Wesley Corpus

Some might think that when you advised ‘not to seek help from books’ you did not include the Bible. But you clear up this where you answer the objection of your not esteeming the Bible enough. You say: ‘How could you more magnify John the Baptist than by going from his teaching to be taught by that Christ to whom he directed you Now, the Bible can have no other office or power than to direct you to Christ. How, then, can you more magnify the Bible than by going from its teaching to be taught by Christ’ So you set Christ and the Bible in flat opposition to each other! And is this the way we are to learn of Him Nay, but we are taught of Him, not by going from the Bible, but by keeping close to it. Both by the Bible and by experience we know that His Word and His Spirit act in connection with each other. And thus it is that, by Christ continually teaching and strengthening him through the Scripture, ‘the man of God is made perfect, and thoroughly furnished for every good word and work.’ According to your veneration for the Bible is your regard for public worship and for the Lord's Supper. ‘Christ,’ you say, ‘is the church or temple of God within thee. There the supper of the Lamb is kept. When thou art well grounded in this inward worship, thou wilt have learned to live unto God above time and place. For every day will be Sunday to thee, and wherever thou goest thou wilt have a priest, a church, and an altar along with thee.’ (Spirit of Prayer, Part I. p. 73.) The plain inference is: Thou wilt not need to make any difference between Sunday and other days. Thou wilt need no other church than that which thou hast always along with thee; no other supper, worship, priest, or altar. Be well grounded in this inward worship, and it supersedes all the rest.