Constant ruling habit of soul

I take religion to be, not the bare saying over so many prayers, morning and evening, in public or private; not anything superadded now and then to a careless or worldly life; but a constant ruling habit of soul, a renewal of our minds in the image of God, a recovery of the Divine likeness, a still-increasing conformity of heart and life to the pattern of our most holy Redeemer. 

Letter to Richard Morgan, 1734, the Rev. John Wesley, A.M.