John Wesley

“ You can make no stand against the assaults of pride, humility can have no place in your soul, ’till you stop the power of the world over you, and resolve against a blind obedience to its laws.
For indeed, as great as the power of the world is, it is all built upon a blind obedience.
Ask who you will, learned or unlearned, every one seems to know and confess, that the general temper and spirit of the world, is nothing else but humour, folly, and extravagance.
Who will not own, that the wisdom of philosophy, the piety of religion, was always confined to a small number? ”

“ I am not mine, but thine; claim me as thy right, keep me as thy charge, love me as thy child! Fight for me when I am assaulted, heal me when I am wounded, and revive me when I am destroyed.
O help me with thy grace, that whatsoever I shall do or suffer this day may tend to thy glory. Keep me in love to thee, and to all men. Do thou direct my paths, and teach me to set thee always before me. Let not the things of this life, or my manifold concerns therein, alienate any part of my affections from thee; nor let me ever pursue or regard them, but for thee, and in obedience to thy will. ”

“ I find my soul is, as a well of water, springing up into everlasting life. But I thirst for more. Blessed be God, he does keep my soul in perfect peace, and in the midst of fire and water, give me patience, with an hope full of immortality. But I feel a great soreness of spirit, for those of my family. Lord, give them to know themselves, and direct them in all things! Take the cause into thine hands, and enable me, to stand still, and see the salvation of God.
Tuesday 12. Glory be to God, I enjoy peace and power, in the midst of multitudes and hurry of business. ”

“ Do you love every man, even your enemies, even the enemies of God, as your own soul? As Christ loved you? Yea, dost thou believe that Christ loved thee, and gave himself for thee? Hast thou faith in his blood? Believest thou the Lamb of God hath taken away thy sins, and cast them as a stone into the depth of the sea? That he hath blotted out the hand-writing that was against thee, taking it out of the way, nailing it to his cross? Hast thou indeed redemption through his blood, even the remission of thy sins? And doth his Spirit bear witness with thy spirit, that thou art a child of God? ”

“ Oh beware, you who truly love the church, and therefore he cannot but love the king: beware of dividing the king and the church, any more than the king and country. Let others do as they will, what is that to you? Act you as an honest man, a loyal subject, a true Englishman, a lover of the country, a lover of the church; in one word, a Christian! One that fears nothing but sin, that seeks nothing but heaven, and that desires nothing but God. Nothing but glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men! ”

“ Alas for the Christian world! Alas for Protestants, for reformed Christians! O who will rise up with me against the wicked? Who will take God’s part against the evil-speakers? Art thou the man? By the grace of God wilt thou be one, who art not carried away by the torrent? Art thou fully determined, God being thy helper, from this very hour, to set a watch, a continual watch before thy mouth, and keep the door of thy lips? From this hour wilt thou walk by this rule, speaking evil of no man? If thou seest thy brother do evil, wilt thou tell him of his fault between thee and him alone? ”

“ A rest where all our soul's desire Is fix'd on things above; Where doubt and pain and fear expire, Cast out by perfect love. From every evil motion freed, (The Son hath made us free,) On all the powers of hell we tread, In glorious liberty. Safe in the way of life, above Death, earth, and hell we rise; We find, when perfected in love, Our long-sought paradise. O that I now the rest might know, Believe, and enter in! Now, Saviour, now the power bestow, And let me cease from sin! ”

“ I was sensible of my barrenness: my soul failed when I remembered the fervency I had enjoyed. Oh (I thought) if I could but be spiritual, warm, heavenly minded, and affectionately breathing after God, this would be better than life to me! My soul longed exceedingly for death, to be loosed from this dulness, and made ever active in the service of God. I seemed to live for nothing, and to do no good: and Oh, the burden of such a life! Oh, death, death, my kind friend, hasten and deliver me from dull mortality, and make me spiritual and vigorous to eternity! ”

“ O holy Trinity, immense ocean of love, in which all mankind live, and move, and have their being! None live out of thy love, but all are embraced in the arms of thy mercy, as soon as their heart is turned to thee! Oh plain, and easy, and simple way of salvation, wanting no subtleties of art or science, no borrowed learning, no refinements of reason, but all done by the simple motion of every heart, that truly longs after God. For no sooner is the desire of the creature in motion towards God, but the desire of God co-operates with it. ”

“ But the Lord sitteth above the water-floods, and remaineth a King for ever. He shall give strength to his people; the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace. Fear not then, thou worm in thine own eyes. Since thou hast been precious, being bought with blood, thou art fair in his sight, who yet is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. Therefore he sits as a refiner’s fire, and as fuller’s soap, on the souls of his people.
I feel Jesus near: he is better to me than I could ask or think. May your spirit find him nigh at this hour, and to the end of your warfare! ”

“ Is the world any more our happiness, than it was his happiness? Are riches, and honours, and pleasures, any more our proper good, than they were his? Are we any more born for this life than our Saviour was? Are we in less danger of being corrupted by its enjoyments than he was? Are we more at leisure to take up our rest, and spend our time in worldly satisfactions than he was? Have we a work upon our hands that we can more easily finish, than he could finish his? That requires of us less mortification and self-denial, less devotion and watching, than our Saviour’s required of him? ”

“ Is there a joy absolutely pure? It is that of suffering. Oh did we but know the health, the peace, the life that is at the bottom of every bitter cup; with what alacrity should we drink it? With what thankfulness, nay, with tears of joy, should we cry, Lord, what unbounded mercy, what astonishing grace is this, to a worm like me; that I should be led in this most excellent way; that I should be made to tread in those footsteps which are most eminently thine? Dearest Saviour, sweet is thy cross, sweet is thy thorny crown; thy stripes, thy wounds, thy pain, more delightful than beds of roses. ”

“ To imitate his wisdom, goodness, meekness, patience and love: alas! what are Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Logic, Metaphysics, every thing to this! What is any thing to the love of Jesus! O that sweet peace of conscience, and contentment of mind; which arise from redemption in his blood! O Lord, thou knowest that I desire to be great in thy grace; to be armed with thy armour. My soul longs to rise above these little, transitory things. I fain would rest in thee! I thirst for the divine life. I pray for the spirit of illumination. ”

“ Is not thy soul fallen short of the glory (the glorious image) of God? Look into thy breast. Art thou not a fallen spirit? Dost thou not know and feel, how very far thou art gone from original righteousness? Desperately full thou art of all evil, and naked of all good? Is there not in thee, an earthly, sensual, devilish mind? A mind that is enmity against God? ’Tis plain there is. For thou dost not love God. Thou dost not delight in him. He is not the desire of thy eyes, or the joy of thy heart. Thou lovest the creature more than the Creator. ”

“ Blessed be thy love, for that we feel in our hearts any motion toward thee. Behold, O Lord, we present ourselves before thee, to be inspired with such a vigorous sense of thy love, as may put us forward with a greater earnestness, zeal, and diligence in all our duty. Renew in us, we beseech, a lively image of thee, in all righteousness, purity, mercy, faithfulness and truth. O that Jesus, the hope of glory, may be formed in us, in all humility, meekness, patience, and an absolute surrender of our souls and bodies to thy holy will: that we may not live, but Christ may live in us ”

“ However, if thou wast not called before, I call thee now, in the name of Christ: take up thy cross and follow him. Reason no more with flesh and blood, but now resolve to cast in thy lot, with the most despised, the most infamous of his followers, the filth and off-scouring of the world. I call thee in particular, who didst once strengthen their hands, but since art drawn back. Take courage! Be strong! Fulfil their joy, by returning with heart and hand. Let it appear, thou departedst for a season, that they might receive thee again for ever. O be not disobedient to the heavenly calling! ”

“ 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! ”

“ He is the universal remedy of all evil; he is the destruction of misery, sin, death, and hell. He is the resurrection and life of all fallen nature. He is the unwearied compassion, the long-suffering pity, the never-ceasing mercifulness of God to every want and infirmity of human nature.
He is the breathing forth of the heart, and Spirit of God, into all the dead race of Adam. He is the seeker, the finder, the restorer, of all that was lost and dead to the life of God. He is the love, that, from Cain to the end of time, prays for all its murderers ”

“ Consider therefore this; how would you condemn the folly of a man, that should lose his share of future glory, for the sake of being rich, or great, or praised, or delighted in any enjoyment, only one poor day before he was to die!
But if the time will come, when a number of years will seem less to every one than a day does now; what a condemnation must it then be, if eternal happiness should be lost, for something less than the enjoyment of a day!
Why does a day seem a trifle to us now? It is because we have years to set against it. It is the duration of years that makes it seem as nothing. ”

“ My great High-Priest, where is thy atoning blood? Where is he that was tempted in all points like unto me? Is there no help for me in my God? Why art thou cast down O my soul? O that I could yield my last breath, if nothing else will end the strife! Oh! the languishments of my soul for an absent God! How does my spirit faint within me! How do I pine! O sun of righteousness, arise upon me with healing in thy wings. Come Lord Jesus, O come, and save me for thy mercy’s sake. Where are the soundings of thy bowels, Dost thou not see my labouring breast? Is not my pain even worse than strangling? ”