Wesley Corpus

Why will he give me such repeated cause to complain, Quo teneam vultum mutantem Protea nodo?”t (Page 142.) “See, my friend, how thy own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thy own lips testify against thee! If you persist in such palpable inconsistencies, who can forbear taking up that taunting proverb, “A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways?’” (Page 223.) “Contradiction, didst thou ever know so trusty a friend, or so faithful a devotee? Many people are ready enough to contra dict others. But it seems all one to this gentleman, whetherit be another or himself, so he may but contradict.” (Page 227.) Could one imagine, that Mr. Hervey had added to this very page, a note wherein are these words, “The contemptuous and * But now in these private communications they have no place.--EDIT. + This quotation from Horace is thus translated by Boscawen : “With what strong chain can I o'erpower This Proteus, changing every hour?"-EDIT. the reproachful, even when really deserved, can have no tendency to confirm our argument, but to provoke resent ment. They are not the most promising means of joining us together in one mind and judgment; but rather the sure way to widen the breach and increase animosity,” These I acknowledge as Mr. Hervey's words; for they breathe Mr. Hervey’s spirit. But if so, the former came from another heart, though perhaps they were transcribed by his hand. But whence arises this whole charge of inconsistency and self-contradiction? Merely from straining, winding to and fro, and distorting a few innocent words. For wherein have I contradicted myself, taking words in their unforced, natural construction, or even changed my judgment in any one respect, with regard to justification, (nay, Mr. Hervey, in one of his Letters, formerly published, blames me for “never changing my judgment at all !”) since I printed the sermon on “Salvation by Faith,” in the year 1738? From that day I have steadily believed and uniformly asserted, as all my writings testify, (1.) That the only cause of our present and eternal salvation is what Christ has done and suffered for us. (2.) That we are justified and sanctified by faith alone, faith in him who lived and died for us.