"Through long years of wearisome and comfortless striving-- years of rigorous self-denial, of reproach and humiliation-- Wesley had steadfastly adhered to his one purpose of seeking God. Now he had found Him; and he found that the grace which he had toiled to win by prayers and fasts, by almsdeeds and self-abnegation, was a gift, "without money and without price."
Once established in the
faith of Christ, his whole soul burned with the desire to spread everywhere a
knowledge of the glorious gospel of God's free grace. "I look upon all the world
as my parish," he said; "in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right,
and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad
tidings of salvation."-- Ibid., page 74.
He continued his strict and
self-denying life, not now as the ground, but the result of faith; not the root,
but the fruit of holiness. The grace of God in Christ is the foundation of the
Christian's hope, and that grace will be manifested in obedience. Wesley's life
was devoted to the preaching of the great truths which he had
received--justification through faith in the atoning blood of Christ, and the
renewing power of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, bringing forth fruit in a life
conformed to the example of Christ." GC 256
What a great explanation of the relationship of faith and works.
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