Wesley Corpus

But sure this will not be allowed by reasonable men. And if not, what have I to do with predestination Absolutely nothing: therefore set that aside. Yea, and sinless perfection too. ‘How so Do not you believe it’ Yes, I do; and in what sense I have shown in the sermon on Christian Perfection. [Published in 1741. See Green’s Bibliography, No. 29.] And if any man calls it an error, till he has answered that, I must say, ‘Sir, you beg the question.’ But I preach, perhaps, twenty times, and say no more of this than even a Calvinist would allow. Neither will I enter into any dispute about it any more than about the millennium. Therefore the distinguishing doctrines on which I do insist in all my writings and in all my preaching will lie in a very narrow compass. You sum them all up in Perceptible Inspiration. For this I earnestly contend; and so do all who are called Methodist preachers. But be pleased to observe what we mean thereby. We mean that inspiration of God's Holy Spirit whereby He fills us with righteousness, peace, and joy, with love to Him and to all mankind. And we believe it cannot be, in the nature of things, that a man should be filled with this peace and joy and love by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit without perceiving it as clearly as he does the light of the sun. This is (so far as I understand them) the main doctrine of the Methodists. This is the substance of what we all preach. And I will still believe none is a true Christian till he experiences it; and, consequently, ‘that people at all hazards must be convinced of this -- yea, though that conviction at first unhinge them ever so much, though it should in a manner distract them for a season. For it is better that they should be perplexed and terrified now than that they should sleep on and awake in hell.’