Wesley Corpus

Thur. 26.--I showed, concerning the Holy Scriptures, 1. That to search (that is, read and hear) them, is a command of God. 2. That this command is given to all, believers or unbelievers. 3. That this 1s commanded or ordained as a means of grace, a means of conveying the grace of God to all, whether unbelievers (such as those to whom he first gave this command, and those to whom faith cometh by hearing) or believers, who by experience know, that “all Scripture is profitable,” or a means to this end, “that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished to all good works.” Fri. 2'7.--I preached on, “ Do this in remembrance of me.” “In the ancient Church, every one who was baptized communicated daily. Soin the Acts we read, they ‘all continued daily in the breaking of bread, and in prayer.’ “* But in latter times, many have affirmed, that the Lord’s Supper is not a converting, but a confirming ordinance. “ And among us it has been diligently taught, that none but those who are converted, who, have received the Holy Ghost, who are believers in the full sense, ought to communicate. “But experience shows the gross falsehood of that assertion, that the Lora’s Supper is not a converting ordinance. Ye are the witnesses For many now present know, the very beginning of your conversion to July, 1740.] REV. J. WESLEY’S JOURNAL 189 God (perhaps, in some, the first deep conviction) was wrought at the Lord’s Supper. Now, one single instance of this kind overthrows the whole assertion. “The falsehood of the other assertion appears both from Scripture precept and example. Our Lord commanded those very men who were then unconverted, who had not yet received the Holy Ghost, who (in the full sense of the word) were not believers, to do this ‘in remembrance of? him. Here the precept is clear. And to these he delivered the elements with his own hands. Here is example equally indisputable.”