere is no other name than that of Jesus,”whereby we can receive life and salva-tion. She teaches us all to pray for the“inspiration of the Holy Spirit;” yea, thatwe may be “filled with the Holy Ghost.”Nay, and every Presbyter of hers pro-fesses to receive the Holy Ghost by theimposition of hands. Therefore, to denyany of these is, in effect, to renounce theChurch of England, as well as the wholeChristian Revelation.

10. But “the wisdom of God” was al-ways “foolishness with men.” No marvel,then, that the great mystery of the gospelshould be now also “hid from the wise andprudent,” as well as in the days of old; thatit should be almost universally denied, rid-iculed, anel exploded, as mere frenzy; andthat all who dare avow it still are brandedwith the names of madmen and enthusi-asts! This is “that falling away” which wasto come; that general apostasy, of all or-ders and degrees of men, which we evennow find to have overspread the earth.“Run to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem,and see if ye can find a man,” a man thatloveth the Lord his God with all his heart,and serveth him with all his strength. Howdoes our own land mourn (that we look no

farther) under the overflowings of ungod-liness! What villanies of every kind arecommitted day by day; yea, too often withimpunity, by those who sin with a highhand, and glory in their shame! Who canreckon up the oaths, curses, profaneness,blasphemies; the lying, slandering,evil-speaking; the sabbath-breaking, glut-tony, drunkenness, revenge; thewhoredoms, adulteries, and various un-cleanness; the frauds, injustice, oppres-sion, extortion, which overspread our landas a flood?

11. And even among those whohave kept themselves pure from thosegrosser abominations, how much angerand pride, how much sloth and idleness,how much softness and effeminacy, howmuch luxury and self-indulgence, howmuch covetousness and ambition, howmuch thirst of praise, how much love ofthe world, how much fear of man, is to befound! Meanwhile, how little of true reli-gion! For, where is he that loveth eitherGod or his neighbour, as he hath given uscommandment? On the one hand, arethose who have not so much as the formof godliness; on the other, those whohave the form only: There stands theopen, there the painted, sepulchre. Sothat in very deed, whosoever were ear-nestly to behold any public gathering to-gether of the people, (I fear those in ourchurches are not to be excepted,) mighteasily Perceive, “that the one part wereSadducees, and the other Pharisees:”The one having almost as little concernabout religion, as if there were “no resur-rection, neither angel nor spirit;” and theother, making it a mere lifeless form, adull round of external performances,without either true faith, or the love ofGod, or joy in the Holy Ghost!

12. Would to God I could except usof this place! “Brethren, my heart’s de-sire, and prayer to God, for you is, that yemay be saved” from this overflowing ofungodliness; and that here may its proudwaves be stayed! But is it so indeed? Godknoweth, yea, and our own consciences,it is not. Ye have not kept yourselvespure. Corrupt are we also and abomina-ble; and few are there that understandany more; few that worship God in spiritand in truth. We, too, are “a generationthat set not our hearts aright, and whosespirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God:”He hath appointed us indeed to be “the

salt of the earth; but if the salt hath lost itssavour, it is thenceforth good for noth-ing, but to be cast out and to be troddenunderfoot of men.”

13. And “shall I not visit for thesethings, saith the Lord? Shall not my soulbe avenged on such a nation as this?”Yea, we know not how soon he may sayto the sword, “Sword, go through thisland!” He hath given us long space to re-pent. He lets us alone this year also: Buthe warns and awakens us by thunder. Hisjudgments are abroad in the earth; andwe have all reason to expect the heaviestof all, even that he should come unto usquickly, and remove our candlestick outof its place, except we repent and do thefirst works; unless we return to the prin-ciples of the Reformation, the truth andsimplicity of the gospel. Perhaps we arenow resisting the last effort of divinegrace to save us. Perhaps we have wellnigh “filled up the measure of our iniqui-ties,” by rejecting the counsel of Godagainst ourselves, and casting out hismessengers.

14. O God, “in the midst of wrath,remember mercy!” Be glorified in ourreformation, not in our destruction! Letus “hear the rod, and him that appointedit!” Now, that thy “judgments are abroadin the earth,” let the inhabitants of theworld “learn righteousness!”

15. My brethren, it is high time forus to awake out of sleep; before the “greattrumpet of the Lord be blown,” and ourland become a field of blood. O may wespeedily see the things that make for ourpeace, before they are hid from our eyes!“Turn thou us, O good Lord, and let thineanger cease from us. O Lord, look downfrom heaven, behold and visit this vine;”and cause us to know “the time of our vis-itation.” “Help us, O God of our salvation,for the glory of thy name! O deliver us,and be merciful to our sins, for thy name’ssake! And so we will not go back fromthee. O let us live, and we shall call uponthy name. Turn us, again, O Lord God ofHosts! Show the light of thy countenance,and we shall be whole.”

“Now unto Him that is able to doexceeding abundantly above all that wecan ask or think, according to the powerthat worketh in us, unto Him be glory inthe Church, by Christ Jesus, throughoutall ages, world without end. —Amen!”

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The Witness of the Spirit:Discourse I“The Spirit itself beareth witness withour spirit, that we are the children ofGod.” — Romans viii. 16.

1. How many vain men, not un-derstanding what they spake, neitherwhereof they affirmed, have wrestedthis Scripture to the great loss, if notthe destruction, of their souls! Howmany have mistaken the voice of theirown imagination for this witness of theSpirit of God, and thence idly pre-sumed they were the children of God,while they were doing the works of thedevil! These are truly and properly en-thusiasts; and, indeed, in the worst senseof the word. But with what difficulty arethey convinced thereof, especially ifthey have drank deep into that spirit oferror! All endeavours to bring them tothe knowledge of themselves, they willthen account fighting against God; andthat vehemence and impetuosity ofspirit, which they call “contending ear-nestly for the faith,” sets them so farabove all the usual methods of convic-tion, that we may well say, “With men itis impossible.”

2. Who can then be surprised, ifmany reasonable men, seeing the dreadfuleffects of this delusion, and labouring tokeep at the utmost distance from it, shouldsometimes lean toward another extreme?—if they are not forward to believe anywho speak of having this witness, con-cerning which others have so grievouslyerred? —if they are almost ready to set alldown for enthusiasts, who use the expres-sions which have been so terribly abused?—yea, if they should question whether thewitness or testimony here spoken of, be theprivilege of ordinary Christians, and not,rather, one of those extraordinary giftswhich they suppose belonged only to theapostolic age?

3. But is there any necessity laidupon us of running either into one ex-treme or the other? May we not steer amiddle course, —keep a sufficient dis-tance from that spirit of error and enthu-siasm, without denying the gift of God,and giving up the great privilege of hischildren? Surely we may. In orderthereto, let us consider, in the presenceand fear of God,

First. What is this witness or testi-mony of our spirit; what is the testimonyof God’s Spirit; and, how does he “bearwitness with our spirit that we are thechildren of God?”

Secondly. How is this joint testi-mony of God’s Spirit and our own,clearly and solidly distinguished fromthe presumption of a natural mind, andfrom the delusion of the devil?

I. 1. Let us First consider, what is thewitness or testimony of our spirit. Buthere I cannot but desire all those who arefor swallowing up the testimony of theSpirit of God, in the rational testimony ofour own spirit, to observe, that in this textthe Apostle is so far from speaking of thetestimony of our own spirit only, that itmay be questioned whether he speaks of itat all, —whether he does not speak onlyof the testimony of God’s Spirit? It doesnot appear but the original text may befairly understood thus. The Apostle hadjust said, in the preceding verse, “Ye havereceived the Spirit of adoption, wherebywe cry, Abba, Father;” and immediatelysubjoins, Auto to pneuma (some cop-ies read, to auto pneuma)summarturei t% pneumati hmwn,oti esmen tekna Qew which may betranslated, “The same Spirit beareth wit-ness to our spirit, that we are the childrenof God.” (The preposition nun only de-noting, that he witnesses this at the sametime that he enables us to cry Abba, Fa-ther.) But I contend not; seeing so manyother texts, with the experience of allreal Christians, sufficiently evince, thatthere is in every believer, both the testi-mony of God’s Spirit, and the testi-mony of his own, that he is a child ofGod.

2. With regard to the latter, the foun-dation thereof is laid in those numeroustexts of Scripture which describe themarks of the children of God; and that soplain, that he which runneth may readthem. These are also collected together,and placed in the strongest light, by manyboth ancient and modern writers. If anyneed farther light, he may receive it by at-tending on the ministry of God’s word; bymeditating thereon before God in secret;and by conversing with those who havethe knowledge of his ways. And by thereason or understanding that God hasgiven him, which religion was designednot to extinguish, but to perfect; —ac-

cording to that of the Apostle, “Brethren,be not children in understanding; in mal-ice” or wickedness “be ye children; but inunderstanding be ye men;” (1 Cor. xiv.20;) —every man applying those Scrip-tural marks to himself, may knowwhether he is a child of God. Thus, if heknow, First, “as many as are led by theSpirit of God,” into all holy tempers andactions, “they are the sons of God;” (forwhich he has the infallible assurance ofholy writ;) Secondly, I am thus “led by theSpirit of God;” he will easily conclude, —“Therefore I am a son of God.”

3. Agreeable to this are all thoseplain declarations of St. John, in his FirstEpistle: “Hereby we know, that we doknow him, if we keep his command-ments.” (Chap. ii. 3.) “Whoso keepeth hisword, in him verily is the love of God per-fected: Hereby know we that we are inhim;” that we are indeed the children ofGod. (Verse 5.) “If ye know that he isrighteous, ye know that every one thatdoeth righteousness is born of him.”(Verse 29.) “We know that we havepassed from death unto life, because welove the brethren.” (Chap. iii. 14.)“Hereby we know that we are of the truth,and shall assure our hearts before him;”(verse 19;) namely, because we “love oneanother, not in word, neither in tonguesbut in deed and in truth.” “Hereby knowwe that we dwell in him, because he hathgiven us of his” loving “Spirit.” (Chap. iv.13.) And, “hereby we know that heabideth in us by the” obedient “Spiritwhich he hath given us.” (Chap. iii. 24.)

4. It is highly probable there neverwere any children of God, from the begin-ning of the world unto this day, who werefarther advanced in the grace of God, andthe knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ,than the Apostle John, at the time when hewrote these words, and the fathers inChrist to whom he wrote. Notwithstand-ing which, it is evident, both the Apostlehimself, and all those pillars in God’stemple, were very far from despisingthese marks of their being the children ofGod; and that they applied them to theirown souls for the confirmation of theirfaith. Yet all this is no other than rationalevidence, the witness of our spirit, ourreason or understanding. It all resolvesinto this: Those who have these marks arechildren of God: But we have thesemarks: Therefore we are children of God.

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5. But how does it appear, that wehave these marks? This is a questionthat still remains. How does it appear,that we do love God and our neigh-bour, and that we keep his command-ments? Observe, that the meaning ofthe question is, How does it appear toourselves, not to others? I would askhim, then, that proposes this question,How does it appear to you, that you arealive, and that you are now in ease, andnot in pain? Are you not immediatelyconscious of it?

By the same immediate conscious-ness, you will know if your soul is alive toGod; if you are saved from the pain ofproud wrath, and have the ease of a meekand quiet spirit. By the same means youcannot but perceive if you love, rejoice,and delight in God. By the same you mustbe directly assured, if you love yourneighbour as yourself; you are kindlyaffectioned to all mankind, and full ofgentleness and longsuffering.

And with regard to the outwardmark of the children of God, which is, ac-cording to St. John, the keeping his com-mandments, you undoubtedly know inyour own breast, if, by the grace of God, itbelongs to you. Your conscience informsyou from day to day, if you do not take thename of God within your lips, unless withseriousness and devotion, with reverenceand godly fear; if you remember the Sab-bath-day to keep it holy; if you honouryour father and mother; if you do to all asyou would they should do unto you; ifyou possess your body in sanctificationand honour; and if, whether you eat ordrink, you are temperate therein, and doall to the glory of God.

6. Now this is properly the testi-mony of our own spirit; even the testi-mony of our own conscience, that Godhath given us to be holy of heart, and holyin outward conversation. It is a con-sciousness of our having received, in andby the Spirit of adoption, the tempersmentioned in the word of God, as belong-ing to his adopted children; even a lovingheart toward God, and toward all man-kind; hanging with child-like confidenceon God our Father, desiring nothing buthim, casting all our care upon him, andembracing every child of man with ear-nest, tender affection: —A consciousnessthat we are inwardly conformed, by theSpirit of God, to the image of his Son, and

that we walk before him in justice, mercy,and truth, doing the things which arepleasing in his sight.

7. But what is that testimony ofGod’s Spirit, which is super-added to,and conjoined with, this? How does he“bear witness with our spirit that we arethe children of God?” It is hard to findwords in the language of men to explain“the deep things of God.” Indeed, thereare none that will adequately expresswhat the children of God experience. Butperhaps one might say, (desiring anywho are taught of God to correct, tosoften, or strengthen the expression,)The testimony of the Spirit is an in-ward impression on the soul, wherebythe Spirit of God directly witnesses tomy spirit, that I am a child of God;that Jesus Christ hath loved me, andgiven himself for me; and that all mysins are blotted out, and I, even I, amreconciled to God.

8. That this testimony of the Spiritof God must needs, in the very nature ofthings, be antecedent to the testimony ofour own spirit, may appear from this sin-gle consideration: We must be holy ofheart, and holy in life, before we can beconscious that we are so; before we canhave the testimony of our spirit, that weare inwardly and outwardly holy. But wemust love God, before we can be holy atall; this being the root of all holiness.Now we cannot love God, till we knowhe loves us. “We love him, because hefirst loved us.” And we cannot know hispardoning love to us, till his Spirit wit-nesses it to our spirit. Since, therefore,this testimony of his Spirit must precedethe love of God and all holiness, of con-sequence it must precede our inwardconsciousness thereof, or the testimonyof our spirit concerning them.

9. Then, and not till then, —whenthe Spirit of God beareth that witness toour spirit, “God hath loved thee, andgiven his own Son to be the propitiationfor thy sins; the Son of God hath lovedthee, and hath washed thee from thy sinsin his blood,” —“we love God because hefirst loved us;” and, for his sake, we loveour brother also. And of this we cannotbut be conscious to ourselves: We “knowthe things that are freely given to us ofGod.” We know that we love God, andkeep his commandments; and “herebyalso we know that we are of God.” This is

that testimony of our own spirit, which, solong as we continue to love God and keephis commandments, continues joinedwith the testimony of God’s Spirit, “thatwe are the children of God.”

10. Not that I would by any meansbe understood, by any thing which hasbeen spoken concerning it, to excludethe operation of the Spirit of God, evenfrom the testimony of our own spirit. Inno wise. It is he that not only worketh inus every manner of thing that is good, butalso shines upon his own work, andclearly shows what he has wrought. Ac-cordingly, this is spoken of by St. Paul,as one great end of our receiving theSpirit, “that we may know the thingswhich are freely given to us of God:”That he may strengthen the testimony ofour conscience, touching our “simplicityand godly sincerity;” and give us to dis-cern, in a fuller and stronger light, thatwe now do the things which please him.

11. Should it still be inquired, “Howdoes the Spirit of God ‘bear witness withour spirit, that we are the children ofGod,’ so as to exclude all doubt, andevince the reality of our sonship?” —theanswer is clear from what has been ob-served above. And, First, as to the witnessof our spirit: The soul as intimately andevidently perceives when it loves, de-lights, and rejoices in God, as when itloves, and delights in anything on earth.And it can no more doubt, whether itloves, delights, and rejoices or no, thanwhether it exists or no. If, therefore, thisbe just reasoning,

He that now loves God, that delightsand rejoices in him with an humble joy,and holy delight, and an obedient love, isa child of God: But I thus love, delight,and rejoice in God; Therefore, I am achild of God: —Then a Christian can inno wise doubt of his being a child God. Ofthe former proposition he has as full anassurance as he has that the Scriptures areof God; and of his thus loving God, he hasan inward proof, which is nothing short ofself-evidence. Thus, the testimony of ourown spirit is with the most intimate con-viction manifested to our hearts, in such amanner, as beyond all reasonable doubt toevince the reality of our sonship.

12. The manner how the divinetestimony is manifested to the heart, Ido not take upon me to explain. Suchknowledge is too wonderful and excel-

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lent for me: I cannot attain unto it. Thewind bloweth, and I hear the soundthereof; but I cannot tell how it cometh,or whither it goeth. As no one knoweththe things of a man, save the spirit of aman that is in him; so the manner of thethings of God knoweth no one, save theSpirit of God. But the fact we know;namely, that the Spirit of God does givea believer such a testimony of his adop-tion, that while it is present to the soul,he can no more doubt the reality of hissonship, than he can doubt of the shin-ing of the sun, while he stands in the fullblaze of his beams.

II. 1. How this joint testimony ofGod’s Spirit and our spirit may be clearlyand solidly distinguished from the pre-sumption of a natural mind, and from thedelusion of the devil, is the next thing tobe considered. And it highly imports allwho desire the salvation of God, to con-sider it with the deepest attention, as theywould not deceive their own souls. An er-ror in this is generally observed to havethe most fatal consequences; the rather,because he that errs, seldom discovers hismistake, till it is too late to remedy it.

2. And, First, how is this testimonyto be distinguished from the presump-tion of a natural mind? It is certain, onewho was never convinced of sin, is al-ways ready to flatter himself, and thinkof himself, especially in spiritual things,more highly than he ought to think. Andhence, it is in no wise strange, one who isvainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,when he hears of this privilege of trueChristians, among whom he undoubt-edly ranks himself, should soon workhimself up into a persuasion that he is al-ready possessed thereof. Such instancesnow abound in the world, and haveabounded in all ages. How then may thereal testimony of the Spirit with ourspirit, be distinguished from thisdamning presumption?

3. I answer, the Holy Scripturesabound with marks, whereby the onemay be distinguished from the other.They describe, in the plainest manner,the circumstances which go before,which accompany, and which follow,the true, genuine testimony of the Spiritof God with the spirit of a believer. Who-ever carefully weighs and attends tothese will not need to put darkness forlight. He will perceive so wide a differ-

ence, with respect to all these, betweenthe real and the pretended witness ofthe Spirit, that there will be no danger,I might say, no possibility, of con-founding the one with the other.

4. By these, one who vainly pre-sumes on the gift of God might surelyknow, if he really desired it, that hehath been hitherto “given up to astrong delusion,” and suffered to be-lieve a lie. For the Scriptures lay downthose clear, obvious marks, as preced-ing, accompanying, and following thatgift, which a little reflection would con-vince him, beyond all doubt, werenever found in his soul. For instance:The Scripture describes repentance, orconviction of sin, as constantly going be-fore this witness of pardon. So, “Repent;for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”(Matt. iii. 2.) “Repent ye, and believe thegospel.” (Mark i. 15.) “Repent, and bebaptized every one of you for the remis-sion of sins.” (Acts ii. 38.) “Repent yetherefore, and be converted, that your sinsmay be blotted out.” (Acts iii. 19.) In con-formity whereto, our Church also contin-ually places repentance before pardon, orthe witness of it. “He pardoneth andabsolveth all them that truly repent, andunfeignedly believe his holy gospel.”“Almighty God—hath promised forgive-ness of sins to all them, who, with heartyrepentance and true faith, turn unto him.”But he is a stranger even to this repen-tance: He hath never known a brokenand a contrite heart: “The remem-brance of his sins” was never “grievousunto him,” nor “the burden of them in-tolerable.” In repeating those words,he never meant what he said; he merelypaid a compliment to God. And were itonly from the want of this previouswork of God, he hath too great reasonto believe that he hath grasped a mereshadow, and never yet known the realprivilege of the sons of God.

5. Again, the Scriptures describe thebeing born of God, which must precedethe witness that we are his children, as avast and mighty change; a change “fromdarkness to light,” as well as “from thepower of Satan unto God;” as a “passingfrom death unto life,” a resurrection fromthe dead. Thus the Apostle to the Ephe-sians: “You hath he quickened who weredead in trespasses and sins.” (ii. l.) Andagain, “When we were dead in sins, he

hath quickened us together with Christ;and hath raised us up together, and madeus sit together in heavenly places in ChristJesus.” (Verses 5, 6.) But what knowethhe, concerning whom we now speak, ofany such change as this? He is altogetherunacquainted with this whole matter.This is a language which he does not un-derstand. He tells you he always was aChristian. He knows no time when he hadneed of such a change. By this also, if hegive himself leave to think, may he know,that he is not born the Spirit; that he hasnever yet known God; but has taken thevoice of nature for the voice of God.

6. But waving the consideration ofwhatever he has or has not experiencedin time past; by the present marks maywe easily distinguish a child of Godfrom a presumptuous self-deceiver. TheScriptures describe that joy in the Lordwhich accompanies the witness of hisSpirit, as a humble joy; a joy that abases tothe dust, that makes a pardoned sinner cryout, “I am vile! What am I, or my father’shouse? Now mine eye seeth thee, I abhormyself in dust and ashes!” And whereverlowliness is, there is meekness, patience,gentleness, long-suffering. There is a soft,yielding spirit; a mildness and sweetness, atenderness of soul, which words cannotexpress. But do these fruits attend that sup-posed testimony of the Spirit in a presump-tuous man? Just the reverse. The moreconfident he is of the favour of God, themore is he lifted up; the more does he exalthimself; the more haughty and assuming ishis whole behaviour. The stronger witnesshe imagines himself to have, the moreoverbearing is he to all around him; themore incapable of receiving any reproof;the more impatient of contradiction. In-stead of being more meek, and gentle, andteachable, more “swift to hear, and slow tospeak,” he is more slow to hear, and swiftto speak; more unready to learn of any one;more fiery and vehement in his temper,and eager in his conversation. Yea, per-haps, there will sometimes appear a kindof fierceness in his air, his manner ofspeaking, his whole deportment, as if hewere just going to take the matter out ofGod’s hands, and himself to “devour theadversaries.”

7. Once more: The Scriptures teach,“This is the love of God,” the sure markthereof, “that we keep his command-ments.” (1 John v. 3.) And our Lord him-

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self saith, “He that keepeth mycommandments, he it is that loveth me.”(John xiv. 21.) Love rejoices to obey; todo, in every point, whatever is acceptableto the beloved. A true lover of God hastensto do his will on earth as it is done inheaven. But is this the character of thepresumptuous pretender to the love ofGod? Nay, but his love gives him a lib-erty to disobey, to break, not keep, thecommandments of God. Perhaps, whenhe was in fear of the wrath of God, hedid labour to do his will. But now, look-ing on himself as “not under the law,”he thinks he is no longer obliged to ob-serve it. He is therefore less zealous ofgood works; less careful to abstain fromevil; less watchful over his own heart;less jealous over his tongue. He is lessearnest to deny himself, and to take uphis cross daily. In a word, the wholeform of his life is changed, since he hasfancied himself to be at liberty. He is nolonger “exercising himself unto godli-ness;” “wrestling not only with fleshand blood, but with principalities andpowers,” enduring hardships, “agoniz-ing to enter in at the strait gate.” No; hehas found an easier way to heaven; abroad, smooth, flowery path; in whichhe can say to his soul, “Soul, take thyease; eat, drink, and be merry.” It fol-lows, with undeniable evidence, that hehas not the true testimony of his ownspirit. He cannot be conscious of havingthose marks which he hath not; thatlowliness, meekness, and obedience:Nor yet can the Spirit of the God oftruth bear witness to a lie; or testify thathe is a child of God, when he is mani-festly a child of the devil.

8. Discover thyself, thou poorself-deceiver! —thou who art confident ofbeing a child of God; thou who sayest, “Ihave the witness in myself,” and thereforedefiest all thy enemies. Thou art weighedin the balance and found wanting; even inthe balance of the sanctuary. The word ofthe Lord hath tried thy soul, and provedthee to be reprobate silver. Thou art notlowly of heart; therefore thou hast not re-ceived the Spirit of Jesus unto this day.Thou art not gentle and meek; thereforethy joy is nothing worth: It is not joy in theLord. Thou dost not keep his command-ments; therefore thou lovest him not, nei-ther art thou partaker of the Holy Ghost. Itis consequently as certain and as evident,

as the Oracles of God can make it, hisSpirit doth not bear witness with thy spiritthat thou art a child of God. O cry untohim, that the scales may fall off thine eyes;that thou mayest know thyself as thou artknown; that thou mayest receive the sen-tence of death in thyself, till thou hear thevoice that raises the dead, saying, “Be ofgood cheer: Thy sins are forgiven; thy faithhath made thee whole.”

9. “But how may one who has thereal witness in himself distinguish it frompresumption?” How, I pray, do you distin-guish day from night? How do you distin-guish light from darkness; or the light of astar, or a glimmering taper, from the lightof the noon-day sun? Is there not an inher-ent, obvious, essential difference betweenthe one and the other? And do you not im-mediately and directly perceive that differ-ence, provided your senses are rightlydisposed? In like manner, there is an inher-ent, essential difference between spirituallight and spiritual darkness; and betweenthe light wherewith the Sun of righteous-ness shines upon our heart, and that glim-mering light which arises only from“sparks of our own kindling:” And this dif-ference also is immediately and directlyperceived, if our spiritual senses are rightlydisposed.

10. To require a more minute andphilosophical account of the mannerwhereby we distinguish these, and of thecriteria, or intrinsic marks, whereby weknow the voice of God, is to make a de-mand which can never be answered; no,not by one who has the deepest knowledgeof God. Suppose when Paul answered be-fore Agrippa, the wise Roman had said,“Thou talkest of hearing the voice of theSon of God. How dost thou know it washis voice? By what criteria, what intrinsicmarks, dost thou know the voice of God?Explain to me the manner of distinguish-ing this from a human or angelic voice.”Can you believe, the Apostle himselfwould have once attempted to answer soidle a demand? And yet, doubtless, themoment he heard that voice, he knew itwas the voice of God. But how he knewthis, who is able to explain? Perhaps nei-ther man nor angel.

11. To come yet closer: SupposeGod were now to speak to any soul, “Thysins are forgiven thee,” —he must be will-ing that soul should know his voice; other-wise he would speak in vain. And he is

able to effect this; for, whenever he wills,to do is present with him. And he does ef-fect it: That soul is absolutely assured,“this voice is the voice of God.” But yet hewho hath that witness in himself, cannotexplain it to one who hath it not: Nor in-deed is it to be expected that he should.Were there any natural medium to prove,or natural method to explain, the things ofGod to unexperienced men, then the natu-ral man might discern and know the thingsof the Spirit of God. But this is utterly con-trary to the assertion of the Apostle, that“he cannot know them, because they arespiritually discerned;” even by spiritualsenses, which the natural man hath not.

12. “But how shall I know that myspiritual senses are rightly disposed?” Thisalso is a question of vast importance; for ifa man mistake in this, he may run on inendless error and delusion. “And how am Iassured that this is not my case; and that Ido not mistake the voice of the Spirit?”Even by the testimony of your own spirit;by “the answer of a good conscience to-ward God.” By the fruits which he hathwrought in your spirit, you shall know thetestimony of the Spirit of God. Hereby youshall know, that you are in no delusion,that you have not deceived your own soul.The immediate fruits of the Spirit, ruling inthe heart, are “love, joy, peace, bowels ofmercies, humbleness of mind, meekness,gentleness, long-suffering.” And the out-ward fruits are, the doing good to all men;the doing no evil to any; and the walking inthe light, —a zealous, uniform obedienceto all the commandments of God.

13. By the same fruits shall you dis-tinguish this voice of God, from any delu-sion of the devil. That proud spirit cannothumble thee before God. He neither cannor would soften thy heart, and melt it firstinto earnest mourning after God, and theninto filial love. It is not the adversary ofGod and man that enables thee to love thyneighbour; or to put on meekness, gentle-ness, patience, temperance, and the wholearmour of God. He is not divided againsthimself, or a destroyer of sin, his ownwork. No; it is none but the Son of Godwho cometh “to destroy the works of thedevil.” As surely therefore as holiness is ofGod, and as sin is the work of the devil, sosurely the witness thou hast in thyself is notof Satan, but of God.

14. Well then mayest thou say,“Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable

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gift!” Thanks be unto God, who giveth meto “know in whom I have believed;” whohath “sent forth the Spirit of his Son intomy heart, crying, Abba, Father,” and evennow, “bearing witness with my spirit that Iam a child of God!” And see, that not onlythy lips, but thy life, show forth his praise.He hath sealed thee for his own; glorifyhim then in thy body and thy spirit, whichare his. Beloved, if thou hast this hope inthyself, purify thyself as he is pure. Whilethou beholdest what manner of love theFather hath given thee, that thou shouldestbe called a child of God; cleanse thyself“from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, per-fecting holiness in the fear of God;” and letall thy thoughts, words, and works be aspiritual sacrifice, holy, acceptable to Godthrough Christ Jesus!

The Witness of the Spirit:Discourse II“The Spirit itself beareth witness withour spirit, that we are the children ofGod.” Romans viii. 16.

I. 1. None who believe the Scripturesto be the word of God, can doubt the im-portance of such a truth as this; —a truthrevealed therein, not once only, not ob-scurely, not incidentally; but frequently,and that in express terms; but solemnly andof set purpose, as denoting one of the pecu-liar privileges of the children of God.

2. And it is the more necessary to ex-plain and defend this truth, because there isa danger on the right hand and on the left. Ifwe deny it, there is a danger lest our reli-gion degenerate into a mere formality; lest,“having a form of godliness,” we neglect,if not “deny, the power of it.” If we allowit, but do not understand what we allow,we are liable to run into all the wildness ofenthusiasm. It is therefore needful, in thehighest degree, to guard those who fearGod from both these dangers, by a scrip-tural and rational illustration and confir-mation of this momentous truth.

3. It may seem, something of thiskind is the more needful, because so littlehas been wrote on the subject with anyclearness; unless some discourses on thewrong side of the question which explain itquite away. And it cannot be doubted, butthese were occasioned, at least in a greatmeasure, by the crude, unscriptural, irra-tional explication of others, who “knew

not what they spake, nor whereof they af-firmed.”

4. It more nearly concerns the Meth-odists, so called, clearly to understand, ex-plain, and defend this doctrine; because itis one grand part of the testimony whichGod has given them to bear to all mankind.It is by his peculiar blessing upon them insearching the Scriptures, confirmed by theexperience of his children, that this greatevangelical truth has been recovered,which had been for many years well nighlost and forgotten.

II. 1. But what is the witness of theSpirit? The original wordmarturia, maybe rendered either (as it is in severalplaces) the witness, or less ambiguously,the testimony, or the record: So it is ren-dered in our translation, (1 John v. 11,)“This is the record,” the testimony, thesum of what God testifies in all the inspiredwritings, “that God hath given unto useternal life, and this life is in his Son.” Thetestimony now under consideration isgiven by the Spirit of God to and with ourspirit: He is the Person testifying. What hetestifies to us is, “that we are the children ofGod.” The immediate result of this testi-mony is, “the fruit of the Spirit;” namely,“love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentle-ness, goodness:” And without these, thetestimony itself cannot continue. For it isinevitably destroyed, not only by the com-mission of any outward sin, or the omis-sion of known duty, but by giving way toany inward sin; in a word, by whatevergrieves the Holy Spirit of God.

2. I observed many years ago, “It ishard to find words in the language of men,to explain the deep things of God. Indeedthere are none that will adequately expresswhat the Spirit of God works in his chil-dren. But perhaps one might say, (desiringany who are taught of God, to correct,soften, or strengthen the expression,) Bythe testimony of the Spirit, I mean, an in-ward impression on the soul, whereby theSpirit of God immediately and directlywitnesses to my spirit, that I am a child ofGod; that Jesus Christ hath loved me, andgiven himself for me; that all my sins areblotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled toGod.”

3. After twenty years’ further con-sideration, I see no cause to retract any partof this. Neither do I conceive how any ofthese expressions may be altered, so as tomake them more intelligible. I can only

add, that if any of the children of God willpoint out any other expressions, which aremore clear, or more agreeable to the wordof God, I will readily lay these aside.

4. Meantime let it be observed, I donot mean hereby, that the Spirit of God tes-tifies this by any outward voice; no, nor al-ways by an inward voice, although he maydo this sometimes. Neither do I suppose,that he always applies to the heart (thoughhe often may) one or more texts of Scrip-ture. But he so works upon the soul by hisimmediate influence, and by a strong,though inexplicable operation, that thestormy wind and troubled waves subside,and there is a sweet calm; the heart restingas in the arms of Jesus, and the sinner beingclearly satisfied that God is reconciled, thatall his “iniquities are forgiven, and his sinscovered.”

5. Now what is the matter of dis-pute concerning this? Not whether therebe a witness or testimony of the Spirit.Not whether the Spirit does testify withour spirit, that we are the children ofGod. None can deny this, without flatlycontradicting the Scriptures, and charg-ing a lie upon the God of truth. There-fore, that there is a testimony of the Spiritis acknowledged by all parties.

6. Neither is it questioned, whetherthere is an indirect witness or testimony,that we are the children of God. This isnearly, if not exactly, the same with thetestimony of a good conscience towardsGod; and is the result of reason, or reflec-tion on what we feel in our own souls.Strictly speaking, it is a conclusion drawnpartly from the word of God, and partlyfrom our own experience. The word ofGod says, every one who has the fruit ofthe Spirit is a child of God; experience, orinward consciousness, tells me, that Ihave the fruit of the Spirit; and hence I ra-tionally conclude, “Therefore I am a childof God.” This is likewise allowed on allhands, and so is no matter of controversy.

7. Nor do we assert, that there canbe any real testimony of the Spirit with-out the fruit of the Spirit. We assert, onthe contrary, that the fruit of the Spiritimmediately springs from this testi-mony; not always indeed in the same de-gree, even when the testimony is firstgiven; and much less afterwards. Neitherjoy nor peace is always at one stay; no,nor love; as neither is the testimony itselfalways equally strong and clear.

30 October 1994

8. But the point in question is,whether there be any direct testimony ofthe Spirit at all; whether there be any othertestimony of the Spirit, than that whicharises from a consciousness of the fruit.

III. 1. I believe there is; becausethat is the plain, natural meaning of thetext, “The Spirit itself beareth witnesswith our spirit, that we are the children ofGod.” It is manifest, here are two wit-nesses mentioned, who together testifythe same thing; the Spirit of God, and ourown spirit. The late Bishop of London, inhis sermon on this text, seems astonishedthat any one can doubt of this, which ap-pears upon the very face of the words.Now, “The testimony of our own spirit,”says the Bishop, “is one, which is theconsciousness of our own sincerity;” or,to express the same thing a little moreclearly, the consciousness of the fruit ofthe Spirit. When our spirit is consciousof this, of love, joy, peace, long-suffer-ing, gentleness, goodness, it easily infersfrom these premises, that we are the chil-dren of God.

2. It is true, that great man supposesthe other witness to be “The conscious-ness of our own good works.” This, he af-firms, is the testimony of God’s Spirit.But this is included in the testimony of ourown spirit; yea, and in sincerity, even ac-cording to the common sense of the word.So the Apostle, “Our rejoicing is this, thetestimony of our conscience, that in sim-plicity and godly sincerity we have hadour conversation in the world:” Where itis plain, sincerity refers to our words andactions, at least as much as to our inwarddispositions. So that this is not anotherwitness, but the very same that he men-tioned before; the consciousness of ourgood works being only one branch of theconsciousness of our sincerity. Conse-quently here is only one witness still. Iftherefore the text speaks of two witnesses,one of these is not the consciousness ofour good works, neither of our sincerity;all this being manifestly contained in thetestimony of our spirit.

3. What then is the other witness?This might easily be learned, if the textitself were not sufficiently clear, fromthe verse immediately preceding: “Yehave received, not the spirit of bondage,but the Spirit of adoption, whereby wecry, Abba, Father:” It follows, “TheSpirit itself beareth witness with our

spirit, that we are the children of God.”4. This is farther explained by the

parallel text, (Gal. iv. 6,) “Because ye aresons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of hisSon into your hearts, crying, Abba, Fa-ther.” Is not this something immediateand direct, not the result of reflection orargumentation? Does not this Spirit cry,“Abba, Father,” in our hearts the mo-ment it is given, antecedently to any re-flection upon our sincerity; yea, to anyreasoning whatsoever? And is not thisthe plain natural sense of the words,which strikes any one as soon as he hearsthem? All these texts then, in their mostobvious meaning, describe a direct testi-mony of the Spirit.

5. That the testimony of the Spiritof God must, in the very nature of things,be antecedent to the testimony of ourown spirit, may appear from this singleconsideration: We must be holy in heartand life before we can be conscious thatwe are so. But we must love God beforewe can be holy at all, this being the rootof all holiness. Now we cannot love God,till we know he loves us: “We love him,because he first loved us:” And we can-not know his love to us, till his Spirit wit-nesses it to our spirit. Till then we cannotbelieve it; we cannot say, “The life whichI now live, I live by faith in the Son ofGod, who loved me, and gave himselffor me.”

Then, only then we feelOur interest in his blood,And cry, with joy unspeakable,Thou art my Lord, my God!

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

6. And here properly comes in, toconfirm this scriptural doctrine, the ex-perience of the children of God; the ex-perience not of two or three, not of a few,but of a great multitude which no mancan number. It has been confirmed, bothin this, and in all ages, by “a cloud” ofliving and dying “witnesses.” It is con-firmed by your experience and mine. TheSpirit itself bore witness to my spirit thatI was a child of God, gave me an evi-dence hereof, and I immediately cried,“Abba, Father!” And this I did, (and sodid you,) before I reflected on, or wasconscious of, any fruit of the Spirit. It

was from this testimony received, thatlove, joy, peace, and the whole fruit ofthe Spirit flowed. First, I heard,

Thy sins are forgiven!Accepted thou art!—I listen’d,and heaven sprung up in my heart.

7. But this is confirmed, not only bythe experience of the children of God;—thousands of whom can declare thatthey never did know themselves to be inthe favour of God till it was directly wit-nessed to them by his Spirit; —but by allthose who are convinced of sin, who feelthe wrath of God abiding on them. Thesecannot be satisfied with any thing lessthan a direct testimony from his Spirit,that he is “merciful to their unrighteous-ness, and remembers their sins and iniq-uities no more.” Tell any of these, “Youare to know you are a child by reflectingon what he has wrought in you, on yourlove, joy and peace;” and will he not im-mediately reply, “By all this I know I ama child of the devil? I have no more loveto God than the devil has; my carnalmind is enmity against God. I have nojoy in the Holy Ghost; my soul is sorrow-ful even unto death. I have no peace; myheart is a troubled sea; I am all storm andtempest.” And which way can thesesouls possibly be comforted, but by a di-vine testimony (not that they are good, orsincere, or conformable to the Scripturein heart and life, but) that God justifieththe ungodly? —him that, till the momenthe is justified, is all ungodly, void of alltrue holiness; “him that worketh not,”that worketh nothing that is truly good,till he is conscious that he is accepted,not for any “works of righteousnesswhich he hath done,” but by the mere,free mercy of God; wholly and solely forwhat the Son of God hath done and suf-fered for him. And can it be any other-wise, if “a man is justified by faith,without the works of the law?” If so,what inward or outward goodness can hebe conscious of, antecedent to his justifi-cation? Nay, is not the having nothing topay, that is, the being conscious that“there dwelleth in us no good thing,” nei-ther inward nor outward goodness, es-sentially, indispensably necessary,before we can be “justified freely,through the redemption that is in JesusChrist?” Was ever any man justified

October 1994 31

since his coming into the world, or canany man ever be justified, till he isbrought to that point,—

I give up every plea beside, —Lord, I am damn’d;but Thou hast died?

8. Every one, therefore, who deniesthe existence of such a testimony, does ineffect deny justification by faith. It fol-lows, that either he never experiencedthis, either he never was justified, or thathe has forgotten, as St. Peter speaks, twkaqarismw twn palai autwamartiwn, the purification from hisformer sins; the experience he then hadhimself; the manner wherein Godwrought in his own soul, when hisformer sins were blotted out.

9. And the experience even of thechildren of the world here confirms thatof the children of God. Many of thesehave a desire to please God: Some ofthem take much pains to please him: Butdo they not, one and all, count it the high-est absurdity for any to talk of knowinghis sins are forgiven? Which of themeven pretends to any such thing? And yetmany of them are conscious of their ownsincerity. Many of them undoubtedlyhave, in a degree, the testimony of theirown spirit, a consciousness of their ownuprightness. But this brings them no con-sciousness that they are forgiven; noknowledge that they are the children ofGod. Yea, the more sincere they are, themore uneasy they generally are, for wantof knowing it; plainly showing that thiscannot be known, in a satisfactory man-ner, by the bare testimony of our ownspirit, without God’s directly testifyingthat we are his children.

IV. But abundance of objectionshave been made to this; the chief ofwhich it may be well to consider.

1. It is objected, First, “Experienceis not sufficient to prove a doctrinewhich is not founded on Scripture.” Thisis undoubtedly true; and it is an impor-tant truth; but it does not affect the pres-ent question; for it has been shown, thatthis doctrine is founded on Scripture:Therefore experience is properly allegedto confirm it.

2. “But madmen, French prophets,and enthusiasts of every kind, haveimagined they experienced this wit-ness.” They have so; and perhaps not a

few of them did, although they did notretain it long: But if they did not, this isno proof at all that others have not expe-rienced it; as a madman’s imagininghimself a king, does not prove that thereare no real kings. “Nay, many whopleaded strongly for this, have utterly de-cried the Bible.” Perhaps so; but this wasno necessary sequence: Thousands pleadfor it who have the highest esteem for theBible. “Yea, but many have fatally de-ceived themselves hereby, and got aboveall conviction.” And yet a scriptural doc-trine is no worse though men abuse it totheir own destruction.

3. “But I lay it down as an undoubtedtruth, the fruit of the Spirit is the witness ofthe Spirit.” Not undoubted; thousandsdoubt of, yea, flatly deny it: But let thatpass. “If this witness be sufficient, there isno need of any other. But it is sufficient,unless in one of these cases, 1. The totalabsence of the fruit of the Spirit.” And thisis the case, when the direct witness is firstgiven. 2. “The not perceiving it. But to con-tend for it in this case, is to contend for be-ing in the favour of God, and not knowingit.” True; not knowing it at that time anyotherwise than by the testimony which isgiven for that end. And this we do contendfor; we contend that the direct witness mayshine clear, even while the indirect one isunder a cloud.

4. It is objected, Secondly, “The de-sign of the witness contended for is, toprove that the profession we make is genu-ine. But it does not prove this.” I answer,the proving this is not the design of it. It isantecedent to our making any profession atall, but that of being lost, undone, guilty,helpless sinners. It is designed to assurethose to whom it is given, that they are thechildren of God; that they are “justifiedfreely by his grace, through the redemp-tion that is in Jesus Christ.” And this doesnot suppose that their preceding thoughts,words, and actions, are conformable to therule of Scripture; it supposes quite the re-verse; namely, that they are sinners allover; sinners both in heart and life. Were itotherwise, God would justify the godly;and their own works would be counted tothem for righteousness. And I cannot butfear that a supposition of our being justi-fied by works is at the root of all these ob-jections; for, whoever cordially believesthat God imputes to all that are justifiedrighteousness without works, will find no

difficulty in allowing the witness of hisSpirit, preceding the fruit of it.

5. It is objected, Thirdly, “OneEvangelist says, ‘Your heavenly Fatherwill give the Holy Spirit to them that askhim.’ The other Evangelist calls thesame thing ‘good gifts;’ abundantlydemonstrating that the Spirit’s way ofbearing witness is by giving good gifts.”Nay, here is nothing at all about bearingwitness, either in the one text or theother. Therefore till this demonstration isbetter demonstrated, I let it stand as it is.

6. It is objected, Fourthly, “TheScripture says, ‘The tree is known by itsfruits. Prove all things. Try the spirits. Ex-amine yourselves.’” Most true: Therefore,let every man who believes he “hath thewitness in himself,” try whether it be ofGod; if the fruit follow, it is; otherwise it isnot. For certainly “the tree is known by itsfruit:” Hereby we prove if it be of God.“But the direct witness is never referred toin the Book of God.” Not as standingalone; not as a single witness; but as con-nected with the other; as giving a joint tes-timony; testifying with our spirit, that weare children of God. And who is able toprove, that it is not thus referred to in thisvery Scripture? “Examine yourselveswhether ye be in the faith; prove your ownselves. Know ye not your own selves, thatJesus Christ is in you?” It is by no meansclear, that they did not know this by a di-rect as well as a remote witness. How is itproved, that they did not know it, First, byan inward consciousness; and, Then, bylove, joy, and peace?

7. “But the testimony arising fromthe internal and external change is con-stantly referred to in the Bible.” It is so:And we constantly refer thereto, to con-firm the testimony of the Spirit. “Nay,all the marks you have given, whereby todistinguish the operations of God’sSpirit from delusion, refer to the changewrought in us and upon us.” This, like-wise, is undoubtedly true.

8. It is objected, Fifthly, that “thedirect witness of the Spirit does not se-cure us from the greatest delusion. Andis that a witness fit to be trusted, whosetestimony cannot be depended on? that isforced to fly to something else, to provewhat it asserts? I answer: To secure usfrom all delusion, God gives us two wit-nesses that we are his children. And thisthey testify conjointly. Therefore, “what

32 October 1994

God hath joined together, let not man putasunder.” And while they are joined, wecannot be deluded: Their testimony canbe depended on. They are fit to be trustedin the highest degree, and need nothingelse to prove what they assert. “Nay, thedirect witness only asserts, but does notprove, any thing.” By two witnessesshall every word be established. Andwhen the Spirit witnesses with our spirit,as God designs it to do, then it fullyproves that we are children of God.

9. It is objected, Sixthly, “You ownthe change wrought is a sufficient testi-mony, unless in the case of severe trials,such as that of our Saviour upon the cross;but none of us can be tried in that man-ner.” But you or I may be tried in such amanner, and so may any other child ofGod, that it will be impossible for us tokeep our filial confidence in God withoutthe direct witness of his Spirit.

10. It is objected, Lastly, “Thegreatest contenders for it are some of theproudest and most uncharitable of men.”Perhaps some of the hottest contendersfor it are both proud and uncharitable;but many of the firmest contenders for itare eminently meek and lowly in heart;and, indeed, in all other respects also,True followers of their lamb-like Lord.

The preceding objections are themost considerable that I have heard, andI believe contain the strength of thecause. Yet I apprehend whoever calmlyand impartially considers those objec-tions and the answers together, will eas-ily see that they do not destroy, no, norweaken, the evidence of that great truth,that the Spirit of God does directly, aswell as indirectly, testify that we arechildren of God.

V. 1. The sum of all this is: The tes-timony of the Spirit is an inward impres-sion on the souls of believers, wherebythe Spirit of God directly testifies to theirspirit, that they are children of God. Andit is not questioned, whether there is atestimony of the Spirit; but whether thereis any direct testimony; whether there isany other than that which arises from aconsciousness of the fruit of the Spirit.We believe there is; because this is theplain natural meaning of the text, illus-trated both by the preceding words, andby the parallel passage in the Epistle tothe Galatians; because, in the nature ofthe thing, the testimony must precede the

fruit which springs from it; and becausethis plain meaning of the word of God isconfirmed by the experience of innumer-able children of God; yea, and by the ex-perience of all who are convinced of sin,who can never rest till they have a directwitness; and even of the children of theworld, who, not having the witness inthemselves, one and all declare, none canknow his sins forgiven.

2. And whereas it is objected, thatexperience is not sufficient to prove adoctrine unsupported by Scripture;—that madmen and enthusiasts of everykind have imagined such a witness;

—that the design of that witness isto prove our profession genuine, whichdesign it does not answer;

—that the Scripture says, “The tree isknown by its fruit;” “examine yourselves;prove your ownselves;” and, meantime,the direct witness is never referred to in allthe Book of God; —that it does not secureus from the greatest delusions; —and,Lastly, that the change wrought in us a suf-ficient testimony, unless in such trials asChrist alone suffered:

—We answer, 1. Experience is suf-ficient to confirm a doctrine which isgrounded on Scripture. 2. Though manyfancy they experience what they do not,this is no prejudice to real experience. 3.The design of that witness is, to assure uswe are children of God; and this design itdoes answer. 4. The true witness of theSpirit is known by its fruit, “love, peace,joy;” not indeed preceding, but followingit. 5. It cannot be proved, that the direct aswell as the indirect witness is referred toin that very text, “Know ye not yourownselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” 6.The Spirit of God, witnessing with ourspirit, does secure us from all delusion:And, Lastly, we are all liable to trials,wherein the testimony of our own spirit isnot sufficient; wherein nothing less thanthe direct testimony of God’s Spirit canassure us that we are his children.

3. Two inferences may be drawnfrom the whole: The First, let none everpresume to rest in any supposed testi-mony of the Spirit which is separate fromthe fruit of it. If the Spirit of God does re-ally testify that we are the children ofGod, the immediate consequence will bethe fruit of the Spirit, even love, joy,peace, long suffering, gentleness, good-ness, fidelity, meekness, temperance.”

And however this fruit may be cloudedfor a while, during the time of strongtemptation, so that it does not appear tothe tempted person, while Satan is siftinghim as wheat; yet the substantial part of itremains, even under the thickest cloud. Itis true, joy in the Holy Ghost may bewithdrawn, during the hour of trial; yea,the soul may be “exceeding sorrowful,”while “the hour and power of darkness”continue; but even this is generally re-stored with increase, till we rejoice “withjoy unspeakable and full of glory.”

4. The Second inference is, let nonerest in any supposed fruit of the Spiritwithout the witness. There may be fore-tastes of joy, of peace, of love, and thosenot delusive, but really from God, longbefore we have the witness in ourselves;before the Spirit of God witnesses withour spirits that we have “redemption inthe blood of Jesus, even the forgivenessof sins.” Yea, there may be a degree oflong-suffering, of gentleness, of fidelity,meekness, temperance, (not a shadowthereof, but a real degree, by the prevent-ing grace of God,) before we “are ac-cepted in the Beloved,” and,consequently, before we have a testi-mony of our acceptance: But it is by nomeans advisable to rest here; it is at theperil of our souls if we do. If we are wise,we shall be continually crying to God,until his Spirit cry in our heart, “Abba,Father!” This is the privilege of all thechildren of God, and without this we cannever be assured that we are his children.Without this we cannot retain a steadypeace, nor avoid perplexing doubts andfears. But when we have once receivedthis Spirit of adoption, this “peace whichpasseth all understanding,” and whichexpels all painful doubt and fear, will“keep our hearts and minds in Christ Je-sus.” And when this has brought forth itsgenuine fruit, all inward and outward ho-liness, it is undoubtedly the will of himthat calleth us, to give us always what hehas once given; so that there is no needthat we should ever more be deprived ofeither the testimony of God’s Spirit, orthe tes t imony of our own, theconsciousness of our walking in allrighteousness and true holiness.

Newry, April 4, 1767.[The preceding excerpts were

taken from The Works of John Wesley(London: 1872).] ■

October 1994 33

What You Don’t Know Can Sometimes Hurt You!Did you know that for over one hundred and fifty years all the leaders of the Early Church

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Obviously, that doesn’t describe the Church today. With a church on every cornerpreaching a different interpretation of Scripture and believers picking and choosing asthey deem fit, it doesn’t seem possible it could have ever been otherwise, does it?Yet it was a reality in the Early Church for well over a century. So, what happened?

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Thy Word have I hid in mine heart,That I might not sin against Thee.

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✡✡The

ElijahProject

What if all Israel was “cut off?”

John the Baptist warned it could happen. (Matt. 3:10)The Apostle Paul said it did happen. (Rom. 11:11–24)

According to Scripture, Israel is the descendantsof Jacob, heir to God’s promise to the patriarchs,Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But did youknow that Scripture also says anindividual could be “cut off from”Israel?

Today, the nation of Israel—the Jews livingin the land occupied by biblical Israel—claim to be Israel, heirs to the promisesGod gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.But are they really?