CHRISTIAN LEADERS OF THE 18TH CENTURY - ( CHAPTER 5 ) - { PT. 8 }


 ( CHAPTER  5 )  -  { PT.  8 } - Let us hear what John Wesley's mother says about Thomas a Kempis opinion that all mirth or pleasure is useless, if not sinful. She observes: I believe Kempis to have been an honest, weak man who had more zeal than knowledge by condemning all mirth or pleasure as sinful or useless, in opposition to so many direct and plain texts of Scripture. Would you judge of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of pleasure, or of the innocence or enmity of actions? Here is a good rule: what ever weakens your reason, impairs the  conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away the desire of spiritual things--basically, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your 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 of Jeremy Taylor: Whether God has forgiven us or not, we know not; therefore, let us be sorrowful for ever having sinned. Samuel Wesley responded: Surely the graces of the Holy Spirit are not such little force that we cannot perceive whether we have them or not. If we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us, which He will not do unless we are regenerate, certainly we must be sensible we must be sensible of it. If we never can have any certainty of being in a state of salvation, that is a good reason that every moment should be spent not in joy, but fear and trembling; and then, undountedly, in this life we are of all men most miserable.

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