TOWARD A WESLEYAN UNDERSTANDING OF CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE

Jerry L. Mercer

It is with a sense of honor and pleasure that I present at this distinguished conference a paper on some aspects of John Wesley's thoughts on Christian experience.1 I say "some aspects," because it is obvious that no presentation the length of mine can be, in any sense, much more than an initial probe and query. I enjoy wrestling with Wesley's theology, finding his insights increasingly important for spiritual growth.

Although it is clear to me that Wesley's contributions to the history of Christian thought were indeed significant,2 that opinion is not widely shared. His influence continues, though much more so in educational programs and books than in the churches named for him. He is, however, gradually becoming recognized as one of a number of very important links in the chain of faith stretching from the early church to the present. And if conferences like this can help us continue to struggle with issues that sent him traveling over vast stretches of country, energized his need to organize and write, and kept him simplistically hopeful of producing a better person and a better world, then we will have been true to a vision of spiritual life which is larger than anything most of us individually have yet known. The topic assigned me on Wesley's view of Christian experience is as important for me as for those who originally heard Wesley with awe and wonder. Like them, I want to live meaningfully, and because I do, Wesley urges me to know God. In this light, one must appreciate Wesley's constant desire to speak primarily to those people who were in dead earnest about the state of their soul. This is in itself a pleasant departure from so much popular Christianity seen on television in our time. At least this much is sure, Wesley did not speak tongue-in-cheek, but with the intent to address the deeper needs of those who had been awakened to quest after the living God.

Wesley As A Man Alive

All of us here are more than familiar with the dramatic change in Wesley's life associated with the journal entry for May 24, 1738. Although precisely what happened may be debated,3 it is beyond doubt that he bore witness to what he considered a real change4 in his relationship with God.5 In a flood of insight, Wesley was transformed from a man hoping for salvation to one who knew it with some degree of finality. Shortly after his experience, the awakening began in earnest.6 It seemed as though the energy of the apostolic church had been released once more in a new and forceful way. It was another of many points of departure noted by church historians when the wind of the Spirit came in a new guise for a new day. We could hope for nothing better in the church today.

Wesley proclaimed to all that one could actually sense the presence of the God of the universe and thus be intuitively certain of God's acceptance. In addition, this new flush of God's love would lead the Christian to know Him more deeply and love Him more intimately. This message was new to Wesley and to many who heard him, especially those church persons who appeared more tuned in to speculation and reason than revelation,7 and who, for whatever combination of reasons, were innately suspicious of emotional responses and the confrontive boldness of those whom God had so radically changed. Whenever this is true for our times, it is but a reflection of what Wesley faced.

Wesley must have been somewhat startled to discover himself the center of a growing controversy over the validity of what he claimed happened to him and what was happening to increasing numbers of those who heard him.8 Charges from his critics flew thick and fast—and would continue to do so in varying degrees of intensity for the remainder of his ministry.9

The heap of invective leveled at Wesley's views and the experiences of his followers was long, merciless and oddly humorous. Wesley tried to defend himself and his flock against accusations that he was but a Presbyterian or an enthusiast and his followers mere fanatical devotees. He tried to show distance between himself and the mystics and Quietists.10 Like Taylor, whose works The Art of Holy Living and Holy Dying had been influential in his life, Wesley tried to counter claims that he was "popish"; that is, either a Roman Catholic in disguise or at least a sympathiser.11

The anti Methodists debunked Wesley's emphasis on the direct experience of God as enthusiasm, demeaned the Methodist view of Holy Communion as magic, and considered blatant foolishness the keeping of spiritual journals and the practice of "pricking the scriptures" for guidance. Wesley's views on Christian perfection were continually misunderstood—as they still are. The "love feast" was satirized as outright debauchery. Wesley tried to counter with several "appeals" to Scripture, tradition and reason, but seemingly to little avail. He consistently claimed all his life that he was faithful both to the order and doctrinal genius of the Church of England. Like it or not, Wesley found himself almost as much an apologist as an evangelist.

The charges of enthusiasm must have been particularly irksome to Wesley,12 for in fact, Wesley did not trust emotions—his or anyone else's for that matter. One example of this is found in a Journal entry in 1740.13 It seems that one day John and his brother Charles were out for a walk, taking in the beautiful countryside, singing hymns, and in general enjoying each other. Without explanation or obvious reason, Charles began to laugh, lightly at first and then uncontrollably. John watched this strange behavior, somewhat amazed. Then he, too, began to laugh, either with or at Charles, and soon both brothers were in a high state of hilarity. Much later, John was disturbed at this lack of control and determined the cause of this emotional outburst to be a "preternatural" spirit—a spirit of mischief. Wesley's puritan mindset would not allow him to release his emotions in ways which he thought better suited to pubs and theaters.

The root of these feelings probably lies somewhere in the Wesley family background.14 It seems that in his home, children were treated as little adults—a practice Wesley continued at Kingswood School. Academic study was emphasized and play minimized—or not allowed. Certainly in his formative years of theological study, Wesley noted the Puritan preference for biography and history as opposed to novels and the arts. Of course, Wesley's early resolve to be a serious person was considerably strengthened by authors like á Kempis's and Scupoli.16 Although it probably would not have helped much, I do wish he had read from St. Francis17 and Brother Lawrence instead!

Yet for all his stern paternalism and rule setting, John Wesley unleashed a sense of inward happiness which effectively freed many people from the drudgery and burdens of eighteenth century common life. The tears shed by mine workers and the joy shared by hundreds at Eucharist services in Methodist preaching houses indicates that what may appear as dull sermons and drab liturgies were actually new life for people emotionally and spiritually starved for happiness. Revival cannot be stopped when suddenly the mundane is clothed with splendor.

"Plain Old Christianity"

Wesley provides us with overviews of the salvation process in certain sermons;18 specifically, "The Scripture Way of Salvation," "Satan's Devices," and "Upon Our Lord's Sermon on the Mount, Discourses I-III." The lines are familiar to all of us:19 the natural mind in revolt against God; conviction of sins and repentance on the ground of "preventing grace"; the new birth (including baptism20 ) as initiation into the holy life; progress in grace leading to a second repentance; the granting of a pure heart;21 ever deeper dimensions of the witness of the Spirit; and all the while constant prayer to God and sacrificial interaction with the world.22

This whole process is graced with God's love, actualized by faithful obedience, and demonstrated by good works. This "way"23 to God is informed and enhanced by the holy community (church, societies, etc.) and intensified by the "means of grace." The whole of it is measured by the single intention to please God. As such, it is quite beyond the scope of ordinary reason, however refined, and quite at odds with any kind of works righteousness. An admixture of faith, love and self-denial, this life in Christ produces unbelievable joy! This is the "plain old Christianity" taught in the "oracles of God." Such experiences in faith are not the result of enthusiasm, since the emotions are shaped by the teachings of Scripture and awakened reason.

For Wesley, the goal of Christian experience is happiness24 —happiness manifested as inward joy, peace of mind, contentment with life, love of all people, and hope of eternal life. "Knowing that happiness is our common aim," he writes, "and that an intimate instinct continually urges us to the pursuit of it, [Christ] in the kindest manner applies to that instinct and directs it to its proper object."25 Wesley sees Christian experience as the refinement, enlargement and focusing of our natural inclination for happiness (including the search for meaning in life). Our basic problem seems simply that we aim too low at what is a very high target! Our misguided selfishness limits our abilities to realize that only God—as He is in Himself, rather than as we imagine Him—is capable of quenching our thirst for contentment.

A person who really knows the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is, in the best sense of the term, "blessed"; that is, happy.26 In his apologetic tract, "The Character of a Methodist," written in 1739, Wesley tries to show his critics something of the harmless nature of the people called Methodists:

A Methodist is one who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and with all his strength. God is the joy of his heart and the desire of his soul, which is continually crying: 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee and there is none upon earth whom I desire beside Thee.' My God and my all! 'Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever.' He is therefore happy in God; yea, always happy, as having in Him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life and overflowing his soul with peace and joy. Perfect love now having cast out fear. he rejoices evermore. Yea, his joy is full, and all his bones cry out: 'Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten me again unto a living hope of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for me.27

There is a sense in which this inward all consuming joy is self activated. It throws open the doors of love, since it is the God of love who brings this new reality to us. We become responsive to His inner prompting. Our aspirations are now to please God, not manipulate Him; to prefer self-sacrifice to self glory; to value meekness more than power; to be controlled rather than to control. In all of this, our heart loses its duplicity and gains simplicity; that is, as Wesley says, "[The Christian's] one invariable rule is this: 'Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God, even the Father, through Him."28 This is the "single eye." This is "holiness" in its highest sense; that is, nothing more or less than "pure love filling the heart, and governing all the words and actions."29

Thomas Merton, the late prominent Catholic writer, says the saint "reproduces in his own individual way, something of the balance and perfection and order . . . in the Human nature of Jesus."30 Thus, the saint enjoys "at the same time and without conflict the Clear Vision of God and the most common and simple and intimate of our human emotions."31 I believe Wesley would applaud Merton for holding in creative tension awareness of God and the human tendency to make mistakes. When one holds in love the "Clear Vision" of God before oneself, then, in Wesley's terms, not living in "willful sin" is possible.32 As I understand it, willful sin is the deliberate blurring of the vision of God in order to yield to the temptations of self love or self hatred.

But what is this "Clear Vision" of God for Merton? He does not tell us in so many words. He rather suggests that it is living in God rather than only living for God. It is genuine spiritual existence. As such,

It is the silence of our whole being in compunction and adoration before God, in the habitual realization that He is everything and we are nothing, that He is the Center to which all things tend, and to Whom all our actions must be directed. That our life and strength proceed from Him, that both in life and in death we depend entirely on Him . . . that it is absurd to live as though without Him, for ourselves, by ourselves; that all our plans and spiritual ambitions are useless unless they come from Him and end in Him and that, in the end, the only thing that matters is His glory.33

Merton's spiritual concern is almost identical to Wesley's. In Wesley's advice on prayer, we see this living, intimate relationship with God, established by faith and maintained by love. A Christian, Wesley says,

. . . 'prays without ceasing'; at all times the language of his heart is this: 'Unto Thee is my mouth though without a voice; and my silence speaketh unto Thee.' His heart is lifted up to God at all times and in all places. In this he is never hindered, much less interrupted, by any person or thing. In retirement or company, in leisure, business, or conversation, his heart is ever with the Lord. Whether he lie down or rise up, God is in all his thoughts; he walks with God continually, having the loving eye of his soul fixed on Him, and everywhere 'seeing Him that is invisible.'34

Admittedly, even for Wesley, this picture of a praying Christian is ideal. That does not mean that the ideal is above us, only out in front of us, attracting us by its essential union with God.

So these are some highlights of authentic happiness on a personal level. But Gospel happiness is not realized in one's isolation from others, rather in one's caring interaction with them. Here Wesley strikes a note for human solidarity within the context of Divine grace. Simply put, "works of piety" are not enough; they must be balanced with "works of mercy." Therefore, Christians are not only to love God, but also their neighbor, which includes "every child of man, every human creature, " whether known or not, whether friend or enemy. We are to love others as ourselves, "with the same invariable thirst after his happiness in every kind, the same unwearied care to screen him from whatever might grieve or hurt either his soul or body."35 This is the kernel of Wesley's argument with hermits—that their love of solitude stunts, not enlarges, their perspectives on loving God.36

Aspiration for the Holy

One way of defining the contemporary relevance of Wesley's views on Christian experience is as "aspiration for the Holy within the context of the holy community." Here the word "aspiration" means the totality of the Christian quest for God. It emphasizes process while allowing for peak moments of spiritual insight and inner cleansing. The reference to God as "the Holy" is meant in personal terms. The notion of "the Holy" catches up Biblical motifs of love, justice, majesty, Divine suffering, wrath, and even happiness, while highlighting the mysterious attractiveness of Him who is high and lifted up. "The holy community" refers to that supporting environment created by persons who are truly aspiring for the Holy.

In an attempt to make this as clear as possible I want to suggest six affirmations which I think reflect a Wesleyan orientation on Christian experience:

1. A real change occurs in the life of anyone who commits himself or herself to Jesus Christ. One's intention to be "altogether" a Christian may be tested in the following ways:

A. There is a certain correspondence of life with testimony. This means that a Christian exhibits (1) a sincere desire to renounce evil, (2) a zeal for doing good, and (3) the development of a social conscience coupled with good works.
B. Personal experience is subject to the prayerful scrutiny of those who themselves are aspiring for God. This means the Christian's spiritual formation is in some sense guided and validated by (1) a group (society, band, etc.), (2) and individual (spiritual director), or (3) both of these.
C. There may be the grace of the confirming Spirit. This is (1) God's own witness to the Christian's heart and (2) the responding inner witness exhibited by (a) the desire to love God (examination of conscience) and (b) a love of the means of grace.

2. Our aspirations for God are encouraged by a sense of acceptance and perhaps by the inner confirmation of the Spirit. Our aspirations are discouraged by our awareness of certain tensions, maladjustive behavior and/or urgings to evil. Taking a cue from Bonhoeffer, I refer to authentic faith as "simple, unreflecting obedience to the will of Christ."37 This idea of simplicity in obedience is a common one in the "fathers" of the Church. Professor John Cobb, Jr.'s working idea of sainthood as identification with God so as not to deliberate over moral choices provides a contemporary way to approach this dynamic.38 Also helpful is the notion of Christian freedom as not having to feel the necessity to constantly justify our attitudes and behavior. "Freedom" here refers to freedom from sin, so as to be free in immediate response to Jesus Christ as the Son of God.

3. Our aspiration for God as the Holy One is enhanced when evil, which hinders our freedom to be in reality what we profess to be in faith, is cleansed by the dominating nature of God's love. The interplay between repressed spiritual discord and the teaching function of the Holy Spirit may require a lifetime to work out, if we are to arrive at sainthood; that is, conformity of the human will to the Divine will. It is not beyond the range of Divine working, however, for that conformity to be accomplished in a short time. The important point here is that spiritual freedom can be actualized in the present moment.

4. Normally meaningful spiritual experiences are most easily realized within the context of mutual love and support as found in that part of the Christian community dedicated to "aspiration for the Holy." The temple synagogue model may shed some light on this idea. Christians gather in mass in the "temple" (the church building) to worship God. They gather in the "synagogue" (the small group) to grow in the Spirit, particularly in terms of sharing love, spiritual guidance and the raising of social conscience.

5. The love of God, which makes us free to seek Him, operates not only in the realm of individual experience, but also in the structures of society. Wesley's optimism regarding the possibilities of social change as one way to make the Kingdom of God visible is akin to that of Rauschenbusch. Indeed, it is impossible to apply brakes anywhere when one assumes that if God's love is not stopped, it will dominate everything. Love for Christ's sake, coupled with strict self-denial, provides the impetus for genuine love of one's neighbor.

6. Finally, eschatological hope produces a high quality happiness which makes it possible for human beings to rejoice in tribulation as well as in blessing. Indeed, when one sees God's love as not just being "out there," but as coming to meet us, the future shapes our present faith. Thus, God is the One who moves toward us, making up for our deficiencies; that is, as long as our intentions are honorable. This underscores the insight that the salvation process is always gifted by God and is never, in any sense, the result of works righteousness.

Conclusion

John Wesley—the difficulties of studying such a remote figure are immense. In the first place, it is impossible for one to wholly set aside his or her prejudices and presuppositions. Secondly, sometimes one has vested interests in a particular understanding of a person like Wesley, and that can work against a full-orbed appreciation of his work. Thirdly, we must be careful to remember Wesley was only a man—occasionally autocratic, more often eccentric, and almost always authoritarian. Fourthly, as Professor Outler has shown, there were a host of influences which shaped Wesley's thought, each of which deserves to be studied in its own right.

I honestly think that if Wesley were here this morning, he would applaud our serious concern for authentic Christian experience. In fact, he would probably invite us to join him in evangelical witness. Yes, I think he would want us to join him since he would not join us. That was the way Wesley operated.

In closing, I want to read my favorite portion of verse from Wesley—which Wesley, however, I do not know! These are meaningful words—words which, if lived out, would insure the Church's faithful obedience to aspiring for the Holy:

Lord, arm me with Thy Spirit's might.
Since I am call'd by Thy great name:
In Thee my wand'ring thoughts unite,
Of all my works be Thou the aim:
Thy love attend me all my days,
And my sole business be Thy praise.39

Amen

Notes

1 On Wesley's view of "experience," cf. JW,29: "Wesley followed Locke in the denial of "innate ideas" and appears never to have taken seriously the traditional "arguments" for the existence of God. In their place, he put an alternate notion of the self-evidence of God's reality as strictly implied in the faithful man's awareness of God's gracious presence toward him. This awareness of God's gracious "presence" is what Wesley meant by "experience," and it was for him, as real and unmistakable a perception as any sensory awareness might be. This doctrine has often been construed as a subjective theory of religious knowledge, a corollary of his view of revelation."; on "experience," cf. "The Witness of the Spirit: Discourse II," JW, 213-219; on Wesley's sometime lack of caution distinguishing between inner impressions and the leading of the Spirit, cf. S, 11; also S, 56-57, on how Wesley added experience to the Anglican notions of Scripture, tradition and reason as guidelines for Christian faith. "It was this [strong element of mystical piety] that sustained his lifelong interest in the patristic ideal of divine-human 'participation' . . ." 56. Cannon suggests that it was Wesley's experience of God at Aldersgate which changed his view of salvation from works leading to faith to faith leading to works. TJW, 80-81. On the Wesley quadrilateral, cf.JWTT, 32ff; also 106 ff. on the witness of the Spirit.

Experience is used by me in a sense larger than the idea of the witness of the Spirit. Rather, I mean the ordinary understanding of something that happens to or within one, about which we can think and discuss; a living experience—"heart religion."

2 Cf. Outler's introductions to JW and S; also his essay in PWCT, 1 ff., as well as Schmidt's essay in PWCT, 67ff.

3 Aldersgate was very important in Wesley's experience. Cf. Journal entries for May 24, 25 and 26, WJW, I, 98-104. Note Outler's caution about putting too much emphasis on Aldersgate as an isolated experience, S, 38.

4 On the idea of "real change" as opposed to "relative change," see Wesley's controversy with the Lutherans and Calvinists. Of importance here is Wesley's view of original sin and the impact of this doctrine on the problem of natural virtue. Cf. S, 63f. For an interesting discussion of real change, cf. WS, 83f. The Reformers emphasized a relative change in the Christian's standing before God, whereas Wesley believed in real change. Cf. Wesley's sermon on "The Wedding Garment."

5 On Wesley's theory of religious knowledge: Outler says Wesley was an "avowed empiricist" and "unembarrassed intutionist." S, 59. As concerns empiricism, Wesley was impressed and distressed with John Locke. Wesley read "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" by Locke. WJW, XIII, 455-64. He agreed with Locke that there is no such thing as "innate principles" (ideas); rather, all ideas are acquired. This is to say that all ideas come from experience; both internal and external sensation (reflection). On the other hand, Wesley raises many questions with aspects of Locke's thought. Nevertheless, he concludes it is a very useful work, especially for Young scholars: that is. if they have a tutor! Cf. TJW, 156-60, on "Wesley's Approach to a Knowledge of God." Cannon concludes his brief analysis by saying that "the Bible is for Wesley the way to religious knowledge. . . . To be sure, reason is an essential tool for [proper] interpretation . . . and Wesley writes that he builds all his religious opinions on Scripture as he interprets it through the means of common sense." Ibid., 160.

Wesley's concern for knowing God through intuition relates to vivid inner experiences of God as in prayer, the witness of the Spirit and union with God (expressed by Outler as "the patristic ideal of divine-human 'participation' "), cf. S, 56. Outler also states the Wesley inherited a "Christian Platonism," particularly from the "Fathers." Ibid, 59. In a footnote on "The Witness of the Spirit:. Discourse I," Outler says: "What is here presupposed is Wesley's whole theory of religious knowledge with its notion of a 'spiritual sensorium' analogous to our physical senses and responsive to prior initiatives of the Holy Spirit. Typically, it is passive until acted upon by spiritual stimuli—e.g., divine light arouses our latent capacities for 'sight' and insight; revelation prompts us to insight and knowledge—always, however, as 're-actions' to initiatives beyond ourselves. Thus, no matter how intensely subjective our feelings may be in religious experiences, their source is prevenient, and in that sense, objective.

This, then, is Wesley's version of the intuitionist views of Christian Platonism as he had known that tradition from the Alexandrines, Bonaventura, the Cambridge Platonists, Malebranche, and, especially John Norris of Bemerton. It allowed him, without internal contradiction, to follow St. Thomas and John Locke in his theories of empirical knowledge . . . and yet also to distinguish all such knowledge from our spiritual knowledge of God and 'of the deep things of God.' "This distinction, and its epistemological import, are pervasive throughout the Wesley corpus . . . (extensive notations)." S, 276, n. 46.

6 Outler says Wesley's "baseline tradition was Erasmian," particularly through people like Cranmer and Harpsfield. S, 56. Certainly Erasmus was a worthy model, attempting, as he did, to cut a path of toleration between the warring Lutherans and Roman Catholics. Cf. TR, 425-37. Durant writes: "He was too sensitive to be a man of action. . . . He was a master of moderation, deprecating intemperance and extravagance. He fled from action into thought, from rash certainties into cautious doubt. He knew too much to see truth or error all on one side. He saw both sides, tried to bring them together, and was crushed in between." Ibid, 428.

The via media of Erasmus also characterized English Protestantism (especially from 1570-1640), in particular Chillingworth and Donne, whose interests were especially meaningful for thoughts on Christian unity—a subject which was of great importance to Wesley; cf. his sermon "Catholic Spirit." PMER, 382. For example, note this quote from Donne: "We must be so far from straitening salvation to any particular Christian Church or any subdivided name, Papist or Protestant, as that we may not straiten it to the whole Christian Church." Ibid Thus, at least one hundred years before the Wesleyan awakening, the Church of England attempted to strike a middle way between the extremes of Roman Catholicism and Puritanism (Presbyterianism). This "middle way" was considered by Anglicans as simple "apostolical" Christianity. Cf. Ibid., 375-418. Familiar as he was with the history of his church. Wesley was constitutionally unable to understand Christian doctrine in terms of a few "essentials" and many "options."

7 In determining the validity of experience in Christ, Wesley appealed first to Scripture, then tradition, with reason and experience following in that order. Natural reason could aid humans only so far in their quest for God. True Christianity was not irrational, since it had its own logic based on the experience of Christ. It is typical of Methodism to underscore Jesus' teaching that the Holy Spirit is our teacher. Cf. WJW, XIII, 23.

8 Lyle's book, Methodism Mocked, is a good general reference work on "the satiric reaction to Methodists in the eighteenth century."

9 Boland's book, The Problem of Methodism, shows something of the depth of feeling against the perfectionist teachings of Wesley in nineteenth century American Methodism. Boland considers Wesley's "second change" theory of salvation and his "residue theory of sin" as genuine theological problems.

10 Wesley was opposed to the Quietists' insistence that one must wait passively for salvation. Cf. Outler, S, 214-16, n. 68, 81. As regards the mystics, while he appreciated much in their faith, Wesley stood against their tendency to privatize the revelation of God and to disregard the means of grace (though this last critique varied from person to person). Cf. WJW, XIII, 25, 28.

Evelyn Underhill may be of help here. Referring to Baron von Hugel, she distinguishes between "inclusive mysticism" and "exclusive mysticism." Inclusive mysticism "alone is truly Christian; because its philosophic basis is in the doctrine of the Incarnation, with its continuance in the Church and Sacraments." Exclusive mysticism is "the attempt to ascend to the vision of God by turning away from His creatures by an unmitigated other-worldliness, [which] is not Christian at all." WM, 12. Clearly, by Underhill's definitions, Wesley was a mystic of the first type.

11 Bishop Jeremy Taylor, an intellectual and high churchman, had to defend himself against accusations that he was more Catholic than Anglican. For an interesting overview of Taylor's role in the development of Anglican spirituality, see OPPAS, 104ff.

Outler says Wesley was "stoutly anti-Papist." S, 77. Yet his (and Taylor's) "asceticism-within-the-world" were seen to have Catholic tendencies. Cf. S, 61. Surely one reason for this suspicion was Wesley's "two ways" of Christian experience (lower and higher), about which more will be said below. Wesley seemed to have resurrected the "double standard of morality" which Anglicans believed to be characteristic of Roman Catholicism. Cf. PMER, 95f.

12 Cf. Wesley's brief discussion in CPJW, 114-17. This is especially important in relation to the "tests" of gospel faith seen in the text below. Cf. Outler's note, JW, 298-99. Also S, 22-23, on the Quakers, Ranters and Jumpers. Also Ibid., 24, on Wesley's distaste for "excesses" in preaching.

13 WJW, I, 271f.

14 On Susanna Wesley's view of raising children, see FC, 58ff. On the subject of "breaking the will" of children, cf. WJW, "On the Education of Children," 92f.; Ibid., "On Obedience to Parents," 103f. For a humorous account of Susanna's inability to break the will of her own children, see M.JW, 17-18.

15 Personally I find á Kempis helpful. One cannot read The Imitation of Christ without being driven to the conclusion that for á Kempis, this life is an arena of struggle. Therefore, to triumph over life requires constant diligence. Certainly here Wesley would have been introduced to the benefits of solitude. In a letter to Miss Bishop (June 17, 1774; WJW, XIII, 28), Wesley tells how he and Charles were attracted to the "love of solitude" though they were to resist the temptation. Piette in JWFP has some interesting insights on Wesley's attraction to and fear of loneliness (266-72).

16 Scupoli's book, The Spiritual Combat, seems to me much like á Kempis in his earnestness to emerge victorious from the struggles of life. Since his book was important in Wesley's home, it is obvious that it would have helped shape his mindset. Early in his work, Scupoli sets out the nature of "the spiritual life":

"It actually consists in knowing the infinite greatness and goodness of God, together with a true sense of our own weakness and tendency to evil, in loving God and hating ourselves, in humbling ourselves not only before Him, but, for His sakes, before all men, in renouncing entirely our own will in order to follow His. It consists, finally, in doing all of this solely for the glory of His holy name, for only one purpose—to please Him, for only one motive—that He should be loved and served by all His creatures." (SC, 5)

Reading Scupoli one understands Wesley's rationale for breaking the will of children at an early age in order to help them to holiness. How helpful that idea was has to be judged on the basis of what kinds of people such action actually produced.

It is important at least to mention Henry Scougal's book, The Life of God in the Soul of Man—which was the "textbook" of the Holy Club. The serious Christian is to take note of Christ's "entire resignation" to the will of God. This is, for Scougal, the foundation of the life of Gospel happiness; that is, the path is one of entire unquestioning obedience to God. Cf. Outler's note on "will-mysticism," S, 32, n. 5.

17 Richard P. Heitzenrater referring to Cell's The Rediscovery of John Wesley, observes, "He is the first to attempt an analysis of Wesley's understanding of salvation in the light of historic Christian theologies. Not only do we see Kempis, Law, Taylor and the other traditional Wesley sources march across the pages of this book, but also St. Francis, Abelard, Aquinas, Erasmus, Eckhardt, and a host of others (R. P. Heitzenrater: The Elusive Mr. Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon,1984), Vol. II,199). This is just a bit misleading, at least as concerns St. Francis. Cell does not show that St. Francis informed Wesley's "understanding of salvation." Rather, Cell only compares Wesley and Francis, showing some important similarities. (cf. RJW, 347ff.; 387ff.). The central idea these "two sceptered sovereigns of practical Christianity" (349) had in common was that "the idea of the Holy is the heart of Christianity" (348). Reflecting on what he calls "evangelical perfection," Cell observes:

This is the sum and substance, this is the soul and body of the Franciscan understanding of the Gospel, of his mode of life and example of Christian service, and of his far-flung attempt to realize the Kingdom of God in the midst of a torn and tortured race. It can be said of St. Francis in some measure what is true only of Christ in full measure, that he who has once felt the pulse and quality of his life can never again be the same man he was before nor ever thereafter escape the empire of his influence. The fact of St. Francis alone would be more than enough to fall in love with the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness and evangelical perfection (348-49).

18 Of course, a more definitive overview requires one to read the "Sermons on Several Occasions: Volumes I-IV." Cf. S, 8.
19 "The order of salvation, as Wesley had come to see it, is an organic continuum: conscience, conviction of sin, repentance, reconciliation, regeneration, sanctification, glorification. All of these are progressive stages in the divine design to restore the image of God in human selves and society." S, 80. Wesley sometimes reduces the order of salvation to three key concepts: (1) original sin or repentance, (2) justification by faith, (3) holiness. Cf. WL, II, 268; JWMB, 152-53.

Wesley is rather consistent in dividing humankind into three categories. In "The Good Steward," these are called "debtor," "servant" and "steward." WJW, VI, 136. In "The Spirit of Bondage and Adoption," these categories are referred to as the "natural man," "legal man" and evangelical man." SS, I, 194-95.

20 It is instructive to note that baptism is not one of the "means" of grace. This lends support to the notion that Wesley did not accept as valid the Church of England's insistence that baptism did in fact confer grace. Certainly Wesley's constant invitations to repent and experience forgiveness implies immediate rather than mediated experience. However Wesley's advice to Godparents, plus his republication of his father's tract on baptism, does suggest a kind of baptismal regeneration approach to grace.

21 In JW, Outler says the "most distinctive" aspect of Wesley's theology was his view of Christian perfection. (30.) Here Wesley leaned toward Eastern and Catholic sources rather than Reformation sources. S, 65. "Perfect love," as Wesley understood it, is the conscious certainty, in a present moment, of the fullness of one's love for God and neighbor, as this love has been initiated and fulfilled by God's gifts of faith, hope and love." JW, 31. " 'Perfection' is the fulfillment of faith's desire to love God above all else and all else in God, so far as conscious will and deliberate action are concerned." JW, 32; cf. Ibid., 10, on the joining in Wesley's mind of "disciplined" love and "aspiring" love.

Outler is very close to what I think is Wesley's notion of Christian perfection. The one thing which seems to be missing in Outler is Wesley's stress on experiencing this perfection now and that by faith. His sermon, "The Scripture Way of Salvation." is a case in point: as well as CPJW, 138-39. Wesley's distaste for works righteousness, plus his strong belief in faith and the witness of the Spirit, lead him to expect the highest levels of sanctity at any point in one's history of Christian experience. And, for Wesley, now is a better time than later. This perspective undercut the Catholic idea of perfection with its emphasis on penances. It also enlarged the Anglican idea of perfection by reinstating a two-level (or two-way) Christian experience, a higher and a lower.

"The saint for English Protestantism is, in summary, anyone in any profession, calling, or station who lives a fully Christian life." PMER, 97. Against this background, Wesley could easily be seen as more Roman than Reformed. Scougal's working definition of Christ's perfection could have been significant for Wesley: "Perfect love is a kind of self dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself and all his own interest, not thinking of them nor caring for them any more, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves." LGSM, 52. For Scougal, Christian perfection seems more an extension of the whole process of being conformed to God, rather than looking for a sort of two stage approach with clear lines of demarcation between them.

22 Indeed, the objective of Methodists to reform society and church, and to spread abroad the message of holy living strengthen this global vision of righteousness. Also, Wesley's belief that love can conquer "all things" suggests a world-wide application of the gospel. Cf. S, 223, n.31, on holiness as "active" love to God and neighbor.

23 Wesley's "low" and "high" ways of Christian life seem to correspond to Clement's ideas of "faith" and "knowledge." Cf. HD, I, 144f. Regarding Wesley's classical, Anglican and Puritan sources, cf. S, 71-88; also JW, 9-10.

24 On Wesley as a Eudaemonist, see S, 213, n. 65; also Ibid, 222, n. 21, on the "socialization of Eudaemonism."

25 NNT, 28, n. on verse 2.

26 Cf. Wesley's translation of "blessed" as "happy" in the beatitudes. ENNT, 28f. Outler notes, "Holiness and happiness had long been linked in the Anglican (Catholic) tradition as reciprocals. . . . Wesley finds it easy and natural to presuppose the integrity of God's design for humanity (happiness) and his demand upon it (holiness)." Commenting on the phrase "holy and happy," Outler observes, "if holiness is active love toward God and neighbor, then happiness is one's enjoyment and security in such love." S, 185.

27 CPJW, 11-12.

28 Ibid, 15-16.

29 Ibid., 66.

30 S, 24.

31 Ibid., 24-5.

32 In an address to novices Merton says that the notion of abandonment to God carries over into the virtues. That is. a Christian should not be concerned about the virtuous character of his actions. God puts virtue into our actions if we live in abandonment to Him. The main thing is to be sure that God is the sole content of one's life. LSHL. This is very close to Wesley's emphasis on having holy intentions.

33 TS, 52-53.

34 CPJW, 13.

35 WJW, V, 79.

36 Another problem Wesley had with monastics was their tendency toward "apophatic" theology. "Faith is sight," Wesley says, "that is, spiritual sight: and it is light, and not darkness; so that the famous Popish phrase, "The darkness of faith," is a contradiction in terms." WJW, XIII, 20. "Darkness," says Wesley, "seldom comes upon us but by our own fault." On the other hand, "heaviness" of soul may come from any number of experiences. Ibid, 27. In all likelihood, Wesley did not understand the nature of apophatic theology. In fact, it does not seem that Wesley read many, if any, of the very good spiritual writings of the Catholic and Orthodox monastics without prejudice.

Writing of the theology of Dionysius, Lossky says:

"All knowledge has as its object that which is. Now God is beyond all that exists. In order to approach Him, it is necessary to deny all that is inferior to Him, that is to say, all that which is. If in seeing God one can know what one sees, then one has not seen God in Himself but something intelligible, something which is inferior to Him. It is by unknowing (agnosia) that one may know Him who is above every possible object of knowledge. Proceeding by negations one ascends from the inferior degrees of being to the highest, by progressively setting aside all that can be known, in order to draw near to the Unknown in the darkness of absolute ignorance. For even as light, and especially abundance of light, renders darkness invisible; even so the knowledge of created things, and especially excess of knowledge, destroys the ignorance which is the only way by which one can attain to God in Himself." MTEC, 25.

Wesley did not trust unaided (natural) reason and, therefore, did not have much confidence in philosophy. But he did have great confidence in the witness of the Spirit. His notion that the way of Christ is light, as opposed to "darkness" or theology as negation, is understandable when one realizes that faith is its own kind of sight—a type of light—and that every believer may at least know this: that in Christ one has not only the experience of redemption but the confirmation of it. Aside from this Christian experience is limited. This is sufficient, however, to produce contentment and peace—that is to say, joy.

37 CD, 171

38 CNT, 249-50. Professor Cobb has an excellent chapter on love in SCE. Discussing the possibility of Christian love, he defines such love as "love that uniquely transcends self-centeredness in a genuine concern for the other, untainted by concern for its consequences for the lover" (135). Again, "But for the Christian, love is the possibility of openness to the other as another and concern for him as such. It is made possible by the gift of an undeserved love, and hence it cannot seek a deserving object for its expression. The possibility of its occurrence consists in a freedom from the sickness of self preoccupation, hence, the prior relation to the other to the self cannot be relevant" (135-36).

39 CPJW, 10.

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