Wesley Corpus

suffers pain, yet in the midst of it he can re joice in the Lord, and possess his soul in such patience and resignation, such a confidence in the love of his heavenly Father, under the most severe dispensations, as shall impart a peace, even at that season, which the world cannot give. Let us dwell on this point more particularly. The first of all Christian graces, and the foun dation of all, is humility ; a deep sense of our spiritual poverty, an experimental knowledge that we are nothing but sin, and deserve no thing but shame ; and a clear sense that we have nothing, and can do nothing no, not so much as think a good thought, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And is such a virtue as this the seed ofjoy ? Yes, as surely as it is the seed of all other virtues, as surely as it is contrary to the pride of fallen nature, which is the source of all tor ment. No sooner does humility enter a soul, which before was all storm and tempest, than it says to the sea of passion, " Peace, be still ;" and there is a great calm. In every branch of humility there is a sweet ness not to be uttered : in the entrance into