The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 204

The European Union in Prophecy
in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. It
was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never
can be broken, which 'stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.' . . . This was from
the beginning of the world, being 'written not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of
all the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And however
the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great measure defaced by sin,
yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we have any consciousness of good and
evil. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as
not depending either on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change,
but on the nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to
each other.
"'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.' . . . Without question, His meaning in
this place is (consistently with all that goes before and follows after),--I am come to
establish it in its fullness, in spite of all the glosses of men: I am come to place in a
full and clear view whatsoever was dark or obscure therein: I am come to declare the
true and full import of every part of it; to show the length and breadth, the entire
extent, of every commandment contained therein, and the height and depth, the
inconceivable purity and spirituality of it in all its branches."--Wesley, sermon 25.
Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and the gospel. "There is,
therefore, the closest connection that can be conceived, between the law and the gospel.
On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and points us to, the gospel; on
the other, the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law,
for instance, requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble, or holy.
We feel that we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that 'with man this is
impossible;' but we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make us humble,
meek, and holy: we lay hold of this gospel, of these glad tidings; it is done unto us
according to our faith; and 'the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us,' through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. . . .
"In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ," said Wesley, "are
they who openly and explicitly 'judge the law' itself, and 'speak evil of the law;' who
teach men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie the obligation of) not one only,
whether of the least or of the greatest, but all the commandments at a stroke. . . . The
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