Treatise Farther Appeal Part 1
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-treatise-farther-appeal-part-1-037 |
| Words | 378 |
And the properties thereof are, that the pure word of God be
preached therein, and the sacraments duly administered.”
7. Before I take my leave I cannot but recommend to you
that advice of a wise and good man,--
“Be calm in arguing; for fierceness makes
Error a fault, and truth discourtesy.”
I am grieved at your extreme warmth : You are in a thorough
ill-humour from the very beginning of your book to the end. This cannot hurt me; but it may yourself. And it does not
at all help your cause. If you denounce against me all the
curses from Genesis to the Revelation, they will not amount
to one argument. I am willing (so far as I know myself) to
be reproved either by you or any other. But whatever you
do, let it be done in love, in patience, in meekness of wisdom. V. 1. With regard to the Author of faith and salvation,
abundance of objections have been made; it being a current
opinion, that Christians are not now to receive the Holy Ghost. Accordingly, whenever we speak of the Spirit of God, of
his operations on the souls of men, of his revealing unto us the
things of God, or inspiring us with good desires or tempers;
whenever we mention the feeling his mighty power “work
ing in us” according to his good pleasure; the general answer
we have to expect is, “This is rank enthusiasm. So it was
with the Apostles and first Christians. But only enthusiasts
pretend to this now.”
Thus all the Scriptures, abundance of which might be pro
duced, are set aside at one stroke. And whoever cites them, as
belonging to all Christians, is set down for an enthusiast. The first tract I have seen wrote expressly on this head, is
remarkably entitled, “The Operations of the Holy Spirit im
perceptible; and how Men may know when they are under the
Guidance and Influence of the Spirit.”
You begin: “As we have some among us who pretend to
a more than ordinary guidance by the Spirit,” (indeed I do
not; I pretend to no other guidance than is ordinarily given to
all Christians,) “it may not be improper to discourse on the
operations of God’s Holy Spirit.