Wesley Corpus

‘“‘Man is by nature a sinner, the child of the devil, under God’s wrath, in a state of damnation. The Son of God took pity on this our misery : he made himself man, he made himself sin for us; that is, he hath borne the punishment of our sin: ‘the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed.’ To receive this boundless mercy, this inestimable benefit, we must have faith in our Benefactor, and through him in God. But then, true faith is not a lifeless principle, as your. adversaries seem to understand it. They and you mean quite another thing by faith. They. mean a bare believing that Jesus is the Christ. You mean, a living, growing, purifying principle, which is the root both of inward and outward holiness; both of purity and good works; without which no man can have faith, at least, no other than a dead faith. ““ This, sir, you explained in your sermon at Bradford, Sunday, October 28, to near ten thousand people, who all stood to hear you with awful ' silence and great attention. I have since reflected how much good the clergy might do, if, instead of shunning, they would come to hear and converse with you; and in their churches and parishes, would further enforce those catholic doctrines which you preach; and which, I am glad to see, have such a surprising good effect on great numbers of souls. “TJ think, indeed, too many clergymen are culpable, in that they do not inform themselves better of Mr. Whitefield, yourself, and your doctrines from your own mouths: I am persuaded if they did this with a Christian spirit, the differences between you would soon be atan end. Nay, I think those whose flocks resort so much to hear you, ought to do it out of their pastoral duty to them; that if you preach good doctrine, they may edify them on the impressions so visibly made by your sermons, or, if evil, they may reclaim them from error. .