that is beheld (II Cor. iii., 18), "But we all with open face,
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
This knowledge will wean from the world, and raise the inclination
to heavenly things. It will turn the heart to God as the fountain of
good, and to choose him for the only portion. This light, and this
only, will bring the soul to a saving close with Christ. It conforms
the heart to the gospel, mortifies its enmity and opposition against
the schemes of salvation therein revealed: it causes the heart to
embrace the joyful tidings, and entirely to adhere to, and acquiesce
in the revelation of Christ as our Savior: it causes the whole soul
to accord and symphonize with it, admitting it with entire credit and
respect; cleaving to it with full inclination and affection; and it
effectually disposes the soul to give up itself entirely to Christ.

This light, and this only, has its fruit in a universal holiness of
life. No merely notional or speculative understanding of the doctrines
of religion will ever bring us to this. But this light, as it
reaches the bottom of the heart, and changes the nature, so it
will effectually dispose to a universal obedience. It shows God's
worthiness to be obeyed and served. It draws forth the heart in a
sincere love to God, which is the only principle of a true, gracious,
and universal obedience; and it convinces of the reality of those
glorious rewards that God has promised to them that obey him.




WESLEY