Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/26

 commissioned to teach men the way to heaven, do in fact teach them the way to hell? These are like the locusts of ''Egypt, which eat up the residue that had escaped, that had remained after the hail''. They devour even the residue of men that had escaped, that were not destroyed by ill example. It is not therefore without cause that our wise and gracious Master, so solemnly cautions us against them: Beware, saith he, ''of false prophets, which come to you in sheeps cloathing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves''.

4. A caution this of the utmost importance. That it may the more effectually sink into our hearts, let us inquire, first, who these false prophets are, secondly, what appearance they put on, and thirdly, how we may know what they really are, notwithstanding their fair appearance.

I. 1. We are, first, to inquire, who these false prophets are. And this it is needful to do the more diligently, because these very men have so laboured to wrest this scripture, to their own (tho' not only their own) destruction. In order therefore to cut off all dispute, I shall raise no dust (as the manner of some is) neither use any loose, rhetorical exclamations, to deceive the hearts of the simple, but speak rough, plain truths, such as none can deny, who has either understanding or modesty left: and such truths, as have the closest connexion, with the whole