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THE WORKS OF THE Rev. JOHN WESLEY, M. A.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes │ │ │ │ │ │ Punctuation has been standardized. │ │ │ │ The concluding Table of Contents, has been moved to the front │ │ of the book to make it more useable. │ │ │ │ The author has used an asterisk (*) to indicate passages he │ │ considers most worthy of attention. │ │ │ │ The text occasionally shows quotations within quotations, │ │ all set off by double quotes. The inner quotations have been │ │ changed to single quotes for improved readability. │ │ │ │ Characters in small caps have been replaced by all caps. │ │ │ │ Non-printable characteristics have been given the following │ │ transliteration: │ │ Italic text: --> _text_ │ │ Emphasized text --> |text| │ │ │ │ This book was written in a period when many words had │ │ not become standardized in their spelling. Words may have │ │ multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in │ │ the text. These have been left unchanged unless indicated │ │ with a Transcriber’s Note. │ │ │ │ The symbol ‘‡’ indicates the description in parenthesis has │ │ been added to an illustration. This may be needed if there │ │ is no caption or if the caption does not describe the image │ │ adequately. │ │ │ │ Footnotes are identified in the text with a number in │ │ brackets [2] and have been accumulated in a single section │ │ at the end of the text. All footnote anchors have been moved │ │ to the end of the reference passage for consistency. │ │ │ │ Transcriber’s Notes are used when making corrections to the │ │ text or to provide additional information for the modern │ │ reader. These notes are identified in the text by a ♦ symbol, │ │ and are accumulated in a single section at the end of the │ │ book. │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

THE WORKS OF THE Rev. JOHN WESLEY, M. A.

Late Fellow of _Lincoln-College_, OXFORD.

VOLUME I.

BRISTOL: Printed by WILLIAM PINE, in _Wine-Street_.

MDCCLXXI.

THE CONTENTS Of the FIRST VOLUME.

SERMONS on several Occasions.

SERMON I.

Salvation by Faith.

Ephes. ii. 8. _By grace ye are saved through faith._

SERMON II.

The Almost Christian.

Acts xxvi. 28. _Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian._

SERMON III.

Ephes. v. 14. _Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light._

SERMON IV.

Scriptural Christianity.

Acts iv. 31. _And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost._

SERMON V.

Justification by Faith.

Rom. iv. 5. _To him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness._

SERMON VI.

The Righteousness of Faith.

Rom. x. 5, 6, 7, 8. _Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them._

_But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise. Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down from above:_

_Or who shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring Christ again from the dead._

_But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart; that is the word of faith, which we preach._

SERMON VII.

Mark i. 15. _The kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel._

SERMON VIII.

The First-Fruits of the Spirit.

Rom. viii. 1. _There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit._

SERMON IX.

The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption.

Rom. viii. 15. _Ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again unto fear: but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father._

SERMON X. and XI.

The Witness of the Spirit.

Rom. viii. 16. _The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God._

SERMON XII.

The Witness of our own Spirit.

2 Cor. i. 12. _This is our rejoicing, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity, and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God; we have had our conversation in the world._

SERMON XIII.

On Sin in Believers.

2 Cor. v. 17. _If any man be in Christ he is a new creature._

SERMON XIV.

The Repentance of Believers.

Mark i. 15. _Repent and believe the gospel._

SERMON XV.

The Great Assize.

Rom. xiv. 10. _We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ._

SERMON XVI.

The Means of Grace.

Malachi iii. 7. _Ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them._

Illustration: (‡ decoration)

SERMONS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS.

To the READER.

1. I HAVE had a desire for several years, if God should spare me a little longer, to print in one collection, all that I had before published in separate tracts. (I mean all the PROSE, except the _Notes on the Bible_, the _System of Philosophy_, the _Christian Library_, and the _Books_ which were designed for the use of _Kingswood School_.) These I wanted to see printed together; but on a better paper, and with a little larger print than before.

2. I wanted to methodize these tracts, to range them under proper heads, placing those together which were on similar subjects, and in such order, that one might illustrate another. This it is easy to see may be of use to the serious reader, who will then readily observe, that there is scarce any subject of importance, either in practical or controversial divinity, which is not treated of more or less, either professedly or occasionally.

3. But a far more necessary work than that of methodizing was the correcting them. The correcting barely the errors of the press, is of much more consequence than I had conceived, till I began to read them over with much more attention than I had done before. These in many places were such as not only obscured, but wholly destroyed the sense; and frequently to such a degree, that it would have been impossible for any but me to restore it, neither could I do it myself in several places, without long consideration; the word inserted having little or no resemblance to that which I had used.

4. But as necessary as these corrections were, there were others of a different kind, which were more necessary still. In revising what I had wrote on so many various subjects and occasions, and for so long a course of years, I found cause for not only rational or verbal corrections, but frequently for correcting the sense also. I am the more concerned to do this, because none but myself has a right to do it. Accordingly I have altered many words or sentences; many others I have omitted, and in various parts I have added more or less as I judged the subject required: So that in this edition, I present to serious and candid men, my last and maturest thoughts: agreeable, I hope, to Scripture, Reason, and Christian Antiquity.

5. It may be needful to mention one thing more, because it is a little out of the common way. In the extract from Milton’s Paradise Lost, and in that from Dr. Young’s Night Thoughts, I placed a mark before those passages, which I judged were most worthy of the reader’s notice; the same thing I have taken the liberty to do, throughout the ensuing volumes: Many will be glad of such an help; tho’ still, every man has a right to judge for himself, particularly in matters of religion, because every man must give an account of himself to God.

JOHN WESLEY.

MARCH 1771.

THE PREFACE.

_THE following Sermons contain the substance of what I have been preaching, for between eight and nine years last past. During that time I have frequently spoken in public, on every subject in the ensuing collection: and I am not conscious, that there is any one point of doctrine, on which I am accustomed to speak in public, which is not here, incidentally, if not professedly, laid before every Christian reader. Every serious man, who peruses these, will therefore see in the clearest manner, what these doctrines are, which I embrace and teach, as the essentials of true religion._

2. _But I am throughly sensible, these are not proposed, in such a manner as some may expect. Nothing here appears in an elaborate, elegant or oratorical dress. If it had been my desire or design to write thus, my leisure would not permit. But in truth I at present designed nothing less; for I now write (as I generally speak) |ad populum|: to the bulk of mankind, to those who neither relish nor understand the art of speaking; but who notwithstanding are competent judges of those truths, which are necessary to present and future happiness. I mention this, that curious readers may spare themselves the labour, of seeking for what they will not find._

3. _I design plain truth for plain people. Therefore of set purpose I abstain from all nice and philosophical speculations, from all perplext and intricate reasonings; and as far as possible, from even the shew of learning, unless in sometimes citing the original scripture. I labour to avoid all words which are not easy to be understood, all which are not used in common life: and in particular, those kind of technical terms, that so frequently occur in bodies of divinity, those modes of speaking which men of reading are intimately acquainted with, but which to common people are an unknown tongue. Yet I am not assured, that I do not sometimes slide into them unawares: it is so extremely natural to imagine, that a word which is familiar to ourselves, is so to all the world._

4. _Nay, my design is, in some sense to forget all that ever I have read in my life. I mean to speak, in the general, as if I had never read one author, antient or modern (always excepting the inspired.) I am persuaded, that on the one hand, this may be a means of enabling me more clearly to express the sentiments of my heart, while I simply follow the chain of my own thoughts, without intangling myself with those of other men: and that, on the other, I shall come with fewer weights upon my mind, with less of prejudice and prepossession, either to search for myself, or to deliver to others, the naked truths of the gospel._

5. _To candid, reasonable men, I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart. I have thought, * ♦“I am a creature of a day, passing thro’ life, as an arrow thro’ the air. I am a spirit, come from God, and returning to God: just hovering over the great gulph; till a few moments hence, I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity! I want to know one thing, the way to heaven: how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! At any price, give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be |Homo unius libri|. Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men. I sit down alone: only God is here. In his presence I open, I read his book; for this end, to find the way to heaven. Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does any thing appear dark or intricate? I lift up my heart to the Father of lights. “Lord, is it not thy word, |If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God|? Thou |givest liberally and upbraidest not|. Thou hast said, |If any be willing to do thy will, he shall know|. I am willing to do. Let me know thy will.” I then search after and consider parallel passages of scripture, |comparing spiritual things with spiritual|. I meditate thereon, with all the attention and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt still remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God: and then, the writings whereby being dead, they yet speak. And what I thus learn, that I teach._

6. _I have accordingly set down in the following Sermons, what I find in the Bible concerning the way to heaven; with a view to distinguish this way of God, from all those which are the inventions of men. I have endeavoured to describe the true, the scriptural, experimental religion, so as to omit nothing which is a real part thereof, and to add nothing thereto which is not. And herein it is more especially my desire, first, to guard those who are just setting their faces toward heaven, (and who having little acquaintance with the things of God, are the more liable to be turned out of the way) from formality, from mere outside religion, which has almost driven heart-religion out of the world: and secondly, to warn those who know the religion of the heart, the faith which worketh by love, lest at any time they make void the law thro’ faith, and so fall back into the snare of the devil._

7. _By the advice and at the request of some of my friends, I have prefixt to the other sermons contained in this volume, three sermons of my own and one of my Brother’s, preached before the University of |Oxford|. My design required some discourses on those heads. And I preferred these before any others, as being a stronger answer than any which can be drawn up now, to those who have frequently asserted, “That we have changed our doctrine of late, and do not preach now, what we did some years ago.” Any man of understanding may now judge for himself, when he has compared the latter with the former sermons._

8. _But some may say, I have mistaken the way myself, altho’ I take upon me to teach it to others. It is probable, many will think this, and it is very possible, that I have. But I trust, whereinsoever I have mistaken, my mind is open to conviction. I sincerely desire to be better informed. I say to God and man, “What I know not, teach thou me!”_

9. * _Are you persuaded, you see more clearly than me? It is not unlikely that you may. Then, treat me, as you would desire to be treated yourself upon a change of circumstances. Point me out a better way than I have yet known. Shew me it is so, by plain proof of scripture. And if I linger in the path I have been accustomed to tread, and am therefore unwilling to leave, labour with me a little, take me by the hand, and lead me as I am able to bear. But be not displeased if I intreat you, not to beat me down, in order to quicken my pace: I can go but feebly and slowly at best; then, I should not be able to go at all. May I not request of you further, not to give me hard names, in order to bring me into the right way? Suppose I was ever so much in the wrong, I doubt this would not set me right. Rather, it would make me run so much the farther from you, and so get more and more out of the way._

10. * _Nay, perhaps, if you are angry, so shall I be too; and then there will be small hopes of finding the truth. If once anger arise, ἠΰτε καπνός (as |Homer| somewhere expresses it) this smoke will so dim the eyes of my soul, that I shall be able to see nothing clearly. For God’s sake, if it be possible to avoid it, let us not provoke one another to wrath. Let us not kindle in each other this fire of hell; much less, blow it up into a flame. If we could discern truth by that dreadful light, would it not be loss rather than gain? For how far is love, even with many wrong opinions, to be preferred before truth itself without love? We may die without the knowledge of many truths, and yet be carried into |Abraham’s| bosom. But if we die without love, what will knowledge avail? Just as much as it avails the devil and his angels!_

_The God of love forbid we should ever make the trial! May he prepare us for the knowledge of all truth, by filling our hearts with all his love, and with all joy and peace in believing._

SERMON I.[1]

SALVATION BY FAITH.

EPHES. ii. 8.

_By grace ye are saved through faith._

1. ALL the blessings which God hath bestowed upon man are of his mere grace, bounty or favour: his free, undeserved favour; favour altogether undeserved; man having no claim to the least of his mercies. It was free grace that _formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into him a living soul_, and stamped on that soul the image of God, and _put all things under his feet_. The same free grace continues to us, at this day, life and breath, and all things. For there is nothing we are, or have, or do, which can deserve the least thing at God’s hand. _All our works thou, O God, hast wrought in us._ These, therefore, are so many more instances of free mercy. And whatever righteousness may be found in man, this is also the gift of God.

2. Wherewithal then shall a sinful man atone for any the least of his sins? With his own works? No. Were they ever so many or holy, they are not his own, but God’s. But indeed they are all unholy and sinful themselves, so that every one of them needs a fresh atonement. Only corrupt fruit grows on a corrupt tree. And his heart is altogether corrupt and abominable; being _come short of the glory of God_, the glorious righteousness at first impress’d on his soul, after the image of his great Creator. Therefore, having nothing, neither righteousness nor works to plead, his _mouth is_ utterly _stopt before God_.

3. If then sinful men find favour with God, it is _grace upon grace_. If God vouchsafe still to pour fresh blessings upon us, yea, the greatest of all blessings, _salvation_; what can we say to these things, but _thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift_! And thus it is. Herein _God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died_ to save us. _By grace then are ye saved through faith._ Grace is the source, faith the condition, of salvation.

Now, that we fall not short of the grace of God, it concerns us carefully to enquire,

I. What faith it is through which we are saved?

II. What is the salvation which is through faith?

III. How we may answer some objections.

I. What faith it is through which we are saved?

1. And first, It is not barely the faith of an Heathen. Now God requireth of a Heathen to believe, _That God is_; _that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him_; and that he is to be sought by _glorifying him as God, by giving him thanks_ for all things; and by a careful practice of moral virtue, of justice, mercy and truth toward their fellow creatures. A _Greek_ or _Roman_ therefore, yea, a _Scythian_ or _Indian_, was without excuse if he did not believe thus much; The being and attributes of God, a future state of reward and punishment, and the obligatory nature of moral virtue. For this is barely the faith of a Heathen.

2. Nor, _2dly_, Is it the faith of a devil, tho’ this goes much farther than that of a Heathen. For the devil believes, not only, that there is a wise and powerful God, gracious to reward, and just to punish; but also, that Jesus is the son of God, the Christ, the Saviour of the world. So we find him declaring, in express terms, _Luke_ iv. 34. _I know thee, who thou art, the holy one of God._ Nor can we doubt but that unhappy spirit believes all those words, which came out of the mouth of the holy one; yea, and whatsoever else was written by those holy men of old; of two of whom he was compell’d to give that glorious testimony, _These men are the servants of the most high God, who shew unto you the way of salvation_. Thus much then the great enemy of God and man believes, and trembles in believing, that _God was made manifest in the flesh_, that he will _tread all enemies under his feet_, and that _all scripture was given by inspiration of God_. Thus far goeth the faith of a devil.

3. _Thirdly_, The faith through which we are saved, in that sense of the word which will hereafter be explained, is not barely that which the _apostles_ themselves had while Christ was yet upon earth; tho’ they so believed on him as to _leave all and follow him_; altho’ they had then power to work miracles, to _heal all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease_; yea, they had then _power and authority over all devils_: and which is beyond all this, were sent by their master to _preach the kingdom of God_.

4. What faith is it then through which we are saved? It may be answered, first, in general, it is a faith in Christ; Christ, and God through Christ, are the proper objects of it. Herein therefore, it is sufficiently, absolutely, distinguished from the faith either of ancient or modern Heathens. And from the faith of a devil, it is fully distinguished by this, it is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart. For thus saith the scripture, _With the heart, man believeth unto righteousness_. And, _If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe with thy |heart|, that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved_.

5. And herein does it differ from that faith which the apostles themselves had while our Lord was on earth, that it acknowledges the necessity and merit of his death, and the power of his resurrection. It acknowledges his death as the only sufficient means of redeeming man from death eternal; and his resurrection as the restoration of us all to life and immortality: inasmuch as _he was delivered for our sins, and rose again for our justification_. Christian faith is then, not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ, but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ, a trust in the merits of his life, death, and resurrection; a recumbency upon him as our atonement and our life; as _given for us_, and _living in us_; and in consequence hereof, a closing with him, and cleaving to him, as _our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption_.

II. What salvation it is, which is through this faith, is the second thing to be considered.

1. And first, Whatsoever else it imply, it is a present salvation. It is something attainable, yea, actually attained on earth, by those who are partakers of this faith. For thus saith the apostle to the believers at _Ephesus_, and in them to the believers of all ages, not ye shall be (tho’ that also is true) but _ye_ are _saved through faith_.