Wesley Corpus

If it be said, that I have faith, (for many such things have I heard, from many miserable comforters,) I answer, so have the devils,--a sort of faith ; but still they are strangers to the covenant of promise. So the apostles had even at Cana in Galilee, when Jesus first “ manifested forth his glory ;” even then they, in a sort, “believed on him;” but they had not then “ the faith that overcometh the world.” The faith I want is, (the faith of a son,) “ A sure trust and confidence in God, that, - through the merits of Christ, my sins are forgiven, and I reconciled to the favour of God.” I want that faith which St. Paul recommends to all the world, especially in his Epistle to the Romans: that faith which enables every one that hath it to cry out, “I live not; but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” I want that faith which none can have without knowing that he hath it; (though many imagine they have it, who have it not ;) for whosoever hath it, is “ freed from sin, the” whole “ body of sin is destroyed” in him: he is freed from fear, “ having peace with God through Christ, and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.” And he is freed from doubt, “ having the love of God shed abroad in his heart, through the Holy Ghost which is given unto him ;” which * Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit, that he is a child of God.” For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, 1 Tim. i, 16.