Wesley Corpus

Some of your words are, “They set out with forming a fair and tempting model of religion, so flattering the follies of degenerate man, that it could not fail to gain the hearts of multitudes, especially of the loose and vicious, the lazy and indolent. They want to get to heaven the shortest way, and with the least trouble: Now, a reliance on Christ, and a disclaiming of good works, are terms as easy as the merest libertine can ask. They per suade their people that they may be-saved by the righteous ness of Christ, without any holiness of their own; nay, that good works are not only unnecessary, but also dangerous; that we may be saved by faith, without any other requisite, such as gospel obedience, and an holy life. Lastly: The Valenti nians pretended, that if good works were necessary to salva tion, it was only to animal men, that is, to all who were not of their clan; and that, although sin might damn others, it could not hurt them. In consequence of which, they lived in all lust and impurity, and wallowed in the most unheard-of bestialities. The Methodists distinguish much after the same manner.” (Methodism Examined, pp. 52, 31, 38, 14.) Sir, you are not awake yet. You are dreaming still, and fighting with shadows of your own raising. The “model of religion with which the Methodists set out” is perfectly well known; if not to you, yet to many thousands in England who are no Methodists. I laid it before the University of Oxford, at St. Mary’s, on January 1, 1733.