Wesley Corpus

Is thine eye evil, because he is good?” “It need not, therefore, be affirmed over and over, and proved by forty texts of Scripture, either that most men are perfected in love at last, that there is a gradual work of God in the soul, or that, generally speaking, it is a long time, even many years, before sin is destroyed. All this we know : But we know likewise, that God may, with man’s good leave, ‘cut short his work, in whatever degree he pleases, and do the usual work of many years in a moment. He does so in many instances; and yet there is a gradual work, both before and after that moment: So that one may affirm the work is gradual, another, it is instantaneous, without any manner of contradiction. “Q. 26. Does St. Paul mean any more by being ‘sealed with the Spirit, than being ‘renewed in love?’ “A. Perhaps in one place, (2 Cor. i. 22) he does not mean so much ; but in another, (Eph. i. 13,) he seems to include both the fruit and the witness; and that in a higher degree than we experience even when we are first ‘renewed in love;’ God “sealeth us with the Spirit of promise,’ by giving us ‘the full assurance of hope; such a confidence of receiving all the promises of God, as excludes the possibility of doubting; with that Holy Spirit, by universal holiness, stamping the whole image of God on our hearts. “Q. 27. But how can those who are thus sealed ‘grieve the Holy Spirit of God?” “A. St. Paul tells you very particularly, (1.) By such conversation as is not profitable, not to the use of edifying, not apt to minister grace to the hearers. (2.) By relapsing into bitterness or want of kindness. (3.) By wrath, lasting displeasure, or want of tender-heartedness. (4.) By anger, however soon it is over; want of instantly forgiving one another. (5.) By clamour or bawling, loud, harsh, rough speaking. (6.) By evil-speaking, whispering, tale-bearing; needlessly mentioning the fault of an absent person, though in ever so soft a manner. “Q. 28. What do you think of those in London, who seem to have been lately ‘renewed in love?’ “A. There is something very peculiar in the experience of the greater part of them.