Wesley Corpus

To Joseph Benson Date: LONDON, December 28, 1770. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1770) Author: John Wesley --- DEAR JOSEPH,--What a blessing it is that we can speak freely to each other without either disguise or reserve! So long as we are able to do this we may grow wiser and better every day. One point I advise you to hold fast, and let neither men nor devils tear it from you. You are a child of God; you are justified freely through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. Your sins are forgiven! Cast not away that confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. Now, can any be justified but by faith? None can. Therefore you are a believer; you have faith in Christ; you know the Lord; you can say, 'My Lord and my God.' And whoever denies this may as well deny that the sun shines at noonday. Yet still ten thousand lusts remain, And vex your soul, absolved from sin; Still rebel nature strives to reign, And you are all unclean, unclean! This is equally clear and undeniable. And this is not only your experience, but the experience of a thousand believers beside, who yet are sure of God's favour as of their own existence. To cut off all doubt on this head, I beg you to give another serious reading to those two sermons Sin in Believers and The Repentance of Believers. [Works, v. 144-70.]