“‘O for a firm and lasting faith,
To credit all the Almighty saith!’
“Faith, I mean the evidence of things not seen, is a powerful cordial to support and exhilarate us under the heaviest pressures of pain and temptation. By faith, we live upon the invisible, eternal God; we believe that in Him we live, move, and have our being; insensibly we slide from self into God, from the visible into the invisible, from the carnal into the spiritual, from time into eternity. Here our spirits are ever young; they live in and upon the very fountain of strength, sprightliness, and joy. Oh! my dear friend, let us rest more upon the truth as it is in Jesus. Of late, I have been brought to feed more upon Jesus as the truth. I see more in Him in that character than I ever did. I see Christ the truth of my life, friends, relations, sense, food, raiment, light, fire, resting-place. All out of Him are but shadows. All in Him are blessed sacraments; I mean visible signs of the fountain, or vehicles to convey the streams of inward grace.”[[278]]
[265]. The reader who wishes to know what is meant by this is strongly recommended to read Wesley’s invaluable treatise, entitled, “A Plain Account of Christian Perfection;” his equally important and scriptural sermon on “Christian Perfection,” and his other irrefutable sermons on the same subject.
[266]. Sidney’s “Life of Rowland Hill,” p. 56.
[267]. Ibid, p. 70.
[268]. The “Vindication” of Wesley’s Minutes.
[269]. “Second Check to Antinomianism, in Three Letters,” to Mr. Shirley.
[270]. The semi-infidel Monthly Review, which could hardly exist without sneering at evangelical religion, remarked concerning this Fourth Check to Antinomianism:—