Wesley Corpus

Poor omnipotence which cannot do this! Whether he will or no, is another question. But if he cannot do it, how can he be said to do “whatsoever pleaseth him in heaven, and in earth, and in the sea, and in all deep places?” Thus does your attachment to a miserable philosophy, lead you to deny the almighty power of God. 2. It leads you, in the Second place, to deny his justice; to abridge this no less than his power. This I may be permitted to consider more at large; because, though it was allowed by all the wiser Heathens of past ages, yet it is now one main hinge on which the controversy between Christianity and Deism turns. To convert a thousand Deists, therefore, by giving up this point, with the doctrine of justification which is built upon it, is little more than it would be to convert as many Jews by allowing the Messiah is not yet come. It is converting them by allowing all they contend for; by granting them the main point in question. Consequently, it is no other than establishing Deism, while it pretends to overturn it. I would greatly wish, in weighing what you have advanced on this head, to forget who speaks, and simply consider what is spoken. The person I greatly reverence and love: The doctrine I utterly abhor; as I apprehend it to be totally subversive of the very essence of Christianity. God himself hath declared, that, in consequence of his justice, he will, in the great day of general retribution, “render to every man according to his works, whether they be good or evil.” But man says, No: “There is no righteous wrath or vindic tive justive in God.” (Spirit of Love, Part II., p. 108.) If so, ye may go on, ye children of the devil, in doing the works of your father. It is written, indeed, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousncss:” But this is not literally to be taken; for, properly speaking, there is no such thing as the wrath of God! Fear not the bugbear of everlasting burnings. There is not only no everlasting punishment, but no punishment at all; no such thing in the universe. It is a mere vulgar errror!