Treatise Farther Appeal Part 1
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-treatise-farther-appeal-part-1-034 |
| Words | 380 |
The next words I shall quote may be a comment on these:
May God write them in our hearts |
“A true Christian man is not afraid to die, who is the very
member of Christ, the temple of the Holy Ghost, the son of
God, and the very inheritor of the everlasting kingdom of
heaven. But plainly contrary, he not only puts away the fear
of death, but wishes, desires, and longs heartily for it.” (Ser
mon against the Fear of Death. Part I.)
Can this be, unless he has a sure confidence that he in
particular is reconciled to God? “Men commonly fear death, First, because of leaving their
worldly goods and pleasures: Secondly, for fear of the pains
of death: And, Thirdly, for fear of perpetual damnation. But none of these causes trouble good men, because they
stay themselves by true faith, perfect charity, and sure hope
of endless joy and bliss everlasting.” (Ibid. Part II.)
“All these therefore have great cause to be full of joy, and
not to fear death nor everlasting damnation. For death can
not deprive them of Jesus Christ; death cannot take him
from us, nor us from him. Death not only cannot harm us, but
also shall profit us, and join us to God more perfectly. And
thereof a Christian heart may be surely certified. ‘It is God,”
saith St. Paul, ‘which hath given us an earnest of his Spirit.”
As long as we be in the body we are in a strange country
But we have a desire rather to be at home with God.” (Ibid.)
He that runneth may read in all these words the confidence
which our Church supposes every particular believer to have,
that he himself is reconciled to God. To proceed: “The only instrument of salvation required
on our parts is faith; that is, a sure trust and confidence that
God both hath and will forgive our sins, that he hath ac
cepted us again into his favour, for the merits of Christ's
death and passion.” (Second Sermon on the Passion.)
“But here we must take heed that we do not halt with God
through an unconstant, wavering faith. Peter, coming to
Christ upon the water, because he fainted in faith, was in
danger of drowning.