Wesley Corpus

(Page 195.) IN Him we have peace, In Him we have power I Preserved by his grace Throughout the dark hour, In all our temptation He keeps us, to prove His utmost salvation, His fulness of love. Pronounce the glad word, And bid us be free I Ah, hast thou not, Lord, A blessing for me? The peace thou hast given, This moment impart, And open thy heaven, O Love, in my heart! (Page 324.) A second edition of these hymns was published in the year 1752; and that without any other alteration, than that of a few literal mistakes. I have been the more large in these extracts, because hence it appears, beyond all possibility of exception, that to this day both my brother and I maintained, (1.) That Christian perfection is that love of God and our neighbour, which implies deliverance from all sin. (2.) That this is received merely by faith. (3.) That it is given instantaneously, in one moment. (4.) That we are to expect it, not at death, but every moment; that now is the accepted time, now is the day of this salvation. 19. At the Conference in the year 1759, perceiving some danger that a diversity of sentiments should insensibly steal in among us, we again largely considered this doctrine; and soon after I published “Thoughts on Christian Perfection,” prefaced with the following advertisement:-- “The following tract is by no means designed to gratify the curiosity of any man. It is not intended to prove the doctrine at large, in opposition to those who explode and ridicule it; no, nor to answer the numerous objections against it, which may be raised even by serious men. All I intend here is, simply to declare what are my sentiments on this head; what Christian perfection does, according to my appre hension, include, and what it does not; and to add a few practical observations and directions relative to the subject. “As these thoughts were at first thrown together by way of question and answer, I let them continue in the same form. They are just the same that I have entertained for above twenty years. “QUESTIoN. What is Christian perfection? “ANswer. The loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.