Wesley Corpus

If you mean worldly wisdom, useless knowledge, false reasoning, say so; and throw away the chaff, but not the wheat. “One general inlet to enthusiasm is, expecting the end without the means; the expecting knowledge, for instance, without searching the Scriptures, and consulting the children of God; the expecting spiritual strength without constant prayer, and steady watchfulness; the expecting any blessing without hearing the word of God at every opportunity. “Some have been ignorant of this device of Satan. They have left off searching the Scriptures. They said, “God writes all the Scriptures on my heart. Therefore, I have no need to read it.” Others thought they had not so much need of hearing, and so grew slack. in attending the morning preaching. O take warning, you who are concerned hereinl You have listened to the voice of a stranger. Fly back to Christ, and keep in the good old way, which was “once delivered to the saints;’ the way that even a Heathen bore testimony of: ‘That the Christians rose early every day to sing hymns to Christ as God.” “The very desire of ‘growing in grace’ may sometimes be an inlet of enthusiasm. As it continually leads us to seek new grace, it may lead us unawares to seek something else new, beside new degrees of love to God and man. So it has led some to seek and fancy they had received gifts of a new kind, after a new heart, as, (1.)The loving God with all our mind; (2) With all our soul; (3.) With all our strength: (4.) Oneness with God: (5.) Oneness with Christ: (6.) Having our life hid with Christ in God: (7.) Being dead with Christ: (8.) Rising with him: (9.) The sitting with him in heavenly places: (10.) The being taken up into his throne: (11.) The being in the New Jerusalem: (12.) The seeing the tabernacle of God come down among men: (13.) The being dead to all works: (14.) The not being liable to death, pain, or grief, or temptation. “One ground of many of these mistakes is, the taking every fresh, strong application of any of these scriptures to the heart, to be a gift of a new kind; not knowing that several of these scriptures are not fulfilled yet; that most of the others are fulfilled when we are justified; the rest, the moment we are sanctified.