The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Page 205

The European Union in Prophecy
most surprising of all the circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that they
who are given up to it, really believe that they honour Christ by overthrowing His law,
and that they are magnifying His office while they are destroying His doctrine! Yea,
they honour Him just as Judas did when he said, 'Hail, Master, and kissed Him.' And
He may as justly say to every one of them, 'Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
It is no other than betraying Him with a kiss, to talk of His blood, and take away His
crown; to set light by any part of His law, under pretense of advancing His gospel. Nor
indeed can anyone escape this charge, who preaches faith in any such a manner as
either directly or indirectly tends to set aside any branch of obedience: who preaches
Christ so as to disannul, or weaken in any wise, the least of the commandments of
God."-- Ibid .
To those who urged that "the preaching of the gospel answers all the ends of the
law," Wesley replied: "This we utterly deny. It does not answer the very first end of
the law, namely, the convincing men of sin, the awakening those who are still asleep
on the brink of hell." The apostle Paul declares that "by the law is the knowledge of
sin;" "and not until man is convicted of sin, will he truly feel his need of the atoning
blood of Christ. . . . 'They that be whole,' as our Lord Himself observes, 'need not a
physician, but they that are sick.' It is absurd, therefore, to offer a physician to them
that are whole, or that at least imagine themselves so to be. You are first to convince
them that they are sick; otherwise they will not thank you for your labor. It is equally
absurd to offer Christ to them whose heart is whole, having never yet been broken."-
- Ibid., sermon 35.
Thus while preaching the gospel of the grace of God, Wesley, like his Master,
sought to "magnify the law, and make it honourable." Faithfully did he accomplish
the work given him of God, and glorious were the results which he was permitted to
behold. At the close of his long life of more than fourscore years--above half a century
spent in itinerant ministry--his avowed adherents numbered more than half a million
souls
.
But the multitude that through his labors had been lifted from the ruin and
degradation of sin to a higher and a purer life, and the number who by his teaching
had attained to a deeper and richer experience, will never be known till the whole
family of the redeemed shall be gathered into the kingdom of God. His life presents a
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