This is the final week for the course on Worship that I am teaching for Wesley Seminary (at Indiana Wesleyan University). - There are two quotes from John Wesley that I shared with my students, this week. They are important quotes for the topic of worship. The worship of God, or course, is serious business. It cannot be done casually or according to our whims. And this is what Wesley is getting at in the following quotes.
I do not mean, "Embrace my modes of worship," or, "I will embrace yours." This also is a thing which does not depend either on your choice or mine. We must both act as each is fully persuaded in his own mind. Hold you fast that which you believe is most acceptable to God, and I will do the same. (Works Bicentennial 2:89-90)
But the man of a truly catholic spirit, having weighed all things in the balance of the sanctuary, has no doubt, no scruple at all concerning that particular mode of worship wherein he joins. He is clearly convinced that this manner of worshipping God is both scriptural and rational. He knows none in the world which is more scriptural, none which is more rational. Therefore without rambling hither and thither he cleaves close thereto, and praises God for the opportunity of so doing. (Works Bicentennial 2:93)
Of course, John Wesley was convinced that the Book of Common Prayer provided the best form of worship. In his preface to his conservative revision of the BCP for the Methodists in North America, Wesley wrote the following:
I believe there is no liturgy in the world, either in ancient or modern language, which breathes more of a solid, scriptural, rational Piety, than the Common Prayer of the Church of England.
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