"Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."--ROMANS 5:1.

      Many penitent sinners seek redemption in works, and seem to lose sight of the efficacy of faith. Let it be here mentioned for the benefit of all such, that works without faith are dead. No works can avail [104] anything before God to secure a reward after death, except they be performed by those who have been saved from their sins and are living a life of faith and obedience. Mr. Wesley's experience is here offered as of great value, in relation to this subject. He was ordained a Deacon of the Church of England in 1725, and received priest's orders about three years afterwards. In 1735, ten years after his first ordination, he sailed for America, to proclaim his peculiar views. We thus find him a minister of the gospel, preaching for more than ten years, in all honesty and sincerity, yet devoid of a change of heart. Feeling a want of something more than mere learning, he set about to seek it in good works. But let him speak for himself:

      "In 1730 I began visiting the prisons, assisting the poor and sick in town, and doing what other good I could by my presence or my little fortune to the bodies and souls of all men. To this end I abridged myself of all superfluities, and many that are called necessaries of life. I soon became a byword for so doing, and I rejoiced that my name was cast out as evil. The next spring I began observing the Wednesday and Friday fasts commonly observed in the ancient church; taking no food till three in the afternoon. And now I knew not how to go any further. I diligently strove against all sin. I omitted no sort of self-denial which I thought lawful: I [105] carefully used, both in public and private, all the means of grace at all opportunities. I omitted no occasion of doing good. I for that reason suffered evil. And all this I knew to be nothing, unless as it was directed toward inward holiness. Accordingly this, the image of God, was what I aimed at in all, by doing His will, not my own. Yet, when, after continuing some years in this course, I apprehended myself to be near death, I could not find that all this gave me any comfort, or any assurance of acceptance with God. At this I was not a little surprised; not imagining I had been all this time building on the sand, nor considering that 'other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid by God, even Christ Jesus' [1 Corinthians 3:11].

      "Soon after, a contemplative man convinced me still more than I was convinced before, that outward works are nothing, being alone. * * * He recommended (as it were, to supply what was wanting in them) mental prayer, and the like exercises, as the most effectual means of purifying the soul, and uniting it with God. Now these were, in truth, as much my own works as visiting the sick or clothing the naked, and the union with God, thus pursued, was as really my own righteousness as any I had before pursued, under another name. In this refined way of trusting to my own works and my own righteousness (so zealously inculcated by the mystic [106] writers), I dragged on heavily, finding no comfort or help therein, till the time of my leaving England. On shipboard it pleased God to give me twenty-six of the Moravian brethren for companions, who endeavored to show me a more excellent way. But I understood it not at first. I was too learned and too wise. So that it seemed foolishness unto me. And I continued preaching and following after and trusting in that righteousness, whereby no flesh can be justified. All the time I was at Savannah I was thus beating the air. Being ignorant of the righteousness of Christ, which, by a living faith in him, bringeth salvation 'to every one that believeth' [Romans 1:16], I sought to establish my own righteousness, and so labored in the fire all my days. * * * In this state I was, indeed, fighting continually, but not conquering. Before, I had willingly served sin, now it was unwillingly, but still I served it. * * * I was only striving with, not freed from sin: neither had I the witness of the Spirit with my spirit, and, indeed could not have; for I sought it not by faith, but (as it were) by the works of the law.

      "In my return to England, January, 1738, being in imminent danger of death, and very uneasy on that account, I was strongly convinced that the cause of that uneasiness was unbelief, and that the gaining a true, living faith, was the one thing needful for me. But still I fixed not this faith on its right object; [107] I meant only faith in God, not faith in or through Christ. Again, I knew not that I was wholly void of this faith; but only thought I had not enough of it. So that when Peter Bohler, whom God prepared for me as soon as I came to London, affirmed of true faith in Christ, that it had these two fruits inseparably attending, it: 'dominion over sin, and constant peace from a sense of forgiveness,' I was quite amazed, and looked upon it as a new gospel. If this was so, it was clear I had not faith. But I was not willing to be convinced of this. Therefore I disputed with all my might, and labored to prove, that faith might be where these were not; especially where the sense of forgiveness was not: for all the scriptures relating to this, I had been long since taught to construe away. Besides, I well saw no one could, in the nature of things, have such a sense of forgiveness, and not feel it. But I felt it not. If, then, there was no faith without this, all my pretensions to faith dropped at once.

      When I met Peter Bohler again, he consented to put the dispute upon the issue which I desired, namely, Scripture and experience. I first consulted the Scripture. But when I set aside the glosses of men, and simply considered the words of God, comparing them together, endeavoring to illustrate the obscure by the plainer passages, I found they all made against me, and was forced to retreat to my last hold, [108] 'that experience would never agree with the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. Nor could I, therefore, allow it to be the truth, till I found some living witnesses of it.' He replied that he 'could show me such at any time; if I desired it, the next day.' And accordingly the next day he came again, with three others, all of whom testified, of their own experience that a true living faith in Christ is inseparable from a sense of pardon for all past, and freedom from all present sins They added with one mouth, that this faith was the free gift of God, and that he would surely bestow it upon every soul who earnestly and perseveringly sought it. I was now thoroughly convinced; and, by the grace of God, I was resolved to seek it unto the end: 1. By absolutely renouncing all dependence, in whole or in part, upon my own works or righteousness, on which I had really grounded my hope of salvation, though I knew it not, from my youth up. 2. By adding to the constant use of all other means of grace, continual prayer for this very thing, justifying, saving faith, a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me; a trust in him, as my Christ, as my sole justification, sanctification, and redemption.

      "I continued thus to seek it (through with strange indifference, coldness and unusually frequent relapses into sin), till May 24, when I opened my Testament on these words, 'There are given unto us [109] exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4). After closing the book, I opened it again, on these words, 'Thou art not far from the kingdom of God' [Mark 12:34]. In the afternoon of the same day I was invited to go to St. Paul's. The anthem was, 'Out of the deep have I called unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.' In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: and an assurance was given me, that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."--Journal.

      Mr. Wesley was now enabled to magnify the Lord, and his spirit rejoiced in God his Saviour. Because he was a son, God sent forth the spirit of His Son into his heart, crying Abba, Father: the Spirit itself bearing witness with his spirit that he as a child of God. The love of God was shed abroad in his heart, by the Holy Ghost given unto him. Now that he was a child of God, he brought forth the fruits of the Spirit: loved all men, even his persecutors, and continued believing in God, zealous of good works, to the end of his long life. [110]

[THW 104-110]