_ stood and, consequently, misrepresented, I set out to explain it more
13. We published a second volume of hymns in the spring of 1741. Because the doctrine of Christian perfection was still misunder_ stood and, consequently, misrepresented, I set out to explain it more clearly. This was done in the hymnal's preface as follows:
This great gift of God, the salvation of our souls, is nothing more or less than the image of God stamped afresh upon our hearts. It is a renewal of believers. The spirit of their mind is conformed to the mind of Christ. God has laid "the axe at the root of the tree, . .
. purifying their hearts by "All the thoughts . . .": This is a reference to the "Collect for Purity" from the weekly eucharist liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer: faith."' All the thoughts of their hearts have been cleansed by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit.
Their hope is that they will see God as God is. It is in this hope that they purify themselves as God is pure. They strive to be holy, as God is holy. They live this out in the way they conduct themselves in the world. It is through the living out of this life, to which God has called them, that they grow and mature in faith and love. In this way they will someday become the people God created them to be. They live day to day, going "on from strength to strength,"? "seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, . .
. being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" by "the Lord, the Spirit."° "Almighty God, unto whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid:
Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee, and worthily magnify thy holy = Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen."
"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom"* "from the law of sin and death."* Even though one such as I may tell them the good news, this freedom is too much to be believed by people who are blinded by the world. For Jesus has set those who are "born of God" free® from pride, that great root of sin and bitterness. They feel that all their "competence is from God."' God alone is in all their thoughts and Ever fainting with desire, "is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work
For thee, O Christ, I call!
Thee I restlessly require, for his good pleasure."* They feel that when they speak, the Spirit of their Father speaks in them; and the work of their hands is guided by the hands of the Father who is in them.'
God is everything to them. They are nothing in God's sight.
They are freed from self-will. This means they desire nothing but the holy and perfect will of God. They do not seek comI want my God, my All.
Jesus, dear redeeming Lord, I want thy coming from above:
Help me, Saviour, speak the word, ~ And perfect me in love. fort in poverty, ease in pain," life, death, or any creature.
Rather, they are continually crying in their inmost soul, Collection, #344, stanza 1 "Father ..., your will be done.""