Wesley Collected Works Vol 11
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-wesley-collected-works-vol-11-517 |
| Words | 391 |
And by this means it prevents their being corrupted by pride,
vanity, or any evil mixture. But this cannot be done other
wise than by making these good works in a spiritual manner
die in God, by a deep gratitude, which plunges the soul in
him as in an abyss, with all that it is, and all the grace and
works for which it is indebted to him; a gratitude, whereby
the soul seems to empty itself of them, that they may return
to their source, as rivers seem willing to empty themselves,
when they pour themselves with all their waters into the sea. “When we have received any favour from God, we ought
to retire, if not into our closets, into our hearts, and say, ‘I
come, Lord, to restore to thee what thou hast given; and I
freely relinquish it, to enter again into my own nothingness. For what is the most perfect creature in heaven or earth in
thy presence, but a void capable of being filled with thee and
by thee; as the air, which is void and dark, is capable of being
filled with the light of the sun, who withdraws it every day
to restore it the next, there being nothing in the air that
either appropriates this light or resists it? O give me the
same facility of receiving and restoring thy grace and good
works | I say, thine; for I acknowledge the root from
which they spring is in thee, and not in me.’”
26. In the year 1764, upon a review of the whole subject,
I wrote down the sum of what I had observed in the following
short propositions:
“(1.) There is such a thing as perfection; for it is again
and again mentioned in Scripture. “(2.) It is not so early as justification; for justified
persons are to ‘go on unto perfection.” (Heb. vi. 1.)
442 PLAIN ACCoUNT OF
“(3.) It is not so late as death; for St. Paul speaks of
living men that were perfect. (Philip. iii. 15.)
“(4.) It is not absolute. Absolute perfection belongs not
to man, nor to angels, but to God alone. “(5.) It does not make a man infallible: None is infallible,
while he remains in the body. “(6.) Is it sinless? It is not worth while to contend for a
term.