Page:The works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., late fellow of Lincoln-College, Oxford (IA worksofrevjohnwe3wesl).pdf/296



THE NEW BIRTH.

iii. 7.

Ye must be born again.

1. If any doctrine within the whole compass of Christianity may be properly termed fundamental, they are doubtless these two, the doctrine of justification, and that of the new birth: the former relating to that great work, which God does for us, in forgiving our sins; the latter, to the great work, which God does in us, in renewing our fallen nature. In order of time, neither of these is before the other: in the moment we are justified by the grace of God, thro' the redemption that is in Jesus, we are also born of the Spirit: but in order of thinking, as it is termed, justification precedes the new birth. We first conceive his wrath to be turned away, and then his Spirit to work in our hearts.

2. How great importance then must it be of to every child of man, throughly to understand these fundamental doctrines? From a full conviction of this, many excellent men have wrote very large