Wesley Collected Works Vol 8
| Author | John Wesley |
|---|---|
| Type | treatise |
| Year | None |
| Passage ID | jw-wesley-collected-works-vol-8-483 |
| Words | 366 |
not so much as
an intimation | Then why is this cited as an instance of my
enthusiasm ? Why, “You seem to desire to have it believed,
that an extraordinary blessing attended your prayers; whereas,
I believe they would not have failed of an equal blessing and
success, had they had the prayers of their own parish Minis
ters.” I believe this argument will have extraordinary success,
if it convince any one that I am an enthusiast. 12. You add, “I shall give but one account more, and this
is what you give of yourself.” (Remarks, p. 72.) The sum
whereof is, “At two several times, being ill and in violent
pain, I prayed to God, and found immediate ease.” I did so. I assert the fact still. “Now, if these,” you say, “are not
miraculous cures, all this is rank enthusiasm.”
I will put your argument in form :
He that believes those are miraculous cures which are not
so is a rank enthusiast:
But you believe those to be miraculous cures which are
not so :
Therefore, you are a rank enthusiast. Before I answer, I must know what you mean by miraculous. If you term everything so, which is not strictly accountable
for by the ordinary course of natural causes, then I deny the
latter part of the minor proposition. And unless you can
make this good, unless you can prove the effects in question
are strictly accountable for by the ordinary course of natural
causes, your argument is nothing worth. You conclude this head with, “Can you work miracles? All
your present pretences to the Spirit, till they are proved by
miracles, cannot be excused, or acquitted from enthusiasm.”
(Page 73.)
My short answer is this: I pretend to the Spirit just so far
as is essential to a state of salvation. And cannot I be ac
quitted from enthusiasm till I prove by miracles that I am in
a state of salvation? 13. We now draw to a period: “The consequences of
Methodism,” you say, that is, of our preaching this doctrine,
The REV. M.R. CHURCH. 413
“which have hitherto appeared, are bad enough to induce you
to leave it.