Wesley Corpus

“Martin Doéber, when I described my state to him, said he had known very many believers, who, if he asked the question, would not have dared to affirm, that they were the children of God. And he added, “It is very common for persons to receive remissjon of sins, or justification through faith m the blood of Christ, before they receive the full assurance of faith; which Ged many times withholds, till he has tried whether they will work together with him in the use of the first gift. Nor. is there any need (continued he, Déber) to incite any one to seek that assurance by telling him, the faith he has is nothing. This will be more likely to drive him to despair, than to encourage him to press forward. His single business, who has received the first gift, is, credendo credere et in credendo perseverare : (to believe on, and to hold fast that whereunto he hath attained :) to go on doing his Lord’s will, according to the ability God hath already given; cheerfully and faithfully to use what he has received, without solicitude for the rest.’ ” In the conversation I afterward had with Augustine Neusser, a knife smith, (another of the pastors or teachers of the Church, about sixty years of age,) as also with his brothers, Wensel, and Hantz Neusser, the nature of true faith and salvation was yet further explained to me. Aveustine Nevussrr spoke to this effect:--“ By experience I know, that we cannot be justified through the blood of Christ, till we feel that all our righteousness and good works avail nothing toward our justification. ‘Therefore, what men call a good life, is frequently the greatest of all hinderances to their coming to Christ. For it will not let them see that they are lost, undone sinners; and if they see not this, they cannot come unto him.