Upon Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount Discourse IV · §50 · John Wesley

We have tried

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We have tried. We have labored to reform sinners. And what did it avail? On many we could make no impression at all. And if some were changed for a while, yet their goodness was but as the morning dew (Hosea 6:4), and they were soon as bad, no, worse than ever. So that we only hurt them, and ourselves too, for our minds were hurried and unsettled, perhaps filled with anger instead of love. Therefore we had better have kept our religion to ourselves.

1771 text

8. “We have tried. We have laboured to reform sinners. And what did it avail? On many we could make no impression at all: and if some were changed for a while, yet their goodness was but as the morning dew; and they were soon as bad, nay worse than ever. So that we only hurt them――and ourselves too; for our minds were hurried and discomposed: perhaps filled with anger instead of love. Therefore we had better have kept our religion to ourselves.”

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About this text

The fourth sermon on the Sermon on the Mount, on Matthew 5:13-16: Christians as salt and light, and why Christianity is a social religion that cannot be hidden.

EditionPrinted in Wesley's 1771 Works, which do not say when he preached it

Wesley's own sermon in updated English wording. The 1771 panel is the text of the Works Wesley himself had printed in 1771. It is public domain.

Reference

Sermon 24 in the 1771 Works. Matthew 5:13-16.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We put this English text into updated wording with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open the 1771 text under any part to compare.

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