Wesley Corpus

They abstained from all appearance of evil; they overcame evil with good. If their enemy hungered, they fed him; if he thirsted, they gave him drink; and, by patiently con tinuing so to do, “heaped coals of fire upon his head,” and melted his hardness into love. In fine, it was their meat and drink to do the will of their Father which was in heaven. And hence whatsoever they did, whether in word or deed, they did all to the glory of God. Let every Clergyman of our Church live thus, and in a short time there will not be a Papist in the nation. 9. As to the preaching of the Apostles, with regard to the matter of it, they preached Jesus, “the Author and Finisher of our faith,” having “determined not to know anything, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.” They preached Jesus Christ as “of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” They declared, “Other foundation” of morality, religion, holiness, happiness, “can no man lay.” All they spoke, either in public or private, centred in this one point, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.’’ More particularly, they preached that “a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law;” that “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness.” 10. They preached farther, that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God;” except he be “born from above,” born not only of water, but “of the Holy Ghost;” and that “the ” present “kingdom of God is not meats and drinks,” lies not in externals of any kind, “but righteousness,” the image of God on the heart, “peace,” even a peace that passeth all understanding, “and joy in the Holy Ghost,” whereby they rejoiced with “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” They declared “that he that is ” thus “born of God doth not commit sin;” that “he that is begotten of God, keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not;” but that as Christ who hath called him is holy, so is he holy in all manner of conversation. 11.