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PNEUMATOLOGICAL NOMENCLATURE IN EARLY METHODISM

Herbert McGonigle

Leeds, England

John Wesley wrote one sermon the burden of which was to convey what he believed to be vital, essential New Testament Christianity. His text was "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 4:31). This sermon was his "Spiritual Christianity,''l preached before the University of Oxford, in St. Mary's, on August 24, 1744. Throughout the sermon Wesley gives not the least hint that he thought this fullness of the Spirit something subsequent to justification by faith; indeed, he made it very plain that anyone who was not so filled with the Spirit was not a Christian.

In the introduction to this sermon Wesley makes reference to his text in two passages of the Acts of the Apostles (2:4 and 4:31), observing that in the incident of the second there was no speaking in tongues as in the first. Neither were the gifts of the Spirit listed in I Corinthians 12:910 evident in the Acts accounts. He continues:

Whether these gifts of the Holy Ghost were designed to remain in the church throughout all ages . . . it is not needful to decide . . . It was, therefore, for a far more excellent purpose than this that "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." It was to give them (what none can deny to be essential to all Christians in all ages) the mind which was in Christ, those holy fruits of the Spirit, which whosoever hath not, is none of his; . . . to endue them with faith . . .; to enable them to crucify the flesh, . . . and in consequence of that inward change, to fulfill all outward righteousness.2

Did Wesley later change his mind about the fullness or baptism of the Holy Spirit? Did he later think of it as something distinct from, and following after, justifying grace? the position taken today by most Wesleyan Anninian scholars and preachers. The answer is no, and it is the purpose of this paper to seek to determine that the Wesleys and other early Methodists did understand about the baptism of the Spirit and to make some general observations on their treatment of the wider soteriological ministry of the Holy Spirit.

Two years after this notable and final sermon at St. Mary's, Wesley completed the first edition of his Notes on the New Testament. His commentary on Acts 2:38 shows no change in his thinking about the gift of the Holy Ghost. He says, "The gift of the Holy Ghost does not mean, in this place, the power for speaking with tongues; for the promise of this was not given to all that were afar off, in distant ages and nations; but rather the constant fruits of faith, even righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost."3 Here Wesley equates the gift of the Spirit with his usual description of justifying faith.

Concerning Cornelius and his household (Acts 10), Wesley held that they were already justified and the coming of the Holy Spirit after Peter had preached was "a clear and satisfactory evidence that He had accepted them as well as the Jews."4 On this work of the Spirit in Caesarea, Wesley is more explicit than anywhere else in his writings as to how he interprets the fulness of the Spirit. Also, this is one of the very few places where "baptism of the Spirit" is found in all of Wesley's writings. Of Peter and his involvement at Caesarea Wesley wrote,

He does not say, They have the baptism of the Spirit; therefore they do need baptism with water: but just the contrary; If they have received the Spirit, then baptise them with water. How easily is this question decided, if we will take the Word of God for our judge ! Either men have received the Holy Ghost, or not. If they have not, "Repent," saith God, "and be baptized, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." If they have, if they are already baptized with the Holy Ghost, then who can forbid water? 5

Allowing for the somewhat unusual circumstances of these believers in Caesarea, there is no question that Wesley here equated the baptism of the Spirit with justifying grace, although in this instance the gift of the Spirit followed their initial acceptance with God.

If further proof of this interpretation is required, let us examine care fully the following. In his sermon "The First Fruits of the Spirit," preached from Romans 8:1, Wesley says, "First I am to show, Who those are who 'are in Christ Jesus.' . . . For they dwell in Christ, and Christ in them. They are joined unto the Lord in one Spirit."6 They are indeed justified freely but, although on Wesley's understanding they are "filled with the Holy Ghost," they are not yet sanctified wholly, for inward sin still remains. "Fret not thyself because of ungodliness, though it still remain in thy heart. Repine not, because thou still comest short of the glorious image of God; . . . Let thy continual prayer be,

'Show me as my soul can bear, The death of inbred sin: All the unbelief declare, the pride that lurks within.' "

In 1758 Wesley wrote to The Rev. Potter and, concerning the conversion of the Apostle Paul, says,

It does not appear that his was a sudden conversion. It is true, 'a great light suddenly shone around about him,' but this light did not convert him. After he had seen this, 'he was three days without sight,' . . . And, probably, during the whole time, God was gradually working in his heart, till he 'arose, and, being baptized, washed away his sins, and was filled with the Holy Ghost.'8 Whether or not we fully agree with Wesley's exegesis here is not the question; what is important to note is Wesley's insistent linking of the fullness of the Holy Ghost with the experience of justification.

Much later in his ministry, in 1770, Wesley wrote in the same strain to Joseph Benson.

You allow the whole thing that I contend for; an entire deliverance from sin, a recovery of the whole image of God, the loving God with all our heart, soul, and strength. And you believe God is able to give you this; yea, to give it to you in an instant . . . If they like to call this 'receiving the Holy Ghost' they may: Only the phrase, in that sense, is not scriptural, and not quite proper; for they all 'received the Holy Ghost when they were justified.9 Admittedly Wesley does not use here the expression "baptism" or "fullness" when speaking of the Holy Ghost, but he does make it plain he will not speak of entire sanctification as a receiving of the Holy Ghost.

More evidence could be produced to the same conclusionthat Wesley consistently spoke of the gift of the Spirit and justifying grace as one and the same experiencebut we will restrict ourselves to one further quotation, one brief unequivocal sentence from Wesley's Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion: "I assert that 'till a man receives the holy Ghost, he is without God in the world." 10

Another line of argument must now be pursued if we would do full justice to Wesley's understanding of the gift of the Holy Ghost. For this, let us examine briefly three of his most important written works on Christian Perfection.

The first of these is Wesley's sermon "Christian Perfection," preached from the text "Not as though I had already attained." This is a scriptural, logical exposition of his understanding of Christian Holiness and it is in this sermon that he argues his way to the dictum he was to employ so often in later controversies: "In conformity, therefore, both to the doctrine of St. John, and to the whole tenor of the New Testament, we fix this conclusion, A Christian is so far perfect, as not to commit sin.''l 1 It is impossible to fully evaluate Wesley's teaching on entire sanctification with a close analysis of this sermon, yet of the baptism or fulness of the Holy Spirit it makes not

one mention; further, the Holy Spirit is barely mentioned at all. Not one of the many scripture passages quoted in defense of Christian Holiness has a direct bearing on the work of the Holy Ghost.

Wesley's sermon "On Perfection" next demands our attention, but here again there is an absence of anything like even an attempt to expound the ministry of the Spirit in the sanctified life. The only approach to the Spirit's work is one short paragraph. "St. Paul, . . . places perfection in yet another view. It is the one undivided fruit of the Spirit, . . . 'love, joy, peace, . . .' What a glorious constellation of graces is here! Now suppose all these things to be knit together in one, to be united together in the soul of a believer, this is Christian perfection.''l2

In 1777 Wesley revised for the last time his definitive tract on Christian holinessA Plain Account of Christian Perfection. This is the fullest, clearest, and most comprehensive work Wesley ever wrote on this doctrine. He included passages from The Character of a Methodist, written in 1739 and from his sermon "Christian Perfection," written in 1741. These are also long extracts from the Conference Minutes of 1744, 1745, 1746 and 1747, all dealing with perfection and included here to demonstrate that in spite of what opponents were saying Wesley had not, in any important way, changed his thinking on entire sanctification. Included here also are extracts from prefaces to hymn books published by John and Charles in 1741, 1742, and 1752. John Wesley also included stanzas from many hymns on Christian holiness. In the Preface to the 1742 hymnbook, he had written: "Whom then do we mean by 'one that is perfect? ' We mean one in whom is 'the mind which was in Christ,' and who 'does not commit sin.' . . . one whom God has sanctified throughout . . . In other words, to be inwardly and outwardly devoted to God; and we have the same conception of it now, without either addition or diminution.''l3

Not one of the many descriptions given in this Account of Christian Perfection makes any reference to the work of the Holy Spirit in the experience of the believer. Likewise in Wesley's choice of seventeen hymns, all from the pen of Charles Wesley, there is little mention of the Holy Spirit and not even a poetic allusion to the Spirit's fulness. This is most important when we remember that Wesley included these particular extracts as expressing his sentiments on entire sanctification. There are prayers and cries for deliverance from inbred sin, but all of them are addressed, not to the Holy Spirit, but to the Saviour, and it is He who is expressly praised when the deliverance is found. There is, however, one stanza which attributes sanctifying power to the Holy Spirit, but it is only one out of a total of fiftytwo quoted by Wesley. It is one verse from the twentyeight stanza hymn, "The Promise of Sanctification" by Charles Wesley, based on Ezekiel 36:25, which John Wesley included in full at the close of his sermon on Christian perfection based on Philippians 3:12. It reads, Thy sanctifying Spirit pour To quench my thirst and wash me clean: Now, Father, let the gracious shower Descend and make me pure from sin.l4

This is not the place to attempt a critique of Wesley's understanding of Christian perfection. From the standpoint of this enquiry, however, Dr. Sangster's criticism can hardly be avoided. He says that Wesley does not "link the doctrine enough (as Paul does) with the cross and the Holy Spirit." 15 Whatever deficiency is here in regard to the Atonement, it is not as great as the almost complete absence of any attempt to portray the ministry of the Spirit in the experience of those who are "in Christ." What of the believer's great privileges as delineated in Romans 8? What of the fruit of the Spirit being produced in the life of the entirely sanctified? True, Wesley has occasional references to this fruitfulness, but nothing like a scriptural portrayal of the life in the Spirit. What of the many Pauline references to walking in the Spirit, praying in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, being made free by the Spirit? On these great descriptions of New Testament Christianity, Wesley is, in most instances, strangely silent.

Wesley is most insistent on the Spirit's presence and power in justification. A few quotations will amply illustrate this. In his sermon "The New Birth" he writes that the new birth "is that great change which God works in the soul when he brings it into life; . . . It is the change wrought in the whole soul by the almighty Spirit of God when it is 'created anew in Christ Jesus.'"16 In the justified experience the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost; they have received the Spirit of adoption and, Wesley adds, "He who is thus justified, or saved by faith, is indeed born again. He is born again of the Spirit unto a new life.''l7 What does it mean to be born of God? It implies "a vast inward change, a change wrought in the soul, by the operation of the Holy Ghost.''l8 "The life of God in the soul of a believer . . . immediately and necessarily implies the continual inspiration of God's Holy Spirit; God's breathing into the soul, and the soul breathing back."l9

Some of the finest writing Wesley ever did is found in his Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion. Arguing for God's prerogative in man's salvation, he says, "There is no more of power than of merit in man; but as all merit is in the Son of God, . . . so all power is in the Spirit of God. And there fore every man, in order to believe unto salvation, must receive the Holy Ghost . . . It is certain all true faith, and the whole work of salvation, every good thought, word and work, is altogether by the operation of the Spirit of God."20

To reinforce the meaning of what he calls "the ordinary operations of the Holy Ghost," Wesley quotes Bishop Pearson of the Anglican Church from his Exposition on the Creed: "Whatsoever of holiness and perfection is wanting in our nature must be supplied by the Spirit of God... 'faith is the gift of God,'... and this gift is a gift of the Holy Ghost working within us.And as the increase of perfection, so the original faith, is from the Spirit of God."21 It must be remarked that the Bishop, in the space of a dozen paragraphs, has more to say about the Spirit's working in believers than Wesley says in one hundred pages. These quotations from Wesley are sufficient to show his clear scriptural teaching on how the Spirit convicts of sin, reveals God's remedy in the provision of Christ, applies to the penitent's heart the great grace of justification, renews his nature, and enables him to cry "Abba, Father." Wesley's further insistence on the witness of the Spirit is well known. But when it comes to speaking of the new life in Christ being sustained by the Holy Spirit, and particularly the Spirit's operation in entire sanctification, Wesley has much less to say and, no matter how fervently we admire Wesleyan theology, we cannot but concede he could have said much more on this important theme.

Charles Wesley

Charles Wesley took the theology of his brother and turned it into stirring poetry, and thereby established himself as the Orpheus of Arminianism. As might be expected in an output as voluminous as his, there is not complete harmony of thought and interpretation, but on examination a number of conclusions can be reached. In the first place Charles, like John had much to say on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the new birth. Justification for Charles means pardon of sin, deliverance from night and from prison, a change of relations with God, all being the work of the Spirit. The emphasis is evangelical, and this is declared convincingly in what is perhaps the greatest hymn in the collection of 1746. The first stanza will suffice.

Spirit of faith, come down, Reveal the things of God;

And make to us the Godhead known,

And witness with the blood:

'Tis thine the blood t' apply,

And give us eyes to see;

Who did for every sinner die,

Hath surely died for me.22

The Holy Spirit is given at conversion; again from the same collection we have the following lesser known words, with the same last-line refrain in every verse.

Sinners, lift up your hearts,

The promise to receive;

Jesus himself imparts,

He comes in man to live:

The Holy Ghost to man is given:

Rejoice in God sent down from heaven.23

The witness of the Spirit is a cardinal truth in Wesleyan theology, and in the hymns the expressions "assurance," "witness of the Spirit," and "faith" are used indistinguishably. Any one quoting from Charles Wesley's hymns is tempted to quote too much. We will restrict ourselves to one hymn to illustrate the Wesleyan doctrine of assurance. It is a great Methodist manifesto, full of Charles Wesley's spirit and temperament. A few verses follow.

How can a sinner know

His sins on earth forgiven?

How can my gracious Saviour show

My name inscribed in heaven.

What we have felt and seen

With confidence we tell;

And publish to the sons of men,

The signs infallible.

His Spirit, which he gave,

Now dwells in us we know;

The witness in ourselves we have,

And all its fruits we show.24

But what of entire sanctification? What is the Spirit's work in perfecting believers in love? Here we find the same absence of any distinctive exposition of the Spirit's ministry as we found in John's writings. Six representative hymns will serve to point this out. They are: "Come, O my God, the promise seal," "What is our calling's glorious hope," "Lord, I believe a rest remains," "Saviour from sin I wait to prove," "My God, I know, I feel Thee mine," and "O glorious hope of perfect hope." In these hymns there is little mention of the Spirit's work; it is the Saviour, the righteous Lord, and the gracious Father, who are called upon to cast out sin and perfect the seeker in holiness. But there are prayers to the Holy Ghost and indications that Charles Wesley expected the Spirit to enter the believer's heart with holy fire and cast out the plague of inbred sin. Although the Spirit is given in the new birth, prayer is made for a fuller coming of the Holy Ghost. Sometimes the insistence that the Spirit came definitely to fix his home in the Christian's heart at justification is difficult to harmonize with prayer for his future visitations. The apparent contradictions can be argued too far. Undoubtedly Charles Wesley taught that the Holy Spirit entered the believer's heart when he was born again; yet he prays the Spirit will come again and complete the work begun. Theological niceties are ignored in the holy wonder of being possessed by the Spirit of holiness.

Wesley's Preachers

Under his leadership, Wesley's preachers rode across the four kingdoms of Britain for Christ, with only a Bible and a hymnbook in their saddlebags and the meagerest of remuneration in their pockets. They forded the rivers, braved the mobs, and penetrated the moral and spiritual darkness of eighteenthcentury England. The records of fortyone of them are contained in Thomas Jackson's The Lives of Early Methodist Preachers. Among these records are fifteen clear witnesses to entire sanctification, and not one refers to his experience in terms of the baptism or fullness of the Holy Ghost. This is very convincing evidence that such terminology was not current among the early Wesleyans. All the classic Wesleyan terminology is hereperfect love, a clean heart, the second blessing, entire sanctification; but, with one exception, not a single mention of the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The exception is that of one John Furz who testified to having prayed for and received the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit at a time when he thought he was dying.

John Fletcher

John Fletcher does not have much to say concerning the baptism of the Spirit. He sees the promise of the Spirit as applying equally to sinners and believers. The unconverted are warned not to rest because they have been baptised with water, but they must seek the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Believers need a fresh baptism till the Holy Ghost fills their souls. Fletcher plainly interprets the baptism of the Spirit as applying equally to the experience of the new birth and to the subsequent experience of being sanctified wholly.

Most of what Fletcher says concerning the baptism of the Holy Spirit is found in his "Last Check to Antinomianism," the "Check" dealing with the exposition and defense of Christian perfection. He says that the experience of love as described in I Corinthians 13 is the consequence of the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He sees Christ's prayer, "that they may be perfected," being answered on the day of Pentecost. In answer to the question on how many baptisms of the Spirit it took to cleanse a heart from sin, he replied that if one could do it, alright, but the Lord can repeat it as many times as he chooses. Fletcher clearly relates the work of the Holy Spirit to the experience of entire sanctification and does not hesitate to call it "the baptism of the Spirit." Fletcher had no question that his interpretation of Christian perfection is identical to Wesley's and he defends his own use of the term "baptism of the Spirit." We should remember that Wesley reviewed all the "Checks" and particularly recommended the last "Check." Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's theological productions were immense, yet in them there are very few references to either the baptism or fullness of the Spirit. Such as there are, are found in his two essays: "The Holy Spirit," and "Entire Sanctification." In the former we read,

To purify the soul, to refine and sublime all the passions and appetites, the operation of the Holy Spirit is promised . . . The Holy Spirit, the "Spirit of burning," destroys the pollution of the heart . . . God promised his Holy Spirit to sanctify and cleanse the heart, so as utterly to destroy all pride, anger, selfwill, peevishness, hatred, malice, and everything contrary to his own holiness . . . He is also the sanctifying Spirit; . . . and the Spirit of burning; and as such he condemns to utter destruction the whole of the carnal mind.25

Encouraging believers to go on to holiness, Clarke writes:

What, then, is this complete sanctification?. . . It is washing the soul of a true believer from the remains of sin; it is the making one who is already a child of God more holy, . . . Arise, then, and be baptized with a greater effusion of the Holy Ghost, and wash away thy sin.26

In his exposition of the passages dealing with the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2, 8, 10, and 19, Clarke makes no mention of any distinctive baptism of the Spirit. He says expressly that the Holy Spirit was given to the believers in Samaria, "not for the sanctification of the souls of the people; this they had on believing in Christ Jesus; . . . It was the miraculous gifts of the Spirit which were thus communicated."27 Clarke had no hesitation in attributing heartcleansing power to the ministry of the Holy Ghost in the experience of entire sanctification, but he hardly ever describes this work as the "baptism of the Spirit."

Conclusions

In the first place, our findings amply verify the statement of G. A. Turner when he writes,

John and Charles (Wesley) said or wrote little about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. This emphasis is relatively recent. It is not easy to find Wesleyan writers devoting much space to it or associating it with entire sanctification and evangelical perfection.28 This emphasis arose in American, rather than British, Methodism. As Dr. Turner intimates, one seeks in vain among the Wesleyan classics for a clear interpretation concerning the baptism of the Holy Ghost. In these pages, we have sought to go directly to the original sources and, as far as possible, let them speak for themselves. I am certain a lot more research needs to be done in this hitherto neglected area of Wesleyan theology, and this sketch is presented in the hope that it may stimulate a more penetrating and comprehensive study of the subject.

Second, it is clear that when the early Methodists did write and preach on the baptism of the Spirit, they did not do so with complete unanimity. John Wesley definitely taught that the Spirit is received at justification and he is prepared to go farther and assert that the justified, but as yet unsanctified, are filled with the Spirit. Apparently he did not object to Fletcher's describing entire sanctification as being effected by the baptism of the Spirit, but he never used such language himself. Wesley feared that this use of the term might detract from a scriptural emphasis on the Spirit's presence and ministry in the new birth. Charles Wesley goes even further and speaks about believers receiving the sanctifying power of the Spirit. There is definite progression of thought on this subject from the Wesleys, through Fletcher to Clarke. Clarke has more to say about the work of the Spirit in experience than either Wesley or Fletcher.

Third, it is evident that Wesley had not clearly thought through all the implications of this aspect of perfect love. If, as he asserts, believers receive a fullness of the Spirit at justification, how can one harmonize the contradictory assertions that a Christian heart may, at one and the same time, be Spirit filled and full of "inward sin"? He, of course, saw a scriptural remedy for inbred sin, but his scriptural proof for this was drawn mainly from passages dealing with the atonement, with little attention paid to passages speaking of a sanctifying Spirit.

Fourth, Fletcher and Clarke certainly attribute sanctifying power to the Holy Spirit. The crisis of the Spirit's baptism is not stressed, yet sanctification is not a mere growing in grace; there is a distinct moment when the heart is made pure. Among the early Methodists there is no steady witness that this further purification of the heart is effected by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, early Wesleyan theology did not give sufficient attention to the New Testament distinction between the regenerating activity of the Spirit and the baptism of the Spirit. Neither did the early Wesleyans clearly accept, as would generally be accepted by Wesleyan scholars today, that those instances in Acts as receiving the baptism of the Spirit were already justified believers. This is surely demonstrable with the disciples at Pentecost, the Samaritans in Acts 8, the Ephesians in Acts 19, and when all the evidence is weighed, it can also be advanced for Cornelius and his household.

Relative to this is the further lack, in early Wesleyan theology, to give proper place to the promise of Jesus, "You shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you." Neither Wesley nor Fletcher gave due recognition to this mighty promise. It is my personal conviction that the Holiness people, particularly in the present day have, consciously or unconsciously, followed Wesley in their reticence to make full use of that grand, scriptural phrase "the baptism of the Holy Ghost." This reticence has helped twentiethcentury Pentecostalism to practically usurp the term and use it for its own purpose. Surely the distinctive hallmark of those who, in a New Testament and Wesleyan sense, are sanctified wholly, is that they have been baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire.

DOCUMENTATION

1. John Wesley, A.M., Sermons on Several Occasions, Vol. I (New York: B. Waugh and T. Mason, 1836), pp. 3344.

2. Ibid., p. 34.

3. John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament (London: The Epworth Press, 1950), p. 401.

4. Ibid., p. 436.

5. Ibid

6. Sermons, p. 68.

7. Ibid., p. 74. The date of this sermon is uncertain, but Sudgen's suggestion of the late 1740's is acceptable. See his Sermons of John Wesley.

8. The Works of John Wesley, XIV Vols., reprint of the edition of 1872 (Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House, n,d.), p. 93.

9. Ibid., Vol. XII, p. 416.

10. Ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 106.

11. Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 15.

12. Ibid., Vol. VI, pp. 413414.

13. Ibid., Vol. XI, pp. 383385.

14. Ibid., Vol. VI, p. 20.

15. W. E. Sangster, The Path to Perfection (New York: AbingdonCokesbury Press, 1943

16. Works,Vol.Vl,p.71.

17. Ibid., Vol. V, p. 12.

18. Ibid.,p.224.

19. Ibid., p. 232.

20. Ibid., Vol. Vlll, p. 49.

21. Ibid., p. 100.

22. A Collection of Hymns, particularly from thc collection of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M. (New York: G. Lane and C. B. Tippett, 1844), p. 106.

23. Hymns (New York: Nelson and Phillips, 1849), p. 125.

24. Collection, p. 162.

25. Samuel Dunn, ed., Christian Theology by Adam Clarke (Cincinnati: L. Swarmstcdt & A. Poe, 1856), pp. 160163.

26. Ibid., p. 206.

27. Adam Clarke, The New Testament with a Commentary and Critical Notes (New York: (Carlton and Porter. n.d.). p. 741.

28. George A. Tumer, The Vision Whlch Transforms (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), p. 149.

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