The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 09 (of 32)Wesley, John
Religion
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 09 (of 32)
Wesley, John
Methodist Church; Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- 18th century
3. Are _you_ then to go to heaven or hell? It must be either to one
or the other. I pray God you may not go to hell! for who can dwell
with everlasting burnings? Who can bear the fierceness of that flame,
without even a drop of water to cool his tongue? Yea, and that without
end; for as the worm dieth not so the fire is not quenched. No, whoever
is once cast into that lake of fire, shall be tormented day and night
for ever and ever. O eternity! eternity! Who can tell the length of
eternity? I warn _thee_ now, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ,
that _thou_ come not into that place of torment!
4. But alas! Is not hell now begun in thy soul? Does thy _conscience_
never awake? Hast thou no _remorse_ at any time? No _sense_ of guilt?
No _dread_ of the wrath of God? Why these (if thou art not saved from
them in this life) are the worm that never dieth. And what else is thy
carnal mind? Thy enmity against God? Thy foolish and hurtful lusts, thy
inordinate affections? What are pride, envy, malice, revenge? Are they
not vipers gnawing thy heart? May they not well be called, the dogs
of hell? Canst thou be out of hell, while these are in thy soul? While
they are tearing it in pieces, and there is none to help thee? Indeed
they are not fully let loose upon thee. And while thou seest the
light of the sun, the things of the world that surround thee, or the
pleasures of sense divert thy thoughts from them. But when thou canst
eat and drink no more, when the earth, with the works thereof is burnt
up, when the sun is fallen from heaven, and thou art shut up in utter
darkness, what a state wilt thou be in then? Mayst thou never try! Seek
thou a better habitation, a house of God eternal in the heavens.
5. There the wicked cease from troubling, there the weary are at rest.
For God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be
no more death, neither sorrow nor crying; neither shall there be any
more pain, but everlasting joy upon their heads. But this joy our ears
have not yet heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man to
conceive. Yet a little of it the children of God can conceive, from
what they already enjoy. For the kingdom of heaven is within them. God
has given them eternal life; the life which is hid with Christ in God.
They have heaven upon earth; righteousness and peace, and joy in the
Holy Ghost. Their souls are renewed in the image of God. They love God.
They are happy in him; and they love their neighbour (that is every
man) as themselves, as their own souls. Being justified by faith, they
have peace with God, yea, a peace which passeth all understanding.
And they rejoice in him, knowing their sins are blotted out; that they
are accepted in the beloved, and that they are going to an inheritance
incorruptible undefiled, and that fadeth not away.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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