John Wesley

“ And when once it hath taken hold of a soul, and kindled in it the smallest spark of divine love, will he not preserve and cherish, and bring it forth into a flame, which many waters shall not quench6. Whenever this day begins to dawn, and the day-star to rise in their heart7, it will dispel the powers of darkness, and make ignorance and folly, and all corrupt affections, flee away as fast before it as the shades of night, when the sun cometh out of his chambers. For the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day8. ”

“ THE glory of a good man is the testimony of a good conscience.
Have a good conscience, and thou shalt ever have joy.
Thou shalt rest sweetly if thy heart condemn thee not.
Never rejoice but when thou hast done well.
Sinners have never true joy, nor feel inward peace; because There is no peace to the wicked, saith the Lord.
2. To glory in tribulation is no hard thing for him that loveth; for to glory so, is to glory in the cross of our Lord.
That glory is short which is given and received from men.
Sorrow always accompanieth the glory of the world. ”

“ Useless notions, and new systems, and fine-spun theories, will not always please us. The days will come when we shall say, we have no pleasure in them. But wisdom will relish with us to the very last, and more at last than ever. When other things leave us, wisdom will stay behind, and more than supply their loss: and when we have outlived the pleasures of the world, then will it be in the greatest esteem with us, as being the only thing of all our acquirements, whose possession and enjoyment too is immortal. ”

“ This imperfect piety is farther condemned by Christian prudence as very absurd. If we did not intend to go through, why did we set out? If we did, why do we stop? If we think there is no reason in religion, why do we any thing? But if we think there is, why don’t we do enough? For the same reason that we do so much, why don’t we do more? For either religion has truth on its side, or not. If not, why do we take so much labour needlesly? But if it has, why do we take so much labour in vain? ”

“ This alone gives a man a title to learning, without one grain of sense; and on the other side, let a man be an angel for notion and discourse, yet unless he can express the same thought in variety of words, he may go for a rational, but will by no means be esteemed a learned man. Now is it not a strange thing, that so much stress should be laid on so very a trifle? For what am I the better for being able to tell, what ’tis a-clock in twenty languages? What does this signify to the perfection of my understanding? ”

“ AND now, O most gracious God, Father and fountain of mercy, who hast blessed us with the knowledge of our happiness, and the way that leadeth unto it, excite in our souls such ardent desires after the one as may put us forth to the diligent prosecution of the other. Let us neither presume on our own strength, nor distrust thy assistance; but while we are doing our utmost endeavours, still depend on thee for success. Open our eyes, O God, and teach us out of thy law. Bless us with an exact and tender sense of our duty, and a knowledge to discern perverse things. ”

“ We confess that knowledge is a glorious excellence. Yet rectitude of will is a far greater excellence than brightness of understanding: and to be good, is a more glorious perfection than to be wise and knowing, this being if not the only, certainly the principal difference between an angel and a devil. ’Tis far better, to use the expression of Mr. Poiret, like an infant without much reasoning, to love much, than like the devil, to reason much without love. ”

“ Many things are attainable by our labour, which are not worth our labour to attain. But wisdom is not of those; on the contrary, nothing is so well worth attaining. Wisdom it is that keeps the world in order, and makes living in it a blessing, that is the parent of laws, the foundation of government, and the great upholder and sweetner of all society. Wisdom it is that teaches a man how to obey, and how to govern even that ungovernable creature himself: to moderate his passions, to compose his manners, to behave well in all circumstances of life. ”

“ Wilt thou allow us to raise our eyes to thee? Wilt thou admit and accept our affection? Shall we receive the impression, of thy divine excellencies, by beholding and admiring them, and partake of thy infinite blessedness and glory, by loving thee, and rejoicing in them? O the happiness of those souls that are disintangled from every narrow good; whose understandings are enlightened by the holy Spirit, and their wills enlarged to the extent of thine; who love thee above all things, and all mankind for thy sake! ”

“ As much as to say, whatever thou gettest, or with the expence of all thou hast gotten, get wisdom, as being of infinitely more value than all. It is a pearl of so great price, that the merchant who finds it, will buy it with the price of all that he has. And a wise merchant he is who buys it even at this price, for it can never be bought too dear. Honour and greatness may; nay, and so may the whole world, if the price be a man’s soul. But wisdom cannot; therefore again, Get wisdom, and with all thy gettings, get understanding. If we get wisdom ’tis no matter what else we lose. ”

“ For indeed a man has but one business in the world, and that is, to make sure his everlasting happiness, and to secure to himself the fruition of that excellent good, which is the true end of his being. This is the whole of man, his only considerable interest, and that upon which all depends. ’Tis not necessary, that he should be born to an estate, or that he should acquire one. ’Tis not necessary that he should succeed in his attempts, for this or that dignity or preferment; that he should live long to enjoy his wealth or greatness, or even that he should live at all. ”

“ Should we not more effectually clear ourselves from all suspicion of either fearing or desiring any thing in this world? Should we not be more earnest to admonish every one in particular? Should we not wrestle more in our prayers for them? Should we not, as soon as any good desire appeared in any, more readily lend him our helping hand, that the spark of grace might be blown up into a flame? ”

“ But divine love hath no mixture of this gall. When once the soul is fixed on that supreme good, it finds so much goodness, as doth not only satisfy its affection, but overpower it too: It finds all its love to be too languid for such an object, and is only sorry that it can command no more: It wishes for the flames of a Seraph, and longs for the time when it shall be wholly dissolved in love. And because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation, that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of these infinite perfections. ”

“ Among those things which we discover to be sinful, there will be some to which, through our nature, or long custom, we are so wedded, that it will be like cutting of the right-hand, or pulling out the right-eye, to abandon them. But must we therefore sit down and wait till all difficulties be over, and every temptation be gone? This were to imitate the fool in the poet, who stood the whole day at the river-side, till all the water should run by. We must not indulge our inclinations, as we do little children, till they grow weary of the thing they are unwilling to let go. ”

“ Verily, my brethren, I fear we have reason to be ashamed, when we read what one saith, “A Christian ought to be so enkindled and all-flaming with divine love, and, both inwardly and outwardly, so conformable to God, that whenever any one came to him, he might hear nothing from him but God: and his heart and mind ought to be fixed on him by burning love, and so be ready in all things faithfully to obey his will, that such as visited him, though with cold and lukewarm hearts, might be heated, and set on fire by him: as we see cold and dead coals are kindled, when they are put to glowing ones.” ”

“ Again, as charity flows from an excellent temper, so it is accompanied with the greatest satisfaction. It delights the soul to feel itself thus enlarged; to be delivered from those disquieting passions, malice, hatred, and envy; and to become gentle, sweet, and benign. Had I my choice of all things for my present felicity, I would pitch upon this, to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection towards all men. I am sure this would make me partake in all the happiness of others, their inward endowments, and outward prosperity. ”

“ And the first consideration I shall offer to recommend the study of this wisdom is, that it is attainable. *Many things employ the search of studious men, which, after all, they can never master, but must sit down, if not with a contented, yet with an unavoidable ignorance of. But it is not so with wisdom: the acquisition of this depends not upon great parts, but upon a willing mind. Speculation indeed is infinite, and the well of truth has no bottom, and besides, Many have nothing to draw with. But wisdom, like a fountain, lies open, and within common reach. ”

“ But had we once a real contempt of worldly things, this were a considerable advancement in our way. The soul of man is of a vigorous and active nature, and hath in it an unextinguishable thirst, an immaterial kind of fire, always catching at some object or other, in conjunction wherewith it thinks to be happy: and were it once rent from the world, it would search after some higher object, to satisfy its importunate cravings. The love of the world and the love of God, are like the scales of a balance, as the one falleth the other doth rise. ”

“ Doth not our Saviour, to reproach our idle fear, send us even to the sparrows for better information? Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall to the ground without your Father? Nay, he directs us to the very hairs of our head, saying, But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Elsewhere, he takes the grass of the field to witness against our little faith: and all this to expose our horrible unbelief, and to represent to us in a clear light, that a man by faith becomes the most glorious, and by unbelief the most base and miserable of all creatures. ”

“ What an infinite pleasure must it needs be, thus as it were to lose ourselves in him; and, being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of his goodness, to offer ourselves a living sacrifice, always ascending unto him in flames of love? Never doth a soul know what solid joy is, till it give itself up unto the author of its being, and feel itself become a devoted thing ”

“ I deny not, that there are some matters of fact, as the more remarkable turns of ecclesiastical history, and the greater revolutions of the civil world, which are of moment to be known; because, by discovering to us the conduct of divine providence, they supply us with occasions of acknowledging and adoring the wisdom and goodness of God. Neither do I deny, that there are many other historical passages, which may be of moment to be known; tho’ not as perfective of our understanding, but as touching our interest. ”

“ It is now time to return to the consideration of that divine life, that life which is hid with Christ in God, and therefore hath no glorious shew or appearance in the world, but to the natural man seems mean and insipid. As the animal life consists in that narrow love which is terminated on a man’s self, and in his propension to those things that are pleasing to nature; so the divine life stands in an universal affection, and in the mastery over our natural inclinations. The root of the divine life is faith; the chief branches are, love to God, charity to man, purity and humility ”

“ For as none but infinite truth can satisfy the understanding, so only infinite good can satisfy the will. But this the creature is not. As its being is, so is its goodness, both of a limited extent, and so by no means fit to satisfy the capacity of that mind, which aspires after all good. Every creature therefore must confess its utter insufficiency to be the object of our happiness: Nay, the whole collection and amasment of created good, must acknowledge the same; the very depth and abyss of it must say, It is not in me.
4. It is in God alone: he is the fountain of eternal blessedness ”

“ And herein the divine lover hath unspeakably the advantage, having placed his affection on him whose nature is love, whose goodness is as infinite as his being; whose mercy prevented us, when we were his enemies, therefore cannot chuse but embrace us, when we are become his friends. It is impossible that God should deny his love to a soul devoted to him, and which desires nothing so much as to please him. He cannot disdain his own image, nor the heart on which it is engraven. Love is all the tribute which we can pay him, and it is the sacrifice which he will not despise. ”

“ And how hard will it fall upon those, whose lot is to breathe in the last ages of the world, who must be accountable for all the whims and extravagancies of so many centuries? And yet this is made so great a part of learning, that the learning of most men lies in books rather than in things. And among authors, where one writes upon things, there are twenty write upon books. Nay, some carry this humour so far, that ’tis thought learning to know the very title of books and their editions, with the time and place when and where they were printed. ”

“ What a concern are we wont to have for those that any ways belong to the person whom we love? How gladly do we lay hold on every opportunity to gratify the child or servant of a friend? And sure our love towards God would as naturally spring forth in charity towards men, did we mind the interest that he is pleased to take in them; and consider that every soul is dearer to him than the material world; and that he did not account the blood of his Son too great a price for their redemption. ”

“ The severities of a holy life, and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways, are troublesome to those who are only ruled by an external law, and have no law in their minds inclining them to their duty. But where divine love possesseth the soul, it stands as centinel to keep out every thing that may offend the Beloved. It complieth chearfully, not only with explicit commands, but with the most secret notices of the Beloved’s pleasure; and is ingenious in discovering what will be most grateful and acceptable unto him. ”

“ Not that I plead for a hermit’s solitude, not understanding the agreement of such a state with human nature, nor what authority men have thus to bury themselves alive, and to excommunicate themselves from human society. But so much of solitude as disengages us from the affairs and incumbrances of the world, and places us out of the noise, hurry and bustle of it, and out of the way of its temptations, must certainly be of vastly great advantage to a truly Christian life. Being much abroad may teach us to know the world; but retirement only can teach us to know ourselves. ”