The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 03 (of 32)Wesley, John
Religion
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 03 (of 32)
Wesley, John
Methodist Church; Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- 18th century
4. Will not the case be the same, with regard to those thoughts
that necessarily arise from violent pain? They will, more or less,
continue while that pain continues, by the inviolable order of nature.
This order likewise will obtain, where the thoughts are disturbed,
broken or interrupted, by any defect of the apprehension, judgment or
imagination, flowing from the natural constitution of the body. And how
many interruptions may spring from the unaccountable and involuntary
association of our ideas? Now all these are directly or indirectly
caused by the corruptible body pressing down the mind. Nor therefore
can we expect them to be removed, ’till _this corruptible shall put on
incorruption_.
5. And then only, when we lie down in the dust, shall we be delivered
from those wandering thoughts which are occasioned by what we see and
hear, among those by whom we are now surrounded. To avoid these we must
go out of the world. For as long as we remain therein, as long as there
are men and women round about us, and we have eyes to see and ears to
hear, the things which we daily see and hear, will certainly affect our
mind, and will more or less, break in upon and interrupt our preceding
thoughts.
6. And as long as evil spirits roam to and fro in a miserable,
disordered world, so long they will assault (whether they can prevail
or no) every inhabitant of flesh and blood. They will trouble even
those whom they cannot destroy: they will attack if they cannot conquer.
And from these attacks of our restless, unwearied enemies, we must not
look for an entire deliverance, till we are lodged _where the wicked
cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest_.
7. To sum up the whole. To expect deliverance from those wandering
thoughts which are occasioned by evil spirits, is to expect that the
devil should die or fall asleep; or at least should no more go about as
a roaring lion. To expect deliverance from those which are occasioned
by other men, is to expect either that men should cease from the
earth; or that we should be absolutely secluded from them, and have no
intercourse with them: or that having eyes we should not see, neither
hear with our ears, but be as senseless as stocks or stones. And to
pray for deliverance from those which are occasioned by the body, is
in effect to pray that we may leave the body. Otherwise it is praying
for impossibilities and absurdities; praying that God would reconcile
contradictions, by continuing our union with a corruptible body,
without the natural, necessary consequences of that union. It is as if
we should pray to be angels and men, mortal and immortal at the same
time. Nay, but when that which is immortal is come, mortality is done
away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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