Wesley Corpus

To Miss March Date: CASTLEBAR, May 31, 1771. Source: The Letters of John Wesley (1771) Author: John Wesley --- The dealings of God with man are infinitely varied, and cannot be confined to any general rule; both in justification and sanctification He often acts in a manner we cannot account for. There cannot be a more proper phrase than that you used, and I well understand your meaning; yet it is sure you are a transgressor still--namely, of the perfect, Adamic law. But though it be true all sin is a transgression of this law, yet it is by no means true on the other hand (though we have so often taken it for granted) that all transgressions of this law are sin: no, not at all--only all voluntary transgressions of it; none else are sins against the gospel law. Although we have 'faith's abiding impression, realizing things to come'; yet as long as we are in the body we have but an imperfect, shadowy knowledge of the things of eternity. For now we only see them in a glass, a mirror, which gives us no more than a shadow of them; therefore we see them darkly, or in a riddle, as St. Paul speaks. The whole invisible world is as yet a riddle to us; and it seems to be in this sense that some writers speak so much of the night or darkness of faith--namely, when opposed to sight; that is, to the view of things which we shall have when the veil of flesh and blood is removed. Those reasonings concerning the measure of holiness (a curious, not useful question) are not inconsistent with pure love, but they tend to damp it; and were you to pursue them far, they would lead you into unbelief.