Wesley Corpus

In the same sentiment did my brother and I remain (with all those young gentlemen in derision termed Methodists) till we embarked for America, in the latter end of 1735. It was the next year, while I was at Savannah, that I wrote the following lines: Is there a thing beneath the sun, That strives with thee my heart to share ? Ah! tear it thence, and reign alone, The Lord of every motion there ! In the beginning of the year 1738, as I was returning from thence, the cry of my heart was, O grant that nothing in my soul May dwell, but thy pure love alone ! O may thy love possess me whole, My joy, my treasure, and my crown | Strange fires far from my heart remove; My every act, word, thought, be love | I never heard that any one objected to this. And indeed who can object? Is not this the language, not only of every believer, but of every one that is truly awakened? But what have I wrote, to this day, which is either stronger or plainer? 8. In August following, I had a long conversation with Arvid Gradin, in Germany. After he had given me an account of his experience, I desired him to give me, in writing, a definition of “the full assurance of faith,” which he did in the following words:-- Requies in sanguine Christi; firma fiducia in Deum, et persuasio de gratid diviná; tranquillitas mentis summa, atque serenitas et par; cum absentid omnis desiderii carnalis, et cessatione peccatorum etiam internorum. “Repose in the blood of Christ; a firm confidence in God, and persuasion of his favour; the highest tranquillity, serenity, and peace of mind, with a deliverance from every fleshly desire, and a cessation of all, even inward sins.” This was the first account I ever heard from any living man, of what I had before learned myself from the oracles of God, and had been praying for, (with the little company of my friends,) and expecting, for several years. 9. In 1739, my brother and I published a volume of “Hymns and Sacred Poems.” In many of these we declared our sentiments strongly and explicitly. So, page 24, Turn the full stream of nature's tide; Let all our actions tend To thee, their source; thy love the guide, Thy glory be the end.