Wesley Corpus

not “fail.” Yet they had not, in the full sense, “ new hearts ;” neither had they received “ the gift of the Holy Ghost.” The fourth sermon which he preached, concerning the ground of faith, made such an impression upon me, that when I went home, I could not but write down the substance of it, which was 2s follows :-- “The word of reconciliation which the Apostles preached, as the foundation of all they taught, was, that we are reconciled to God, not by our own works, nor by our own righteousness, but wholly and solely by the _ blood of Christ. 3 * But you will say, ‘Must I not grieve and mourn for my sins? Must I not humble myself before God? Is not this just and right? And must I not first do this, before I can expect God to be reconciled to me?’ I answer, It is just and right. You must be humbled before God. You must have a broken and contrite heart. But then observe, this is not - your own work. Do you grieve that you area sinner? This is the work of the Holy Ghost. Are you contrite? Are you humbled before God? Do you indeed mourn, and is your heart broken within you? All this worketh the self-same Spirit.