Wesley Corpus

18. In the meantime, I gladly allow that this charge does not concern the whole body of the Clergy. Undoubtedly there are many Clergymen in these kingdoms, that are not only free from outward sin, but men of eminent learning; and, what is infinitely more, deeply acquainted with God. But still I am constrained to confess, that the far greater part of those Ministers I have conversed with for above half a century, have not been holy men, not devoted to God, not deeply acquainted either with God or themselves. It could not be said that they set their "affections on things above, not on things of the earth;" or that their desire, and the business of their lives, was, to save their own souls and those that heard them. 19. I have taken this unpleasing view of a melancholy scene, -- of the character of those who have been appointed of God to be shepherds of souls for so many ages, -- in order to determine this question: "Ought the children of God to refrain from his ordinances because they that administer them are unholy men" a question with which many serious persons have been exceedingly perplexed. "Ought we not," say they, "to refrain from the ministrations of ungodly men For is it possible that we should receive any good from the hands of those that know not God Can we suppose, that the grace of God was ever conveyed to men by the servants of the devil"