Wesley Corpus

3. He has a continual sense of his dependence on the Parent of good for his being and all the blessings that attend it. To Him he refers every natural and every moral endowment, with all that is commonly ascribed either to fortune or to the wisdom, courage, or merit of the possessor. And hence he acquiesces, in whatsoever appears to be His will, not only with patience but with thankfulness. He willingly resigns all he is, all he has, to His wise and gracious disposal. The ruling temper of his heart is the most absolute submission and the tenderest gratitude to his sovereign Benefactor. And this grateful love creates filial fear, an awful reverence toward Him, and an earnest care not to give place to any disposition, not to admit an action, word, or thought, which might in any degree displease that indulgent Power to whom he owes his life, breath, and all things. 4. And as he has the strongest affection for the Fountain of all good, so he has the firmest confidence in Him--a confidence which neither pleasure nor pain, neither life nor death, can shake. But yet this, far from creating sloth or indolence, pushes him on to the most vigorous industry. It causes him to put forth all his strength, in obeying Him in whom he confides. So that he is never faint in his mind, never weary of doing whatever he believes to be His will. And as he knows the most acceptable worship of God is to imitate Him he worships, so he is continually labouring to transcribe into himself all His imitable perfections--in particular, His justice, mercy, and truth, so eminently displayed in all His creatures.