Wesley Corpus

2. Upon all occasions you may easily apply this rule. In order to know whether any who speak in the name of God are false or true prophets it is easy to observe, First, What are the fruits of their doctrine as to themselves What effect has it had upon their lives Are they holy and unblamable in all things What effect has it had upon their hearts Does it appear by the general tenor of their conversation that their tempers are holy, heavenly, divine that the mind is in them which was in Christ Jesus That they are meek, lowly, patient, lovers of God and man, and zealous of good works 3. You may easily observe, Secondly, what are the fruits of their doctrine as to those that hear them; -- in many, at least, though not in all; for the Apostles themselves did not convert all that heard them. Have these the mind that was in Christ And do they walk as he also walked And was it by hearing these men that they began so to do Were they inwardly and outwardly wicked till they heard them If so, it is a manifest proof that those are true Prophets, Teachers sent of God. But if it is not so, if they do not effectually teach either themselves or others to love and serve God, it is a manifest proof that they are false prophets; that God hath not sent them.