Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/196

 the general course of his life, was one of the holiest men among the Jews. And, secondly, that the holiest men among the ''Jews did sometimes commit sin''. But if you would hence infer, that all Christians do, and must commit sin, as long as they live: this consequence we utterly deny. It will never follow from those premisses.

8. Those who argue thus, seem never to have considered that declaration of our Lord (Matth. xi. 11.) ''Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist. Notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.'' I fear indeed there are some who have imagined the kingdom of heaven here, to mean the kingdom of glory: As if the Son of God had just discovered to us, that the least glorified saint in heaven is greater than any man upon earth! To mention this is sufficiently to refute it. There can therefore no doubt be made but ''the kingdom of heaven here, (as in the following verse, where it is said to be taken by force) or, the kingdom of God, as St. Luke'' expresses it, is that kingdom of God on earth, whereunto all true believers in Christ, all real Christians belong. In these words then our Lord declares two things. First, That before his coming in the flesh, among all the children of men, there had not been one greater than John the Baptist: whence it evidently follows, that neither Abraham, David, nor any Jew was greater than John. Our Lord,