erpreted by
our own church. Therefore it cannot be either false or erroneous, provided
the Scripture be true." "Others allege, 'Their doctrine is too strict;
they make the way to heaven too narrow.' And this is in truth the original
objection, (as it was almost the only one for some time,) and is secretly
at the bottom of a thousand more, which appear in various forms. But do
they make the way to heaven any narrower than our Lord and His apostles
made it? Is their doctrine stricter than that of the Bible? Consider only
a few plain texts: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength.'
'For every idle word which men shall speak, they shall give an account in
the day of judgment.' 'Whether ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all
to the glory of God.'

"If their doctrine is stricter than this, they are to blame; but you know
in your conscience it is not. And who can be one jot less strict without
corrupting the word of God? Can any steward of the mysteries of God be
found faithful if he change any part of that sacred depositum? No. He can
abate nothing, he can soften nothing; he is constrained to declare to all
men, 'I may not bring down the Scripture to your taste. You must come up
to it, or perish forever.' This is the real ground of that other popular
cry concerning 'the uncharitableness of these men.' Uncharitable, are
they? In what respect? Do they not feed the hungry and clothe the naked?
'No; that is not the thing: they are not wanting in this: but they are so
uncharitable in judging! they think none can be saved but those of their
own way.' "(376)

The spiritual declension which had been manifest in England just before
the time of Wesley, was in great degree the result of Antinomian teaching.
Many affirmed that Christ had abolished the moral law, and that Christians
are therefore under no obligation to observe it; that a believer is freed
from the "bondage of good works." Others, though admitting the perpetuity
of the law, declared that it was unnecessary for ministers to exhort the
people to obedience of its precepts, since those whom God had elected to
salvation would, "by the irresistible impulse of divine grace, be led to
the practice of piety and virtue," while those who were doomed to eternal
reprobation "did not have power to obey the divine law."

Others, also holding that "the elect cannot fall from grace nor forfeit
the