I want to start a thread on the best John Wesley quotes. I am working on a project and would like for everyone here on the site to help. Please place them here.
I will start...
"Give me one hundred men who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergyman or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon the earth.”
-John Wesley
This brother is becoming one of my favorites for a number of reasons. Here's some brief thoughts by John Wesley on Christian perfection (i.e. entire sanctification).
BRIEF THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN PERFECTION by John Wesley
SOME thoughts occurred to my mind this morning concerning Christian perfection, and the manner and time of receiving it, which I believe may be useful to set down.
1. By perfection I mean the humble, gentle, patient love of God, and our neighbour, ruling our tempers, words, and actions.
I do not include an impossibility of falling from it, either in part or in whole. Therefore, I retract several expressions in our Hymns, which partly express, partly imply, such an impossibility.
And I do not contend for the term sinless, though I do not object against it.
2. As to the manner. I believe this perfection is always wrought in the soul by a simple act of faith; consequently, in an instant.
But I believe a gradual work, both preceding and following that instant.
3. As to the time. I believe this instant generally is the instant of death, the moment before the soul leaves the body. But I believe it may be ten, twenty, or forty years before.
I believe it is usually many years after justification; but that it may be within five years or five months after it, I know no conclusive argument to the contrary.
If it must be many years after justification, I would be glad to know how many. Pretium quotus arroget annus? [This quotation from Horace is thus translated by Boscawen: -- "How many years give sanction to our lines?" -- Edit.]
And how many days or months, or even years, can any one allow to be between perfection and death? How far from justification must it be; and how near to death?
LONDON, Jan. 27, 1767.
"Christianity is essentially a social religion and that to turn it into a solitary religion is indeed to destroy it." John Wesley
"My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible-bigot. I follow it in all things, both great and small." John Wesley
"Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago." John Wesley
"Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
in all the ways you can,
in all the places you can,
at all the times you can,
to all the people you can,
as long as you ever can." John Wesley
You have nothing to do but save souls, spend and be spent in this work.
John Wesley
When his brother Charles strongly disagreed with him and threaten to leave if he didn't get his way John was reported to have said "Someone get my brothers hat".
Hi brother,
There was similar thread, three months ago, maybe you can check some quotes from there and put it in order here.
"When we have received any favour from God, we ought to retire, if not into our closets, into our hearts, and say, 'I come, Lord, to restore to thee what thou hast given; and I freely relinquish it, to enter again into my own nothingness. For what is the most perfect creature in heaven or earth in thy presence, but a void capable of being filled with thee and by thee; as the air, which is void and dark, is capable of being filled with the light of the sun, who withdraws it every day to restore it the next, there being nothing in the air that either appropriates this light or resists it? O give me the same facility of receiving and restoring thy grace and good works! I say, thine; for I acknowledge the root from which they spring is in thee, and not in me."
-John Wesley
"Fire is the symbol of love; and the love of God is the principle and the end of all our good works. But truth surpasses figure; and the fire of divine love has this advantage over material fire, that it can re- ascend to its source, and raise thither with it all the good works which it produces. And by this means it prevents their being corrupted by pride, vanity, or any evil mixture. But this cannot be done otherwise than by making these good works in a spiritual manner die in God, by a deep gratitude, which plunges the soul in him as in an abyss, with all that it is, and all the grace and works for which it is indebted to him; a gratitude, whereby the soul seems to empty itself of them, that they may return to their source, as rivers seem willing to empty themselves, when they pour themselves with all their waters into the sea.”
-John Wesley
"Fire is the symbol of love; and the love of God is the principle and the end of all our good works. But truth surpasses figure; and the fire of divine love has this advantage over material fire, that it can re- ascend to its source, and raise thither with it all the good works which it produces. And by this means it prevents their being corrupted by pride, vanity, or any evil mixture. But this cannot be done otherwise than by making these good works in a spiritual manner die in God, by a deep gratitude, which plunges the soul in him as in an abyss, with all that it is, and all the grace and works for which it is indebted to him; a gratitude, whereby the soul seems to empty itself of them, that they may return to their source, as rivers seem willing to empty themselves, when they pour themselves with all their waters into the sea.”
-John Wesley
"God frequently conceals the part which his children have in the conversion of other souls. Yet one may boldly say, that person who long groans before him for the conversion of another, whenever that soul is converted to God, is one of the chief causes of it.”
-John Wesley
"God is so great, that he communicates greatness to the least thing that is done for his service."
-John Wesley
"Love fasts when it can, and as much as it can. It leads to all the ordinances of God, and employs itself in all the outward works whereof it is capable. It flies, as it were, like Elijah over the plain, to find God upon his holy mountain.”
-John Wesley
"A constant attention to the work which God entrusts us with is a mark of solid piety.”
-John Wesley
"God does not love men that are inconstant, nor good works that are intermitted. Nothing is pleasing to him, but what has a resemblance of his own immutability.”
-John Wesley
"One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And, since he is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve him in our neighbour; which he receives as if done to himself in person, standing visibly before us.”
-John Wesley
"To continual watchfulness and prayer ought to be added continual employment. For grace flies a vacuum as well as nature; and the devil fills whatever God does not fill.”
-John Wesley
"It is good to renew ourselves, from time to time, by closely examining the state of our souls, as if we had never done it before; for nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith, than to keep ourselves by this means in humility, and the exercise of all good works."
-John Wesley
"As the most dangerous winds may enter at little openings, so the devil never enters more dangerously than by little unobserved incidents, which seem to be nothing, yet insensibly open the heart to great temptations.”
-John Wesley
"To lay up treasure on earth is as plainly forbidden by our Master as adultery and murder"
-John Wesley
Evil communications corrupt good manners...Evil communications - Discourse contrary to faith, hope, or love, naturally tends to destroy all holiness.
You guys better watch what u post about John Wesley......people are starting to see him as a demon.....
The apostasy has run soo deep today....that someone called Spurgeon "a tool". John Wesley as "dumb".
People tell me that "his doctrine was wrong", i then follow by asking "show me fault in his life"? He was the Paul of the early 19th Century.
Do you know why though? Its because the "prosperous christians" are coming through, and they dont like how Welsey spoke against the rich, how wesley hated money....u see he shows them up.
Like Leonard Ravenhill shares about when Jimmy Swaggart critisizes Finney, for only saving "thousands".
There is an attack on those who are righteous, bold and believe that the Lord can perfect us.....
Well sorry for breaking the quotes.....just something that was on my heart..
"Why are we not more holy? Asked John Wesley, addressing his preachers. "Chiefly because we are enthusiasts, looking for the end without the means."
-John Wesley
Forevidence wrote:
"Fire is the symbol of love; and the love of God is the principle and the end of all our good works. But truth surpasses figure; and the fire of divine love has this advantage over material fire, that it can re- ascend to its source, and raise thither with it all the good works which it produces. And by this means it prevents their being corrupted by pride, vanity, or any evil mixture. But this cannot be done otherwise than by making these good works in a spiritual manner die in God, by a deep gratitude, which plunges the soul in him as in an abyss, with all that it is, and all the grace and works for which it is indebted to him; a gratitude, whereby the soul seems to empty itself of them, that they may return to their source, as rivers seem willing to empty themselves, when they pour themselves with all their waters into the sea.”-John Wesley
"When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart."
-John Wesley
"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can."
-John Wesley
"When you set yourself on fire, people love to come and see you burn."
-John Wesley
"Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. Therefore I do not see how it is possible in the nature of things for any revival of religion to continue long. For religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger, and love of the world in all its branches."
-John Wesley
"I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity."
-John Wesley
"Anything that cools my love for Christ is the world.”
-John Wesley
" If, after having renounced all, we do not watch incessantly, and beseech God to accompany our vigilance with his, we shall be again entangled and overcome.”
-John Wesley
"If we were not utterly impotent, our good works would be our own property; whereas now they belong wholly to God, because they proceed from him and his grace: While raising our works, and making them all divine, he honours himself in us through them.”
-John Wesley
" The words of St. Paul, 'No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,' show us the necessity of eyeing God in our good works, and even in our minutest thoughts; knowing that none are pleasing to him, but those which he forms in us and with us. From hence we learn that we cannot serve him, unless he use our tongue, hands, and heart, to do by himself and his Spirit whatever he would have us to do.”
-John Wesley
"There is no faithfulness like that which ought to be between a guide of souls and the person directed by him. They ought continually to regard each other in God, and closely to examine themselves, whether all their thoughts are pure, and all their words directed with Christian discretion. Other affairs are only the things of men; but these are peculiarly the things of God.”
-John Wesley
"We scarce conceive how easy it is to rob God of his due, in our friendship with the most virtuous persons, until they are torn from us by death. But if this loss produce lasting sorrow, that is a clear proof that we had before two treasures, between which we divided our heart.”
-John Wesley
"The best means of resisting the devil is, to destroy whatever of the world remains in us, in order to raise for God, upon its ruins, a building all of love. Then shall we begin, in this fleeting life, to love God as we shall love him in eternity.”
-John Wesley
"We should be continually labouring to cut off all the useless things that surround us; and God usually retrenches the superfluities of our souls in the same proportion as we do those of our bodies.”
-John Wesley
"We ought to he in the church as the saints are in heaven, and in the house as the holiest men are in the church; doing our work in the house as we pray in the church; worshipping God from the ground of the heart.”
-John Wesley
"It is hardly credible of how great consequence before God the smallest things are; and what great inconveniences some times follow those which appear to be light faults. As a very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of sin which is upon the heart will hinder its right motion towards God.”
-John Wesley
"It is scarce conceivable how strait the way is wherein God leads them that follow him; and how dependent on him we must be, unless we are wanting in our faithfulness to him."
-John Wesley
"God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.”
-John Wesley
"As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God.”
-John Wesley
"In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.”
-John Wesley
"Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things.”
-John Wesley
"All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.”
-John Wesley
"Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him."
-John Wesley
GianCarlo,
Thanks for posting these. The following has to be one of my favorites so far.
"As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God." - John Wesley
I'll add some quotes of my own later. Thanks again, bro.
Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:"
Thanks for posting these. The following has to be one of my favorites so far."As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God." - John Wesley
That one is one of my favorites too!
"From the year 1725 to 1729 I preached much, but I saw no fruit of my labour. Indeed, it could not be that I should; for I neither laid the foundation for repentance, nor of believing the gospel; taking it for granted, that all to whom I preached were believers and that many of them "needed no repentance"."
-John Wesley
"From the year 1729 to 1734, laying a deeper foundation of repentance, I saw a little fruit. But it was only a little; and no wonder: for I did not preach faith in the blood of the Covenant."
-John Wesley
"From 1734 to 1738, speaking more of faith in Christ, I saw more fruit of my preaching and visiting from house to house, than ever I had before; though I knew not if any of those who were outwardly reformed were inwardly and thoroughly converted to God."
-John Wesley
"From 1738 to this time, speaking continually of Jesus Christ, laying Him only for the foundation of the whole building, making Him all in all, the first and the last; preaching only on this plan, "The kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye and believe the gospel;" the "word of God ran" as fire among the stubble; it "was glorified" more and more; multitudes were crying out, "What must we do to be saved?" and afterwards witnessing, "By grace we are saved through faith."
-John Wesley
“God's command to "pray without ceasing' is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.”
-John Wesley
"In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ, and the barely pronouncing his name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit.”
-John Wesley
"On every occasion of uneasiness, we should retire to prayer, that we may give place to the grace and light of God and then form our resolutions, without being in any pain about what success they may have.”
-John Wesley
"God does nothing but in answer to prayer; and even they who have been converted to God without praying for it themselves, (which is exceeding rare,) were not without the prayers of others. Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.”
-John Wesley
" God hardly gives his Spirit even to those whom he has established in grace, if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times.”
-John Wesley
"We should chiefly exercise our love towards them who most shock either our way of thinking, or our temper, or our knowledge, or the desire we have, that others should be as virtuous as we wish to be ourselves.”
-John Wesley
"God is the first object of our love: Its next office is, to bear the defects of others. And we should begin the practice of this amidst our own household.”
-John Wesley
" The bearing men, and suffering evils in meekness and silence, is the sum of a Christian life.”
-John Wesley
"Of the sins which God has pardoned, let nothing remain but a deeper humility in the heart, and a stricter regulation in our words, in our actions, and in our sufferings.”
-John Wesley
"A soul returned to God ought to be attentive to everything which is said to him, on the head of salvation, with a desire to profit thereby.”
-John Wesley
"True humility is a kind of self-annihilation; and this is the centre of all virtues.”
-John Wesley
"Humility alone unites patience with love; without which it is impossible to draw profit from suffering; or indeed, to avoid complaint, especially when we think we have given no occasion for what men make us suffer.”
-John Wesley
"Humility and patience are the surest proofs of the increase of love.”
-John Wesley
" There is no love of God without patience, and no patience without lowliness and sweetness of spirit.”
-John Wesley
"To abandon all, to strip one's self of all, in order to seek and to follow Jesus Christ naked to Bethlehem, where he was born; naked to the hall where he was scourged; and naked to Calvary, where he died on the cross, is so great a mercy, that neither the thing, nor the knowledge of it is given to any, but through faith in the Son of God.”
-John Wesley
"We are to bear with those we cannot amend, and to be content with offering them to God. This is true resignation. And since He has borne our infirmities, we may well bear those of each other for His sake.”
-John Wesley
"We ought quietly to suffer whatever befals us, to bear the defects of others and our own, to confess them to God in secret prayer, or with groans which cannot be uttered; but never to speak a sharp or peevish word, nor to murmur or repine; but thoroughly willing that God should treat you in the manner that pleases him. We are his lambs, and therefore ought to be ready to suffer, even to the death, without complaining.”
-John Wesley
"In the greatest afflictions which can befal the just, either from heaven or earth, they remain immovable in peace, and perfectly submissive to God, by an inward, loving regard to Him, uniting in one all the powers of their souls.”
-John Wesley
" True resignation consists in a thorough conformity to the whole will of God; who wills and does all (excepting sin) which comes to pass in the world. In order to this we have only to embrace all events, good and bad, as His will.”
-John Wesley
"The readiest way which God takes to draw a man to himself is, to afflict him in that he loves most, and with good reason; and to cause this affliction to arise from some good action done with a single eye; because nothing can more clearly show him the emptiness of what is most lovely and desirable in the world.”
-John Wesley
"Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from his hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loves us, and whom we love.”
-John Wesley
"One of the greatest evidences of God's love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them.”
-John Wesley
"If we suffer persecution and affliction in a right manner, we attain a larger measure of conformity to Christ, by a due improvement of one of these occasions, than we could have done merely by imitating his mercy, in abundance of good works.”
-John Wesley
"The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases.”
-John Wesley
"A man that is not a thorough friend to Christian perfection will easily puzzle others, and thereby weaken, if not destroy, any select society."
--John Wesley's last recorded utterance on Christian perfection, made in the year of his death, 1791.
"The best helps to growth in grace are the ill usage, the affronts, and the losses which befal us. We should receive them with all thankfulness, as preferable to all others, were it only on this account, -- that our will has no part therein.”
-John Wesley
"The bottom of the soul may be in repose, even while we are in many outward troubles; just as the bottom of the sea is calm, while the surface is strongly agitated.”
-John Wesley
"The truly devout show that passions as naturally flow from true as from false love; so deeply sensible are they of the goods and evils of those whom they love for God's sake. But this can only be comprehended by those who understand the language of love.”
-John Wesley
"The sympathies formed by grace far surpass those formed by nature.”
-John Wesley
"A Second fruit then of the love of God (so far as it can be distinguished from it) is universal obedience to him we love, and conformity to his will; obedience to all the commands of God, internal and external; obedience of the heart and of the life; in every temper, and in all manner of conversation. And one of the tempers most obviously implied herein, is, the being "zealous of good works;" the hungering and thirsting to do good, in every possible kind, unto all men; the rejoicing to "spend and be spent for them," for every child of man; not looking for any recompence in this world, but only in the resurrection of the just."
-John Wesley
THE MARKS OF THE NEW BIRTH: SERMON 18
this is a gem of a thread!
hmmhmm wrote:
this is a gem of a thread!
Yes, it is, brother!
Let all our chapels be built plain and decent; but not more expensively than is absolutely unavoidable: otherwise the necessity of raising money will make [b]rich men
But if so, we must be [b]dependent upon them[b]governed by them
-John Wesley, instructions to Methodists in the U.S. [1784]
I was more convinced than ever that the preaching like an Apostle, without joining together those that are awakened and training them up in the ways of God, is only begetting children for the murderer. How much preaching has there been for these twenty years all over Pembrokeshire! But no regular societies, no discipline, no order or connection; and the consequence is, that nine in ten of the once-awakened are now faster asleep than ever.
-John Wesley's (1703-1791) Journal
See! See! He cometh! He maketh the clouds his chariots! He rideth upon the wings of the wind! A devouring fire goeth before him, and after him a flame burneth! See! He sitteth upon his throne, clothed with light as with a garment, arrayed with majesty and honor! Behold, his eyes are as a flame of fire, his voice as the sound of many waters!
How will ye escape? Will ye call to the mountains to fall, on you, the rocks to cover you? Alas, the mountains themselves, the rocks, the earth, the heavens, are just ready to flee away! Can ye prevent the sentence? Wherewith? With all the substance of thy house, with thousands of gold and, silver? Blind wretch! Thou camest naked from thy mother's womb, and more naked into eternity. Hear the Lord, the Judge! "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Joyful sound! How widely different from that voice which echoes, through the expanse of heaven, "Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels!" And who is he that can prevent or retard the full execution of either sentence? Vain hope! Lo, hell is moved from beneath to receive those who are ripe for destruction. And the everlasting doors lift up their heads, that the heirs of glory may come in!
Holy solitaries' is a phrase no more consistent with the Gospel than holy adulterers. The Gospel of Christ knows no religion but social; no holiness, but social holiness.
Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing!
Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.
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Balanced in another quote:
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It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people.
Thanksgiving is inseparable from true prayer; it is almost essentially connected with it. One who always prays is ever giving praise, whether in ease or pain, both for prosperity and for the greatest adversity. He blesses God for all things, looks on them as coming from Him, and receives them for His sake- not choosing nor refusing, liking or disliking,anything, but only as it is agreeable or disagreeable to His perfect will.
John Wesley on Revelation 17
"And on her forehead a name written – Whereas the saints have the name of God and the Lamb on their foreheads. Mystery – This very word was inscribed on the front of the Pope’s mitre, till some of the Reformers took public notice of it. Babylon the great –
Benedict XIII., in his proclamation of the jubilee, A.D. 1725, explains this sufficiently. His words are, “To this holy city, famous for the memory of so many holy martyrs, run with religious alacrity. Hasten to the place which the Lord hath chose. Ascend to this new Jerusalem, whence the law of the Lord and the light of evangelical truth hath flowed forth into all nations, from the very first beginning of the church: the city most rightfully called ‘The Palace,’ placed for the pride of all ages, the city of the Lord, the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. This catholic and apostolical Roman church is the head of the world, the mother of all believers, the faithful interpreter of God and mistress of all churches.”
But God somewhat varies the style. The mother of harlots – The parent, ringleader, patroness, and nourisher of many daughters, that losely copy after her. And abominations – Of every kind, spiritual and fleshly. Of the earth – In all lands. In this respect she is indeed catholic or universal."
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