Sacred Poems. In many of these we declared our sentiments strongly
My joy, my treasure, and my crown!
Strange fires far from my heart remove; My every act, word, thought, be love!
I never heard that anyone objected to this. Indeed, who can object? Isn't this the language not only of every believer but of every one that is truly awakened? What have I written, to this day, that is either stronger or clearer?
8. In the following August, I had a long conversation with Arvid Gradin in Germany. After he had given me an account of his expeArvid Gradin: a member of the Moravian community at Herrnhut. Wesley regarded him as rience, I asked him to give me, in writing, a definition of "the full assurance of faith."'* The following is what he wrote:
an example of one who had _ been cleansed from all sin.
Rest in the blood of Christ; a firm confidence in God and persuasion of God's favor; the highest tranquility, serenity, and peace of mind, with a deliverance from every fleshly desire, and a cessation of all, even inward, sins.
This was the first account I ever heard from any living man of what I had previously learned from the Bible and had been praying for (with the small group of my friends) and expecting for several years.
9. In 1739 my brother and I published a volume of Hymns and Sacred Poems. In many of these we declared our sentiments strongly and explicitly.
Turn the full stream of nature's tide; Let all our actions tend To thee, their source; thy love the guide,
Thy glory be the end.
Earth then a scale to heaven shall be; Sense shall point out the road; The creatures all shall lead to thee, And all we taste be God.
Again— Lord, arm me with thy Spirit's might, Since I am call'd by thy great name:
In thee my wand'ring thoughts unite, Of all my works be thou the aim:
Thy love attend me all my days, And my sole business be thy praise.
Again— Eager for thee I ask and pant, So strong the principle divine, Carries me out with sweet constraint, Till all my hallow'd soul be thine; Plunged in the Godhead's deepest sea, And lost in thine immensity!