The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 04 (of 32)

by John Wesley

5. It is on the same terms, that he imparted to us that most excellent talent of speech. Thou hast given me a tongue, says the antient writer, that I may praise thee therewith. For this purpose was it given to all the children of men, to be employed in glorifying God. Nothing therefore is more ungrateful, or more absurd, than to think or say, our tongues are our own. That cannot be, unless we have created ourselves, and so are independent on the Most High. Nay, but it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. The manifest consequence is, that he is still Lord over us, in this, as in all other respects. It follows, that there is not a word of our tongue, for which we are not accountable to him.

6. To him we are equally accountable for the use of our hands and feet, and all the members of our body. These are so many talents which are committed to our trust, until the time appointed by the Father. Until then, we have the use of all these; but as stewards, not as proprietors; to the end, we should render them not as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but as instruments of righteousness unto God.

7. God has intrusted us, thirdly, with a portion of worldly goods, with food to eat, raiment to put on, and a place where to lay our head, with not only the necessaries, but the conveniencies of life. Above all, he has committed to our charge that precious talent, which contains all the rest, money: indeed it is unspeakably precious, if we are wise and faithful stewards of it: if we employ every part of it for such purposes as our blessed Lord has commanded us to do.

8. God has intrusted us, fourthly, with several talents, which do not properly come under any of these heads: such is bodily strength: such are health, a pleasing person, an agreeable address: such are learning and knowledge in their various degrees, with all the other advantages of education. Such is the influence which we have over others, whether by their love and esteem of us, or by power: power to do them good or hurt, to help or hinder them in the circumstances of life. Add to these that invaluable talent of time, with which God intrusts us from moment to moment. Add, lastly, that on which all the rest depend, and without which they would all be curses, not blessings: namely, the grace of God, the power of his holy Spirit, which alone worketh in us all that is acceptable in his sight.

II. 1. *In so many respects are the children of men, stewards of the Lord, the Possessor of heaven and earth. So large a portion of his goods, of various kinds, hath he committed to their charge. But it is not for ever, nor indeed for any considerable time. We have this trust reposed in us, only during the short, uncertain space that we sojourn here below: only so long as we remain on earth, as this fleeting breath is in our nostrils. The hour is swiftly approaching, it is just at hand, when we can be no longer stewards. The moment the body returns to the dust as it was, and the spirit to God that gave it, we bear that character no more; the time of our stewardship is at an end. Part of those goods wherewith we were before intrusted, are now come to an end: at least, they are so with regard to us: nor are we longer intrusted with them: and that part which remains, can no longer be employed or improved as it was before.

2. *Part of what we were intrusted with before, is at an end, at least with regard to us. What have we to do, after this life, with food, and raiment, and houses, and earthly possessions? The food of the dead is the dust of the earth: they are cloathed only with worms and rottenness. They dwell in the house prepared for all flesh: their lands know them no more. All their worldly goods are delivered into other hands, and they have no more portion under the sun.

3. The case is the same with regard to the body. The moment the spirit returns to God, we are no longer stewards of this machine, which is then sown in corruption and dishonour. All the parts and members of which it was composed, lie mouldering in the clay. The hands have no longer power to move; the feet have forgot their office; the flesh, sinews, the bones, are all hasting to be dissolved into common dust.

4. Here end also the talents of a mixt nature, our strength; our health; our beauty; our eloquence, and address; our faculty of pleasing, of persuading, or convincing others. Here end likewise all the honours we once enjoyed, all the power which was lodged in our hands, all the influence which we once had over others, either by the love or the esteem which they bore us. Our love, our hatred, our desire is perished: none regard how we were once affected toward them. They look upon the dead as neither able to help nor hurt them; so that a living dog is better than a dead lion.

5. *Perhaps a doubt may remain concerning some of the other talents wherewith we are now intrusted, whether they will cease to exist when the body returns to dust, or only cease to be improvable. Indeed there is no doubt, but the kind of speech which we now use, by means of these bodily organs, will then be intirely at an end, when those organs are destroyed. It is certain the tongue will no more occasion any vibrations in the air: neither will the ear convey these tremulous motions to the common sensory. Even the sonus exilis, the low, shrill voice, which the poet supposes to belong to a separate spirit, we cannot allow to have a real being; it is a mere flight of imagination. Indeed it cannot be questioned, but separate spirits have some way to communicate their sentiments to each other: but what inhabitant of flesh and blood can explain that way? What we term speech, they cannot have. So that we can no longer be steward of this talent, when we are numbered with the dead.

6. *It may likewise admit of a doubt, whether our senses will exist, when the organs of sense are destroyed. Is it not probable, that those of the lower kind will cease; the feeling, the smell, the taste, as they have a more immediate reference to the body, and are chiefly, if not wholly intended for the preservation of it? But will not some kind of sight remain, although the eye be closed in death? And will there not be something in the soul, equivalent to the present sense of hearing? Nay, is it not probable, that these will not only exist in the separate state, but exist in a far greater degree, in a more eminent manner than now! When the soul, disintangled from its clay, is no longer.