Wesley Corpus

7. From this antagonist you ramble away to another; after a long citation from whom, you subjoin: 'It being agreed, then, that in the original promise there is no intimation of any particular period to which their continuance was limited' (pages 13-14). Sir, you have lost your way. We have as yet nothing to do with their continuance. 'For, till we have learned from those sacred records' (I use your own words) 'what they were and in what manner exerted by the Apostles, we cannot form a proper judgement of those evidences which are brought either to confirm or confute their continuance in the Church; and must consequently dispute at random, as chance or prejudice may prompt us, about things unknown to us' (page 11). Now, sir, if this be true (as without doubt it is), then it necessarily follows that--seeing, from the beginning of your book to the end, you spend not one page to inform either yourself or your readers concerning the nature of these miraculous powers 'as they are represented to us in the history of the Gospel'--you dispute throughout the whole 'at random, as chance or prejudice prompts you, about things unknown to you.' 8. Your reply to 'the adversaries of your scheme' (pages 15-27) I may let alone for the present; and the rather, because the arguments used therein will occur again and again. Only I would here take notice of one assertion--'that the miraculous powers conferred on the Apostles themselves were imparted just at the moment of their exertion, and withdrawn again as soon as those particular occasions were served' (page 23). You should not have asserted this, be it true or false, without some stronger proof. 'This, I say, is evident' (ibid.) is not a sufficient proof; nor 'A treatise is prepared on that subject' (page 24). Neither is it proved by that comment of Grotius on our Lord's promise, ['Non omnibus omnia-ita tamen cuilibet credenti tunc data sit admirabilis facultas, quae se, non semper quidem, sed data occasione explicaret' (Grotius in Marcum xvi. 17). ] which, literally translated, runs thus: 'To every believer there was then given some wonderful power, which was to exert itself, not indeed always, but when there was occasion.'