“And we are all helpless, both with regard to the power and to the guilt of sin. For _who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean_? None less than the Almighty. Who can raise those that are _dead_, spiritually dead in sin? None but He who raised us from the dust of the earth. But on what consideration will He do this? _Not for works of righteousness that we have done. The dead cannot praise Thee, O Lord!_ nor do anything for the sake of which they should be raised to life. Whatever therefore God does, He does it merely for the sake of His well-beloved Son: _He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. He Himself bore all our sin in His own body upon the tree. He was delivered for our offences, and rose again for our justification._ Here then is the sole _meritorious cause_ of every blessing we do or can enjoy: in particular of our pardon and acceptance with God, of our free and full justification. But by what means do we become interested in what Christ has done and suffered? _Not by works, lest any man should boast_; but by faith alone. _We conclude_, says the Apostle, _that a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law_. And _to as many as_ thus _receive Him, giveth He power to become the sons of God: even to those that believe in His name, who are born, not of the will of man, but of God_. “And _except a man be thus born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God._ But all who are thus _born of the Spirit_, have _the kingdom of God within_ them. Christ sets up His kingdom in their hearts—_righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost_. That _mind is in them, which was in Christ Jesus_, enabling them to _walk as Christ also walked_. His indwelling Spirit makes them both holy in heart, and _holy in all manner of conversation_. But still, seeing all this is a free gift, through the righteousness and blood of Christ, there is eternally the same reason to remember, _He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord_. “You are not ignorant, that these are the fundamental doctrines which he (Mr. Whitefield) everywhere insisted on. And may they not be summed up, as it were, in two words, _The new birth, and justification by faith_. These let us insist upon, with all boldness, at all times, and in all places. In public (those of us who are called thereto), and, at all opportunities, in private. Keep close to these good old unfashionable doctrines, how many soever contradict and blaspheme. Go on, my brethren, in the _name of the Lord, and in the power of His might_. With all care and diligence, _keep that safe which is committed to your trust_: knowing that _heaven and earth shall pass away_; but this truth _shall not pass away_.”[213] Footnote 212: Fletcher’s Works, vol. i., p. 209. Footnote 213: Wesley’s “Sermon on the Death of Whitefield,” p. 26.