Dadball
Member
Preached on Sunday April 4, 1742, before the University of Oxford, by the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A. Student of Christ-Church
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Eph. 5:14.
IN discoursing on these words, I shall, with the help of God,
First. Describe the sleepers, to whom they are spoken:
Secondly. Enforce the exhortation, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: And,
Thirdly. Explain the promise made to such as do awake and arise: Christ shall give thee light.
I. 1. And first, as to the sleepers here spoken to. By sleep is signified the natural state of man; that deep sleep of the soul, into which the sin of Adam hath cast all who spring from his loins: That supineness, indolence, and stupidity, that insensibility of his real condition, wherein every man comes Into the world, and continues till the voice of God awakes him.
2. Now, they that sleep, sleep in the night. The state of nature is a state of utter darkness; a state wherein darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. The poor unawakened sinner, how much knowledge soever he may have as to other things, has no knowledge of himself: in this respect he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. He knows not that he is a fallen spirit, whose only business in the present world, is to recover from his fall, to regain that image of God wherein he was created. he sees no necessity for the one thing needful, even that inward universal change, that birth from above, figured out by baptism, which is the beginning of that total renovation. that sanctification of spirit, soul, and body, without which no man shall see the Lord.
to read more http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.v.iii.html
Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
Eph. 5:14.
IN discoursing on these words, I shall, with the help of God,
First. Describe the sleepers, to whom they are spoken:
Secondly. Enforce the exhortation, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead: And,
Thirdly. Explain the promise made to such as do awake and arise: Christ shall give thee light.
I. 1. And first, as to the sleepers here spoken to. By sleep is signified the natural state of man; that deep sleep of the soul, into which the sin of Adam hath cast all who spring from his loins: That supineness, indolence, and stupidity, that insensibility of his real condition, wherein every man comes Into the world, and continues till the voice of God awakes him.
2. Now, they that sleep, sleep in the night. The state of nature is a state of utter darkness; a state wherein darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. The poor unawakened sinner, how much knowledge soever he may have as to other things, has no knowledge of himself: in this respect he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. He knows not that he is a fallen spirit, whose only business in the present world, is to recover from his fall, to regain that image of God wherein he was created. he sees no necessity for the one thing needful, even that inward universal change, that birth from above, figured out by baptism, which is the beginning of that total renovation. that sanctification of spirit, soul, and body, without which no man shall see the Lord.
to read more http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/sermons.v.iii.html