Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/195

 ''devil. Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.'' And those in the fifth, verse 18. ''We know that whosoever it born of God sinneth not. But he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.''

6. Indeed it is said, this means only, he sinneth not wilfully; or he doth not commit sin habitually; or, not as other men do; or, not as he did before. But by whom is this said? By St. John? No. There is no such word in the text: nor in the whole chapter; nor in all this epistle; nor in any part of his writings whatsoever. Why then, the best way to answer a bold assertion is, simply to deny it. And if any man can prove it from the word of God, let him bring forth his strong reasons.

7. And a sort of reason there is, which has been frequently brought to support these strange assertions, drawn from the examples recorded in the word of God, "What say they, did not Abraham himself commit sin, prevaricating and denying his wife? Did not Moses commit sin, when he provoked God, at the waters of strife? Nay, to produce one for all, did not even David, the man after God's own heart, commit sin, in the matter of Uriah the Hittite, even murder and adultery?" It is most sure he did. All this is true. But what is it you would infer from hence? It may be granted, first, that David, in