Wesley Corpus

“Stand fast in ” cvery instance of “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free.” Be not “entangled” again in the “cares of this life;” but “cast all your care on Him that careth for you. Be careful for nothing, but in everything make your requests known unto God with thanksgiving.” See that you “wait upon the Lord without distraction:” Let nothing move you from your centre. “One thing is needful;” to see, love, follow Christ, in every thought, word, and work. Flee the “sorrow of this world;” it “worketh death.” Let not your heart be troubled. In all circumstances, let your soul magnify the Lord, and your spirit rejoice in God your Saviour. Preserve a constant serenity of mind, an even cheerfulness of spirit. Keep at the utmost distance from foolish desires, from desiring any happiness but in God. Still let all your “desire be to him, and to the remembrance of his name.” Make full use of all the leisure you have; never be unem ployed, never triflingly employed; let every hour turn to some good account. Let not a scrap of time be squandered away; “gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost.” Give all your time to God; lay out the whole as you judge will be most to his glory. In particular, see that you waste no part of it in unprofitable conversation; but let all your discourse “be seasoned with salt, and meet to minister grace to the hearers.” Give all your money to God. You have no pretence for laying up treasure upon earth. While you “gain all you can,” and “save all you can,” “give all you can,” that is, all you have. Lay out your talents of every kind in doing all good to all men; knowing that “every man shall receive his own reward, according to his own labour.” 15. Upon the whole, without disputing whether the married or single life be the more perfect state, (an idle dispute; since perfection does not consist in any outward state whatever, but in an absolute devotion of all our heart and all our life to God,) we may safely say, Blessed are “they who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake;” who abstain from things lawful in them selves, in order to be more devoted to God.