Wesley Corpus

Sun. 4.--Our society met at seven in the morning, and continued silent till eight. One then spoke of looking unto Jesus, and exhorted us all to lie stillin his hand. In the evening I met the women of our society at Fetter-lane ; where some of our brethren strongly intimated that none of them had any true faith ; and then asserted, in plain terms, 1. That, till they had true faith, they ought to be still; that is, (as they explained themselves,) to abstain from the means of grace, as they are called ; the Lord’s Supper in particular. 2. That the ordinances are not means of grace, there being no other means than Christ. Wed. 7.--Being greatly desirous to understand the ground of this matter, I had a long conference with Mr. Spangenberg. I agreed with all he said of the power of faith. I agreed, that ‘ whosoever is” by faith “born of God doth not commit sin:” but I could not agree, either, that none has any faith, so long as he is liable to any doubt or fear ; or, that till we have it, we ought to abstain from the Lord’s Supper, or the other ordinances of God. At eight, our society met at Fetterlane. We sat an hour without speaking. The rest of the time was spent in dispute; one having proposed a question concerning the Lord’s Supper, which many warmly affirmed none ought to receive, till he had * the full assurance of faith.” I observed every day more and more, the advantage Satan had gained over us. Many of those who once knew in whom they had believed, were thrown into idle reasonings, and thereby filled with doubts and fears, from which they now found no way to escape. Many were induced to deny the gift of God, and affirm they never had any faith at all; especially those who had fallen again into sin, and, of consequence, im.o darkness; and almost all these had left off the means of grace, saying they must now cease from their own works ; they must now trust in Christ. alone ; they were poor sinners, and had nothing to do out to lie at his feev.