as from the beginning of the
world, being 'written not on tables of stone,' but on the hearts of all
the children of men, when they came out of the hands of the Creator. And
however the letters once wrote by the finger of God are now in a great
measure defaced by sin, yet can they not wholly be blotted out, while we
have any consciousness of good and evil. Every part of this law must
remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages; as not depending either
on time or place, or any other circumstances liable to change, but on the
nature of God, and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to
each other.

" 'I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.'... Without question, His
meaning in this place is (consistently with all that goes before and
follows after),--I am come to establish it in its fulness, in spite of all
the glosses of men: I am come to place in a full and clear view whatsoever
was dark or obscure therein: I am come to declare the true and full import
of every part of it; to show the length and breadth, the entire extent, of
every commandment contained therein, and the height and depth, the
inconceivable purity and spirituality of it in all its branches."(380)

Wesley declared the perfect harmony of the law and the gospel. "There is,
therefore, the closest connection that can be conceived, between the law
and the gospel. On the one hand, the law continually makes way for, and
points us to, the gospel; on the other, the gospel continually leads us to
a more exact fulfilling of the law. The law, for instance, requires us to
love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that
we are not sufficient for these things; yea, that 'with man this is
impossible:' but we see a promise of God to give us that love, and to make
us humble, meek, and holy: we lay hold of this gospel, of these glad
tidings; it is done unto us according to our faith; and 'the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in us,' through faith which is in Christ Jesus....

"In the highest rank of the enemies of the gospel of Christ," said Wesley,
"are they who openly and explicitly 'judge the law' itself, and 'speak
evil of the law;' who teach men to break (to dissolve, to loose, to untie
the obligation of) not one only, whether of the least or of the greatest,
but all the commandments at a stroke.... The most surprising of all the
circumstances that attend this strong delusion, is that they who are given
up to it, really