Wesley Corpus

God forbid! Yea, we establish the law." We do not place the whole of religion (as too many do, God knoweth) either in doing no harm, or in doing good, or in using the ordinances of God. No, not in all of them together; wherein we know by experience a man may labour many years, and at the end have no religion at all, no more than he had at the beginning. Much less in any one of these; or, it may be, in a scrap of one of them: Like her who fancies herself a virtuous woman, only because she is not a prostitute; or him who dreams he is an honest man, merely because he does not rob or steal. May the Lord God of my fathers preserve me from such a poor, starved religion as this! Were this the mark of a Methodist, I would sooner choose to be a sincere Jew, Turk, or Pagan. Being a Methodist is more than merely being a nice person - one who does good things and avoids doing bad things. Our objective is to adhere to the whole of Christian teaching. Perhaps you've experienced some churches that major on a single issue: the Second Coming of Jesus; fighting the devil; Civil Rights; not dancing; speaking in tongues; fixing the government, etc. Question: What are some things you've seen in churches that seem off balance? Why is balance important? Can a quest for balance ever lead us astray? What might you do to bring balance? 5. "What then is the mark? Who is a Methodist, according to your own account?" I answer: A Methodist is one who has "the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him;" one who "loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength." God is the joy of his heart, and the desire of his soul; which is constantly crying out, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee! My God and my all! Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever!" Wesley's first characteristic of a Methodist here is somewhat unhelpful.