Christian perfection, as taught by John Wesley

Front matter

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Preface

In this book Mr. Wesley is made to speak for himself on the subject of Christian Perfection; as, in its preparation, all that he left on the subject, in his various works and elsewhere, has been carefully examined, and everything of any special interest, or at all pertinent to the doctrine Jind experience, has been collected and classified in thirty sections; and each quotation verified for examination if desired. In this classified, convenient form, may be found substantially all of his teachings, respecting this the central doctrine of Christianity.

During more than a century, John Wesley has been growing in the esteem of mankind, until now, among all Christians — Episcopalians, Dissenters, and Protestants of all names, — he is regarded as one of the most remarkable religious reformers in modern times. Those who desire to know his views on any aspect of the subject of Christian Perfection can turn to this volume, and at once find all that is now available from him regarding it. Within these pages are garnered many precious truths for the edification of those interested in Scriptural holiness as taught by John Wesley.

John A. Wood.

Shall We Drop It or p Make a Point of It I

ON every hand we continually hear the plaint that Methodism is not true to Christian Perfection and is gradually forgetting the doctrine of its founder. Why is this? Wesly once wrote; "I find almost all our preachers in every circuit are done with Christian Perfection. They say they believe it» but never preach it; or not once in a quarter. What is to be done? Shall we drop it or make a point of it?" Again he wrote, "I examined the society. In five years I have found five members have been gained. What have our preachers been doing all this time? They have preached four evenings in the week, and on Sunday morning. They have taken great care not to speak too plain, less they should give offense. When Mr. B — preached the old Methodist doctrine, one said, 'You must not preach such doctrine here. It is not calculated for the Meridian of Edinburgh'. '*

Did you ever hear such talk in America? You must not preach perfection in Illinois, Indiana or Iowa. It is not calculated for the civilization of the United States.

Is it any wonder that the work of God does not prosper more? God's work will prosper when we press all believers to go on to perfection, believing that the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin; that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

INTRODUCTION,

John Wesley, under God the founder of Methodism, to-day touches the world with mightier power than ever in the past. His followers stand in the front ranks of the militant church. They have already astonished Christendom hy their tireless energy and their aggressive spirit. The world expects great things of Methodism.

The Gospel as preached by Wesley and those who imitate him, appeals with peculiar force to the intelligent common-sense of all unconverted men. All such men feel that under the circumstances and conditions of human life, it was incumbent upon God to make salvation possible to every soul. It has been the mission of Methodism to destroy the unreasonable and illogical and unscriptural dogmas of Calvanistic fatalism, and show how God could be just and yet the justifier of every believing soul that in real penitence accepts the Lord Jesus Christ; and, also, how God can save all infants and irresponsible persons, and how in every nation all who fear God and work righteousness, though they have never heard the Gospel, are accepted by Him. These fundamental truths as set forth by John Wesley,

6 INTRODUCTION.

have never failed to commend themselves to the favorable consideration of all unprejudiced minds, for they at once glorify the Divine justice and compassion, and throw wide open the door of hope to every soul. But Wesley was thorough and exhaustive in his treatment of whatever was the subject of his investigations. For many long and weary years he groped in the thick darkness of the times in which he lived, seeking for the simplest experience of salvation. He abounded in all manner of self-denials and self-sacrifices; his morality was the most exalted character; he was diligent in prayer and in the study of God's word; he was most strict in all the outward forms and services of religion ; but until he reached his thirty-fifth year he had not attained the consciousness of pardon in his own soul; he could not testify that God for Christ 's sake had forgiven him his sins. From that auspicious and evermemorable, as well as glorious hour, when, listening to the reading of Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans, he felt his heart strangely warmed with the love of God, and knew himself to be a pardoned sinner, he went straight forward as the Spirit of God directed his steps, till he came to the experience of perfect love in his own soul.

It is to be especially noted that Wesley never quarrelled about names. Sanctification, holiness, perfection, were often used by him to express the experience in the Divine life, attainable by all Christians previous to the hour of death; but he was more inclined to speak of the experience as the perfection of love, including love to God and love to man, and involving, at the same

INTRODUCTION, 7

time, deliverance from the power, the guilt, and the pollution of sin.

Of two things we may rest assured. The first is that Wesley taught the possibility of this experience, and that it was to be reached by meditation, study, conviction of need, desire, consecration and faith. The second is that he leaves no room for doubt that he professed to have the experience, and that he preached the doctrine of Christian perfection and exhorted and encouraged his followers to seek it.

No one will study Wesley without discovering that he makes a distinction between regeneration and sanctification, or Christian perfection. He teaches that the work is wrought instantaneously, though it may be approached by slow and gradual steps; he denies the possibility of remaining in a justified and regenerate state while guilty of known sin; he teaches that this experience of perfect love pre-eminently favors the growth of all Christian graces; he avoids most carefully, and condemns most emphatically, all fanaticism and spiritual pride and foolishness, and shows how easily the experience may be lost ; he studies his own heart, and watches with the most critical attention the professions and lives of those who assumed to have found the experience of entire sanctification, and compares all with the teachings of the Word of God: so that we have in ** Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Perfection," and in his frequent allusions to the subject in his journals and sermons, the summation of all that is essential to the fullest and clearest understanding of this whole subject.

8 INTRODUCTION.

It is with the greatest satisfaction that I give my approval to the present compilation of all that Wesleyhas taught concerning the all-important subject of Christian perfection. Surely there never, as now, was a time when the followers of Christ, of every name, and when, especially, all Methodists, should give their attention to the study of the scope and glorious nature of their privileges in this present dispensation of the Holy Ghost. We seem to stand on advanced ground, and such doors of opportunity are opened to the people of God, as never before in all the centuries of the past. All appliances, all facilities, are ours, and may be sanctified and utilized for the salvation of the world. But the great imperative, now is, that the professing disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ should rise up out of the ordinary and usual experience of vacillation, of backsliding, yes, of justification and regeneration, and leaving all that is past, as Paul exhorts should be done, commence "to go on unto perfection,*^ commence *Ho expect to be made perfect in love in this life, * ' commence * ' to earnestly strive after it, ' ' and if need be, strive with groanings, and tears, and self-abasement, £uid agonizing supplications, until the experience of perfect love is realized, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost fills every heart with zeal, and crowns every head with lambent flames and makes every tongue eloquent in testifying to the grace of God that saves to the uttermost. Surely it will help to the realization of these most desirable results, if once more we turn to the study of Wesley and the Word of God.

W. F. Mallalieu.

Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Perfection.

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CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

Section I

HOW MR. WESLEY WAS LED INTO THE LIGHT OF PULL SALVATION.

"But how came this opinion into my mind? I will tell you with tail simplicity. In 1725 I met with Bishop Taylor's 'Rules of Holy Living and Dying.' I was struck particularly with the chapter upon intention, and felt a fixed intention 'to give myself up to God.' In this I was much confirmed soon after by the 'Christian Pattern,' and longed to give God all my heart. This is just what I mean by perfection now: I sought after it from that hour." — Journal, May, 1765.

Mr. Wesley was then in his twenty-third year, and Bishop Taylor was an eminent prelate in the English Episcopal Church.

"In the following year (1726) I met with Kempis' 'Christian Pattern.' The nature and extent of inward religion, the religion of the heart, now appeared to me in a stronger light than ever it had done before."

Thomas a Kempis was an Augustine monk, distinguished for his apostolic simplicity and purity. His ''Christian Pattern" has been translated into all modorn lan^ruagos, and published in more than a thousand editions.

"Ill 1727, 1 read Mr. Law's 'Christian Perfection,' and 'Serious Call,' aud more explicitly resolved to be all devoted to God, iu body, soul, and spirit. In 1730 I began to be homo unius UhrU* to study (comparatively) no book but the Bible. I then saw, in a stronger light than ever before, that only one thing is needful, even faith that worketh by the love of God and man, all inward and outward holiness; and I groaned to love God with all my heart, and to serve Him with all my strength.

"January 1, 1733, I preached the sermon of the 'Circumcision of the heart'; which contains all that I now teach concerning salvation from all sin, and loving God with an undivided heart. In the same year I printed (the first time I ventured to print anything) for the use of my pupils, 'A CollcHtion of Forms of Prayer;' and in this I spoke exl)licitly of giving 'the whole heart and the whole life to God.' This was then, as it is now, my idea of perfection, though I should have started at the word.

"In 1735, I preached my farewell sermon at Epworth, in Lincolnshire. In this, likewise, I spoke with the utmost clearness of having one design, one desire, one love, and of pursuing the one end of our life in all our words and actions.

"In January, 1738, I expressed my desire in these words: —

O grant that nothing in my soul

May dwell but thy pure love alone!

O may thy love possess me whole,

My Joy, my treasure, and my crown !

Strange flames far from my heart remove^

My every act, word, thought be love !

*A man of one book.

AB TAUGHT BY JOHN WESLEY. W

"And I am still persuaded this is what the Lord Jesua hath bought for me with His own blood.

"Now, whether you desire and expect this blessing or not, is it not an astonishing thing that you, or any man living, should be disgusted at me for expecting it; and that they should persuade one another, that tbis hope is 'subversive of the very foundations of Christian experience?' Why then, whoever retains it cannot possibly have any Christian experience at all. Then, my brother, Mr. Fletcher, and I, and twenty thousand more, who seem both to love and fear God, are, in reality, children of the devil, and in the road to eternal damnation." — Journal, May, 1765.

"Many years since, I saw that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. I began by following after it and inciting all with whom I had any intercourse to do the same. Ten years after, God gave me a clearer view than I Iiad before of the way how to attain it, namely, by faith in the Son of God. And immediately / declared to all, 'We are saved from sin, we are made holy hy faith.' This / testified in private, in public, in print, and God confirmed it by a thousand witnesses." — Vol. vii. p. 38.

This was written in 1771. In 1744, nearly thirty years before, he wrote : —

"In the evening, while I was reading prayers at Snowsfield, I found such light and strength as I never remember to liave had before. I saw every thought as well as action or word, just as it was rising in my heart, and whether it was right before God, or tainted with pride or selfishness.

"I waked the next morning, by the grace of God, in the same ^irit; and about eight, being with two or three that believed in Jesus, I felt such an awe, and tender sense of the presence of God, as greatly confirmed me therein; so that God was before me all day long. I sought and found Him in every place; and could truly say, when I lay down at night, *n^w I have lived a day.' " — Journal, Dec, 1744.

These paragraphs contain the substance which Mr. Wesley left in writing regarding his experience of full salvation. He seldom recorded his personal religious experience in his Journals, and yet we have as much regarding his experience of sanctification as of justification. The most he says about his justification, was that at Aldersgate he felt ' ' his heart strangely warmed. ' ' This is often quoted respecting his justification, while the foregoing statements are both as clear and as definite respecting his sanctification. There is just as much propriety, in the light of his Journals, in asserting that he did not claim to be justified, as that he did not claim to be sanctified.

His whole life and work, during a long and useful ministry, teach more positively than any words of his, that his consecration and faith received a Divine response in the blessed experience which he insisted upon in others, and into which he led so many thousands of his hearers. There is no reason for believing that John Wesley sent his people ahead of himself, or that he led them into richer fields of light, sweetness, and love, than he himself enjoyed.

Section II. The Nature Of Christian Perfection

In 1733, when Mr. AVesley was thirty years of age, he preached at St. Mary 's, Oxford, before the University, his sermon on the ' ' Circumcision of the heart, ' ' in which he said: —

"The circumcision of the heart is that habitual disposition of soul, which, in the sacred writings, is termed holiness; and which directly implies the being cleansed from sin, from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit; and by consequence, the being endued with those virtues which were also in Christ Jesus; the being so renewed in the image of our mind, as to be perfect as our Father in heaven is I)erfect."

Thirty-two years after, in 1765. he says: —

"This sermon contained all that I now teach concerning salvation from all sin, and loving God with an undivided heart" — Sertnons, vol. i. p. 147.

"I believe it to be an inward thing, namely, the life of God in the soul of man; a participation of the Divine nature; the mind that was in Christ; or, the renewal of our heart, after the image of Him that created us." — Journal, Sept., 1739.

"What is, then, the perfection of which man is capable, while he dwells in a corruptible body? It is the complying with that kind command: "My son, give Me thy heart.* It is the *loving the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind.' This is the sum of Christian perfection: it is all comprised in that one word, love. The first branch of it is the love of God: and as he that loves God loves his brother also, it is inseparably connected with the second: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;' Thou shalt love every man as thy own soul, as Christ loved us. 'On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets;' these contain the whole of Christian perfection." — Sermons, vol. ii. p 168.

His sermon on "Christian Perfection" was written in 1741. Mr. Wesley says:—

"I think it was the latter end of the year 1740, that I had a conversation with Dr. Gibson, then Bishop of London, at Whitehall. He asked me what I meant by perfection. I told him without any disguise or reserve. When I ceased speaking, he said : *Mr. Wesley, if this be all you mean, publish it to all the world.' I answered, 'My lord, I will'; and accordingly wrote and published the sermon on 'Christian Perfection.' "

Letter to the Bishop of London : —

"What, it may be asked, do you mean by *one that is perfect,' or, 'one that is as his Master?' We mean one in whom is, 'the mind which was in Christ,' and who so 'walketh as He walked;' a man that *hath clean hands and a pure heart;' or that is 'cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit;' one 'in whom their is no occasion of stumbling,' and who, accordingly, 'doth not commit sin.' To declare this a little more particularly: We understand by that Scriptural expression, 'a perfect man,' one in whom God hath fulfilled His faithful word: 'From all your filthiness, and from all your idols will I cleanse yon. I will also save you from all your nncleanness.' We understand, hereby, one whom God hath sanctified throughout, even in 'body, soul, and spirit;' one who 'walketh in the light, as He is in the light,' in whom *is no darkness at all ; the blood of Jesus Christ His Son' having 'cleansed him from all sin.'

"This man can now testify to all mankind, 'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet I live not, but Christ liveth in me.' He 'is holy, as God who called him is holy,' both in life, and 'in all manner of conversation.' He 'loveth the Lord his God with all his heart, and serveth Him with all his strength'. He 'loveth his neighbor' (every man) 'as himself;' yea, 'as Christ loved us;' them in particular that 'despitefully use him and persecute him,' because 'they know not the Son, neither the Father.' Indeed, his soul is all love, filled with 'bowels of mercies, kindness, meekness, gentleness, long suffering.' And his life agreeth thereto, full of 'the work of faith, the patience of hope, the labor of love.' And 'whatsoever he doeth, either in word or deed,' he doeth 'it all in the name, in the love and IK)wer, of the Lord Jesus.' In a word, he doeth the will of God 'on earth, as it is done in Heaven.'

"This is to be 'a perfect man,' to be 'sanctified throughout, created anew in Jesus Christ;' even 'to have a heart so all-flaming with the love of God' (to use Archbishop Usher's words), 'as continually to offer up every thought, word, and work, as a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable unto God through Christ' In every thought of our hearts, in every word of our tongues, in every work of our hands, 'to show forth His praise who hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light.' Oh, that both we, and all who seek the Lord Jesus in sincerity, may thus ^be made perfect in one!'" — Works, vol. v. p. 342.

"By salvation, I mean, not barely, according to the vulgar notion, — deliverance from hell, or going to heaven; but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its

^:>rimitive health, its original purity ; a recovery of the Divine nature; the renewal of our soul after the image of God. in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth. This implies all holy and heavenly tempers, and by consequence, all holiness of conversation." — Written in 1744, Works, vol. V. p. 35.

Tyerman says, in his "Life of Wesley," that at the first conference, in 1744, Christian perfection was defined : —

"A renewal in the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness. To be a perfect Christian is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, implying the destruction of all inward sin ; and faith is the condition and instrument by which such a state of grace is obtained." — Tyerman, vol. i. p. 444.

To Dr. Dodd, in 1756 :—

"When I began to make the Scriptures my study (about seven and twenty years ago), I began to see that Christiaus are called to love God tdth all their heart, and to serve Him with all their strength, which is precisely what I apprehend to be meant by the Scriptural term 'perfection: After weighing this for some years, I openly declared my sentiments before the Universitj', in the sermon on T/m? circumcision of the heart: About six years after, in consequence of an advice I received from Bishop Gibson, Tell all the world what you mean by perfection,' I published my coolest and latest thoughts in the sermon on that subject. I therein build on no authority, ancient or modern, but the Scripture." — Methodist Magazine, 1779, p. 434.

To Miss Hain, in 1758 :—

"The doctrine of perfection, you say, has perplexed you much, since some of our preachers have placed it in' so

AB TAUGHT BY JOHN WESLEY. 21

dreadful a light; one of them affirming, 'A believer, till perfect, is under the curse of God, and in a state of damnation.' Another, 'If you die before you have attained it, you will surely ]>erish.'

"By perfection, I mean perfect love, or the loving God with all our heart, so as to rejoice evermore, to pray without ceasing, and in everything to give thanks. I am convinced every believer may attain this; yet I do not say he is in a state of damnation, or under the curse of God, till he does attain. No; he is in a state of grace, and in favor with God, as long as he believes. Neither would I say, *If you die without it, you will perish;' but rather, '^Till you are saved from unholy tempers, you are not ripe for glory. There will, therefore, more promises bo fuUilkHl in your soul before God takes you to himself.'

" *But none can attain i>erfection unless tliey first believe it attainable.' Neither do I adinn this. I knew a Calvinist in London, who never believeil it attainable, till the moment she did attain it; and then lay declarim: it aloud for many days, tip her 8i)lrit returned to God." — U'orAv. vol. vi. p. 732.

To Mifvs Furly, in 17(J2:—

"Certainly sanctifieation (in the proper sense) is 'an instantan(H)UH deliverance from all sin'; and includes 'an ln8tantaniK)UB iK)wor then K>ven. always to cleave to Go<l.' Yet this sanctlflcatlon (at least, in the lower degrees) does not Inehido a power never to think a useless thought, nor ever sjH'ak a us<'less word. I. myself, believe that such a I)erfe<'tion is Inconsistent with living in a corruptil)le b(xly : for this makes it lmix)sslble 'always to think rli^ht.' While we breathe, we shall, more or less, mistake. If. therefore. Christian iMTfeetlon iinplie« this, we must not expe<'t it till after death.

**I want you to be all love. This is the perfection I believe and teach. And this perfection is consistent with a thousand nervous disorders, which that high-strained perfection is not Indeed, my judgment is, that (in this case particularly) to overdo is to undo; and that to set perfection too high (so high as no man that we ever heard or read of attained) is the most effectual (because unsuspected) way of driving it out of the world." — Works, vol. vi. p. 718.

To Mrs. Maitland :—

"As to the word perfection, it is Scriptural; therefore, neither you nor I can in conscience object to it, unless we would send the Holy Ghost to school, and teach Him to speak who made the tongue.

"By Christian perfection, I mean (as I have said again and again) the so loving God and our neighbor as to 'rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.' He that experiences this is Scripturally perfect. And if you do not, yet you may experience it; you surely will, if you follow hard after it, for the Scripture cannot be broken.

"What then does their arguing reprove, who object against Christian perfection? Absolute or infallible perfection I never contended for. Sinless perfection I do not contend for, seeing it is not Scriptural. A perfection, such as enables a person to fulfill the whole law, and so needs not the merits of Christ, — T. acknowledge no such i>erfection; I do. now, and always did, protest against it.

" 'But is there no sin in those who are perfect in love?' I believe not; but be that as it may, they feel none, — no temper contrary to pure love, — while they rejoice, pray, and give thanks continually. And whether sin is suspended, or extinguished, I will not dispute; it is enough that they feel nothing but love. This, you allow, we should daily press after. And this is all I contend for." — Works, vol. vi. p. 752.

To Miss H., in 1758 :—

"Were you to ask, 'What if I should die this moment?' I should answer, 'I believe you would be saved; because I am persuaded, none that has faith can die before he is made ripe for glory.* This is the doctrine which I continually teach, which has nothing to do with justification by works. Nor can it discourage any who have faith, neither weaken their peace, nor damp their joy in the Lord. True believers are not distressed hereby, either in life or in death; imless in some rare instance, wherein the temptation of the devil is joined with a melancholy temper.

"Upon the whole, I observe your great argument turns all lalong on a mistake of the doctrine. Whatever warm expressions may drop from young men, we do not teach that any believer is under condemnation. So that all the inferences drawn from this supposition fall to the ground at once." — Works, vol. vi. p. 733.

Soon after the Bell and Maxwell fanaticism of 1762-3, which somewhat changed Charles Wesley's views on the subject for a time, Mr. Wesley wrote to him the following:—

"1. By perfection, I mean the humble, gentle, patient love of God and man, ruling all the tempers, words, and actions, the whole heart, and the whole life.

I do not include an impossibility of falling from it, either in part, or in whole. Therefore, I retract several expressions in our hymns, which partly express, partly imply, such an impossibility. And I do not contend for the term sinless, though I do not object against it. Do we agree or differ here? If we differ, wherein?

"2. As to manner, I believe this perfection is always wrought in the soul by faith, by a simple act of faith; consequently, in an instant. But I believe a gradual work, both preceding and following that instant. Do we agree or differ here?

"3. As to the time, I believe this instant generally is the instant of death, the moment before the soul leaves the body. But I believe it may be ten, twenty, or forty years before death. Do we agree or differ here?

"I believe it is usually many years after justification, but that it may he within five years, or five months after it. I know no conclusive argument to the contrary. Do you?

"If it must be many years after justification, I would be glad to know how many. And how many days, or months, or even years, can you allow to be between perfection and death? How far from justification 7nii8t it bef and how near to death?" — Jackson's Life of Charles Wesley, vol. li. p. 210.

"But what is the perfection here spoken of? It is not only a deliverance from doubts and fears, but from sin; from all inward, as well as outward sin; from evil desires, and evil tempers, as well as from evil word^ and works. Yea, and it is not only a negative blessing, a deliverance from all evil dispositions, implied in that expression, '1 will circumcise thy heart'; but a positive one likewise; even the planting all good dispositions in their place; clearly implied in that expression, 'To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul.'"— /b'cn/jo/jv, vol. ii. p. 410.

"'The pure in heart.' are those whose hearts God hath purified even as He is pure' ; who are purilicni through faith in the blood of Jesus, from every unholy affection ; who, being cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, porftHrt holiness in the (loving) fear of God.' They are, through the power of His grace, purified from pride, by the deei>est poverty of spirit; from anger, from every unkind or turbulent passion, by meekness and gentleness; from every desire but to please and enjoy God, to know and love Him more and more, by that hunger and thirst after righteousness, which now engrosses their whole soul ; so that now they love the Lord their God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and mind, and strength."— -S'er/non«, vol, i. p. 199.