THE KING ’S BUSINESS
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Let us hear what his mother «ays about Thomas a Kempis’s opinion, that all mirth or pleasure is useless, if not sinful. She observes: "I take Kempis to have been an honest, weak man, that had more zeal than kriowledge, by his condemning all mirth or pleasure as sinful or useless, in opposi tion to so many direct and plain texts of Scripture. Would you judge o f t;he law fulness or unlawfulness o f pleasure? of the innocence or malignity o f actions? take this rule—-whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness o f your conscience, obscures your sense o f God, or takes off the relish o f spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and author ity o f your body over mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may^be in itself.” Let us hear what John Wesley himself says in a letter, on the opinion o f Jeremy Taylor: “Whether God has forgiven us or no, we know not; therefore let us be sorrowful for ever having sinned.” He remarks: “ Surely the graces o f the Holy GhoSt are riot o f so little force as that we cannot perceive whether we have them or not. I f we dwell in Christ, and Chfist in us, which' He will not do unless we be regenerate, certainly we must be sensible o f it. If we never can have any certainty o f being in a state o f salvation, good'reason is i t 1 that every moment should be spent, not in joy, but in fear and trembling; and then, undoubtedly, in this life we are of all men most miserable. God deliver us from such a fearful expectation as this” ORDAINED A DEACON Correspondence o f this style could hardly fail to do good to a young man in John Wesley’s frame o f mind. It led him no doubt to closer study o f the Scriptures, deeper self-examination, and more fervent prayer. Whatever .scruples he may have had were finally removed, and he was at length ordained deacon on September the 19th, 1725, by Dr. Potter, then Bishop o f Oxford, and afterwards Archbishop o f Canterbury. In the year 1726 John Wesley was elected
them all his mental and spiritual difficulties. His letters and their replies are well worth reading. They all show more or less absence o f spiritual light and clear views o f the gospel. But a singular vein o f hon esty and conscientiousness runs throughout. One feels “This is just the spirit that God will bless. This is the single eye to which will be given more light.” BEST COMMENTARY Let us hear what his father says about the question, “Which is the best commen tary on the Bible?” “ I answer, the Bible itself. For the several paraphrases and translations o f it in the Polyglot, compared with the original and with one another, are in my opinion, to an honest, devout, indus trious and humble man, infinitely preferable to any comment I ever saw.” Let us see what his mother says on the point o f taking holy orders: “The altera tion o f your temper has occasioned me much speculation. I, who am apt to be sanguine, Hope it may proceed from the operation o f God’s Holy Spirit, that by taking off your relish for earthly enjoy ments he may prepare arid dispose your mind for a more serious and close appli cation to things o f a more sublime and spiritual nature. I f it be so, happy are you if you cherish those dispositions. And now in good earnest resolve to make relig ion the business of your life; for, after all, that is the one thing that, strictly -speaking, is necessary: all things beside are compar atively littiS-to the purposes o f life. I heart ily wish you would now enter upon a strict examination o f yourself, that you may know whether you have a reasonable hope o f salvation by Jesus Christ. I f you have the satisfaction o f knowing, it will abun dantly reward your pains; if you have not, you will find a more reasonable occasion for tears than can.be met with in a tragedy. This matter deserves great consideration by all, b,ut especially by those designed for the ministry, who ought above all things to make their own calling and election sure, lest, after they have preached to others, they themselves should be cast away.”
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