Wesley Corpus

What saith the Scripture Let us keep close to this, and we shall not be misled. We have seen there what manner of men most of these have been who have ministered in holy things for many ages. Two or three thousand years ago, we read, "The sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the Lord." But was this a sufficient reason for the Israelites to refrain from their administrations It is true they "abhorred the offerings of the Lord" on their account; and yet they constantly attended them. And do you suppose that Samuel, holy as he was, ever advised them to do otherwise Were not the priests, and public teachers, equally strangers to God, from this time to that of the Babylonish captivity Undoubtedly they were. But did Isaiah, or any of the Prophets, exhort them, for that cause, to forsake the ordinances of God Were they not equally ungodly from the time of the Babylonish captivity, to the coming of Christ How clearly does this appear, were there no other proof, from the Prophecies of Jeremiah and Malachi! Yet did either Malachi, or Jeremiah, or any other of the Prophets, exhort the people to separate themselves from these ungodly men 20. But, to bring the matter nearer to ourselves: Never were any Priests, or public teachers, more corrupt, more totally estranged from God, than those in the days of our blessed Lord. Were they not mere whited walls Were not those that were the best of them painted sepulchres; full of pride, lust, envy, covetousness, of all ungodliness and unrighteousness Is not this the account which our Lord himself, who knew what was in man, gives of them But did he therefore refrain from that public service which was performed by these very men, or did he direct his Apostles so to do Nay, just the contrary: In consequence of which, as he constantly attended them himself, so likewise did his disciples.