Wesley Wednesday: A Charles & John Combination

 As I was singing my way through "Wesley Hymns" (Lillenas Publishing), I came upon the following hymn from Charles Wesley, as well as the quote by John.  They provide an important reminded that we keep our priorities in their proper order.

O MY ALL-SUFFICIENT GOD

O my all-sufficient God,

Thou know'st my heart's desire;

Be this only thing bestowed;

I nothing else require,

Nothing else in earth or skies,

Not through all eternity;

Heav'n itself could not suffice:

I seek not Thine, but Thee.

One design you are to pursue to the end of time, the enjoyment of God in time and in eternity. Desire other things so far as they tend to this; love the creature, as it leads to the Creator. But in every step you take, be this the glorious point that terminates your view. Let every affection, and thought, and word, and action, be subordinate to this. Whatever you desire or fear, whatever you seek or shun, whatever you think, speak, or do, be it in order to your happiness in God, the sole end, as well as source, of your being (from John Wesley's A PLAIN ACCOUNT OF CHRISTIAN PERFECTION).

Wesley Wednesday: A Timely Word

Once again Facebook reminded me of a great Wesley quote.  This time from two years ago.  How timely this quote seems to be for the Church.  It comes from Sermon 90: "An Israelite Indeed."

This then is real, genuine, solid virtue.  Not truth alone, nor conformity to truth.  This is a property of real virtue, not the essence of it.  Not love alone, though this comes nearer the mark; for 'love' in one sense 'is the fulfilling of the law'.  No: truth and love united together are the essence of virtue or holiness.

Wesley Wednesday: From Sermon 9

 Today, my Facebook feed drew my attention back to two posts I made one year ago.  Both of the posts came from John Wesley's Sermon 9: "The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption."  These two quotes will
serve as today's Wesley Wednesday quotes:

How lively a portraiture is this [Romans 7] of one "under the law"!  One who feels the burden he cannot shake off; who pants after liberty, power, and love, but is in fear and bondage still!  Until the time that God answers the wretched man crying out, "Who shall deliver me" from this bondage of sin, from this body of death?  -  "The grace of God, through Jesus Christ thy Lord."

And, of the "natural man" who is in a state of spiritual sleep, John Wesley says:
Why is it that he is in no dread of God?  Because he is totally ignorant of him: . . . saying, "God is merciful;" confounding and swallowing up at once in that unwieldy idea of mercy all his holiness and essential hatred of sin, all his justice, wisdom, and truth. . . . Or he fancies . . . that Christ came to . . . save his people IN, not FROM their sins, to bring them to heaven without holiness . . .

Wesley Wednesday: A False Dichotomy, December 20, 2023

 John Wesley relayed the following account in his Journal on January 1, 1739:

Mr. Hall, Kinchin, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins, and my brother Charles were present at our love feast in Fetter Lane, with about sixty of our brethren.  About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground.  As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his Majesty, we broke out with one voice, "We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord!"

It is unfortunate that some people present a false dichotomy between the freedom and spontaneity expressed in the power of the Holy Spirit and the formal liturgy of the Church.  They pit "revivalism" over against "sacramentalism" and "formalism."  It is even more unfortunate when those within the Wesleyan camp do this.

John Wesley, on the other hand, held all of this together.  He was committed to extemporaneous prayer and to the written prayers of the Church.  He gathered for extemporaneous prayer meetings and for the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.  He was committed to God at work through the revival and through the sacraments.  For him, the Methodist Society Meetings were essential, and so was the corporate worship of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.  

Further, the above excerpt of Wesley's Journal is an example of these complimentary commitments.  In the quote, one finds a love feast and apparent spontaneous prayer, along with the manifest power of God in their midst.  What is interesting is the response of those Anglicans.  With one voice they declared, "We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord!"  -  This is a quote of the Te Deum Laudamus, a prayer from the 4th Century.  It was known to those faithful Anglicans, because it was a regular response to the Old Testament lesson during the Daily Office of Morning Prayer in the Book of Common Prayer.

Wesleyan Christians, particularly those from the Holiness and free church branches of Wesleyanism would do well to embrace those forms of worship that helped to shaped John Wesley's faith, as well as the development of his understanding of holiness of heart and life.  They are not opposed to life in the Spirit.  They are vital conduits of such spiritual life.

Wesley Wednesday: Wesley on Omnipotence and Timelessness of God

 In recent years, the omnipotence of God, as well as God's standing outside of (over and above) time, have been called into question by certain theologians from within the Wesleyan tradition.  In particular, Thomas Jay Oord has denied God's omnipotence and has positioned God within time like all of creation.  -  With that in mind, as I was thumbing my way through Dave Armstrong's The Quotable
Wesley, those two topics quickly caught my eye.  So, what did John Wesley think about God's omnipotence, and how did Wesley understand God's relationship to time?  -  Let's take a look at a couple of Wesley quotes!

On the subject of God's omnipotence, from Sermon 19, "The Unity of the Divine Being," Wesley says:

And he [God] is omnipotent as well as omnipresent: there can be no more bounds to his power than to his presence.  He "hath a mighty arm: strong is his hand, and high is his right hand."  He doeth whatsoever pleaseth him in the heavens, the earth, the sea, and in all deep places.  With men, we know, many things are impossible; "but not with God: with him all things are possible."  Whensoever he willeth, to do is present with him.

Armstrong cites Wesleyana: A Selection of the Most Important Passages in the Writings of the Late Rev. John Wesley, A.M. for the following Wesley quote on God and time:

The almighty, all-wise God sees and knows, from everlasting to everlasting, all that is, that was, and that is to come, through one eternal now.  With him nothing is either past or future, but all things equally present.  He has, therefore, if we speak according to the truth of things, no foreknowledge, no after-knowledge.  This would be ill-consistent with the apostle's words, "With him is no variableness or shadow of turning," and with the account he gives of himself by the prophet, "I the Lord change not."  Yet when he speaks to us, knowing whereof we are made, knowing the scantiness of our understanding, he lets himself down to our capacity and speaks of himself after the manner of men.  Thus, in condescension to our weakness, he speaks of his own purpose, counsel, plan, foreknowledge.  Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand.  Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High, to measure him by ourselves!  It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth and as predestinating or foreordaining them.

Wesley Wednesday: September 20, 2023

 The following quote comes from a passage in John Wesley's Sermon 43: The Scriptural Way of Salvation:

    I.8. From the time of our being 'born again' the gradual work of sanctification takes place. We are enabled 'by the Spirit' to 'mortify the deeds of the body', of our evil nature. And as we are more and more dead to sin, we are more and more alive to God. We go on from grace to grace, while we are careful to 'abstain from all appearance of evil', and are 'zealous of good works', 'as we have opportunity, doing good to all men'; while we walk in all his ordinances blameless, therein worshipping him in spirit and in truth; while we take up our cross and deny ourselves every pleasure that does not lead us to God.

    9.  It is thus that we wait for entire sanctification, for a full salvation from all our sins, from pride, self-will, anger, unbelief, or, as the Apostle expresses it, 'Go on to perfection.' But what is perfection? The word has various senses: here it means perfect love. It is love excluding sin; love filling the heart, taking up the whole capacity of the soul. It is love 'rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, in everything giving thanks'.

Wesley Wednesday: May 3, 2023

Below is one of three sets of "sayings" that I have framed in my study.  The other two include a number of quotes by early Nazarene general superintendents or theologians concerning the Methodist identity of the Church of the Nazarene and a sacramental quote from the late bishop, Dr. William Greathouse.  This being "Wesley Wednesday, the following quote is, of course, from John Wesley.

Methodism, so called, is the old religion, the religion of the Bible, the religion of the primitive church, the religion of the Church of England . . . as appears from all her authentic records, from the uniform tenor of her liturgy, and from numberless passages in her Homilies.  The scriptural primitive religion of love . . . is to be found in her morning and evening service, and in her daily as well as occasional prayers; and the whole of it is beautifully summed up in that one, comprehensive petition, 'Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of thy Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love thee and worthily magnify thy holy name.'

Wesley Wednesday: April 19, 2023

I have missed a few of these Wesley Wednesdays, but today I wanted to post something from a sermon I recently read by Wesley.  It is Sermon 2: The Almost Christian.  In Kenneth Collins and Jason Vickers' The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, it is placed as number 10 in their arrangement of those sermons.  -  John Wesley says:

(III).7. But who are the living witnesses of these things? I beseech you, brethren, as in the presence of that God before whom 'hell and destruction are without a covering: how much more the hearts of the children of men!' - that each of you would ask his own heart, 'Am I of that number? Do I so far practise justice, mercy, and truth, as even the rules of heathen honesty require? If so, have I the very outside of a Christian? The form of godliness? Do I abstain from evil, from whatsoever is forbidden in the written Word of God? Do I, whatever good my hand findeth to do, do it with my might? Do I seriously use all the ordinances of God at all opportunities? And is all this done with a sincere design and desire to please God in all things?'

In the introductory comments, it is pointed out that Wesley, here, lifts up what would become the three basic counsels of the General Rules: "avoid evil, do good, and employ the means of grace."  -  I have long asserted that the so called Three Simple Rules as expressed by the late bishop Rueben Job, "Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God," is far too simplistic when compared to the actual General Rules.  However, in addition to being far too simplistic, it simply falls short of accuracy.  "Avoid evil" ("whatsoever is forbidden in the written Word of God") includes much more than "do no harm," and ("seriously") "employ the means of grace" ("at all opportunities") puts specific flesh on the bones of "stay in love with God." 

So, if we must "simplify" the General Rules, let's follow Wesley's own example in doing so.

Wesley Wednesday: March 15, 2023

 Below, I have provided a few, short excerpts from John Wesley's Sermon 101: "The Duty of Constant Communion."  It is highly regrettable that so many in the Wesleyan tradition have abandoned our spiritual forefather's commitments and advice concerning worship and especially the sacraments, having substituted for it a more Baptist understanding of the Lord's Supper as a mere ordinance.  I am thankful every time I see progress in recapturing Wesley's sacramental theology and passion, which provided a context and foundation for his theology of holiness of heart and life.  -  I highly recommend that all who serve within the Wesleyan tradition read this sermon in its entirety (along with Sermon 16: "The Means of Grace").  It is certainly a foundational piece for all those who would identify as "Wesleyan-Anglican."

    I.3. The grace of God given herein [i.e., in the sacrament] confirms to us the pardon of our sins by enabling us to leave them. As our bodies are strengthened by bread and wine, so are our souls by these tokens of the body and blood of Christ. This is the food of our souls: this gives strength to perform our duty, and leads us on to perfection. If therefore we have any regard for the plain command of Christ, if we desire the pardon of our sins, if we wish for strength to believe, to love and obey God, then we should neglect no opportunity of receiving the Lord's Supper. Then we must never turn our backs on the feast which our Lord has prepared for us. We must neglect no occasion which the good providence of God affords us for this purpose.  This is the true rule - so often are we to receive as God gives us opportunity. Whoever therefore does not receive, but goes from the holy table when all things are prepared, either does not understand his duty or does not care for the dying command of his Saviour, the forgiveness of his sins, the strengthening of his soul, and the refreshing it with the hope of glory.

    4. Let everyone therefore who has either any desire to please God, or any love of his own soul, obey God and consult the good of his own soul by communicating every time he can; like the first Christians, with whom the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord's day's service. And for several centuries they received it almost every day. Four times a week always, and every saint's day beside. Accordingly those that joined in the prayers of the faithful never failed to partake of the blessed sacrament . . .

    II. 5. Consider the Lord's Supper, secondly, as a mercy from God to man. As God, whose mercy is over all his works, and particularly over the children of men, knew there was but one way for man to be happy like himself, namely, by being like him in holiness; as he knew we could do nothing toward this of ourselves, he has given us certain means of obtaining his help. One of these is the Lord's Supper, which of his infinite mercy he hath given for this very end: that through this means we may be assisted to attain those blessings which he hath prepared for us; that we may obtain holiness on earth and everlasting glory in heaven. 
    I ask, then, why do you not accept of his mercy as often as ever you can? God now offers you his blessing: why do you refuse it? You have an opportunity of receiving his mercy: why do you not receive it? You are weak: why do not you seize upon every opportunity of increasing your strength? In a word: considering this as a command of God, he that does not communicate as often as he can has no piety; considering it as a mercy, he that does not communicate as often as he can has no wisdom. 

(Photo of Wesley's statue at City Road Chapel, London)

Wesley Wednesday: March 8, 2023

 The following excerpt comes from John Wesley's Sermon 16: The Means of Grace.  From the quote it should be clear that the Lord's Supper is not intended to be kept as something "special" and "meaningful" by keeping it infrequent.  Rather, it is intended to be used as often as possible as a means of grace for us.

    12. And that this [the Lord's Supper] is also an ordinary stated means of receiving the grace of God is evident from those words of the Apostle which occur in the preceding chapter: "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion (or communication) of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" (1 Cor. 10:16). Is not the eating of that bread, and the drinking of that cup, the outward, visible means whereby God conveys into our souls all that spiritual grace, that righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, which were purchased by the body of Christ once broken and the blood of Christ once shed for us? Let all, therefore, who truly desire the grace of God, eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

Wesley Wednesday: March 1, 2023

 On September 10, 1784, in Bristol, John Wesley wrote his letter "To Dr. Coke, Mr. Asbury, and our Brethren in North-America," which he sent to accompany The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (Wesley's conservative revision of the Church of England's 1662 Book of Common Prayer).  -  The following excerpt comes from that letter:

    2. Lord King's account of the primitive church convinced me many years ago, that Bishops and Presbyters are the same order, and consequently have the same right to ordain . . .

    4. I have accordingly appointed Dr. Coke and Mr. Francis Asbury to be joint Superintendents over our brethren in North-America:  As also Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey, to act as Elders among them, by baptizing and administering the Lord's Supper.  And I have prepared a liturgy little differing from that of the church of England (I think, the best constituted national church in the world) which I advise all the travelling-preachers to use, on the Lord's day, in all their congregations, reading the litany only on Wednesdays and Fridays, and praying extempore on all other days.  I also advise the elders to administer the Supper of the Lord on every Lord's day. . . 

    . . . They are now at full liberty, simply to follow the Scriptures and the primitive church.  And we judge it best that they should stand fast in that liberty, wherewith God has so strangely made them free.

Wesley Wednesday: February 15, 2023

 This week's quote comes from Sermon 16, The Means of Grace.  This is an especially important sermon for those of us who are "Wesleyan-Anglican" types:

    By 'means of grace' I understand outward signs, words, or actions ordained of God, and appointed for this end - to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to men preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.

    I use this expression, 'means of grace', because I know none better, and because it has been generally used in the Christian church for many ages: in particular by our own church, which directs us to bless God both for the 'means of grace and hope of glory'; and teaches us that a sacrament is 'an outward sign of inward grace, and a means whereby we receive the same'.

    The chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures (which implies reading, hearing, and meditating thereon) and receiving the Lord's Supper, eating bread and drinking wine in remembrance of him; and these we believe to be ordained of God as the ordinary channels of conveying his grace to the souls of men.

(Bold type indicates Wesley's own, original emphasis. The picture is of the Wesley statue on the campus of Asbury Theological Seminary.)

Wesley Wednesday: February 8, 2023

 As I was preparing to preach last Sunday, I read through Wesley's Sermon 25: Sermon on the Mount, V, once again.  I found it to be very relevant for my preaching from that section of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.  The following quotes come from Wesley's sermon:

    From all this we may learn that there is no contrariety at all between the law and the gospel; that there is no need for the law to pass away in order to the establishing of the gospel.  Indeed neither of them supersedes the other, but they agree perfectly well together.  Yea, the very same words, considered in different respects, are parts both of the law and of the gospel.  If they are considered as commandments, they are parts of the law; if as promises, of the gospel.  Thus, 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,' when considered as a commandment, is a branch of the law; when regarded as a promise, is an essential part of the gospel - the gospel being no other than the commands of the law proposed by way of promises.  Accordingly poverty of spirit, purity of heart, and whatever else enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises. 

    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 neighbour, 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.

    We may yet farther observe that every command in Holy Writ is only a covered promise.  For by that solemn declaration, 'This is the covenant I will make after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws in your minds, and write them in your hearts,' God hath engaged to give whatsoever he commands.

Later, in the same sermon, Wesley says:

    . . . And we must all declare, 'By grace ye are saved through faith: . . . not of works, lest any man should boast.'  We must cry aloud to every penitent sinner, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'  But at the same time we must take care to let all men know we esteem no faith but that 'which worketh by love'; and that we are not 'saved by faith' unless so far as we are delivered from the power as well as the guilt of sin.  And when we say, 'Believe, and thou shalt be saved,' we do not mean, 'Believe, and thou shalt step from sin to heaven, without any holiness coming between, faith supplying the place of holiness;' but, believe and thou shalt be holy; believe in the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt have peace and power together.  Thou shalt have power from him in whom thou believest to trample sin under thy feet; power to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and to serve him with all thy strength.

Wesley Wednesday: February 1, 2023

 The following Wesley quote comes from Sermon 85: "On Working Out Our Own Salvation":

. . . salvation begins with what is usually termed (and very properly) 'preventing grace''; including the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning his will, and the first slight, transient conviction of having sinned against him. All these imply some tendency toward life, some degree of salvation, the beginning of a deliverance from a blind, unfeeling heart, quite insensible of God and the things of God. Salvation is carried on by 'convincing grace', usually in Scripture termed 'repentance', which brings a larger measure of self-knowledge, and a farther deliverance from the heart of stone. Afterwards we experience the proper Christian salvation, whereby 'through grace' we 'are saved by faith', consisting of those two grand branches, justification and sanctification. By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin, and restored to the favour of God: by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God. All experience, as well as Scripture, shows this salvation to be both instantaneous and gradual. It begins the moment we are justified, in the holy, humble, gentle, patient love of God and man. It gradually increases from that moment, as a 'grain of mustard seed, which at first is the least of all seeds, but' gradually 'puts forth large branches', and becomes a great tree; till in another instant the heart is cleansed from all sin, and filled with pure love to God and man. But even that love increases more and more, till we 'grow up in all things into him that is our head', 'till we attain the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ'.

Wesley Wednesday: January 25, 2023

 The following quote comes from Sermon 9: The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption.  This is a great sermon that demonstrates a Wesleyan understanding of chapters 7 and 8 of St. Paul's letter to the Romans.  This is vital in as much as some Christian traditions look at chapter 7 as expressing the norm for the Christian life.  Wesleyan Christians do not agree.  Rather, we see chapter 8 as God's answer to chapter 7.  -  The following quote comes toward the end of Wesley's sermon:

An unawakened child of the devil sins willingly; one that is awakened sins unwillingly; a child of God 'sinneth not, but keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not'. To conclude: the natural man neither conquers nor fights; the man under the law fights with sin, but cannot conquer; the man under grace fights and conquers, yea is 'more than conqueror, through him that loveth him'.

. . . Whosoever thou art, dost thou commit sin, or dost thou not? If thou dost, is it willingly, or unwillingly? In either case God hath told thee whose thou art - 'He that committeth sin is of the devil.' If thou committest it willingly thou art his faithful servant. He will not fail to reward they labour. If unwillingly, still thou art his servant. God deliver thee out of his hands!

    Art thou daily fighting against all sin; and daily more than conqueror? I acknowledge thee for a child of God. O stand fast in thy glorious liberty. Art thou fighting, but not conquering; striving for the mastery, but not able to attain? Then thou art not yet a believer in Christ. But follow on; and thou shalt know the Lord. Art thou not fighting at all, but leading an easy, indolent, fashionable life? O how hast thou dared to name the name of Christ! Only to make it a reproach among the heathen? Awake, thou sleeper! Call upon thy God, before the deep swallow thee up.

Wesley Wednesday: January 18, 2023

 The following combination makes for one of my favorite quotes from Wesley.  It is found in my dissertation, and I have referenced it several times over the years in the courses I have taught at Wesley Seminary and in other discussions.  It comes from Sermon 41, "Catholic Spirit."  (The volume and page references come from the Bicentennial edition of The Works of John Wesley.):

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)

Wesley Wednesday: January 11, 2023

Recently, I came across a Facebook post simply titled "Wesley Wednesday."  It was posted by fellow Hoosier and pastor of a United Methodist Church, the Rev'd. Tim Powers.  The post was, of course, a quote from John Wesley.  As it turns out, Rev'd. Powers started his Wesley Wednesday posts the first of Advent.  -  I asked him if I could "steal" his idea, and with his permission, this is the first in my (hopefully regular!) Wesley Wednesday posts.

I do not fear that the people called Methodists shall ever cease to exist in Europe or America, I only fear that they shall exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion, but not the power thereof.  And that undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast to the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.