The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 13 (of 32)Wesley, John
Religion
The works of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. 13 (of 32)
Wesley, John
Methodist Church; Theology -- Early works to 1800; Theology -- History -- 18th century
In this agony she continued, till it pleased God to visit her with her
last sickness. For the two or three first days, she could not be kept
from the word, but was then constrained to take her bed. She had early
notice of her departure, and told one of her band, that she should not
recover. She had express’d great earnestness to see me, but I could not
visit her ’till the Thursday following. I then found her, to her own
sense and feeling, in utter despair. “I am dying, (she cried) without
pardon, without a Saviour, without hope.” I prayed in full assurance
of faith, and then testified the love of Christ to her, a lost sinner;
declaring to her, that he would fulfil in her the work of faith with
power. “My soul for your’s (I told her) if you depart hence, before
your eyes have seen his salvation. Yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry. The word of our God shall
stand for ever. Every one that seeketh findeth. Fear not; behold, he
comes quickly; and one moment of his presence will make you abundant
amends for all the pain of absence.”
When I was gone, her sufferings rather increased, and Satan raged
the more. The lyon tore her as it were to pieces: she was in a mighty
conflict, and said, “None knows what I have gone thro’ in this sickness;
my enemy triumphs over me; it is the hour of darkness, it is more than
I am able to bear.”
*_The captive exile hasteneth that she may be loosed, and that she
should not die in the pit, nor that her bread should fail._ This
trial was the severest of all. “The devil (she said) besets me sorely,
I shall never hold out; I shall perish at last; but if I am lost I
am content: tho’ I go down to hell, let but Christ be with me, and I
will go without fear.” Here she seemed to be strengthened to endure a
greater agony. She drank of the cup which her Lord drank of, and had
fellowship in those sufferings, which made him cry out, _My_ God _my_
God, _why hast thou forsaken me_! To compleat her distress, the angel
of death came! She was struck and changed on a sudden (so that one came
and told me she was just a dying.) Then as man would judge, she let go
her hold of God: And _the spirit failed before him, and the soul which
he had made_.
*In this dreadful moment, this last extremity, this deepest distress
the human soul is capable of――the Comforter came. The Lord, her Saviour,
came suddenly to his temple, _as lightening shineth from one end of the
heaven unto the other, so was the coming of the Son of man_. He took
away the veil from her heart, and revealed himself in her, in a manner
the world knoweth not of. She broke out, “Now I know that Christ died
for me. He has washed me from all my sins in his precious blood. I have
eternal life abiding in me.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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