Wesley Corpus

Upon Our Lord's Sermon On The Mount: Discourse Four "Ye are the salt of the earth. But if the salt hath lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men. "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. "Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light to all that are in the house. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:13-16 1. The beauty of holiness, of that inward man of the heart which is renewed after the image of God, cannot but strike every eye which God hath opened, -- every enlightened understanding. The ornament of a meek, humble, loving spirit, will at least excite the approbation of all those who are capable in any degree, of discerning spiritual good and evil. From the hour men begin to emerge out of the darkness which covers the giddy, unthinking world, they cannot but perceive how desirable a thing it is to be thus transformed into the likeness of him that created us. This inward religion bears the shape of God so visibly impressed upon it, that a soul must be wholly immersed in flesh and blood when he can doubt of its divine original. We may say of this, in a secondary sense, even as of the Son of God himself, that it is the "brightness of his glory, the express image of his person;" apaugasma ths doxhs autou, -- "the beaming forth of his" eternal "glory;" and yet so tempered and softened, that even the children of men may herein see God and live; carakthr ths upostasevs autou, -- "the character, the stamp, the living impression, of his person," who is the fountain of beauty and love, the original source of all excellency and perfection.