Wesley Corpus

which we can never regard too highly, humi lity, faith, hope, and love ; yet this is almost the same thing, since these are the common root of each particular virtue, none of which has any value, nor in truth any existence, un less it spring from them. It will therefore be sufficient to show, in few words, that each is the seed of joy ; that every one of these graces, although when first sown it may be as small as a grain of mustard seed, yet as it groweth up, shooteth out great branches full of delight and blessedness. This joy, I therefore call eternal, because the Holy Scriptures assure us that it is the same in kind, though not in degree, with that we shall enjoy in eternity ; for it should be well observed, and ever remembered, that heaven is begun upon earth ; and accordingly our blessed Saviour often means by the king dom of heaven that temper of mind which a Christian now enjoys. He begins to enjoy it when he begins to be a Christian, when Christ begins to reign in his soul, is the object of his love, and the principle of his actions ; and the more absolute this principle and love are, the