John Wesley

“ 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. ”

“ You see the true state of every natural man, whether he be Cæsar or Cato, whether he gloriously murders others, or only stabs himself; blind nature does all the work, and must be the doer of it, till the light of God has helped them to one common good, in which they all willingly unite, rest, and rejoice. In a word, goodness is only a sound, and virtue a mere strife of natural passions, till the spirit of love is the breath of every thing that lives, and moves in the heart. For love is the one only blessing, and goodness, and God of nature ”

“ What you have said of yourself, you have spoken in great sincerity, but in a total ignorance of yourself, and of the spirit of divine love. You are as yet only charmed with the sight, or rather the sound of it; its real birth is as yet unfelt, and unfound in you. Your natural complexion has a great deal of the animal meekness and softness of the lamb, and the dove; your blood and spirit are of this turn; and therefore a God all love, and a religion all love, quite transport you; and you are so delighted with it, that you fancy you have nothing in you, but this religion of love. ”

“ 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 ”

“ Hold this therefore, Academicus, as a certain truth, that the heresy of all heresies is a worldly spirit. It is the whole nature and misery of our fall; it keeps up the death of our souls; and, so long as it lasts, makes it impossible for us to be born again. It is the greatest blindness and darkness of our nature, and keeps us in the grossest ignorance both of heaven and hell. For we feel neither the one nor the other, so long as the spirit of this world reigns in us. Light, and truth, and the gospel, so far as they concern eternity, are all empty sounds to the worldly spirit. ”

“ We are looking for our own virtue, our own piety, our own goodness, and so live on and on in our own poverty and weakness; to-day pleased and comforted with the seeming strength and firmness of our own pious tempers; to-morrow, fallen into our own mire, we are dejected, but not humbled; we grieve, but it is only the grief of pride, at seeing our perfection not to be such as we vainly imagined. And thus it will be, till the whole turn of our minds is so changed, that we as fully see and know our inability to have any goodness of our own, as to have a life of our own. ”

“ I apprehend that you don’t yet know what divine love is in itself, nor what is its nature and power in the soul of man. For divine love brings perfect peace and joy, a freedom from all disquiet, all content and happiness. Love wherever it comes, comes as the restorer of every lost perfection, a redeemer from all evil, a fulfiller of all righteousness. Thro’ all the universe nothing is uneasy, unsatisfied, or restless, but because it is not governed by love, or because its nature has not reached or attained the full spirit of love. ”

“ But Philo never thinks how wonderful it is, that a man who knows regeneration to be the whole, should yet content himself with the love of books upon the new birth, instead of being born again himself. For all that is changed in Philo, is his taste for books. He is no more dead to the world, no more delivered from himself, is as fearful of adversity, as fond of prosperity, as easily provoked and pleased with trifles, as much governed by his own will, tempers and passions, as unwilling to deny his appetites, or enter into war with himself, as he was twenty years ago. ”

“ Love, like the Spirit of God, rideth upon the wings of the wind; and is in communion with all the saints that are in heaven and on earth. Love is quite pure; it hath no by-ends; it seeks not its own; it has but one will, and that is, to give itself into every thing, and overcome all evil with good. Lastly, love cometh down from heaven; it regenerateth the soul from above; it blotteth out all transgressions; it taketh from death its sting, from the devil his power, and from the serpent his poison. It healeth all the infirmities of our earthly birth ”

“ For to have salvation from Christ, is to be made like unto him; it is to have his humility and meekness, his mortification and self-denial, his renunciation of the spirit, wisdom, and honours of this world, his love of God, his desire of doing God’s will, and seeking only his honour. To have these tempers formed in thy heart, is to have salvation from Christ; but if thou willest not to have these tempers, if thy faith does not seek, and cry to Christ for them in the same reality, as the lame asked to walk, and the blind to see, then thou art unwilling to have Christ to be thy Saviour. ”

“ Wait patiently, trust humbly, depend only upon, seek solely to a God of light and love, of mercy and goodness, of glory and majesty, dwelling in your heart by faith. There you have the invisible upholder of all the creation, whose blessed operation will always be found by a humble, faithful, loving, calm, patient introversion of your heart to him, which will open itself to you, as soon as your heart is left wholly to his eternal ever-speaking word, and ever-sanctifying Spirit. ”

“ For just as far as you are freed from the folly of all earthly affections, from all disquiet, trouble and complaint about this or that, just so far is the spirit of love in you. For divine love is a new life, and new nature, and introduces you into a new world; it puts an end to all your former opinions and tempers, it opens new senses in you, and makes you see high to be low, and low to be high; wisdom to be foolishness, and foolishness wisdom; it makes prosperity and adversity, praise and dispraise, to be equally nothing. ”

“ The muddled wine always works right to the utmost of its power, because it works according to nature; but if it had an intelligent free will, it might work as vainly as man does; it might continually thicken itself, be always stirring up its own dregs, and then it would seek for its purity, just as well as the soul of man seeks for its happiness in the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. All which must fall away from the heart of man before it can find its happiness in God, as the dregs must separate from the wine before it can have its perfection and clearness. ”

“ It is a truth as unchangeable as God; it is written and spoken thro’ all nature; heaven and earth, fallen angels, and redeemed men, all bear witness to it. The truth is this: Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you. Under the banner of this truth, give up yourselves to the meek and humble Spirit of the holy Jesus. This is the one way, the one truth, and the one life. There is no other door into the sheepfold of God. Every thing else is the working of the devil in the fallen nature of man. Humility must sow the seed, or there can be no reaping in heaven. ”

“ But to know whether Christianity wants, or admits of war, Christianity is to be considered in its right state.—Now the true state of the world turned Christian, is thus described by the great gospel-prophet. “They shall beat their swords into plow-shares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up its sword against nation, (N. B.) neither shall they learn war any more.”—This is the prophet’s true Christendom, with the same essential mark set upon it, as when the Lamb of God said, By this shall all men know, ye are my disciples, if ye love one another as I have loved you. ”

“ If I desire any thing, but that which God would have me to be, and do, I stick in the mire of covetousness, and must have all that evil, and disquiet working in me, which robs misers of their peace both with God and man.
*Oh sweet resignation of myself to God, happy death of every selfish desire, be thou my guide, and governor wherever I go! nothing but thee can take me from myself, nothing but thee can lead me to God; hell has no power, where thou art; nor can heaven hide itself from thee. ”

“ Will it do you any good to tell you, that thus says my heart, without speaking a word, Let nothing live in me, but the redeeming power of thy Holy Jesus, nothing pray in me but thy Holy Spirit.――This is my ship, in which I would be always at sea.――All that I seek, or mean, either for myself or others, by every height and depth of divine knowledge, is only for this end, that we may be more willing and glad to become such little children, as our Lord has told us, are the only heirs of the kingdom of God. ”

“ I would ask all writers against continual, immediate divine inspiration, how they could more effectually lead men, into an habitual state of sinning against the Holy Ghost, than by such doctrine? For how can we possibly avoid the sin of grieving, or quenching the Spirit, but by continually reverencing his holy presence in us; by continually waiting for, trusting, and attending to that, which the Spirit of God, wills, works, and manifests within us? To turn men from this continual dependance upon the Holy Spirit, is turning them from all true knowledge of God. ”

“ Sad delusion! For to know what faith is, or that we are in the faith, is to know that Christ is in us of a truth; it is to know the power of his life, his death, his resurrection and ascension, made good in our souls. To be in the faith, is to have done with notions about it, because it is felt by its living power and fruits within us, which are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Would you divinely know the mysteries of grace and salvation? Let divine love work within you. ”