Bishop Taylor's Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying. In
1. In the following pages I intend to give a plain and clear account of the steps that led me, over the course of many years, to embrace the doctrine of Christian perfection. I owe this to those brothers and sisters who desire to know all "the truth as it is in Jesus."! Those deeply committed Christians are the ones concerned about questions of this kind. I Bishop Taylor: Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) was an Anglican bishop known particularly for his devotional writings that were expressions of Anglican spirituality.
He encouraged a disciplined life that emphasized balance between piety and mercy. The work cited here is will clearly declare the doctrine as it is, striving to show both what I thought from one period to another and why I thought so.
2. In the year 1725, when I was twenty-three years old, I read Bishop Taylor's Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying. In reading several parts of this book, I was deeply moved. I was particularly affected by the section dealing with purity of intention. I instantly resolved to dedicate all my thoughts, and words, and actions—all my life—to God. I was thoroughly convinced that there was no middle ground. Every part of my life, not only some of it, must be a sacrifice his most well known.
Thomas a Kempis: a fifteenthcentury German priest known for his writings on Christian piety. One of his best known and influential works is The Imitation of Christ.
He was important in Wesley's Christian formation and to his developing understanding of Chriseither to God or to myself, which is the same as to the devil.
Can any serious person doubt this or find a middle ground between serving God and serving the devil? tian perfection.
3. In the year 1726 I read Thomas a Kempis's The Imitation of Christ. The nature and extent of inward religion, the religion of the heart, now appeared to me in a stronger light than it ever had before. I saw that giving all my life to God (supposing it is possible to do this without going further) would gain me nothing unless I gave my heart, indeed all my heart, to God. tempers: attitudes, temperament, and disposition. Wesley is concerned with the formation of holy tempers in the lives of Christians. They are synonymous with the fruit of the Spirit named by Paul in Galatians 5:22-23. These holy tempers are the building blocks of Christian I saw that "simplicity of intention, and purity of affection"—one intent in all we speak or do and one desire ruling all our tempers—are indeed "the wings of the soul," without which she can never ascend to character. the mount of God.
William Law: an ecighteenthcentury English theologian and teacher best known for his books 4. A year or two after that, Mr. Law's Christian Perfection and Serious Call were put into my hands. These convinced me more than ever of the absolute impossibility of being half a Christian. I resolved through God's grace (the absolute necessity of which I was deeply aware) to be completely devoted to God, to give God all my soul, my body, and my possessions.
Christian Perfection and Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. He was important in Wesley's Christian formation and to his developing y@ understanding of Christian perfection.
Will any considerate person say that this is carrying matters too far? Is anything less due to God, who has given Self for us, than to give God ourselves, all we have and all we are?