Wesley Corpus

6. When I went, the case was widely different. God had not then “made bare his arm” before us as he hath row done; in a manner (I will be bold to say) which had not been known either in Holland or Germany at that time, when He who ordere eth all things wisely, according to “ the counsel of his own will,” was pleased by me to open the intercourse between the English and the Moravian Church. 7. The particular reason which obliged me to relate so much of the conversation J had with those holy men, is this: In September, 1738, when I returned from Ger many, I exhorted all I could to follow after that great salvation, which is through faith in the blood of Christ ; waiting for it, “in all the ordinances of God,” and in “doing good, as they had opportunity, to all men.” And many found the beginning of that salvation, being justified freely, having peace with God through Christ, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and having his love shed abroad in their hearts. 8. But about September, 1739, while my brother and I were absent, certain men crept in among them unawares, greatly troubling and subverting their souls; telling them, they were in a delusion; that they had deceived themselves, and had no true faith at all. “Wor,” said they, “none has any justifying faith, who has ever any doubt or fear, which you know you have; or who has not a clean heart, which you know you have not: nor will you ever have it, till you leave off using the means of grace, (so called;) till you leave off running to church and sacrament, and praying, and singing, and reading either the Bible, or any other book; for you cannot use these things without trusting in them. Therefore, till you leave them off, you can never have true faith ; you can never till then trust in the blood of Christ.”