DEVELOPMENT
IN WESLEY'S THOUGHT ON
SANCTIFICATION AND
PERFECTION
D. Marselle Moore
I.
John Wesley's concept of sanctification
is an important contribution to the subject of theology. It is a vital
part of his own theology and is perhaps the most misunderstood doctrine
of Methodism, both for those on the "inside" and for those on the "outside."
The misunderstanding is visible in the array of separate Methodist churches,
and in the disdain many Protestants, Romanists, and others share for any
notion of perfection this side of eternity.
In this paper I seek to explicate
John Wesley's view of sanctification and perfection. My approach is a chronological
one which seeks to pay attention to specific historical events as the events
influence Wesley's theology. His life is divided into three general periods:
the early years from 1725 to 1738, the middle years from 1739 to roughly
1763, and the later years from 1764 to months before his death. The first
section focuses on Wesley's theological sources, whereas the latter two
analyze his writing. This approach, though it is cumbersome at times, is
used for the sake of comprehensiveness.
The goal of this paper is to test
Wesley's own claim that his concept of Christian perfection did not change
throughout his life.1 If the doctrine did change, how, and to what
degree? Once we are clear on these points, we are in a position to perceive
what Wesley intended by the terms " sanctification," "Christian perfection,"
and all the other terms he employs.
II.
The first section of this paper deals
cursorily with the decade and a half following Wesley's conversion to "serious
religion" in 1725. By examining Wesley's enormous reading list, we gain
an idea of his concept of Christian perfection during this period. Jeremy
Taylor was the spark that fired Wesley's serious religion, not in his general
religious viewpoint, but in the direction of practical exercising of religion.
Rule and Exercises of Holy Living and Dying brought Wesley directly to
the Bible, to frequent communion, to the practice of prayer and to the
general rules for governing his life.2
The following year, Wesley again
read The Imitation of Christ. He was probably reared on the classic by
his mother and his schoolmaster, Dr. John King.3 Later on, Wesley
would edit and publish the work himself. In 1726 however, it served to
create Wesley's first theological controversy. Like Taylor's Rule and Exercises,
the subject of Kempis' book is the perfection of the Christian. But unlike
Taylor's concept of Christian perfection, Kempis sees Christian perfection
laying wholly beyond this world in the mystical subjectivity of the individual.
Renunciation of self must be renewed daily through spiritual aids; poverty
and bitter suffering like Christ, the ecclesiastical disciplines of Catholicism,
and the highest exercises of monastic asceticism. Kempis' view also lacked
social dimension. As a result, Wesley rejected Kempis' notion of perfection.4
Even though he disagreed with Kempis, Wesley remained intrigued with the
Imitation of Christ, as demonstrated by the Oxford group studying it in
April of 1729. The next two years they studied, among other writings, selected
works on Christian perfection. Perhaps it was due partly to John Norris'
suggestion (of whose works Wesley read fourteen) that "those books which
sought to explain Christianity as life rather than doctrine" should be
enthusiastically read.5
Richard Lucas' An Inquiry After
Happiness was the first they read. Wesley's respect for this work can
be seen by his publishing it in A Christian Library.6 For Lucas, life,
happiness and perfection are inseparably dependent on each other. Life,
the rational exercises, and employment of our powers and faculties naturally
terminate in perfection. Perfection, "which is nothing else but the maturity
of human virtues,"' is happiness. "Religious perfection, therefore, is
nothing else but the moral accomplishments of human nature; such a maturity
of virtue as man in this life is capable of."8 As such for Lucas,
perfection is the "ripe and settled habit of true holiness."9
Lucas' view of assurance is what
Wesley appears to mirror later as Christian perfection. Lucas says first
that his view is the scriptural view. Second no one in this life is free
from trials or temptation. Third, perfection is a state we arrive at very
late (but it is our own fault).10 And four, "the perfect" are capable
of improvement.11 Even Lucas' means of perfection are similar to
Wesley's: practicing wisdom and virtue. The instruments of perfection are
the Word and the Spirit. Perfection comes through prayer, enlivening the
conscience, confirming our resolutions of obedience, and raising up holy
and devout affections.
After Lucas, the group examined William
Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. Wesley also later
published parts of this.12 Law, similar to Taylor in understanding
perfection as regaining the Divine likeness, stressed predominantly the
will. All of our actions, Law thought, should necessarily be governed by
rules which lead to the worship of God. Such actions should spring from
intentions to please God.13 Proper actions will move one up the ladder
of Christian perfection. Many of Wesley's scruples about the proper use
of time and money reflect Law's Serious Call.
Following this, in September of 1732,
the Oxford group studied two renowned classics: Henry Scougal's The
Life of God In The Soul of Man and Spiritual Combat by Lorenzo
Scupoli. The latter was one of Susanna Wesley's favorite books,14
and the former, Martin Schmidt claims, she elevated above even Richard
Baxter's The Saint's Everlasting Life.15
Spiritual Combat is centered around
the call to Christian perfection. A notion solely derived from the idea
of God, perfection is acquired through humans apprehending the inexpressible
goodness of God and at the same time their own nothingness.16 It
is perfection through education. We must learn how to guard and fight against
temptation by looking unto God, who alone is the spiritual victor. Perfection
is not pious acts of mortification, fasting, and so on, but attitudes.
Thus true Christian perfection is "the perfect hatred of ourselves and
the perfect love of God."17
Scougal represents another approach.
"True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of
the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul."18
Perfection, or holiness as Scougal terms it, is "the right temper, the
vigorous and healthful constitution of the soul.''19 The way to arrive
at perfection is by "fixing our love on the divine perfections that we
may have them always before us and derive an impression of them on ourselves."20
This "perfect love" is a kind of self dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves,
a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to all self-interest
that he or she may please God.
Wesley studied Law's Practical
Treatise Upon Christian Perfection with his group two months later,
in November of 1732. Most likely, he had already studied both of Law's
works before he used them with the Oxford group.21 In Christian
Perfection Law begins by defining perfection as "the right and full
performance of those duties which are necessary for all Christians, and
common to all states of life."22 The chief characteristic of Law's
doctrine is the emphasis on taking up the cross and denying oneself.23
This doctrine is not limited to a special group of people, but is expected
of all people in the common everyday duties of life. He believes that we
aim at the highest level of perfection to escape mediocrity; for absolute
devotion to God is demanded of all Christians. And lastly, Law's ideal
is that Christian perfection is likeness to Jesus Christ. We are to be
imitators of Christ if we expect to go where He went.
A month later, on January 1, 1733,
Wesley preached "Circumcision of the Heart" in St. Mary's at Oxford. Early
in December, the Oxford Methodists had experienced an abusive attack, being
charged with "asceticism, voluntary affliction of their bodies, fasting
strictly twice a week, rising at four in the morning, singing hymns for
two hours every day, and in short 'practicing everything contrary to the
judgment of other persons.'"24 Such attacks kept Wesley busy in explicating
his beliefs. In 1765, Wesley summarized this sermon in defense of his doctrine
of perfection.
It is that habitual disposition
of the soul which, in the sacred writings, is termed holiness, and which
directly implies, the being cleansed from all sin, 'from all filthiness
both of flesh and spirit'; and, by consequence, the being endued with those
virtues which were in Christ Jesus, the being so 'renewed in the image
of our mind' as to be 'perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.'
He concluded with,
Here is the sum of the perfect
law, the circumcision of the heart. Let the spirit return to God that gave
it, with the whole train of its affections. . . . 'Have a pure intention
of heart, a steadfast regard to his glory in all your actions.' For then,
and not till then, is that mind in us, which was also in Christ Jesus.
. . '25
Wesley's remarks bear a strong resemblance
to Taylor, Scougal, Lucas, and especially Law.26 Wesley's concept
of Christian perfection at this stage is a combination of these writers.
Wesley notes in his diary that he
read Michael de Molinos and Madame Guyon in the first two months of 1735.
The only quietistic mystic the Oxford group had read earlier was Francis
de Sales in February of 1731 (therefore discussion was postponed till now).
The common thread these writers share is an understanding of union with
God in which the soul "neither wills nor desires anything but to be willed
by her Beloved."27 And while de Sales might speak of charity, this
charity remains ethereal.28
Wesley was initially intrigued with
these writers because as he said, they "gave me an entire new view of religion-nothing
like any I had before."29 But he soon turned against them. By January
of 1738 the conclusion Wesley came to was that "the mystics are the most
dangerous of its [Christianity's] enemies."30
The last and most important group
of spiritualists Wesley read during this period were the Eastern fathers
of the early church: Macarius the Egyptian, Clement of Alexandria and Ephraem
Syrus. The Eastern understanding of perfection is markedly different, both
in substance and form, from the Latin traditions mentioned above. And as
Professor Outler observes, "If Wesley's writings on perfection are to be
read with understanding, his affirmative motive of 'holiness' in the world
must be taken seriously-active holiness in this life-and it becomes intelligible
only in the light of its indirect sources in early and Eastern spirituality."31
Wesley discovered Macarius the Egyptian
while in Georgia. On the thirteenth of July,1736, he noted in his diary
reading Macarius. Later, Wesley published sixty pages of his Homilies in
the first volume of A Christian Library. Marcarius' impact on Wesley,
in its fullest degree, was latent for many years; it was not readily felt
until the sixth decade of the century.
The theology of Macarius had several
distinctive ideas. The first was his doctrine of individualism. The reason
for this individual concentration is that God made the human soul in God's
own image. For Macarius "The life of the soul does not come from its own
nature but from the Godhead, from God's own Spirit."32 A second idea
is that the true life of the soul is God-given. This is grounded in the
mystery of the Incarnation: because God in Christ had drawn near, there
is no region of the soul's progress where it does not find Christ. A third
idea lies in Macarius' notion of the Christian life. The goal is love.
Love is something that a person gradually grows in, and comes to be a perfect
person. And lastly, Macarius has an idea about measuring perfection. "If
any man reaches the perfect love, that man is from henceforth fast bound,
and is the captive of grace."33 This kind of love is ecstasy. But
Macarius does not think of this ecstasy as the final stage. For in ecstasy
the inward person's whole being is carried off into a cloud of oblivion.94
And even though this person "being set at liberty, arrives to such a degree
of perfection, as to become pure and free from sin," he or she
would not be able to undertake
the dispensation of the word. Neither could he bear to hear, or have any
concern for himself or the morrow; but purely to sit in a corner in a state
of elevation: so that the perfect degree of all hath not been given, that
a man may be in a capacity to attend the care of the brother, and the ministration
of the word.35
A combination of events while Wesley
was in Georgia brought about a dramatic change in his self understanding,
both theologically and personally. All but his final theological doctrines
were hammered into shape there. He read some sixty titles.36 His
reading influenced experimentation with worship. He also met the Moravians.
It was Mr. Spangenberg who faced Wesley with forceful questions that deeply
troubled him,37 to say nothing of traveling aboard ship. In the next
two years, Wesley's theology was "smelted and forged into an integral and
dynamic theology in which Eastern notions of synthesis (dynamic interaction
between God's will and man's) were fused with the Protestant sola fide
and sola Scriptura, and with the Moravian stress upon 'inner feeling.'
"38
In 1738, Wesley's sermon "Salvation
by Faith" gave witness to the Protestant sola fide and sola Scriptura.
The sermon, which he preached on June 11, was probably written before the
Aldersgate experience. Wesley sums up his newly formed position saying,
"Christian faith is, then, not only an assent to the whole gospel of Christ,
but also a full reliance on the blood of Christ; a trust in the merits
of His life, death and resurrection. . . . and, in consequence hereof,
a . . . cleaving to Him as our 'wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and
redemption,' or, in a word, our salvation."39
This marks the end of more than a
decade of striving after perfection. Wesley, later in The Appeals,
reflects back on this period saying:
I was utterly ignorant of the nature
and condition of justification. Sometimes I confounded it with sanctification-particularly
when I was in Georgia. At other times I had some confused notion about
the forgiveness of sins, but then I took it for granted the time of this
must be either the hour of death, or the day of judgment.
I was equally ignorant of the nature
of saving faith, apprehending it to mean no more than 'a firm assent to
all the propositions contained in the Old and New Testaments.'40
Some twenty years after this statement,
Wesley gives another account of the early period in the Minutes of 1765.
"In 1729 my brother and I read the Bible; saw inward and outward holiness
therein; followed after it, and incited others so to do."41 In 1737
John said that he and Charles saw that "holiness comes by faith."42
In 1738 John said, "We must be justified before we are sanctified. But
still holiness was our point, inward and outward holiness."43
In this early period, Wesley examined
at least five different concepts of Christian perfection. Taylor and Lucas
represent partially the Church of England's concept which was the belief
that one becomes perfect through rationally disciplined exercises. Perfection
however is not attained until death. The early writings of William Law
provide a second concept. He emphasizes the will of the individual to the
degree that perfection is performing the duties or actions of a Christian
with the proper intentions. A third concept of Christian perfection is
seen in Kempis, Scougal and Scupoli. These writers tend to stress attitudes
as the key to perfection. Perfection expresses itself not in outward action
as seen in the first two concepts but in the individual subjective realm
of self-denial and love of God. A fourth concept stresses union with God
to the extent that even the self is lost in never willing anything but
to be willed by God. The last concept of Christian perfection brings us
back around full circle. The Eastern fathers believe in a union with God
to the extent of losing oneself in the union. Yet this is not the final
stage. The final stage is to return to the creaturely world to care for
people and to administer the word of God. Of these five options, we will
see that Wesley chooses a version of the last one.
III.
The second section of this paper
deals with the middle and controversial years of Wesley's life, from 1739
to roughly 1763. In 1739, the Wesley's published Hymns and Sacred Poems.44
In the preface John says, on the one hand the mystics speak against expecting
to be accepted of God for our virtuous actions, "and then teach that we
are to be accepted of God for our virtuous habits or temper."45 On
the other hand, non mystics or "common writers" suppose we are justified
for the sake of our outward righteousness. The truth is we are no more
justified by one than the other. "Holiness of heart, as well as holiness
of life, is not the cause, but the effect of it justification]. . . . And
even the condition of it is not (as they suppose) our holiness of either
heart or life: but our faith alone. . . "46
Wesley then explains what he means
by perfection. The mystics put forth a solitary religion. If the wilt be
perfect, say they, "trouble not thyself about outward works."47 But
this is directly opposite to the gospel of Christ, for the gospel "knows
no religion, but social; no holiness, but social holiness. Faith working
by love is the length and breadth and depth and height of Christian perfection."48
"You have unction from the Holy One, that teacheth you to renounce any
other or higher perfection, than faith as it hath opportunity doing of
good unto all men."49
The following year, the Wesley's
published a second edition of Hymns and Sacred Poems. In the preface, John
affirms "as a first principle among true believers" that whoever is born
of God "sinneth not: but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and
that wicked one toucheth him not." Again, "Whosoever abideth in him [Christ]
sinneth not." And again, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin.
For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of
God."50
Later in 1740, Wesley wrote The Principles
of a Methodist in response to a tract entitled "A Brief History of the
Principles of Methodism." Evidently there was an uproar over his two prefaces
in Hymns and Sacred Poems, for Wesley was being accused of believing
in "sinless perfection." This was the first of many such charges to come.
(A section of The Principles is also used directly in the preface to the
1742 edition of Hymns and Sacred Poems.)
Wesley addresses this charge by making
some distinctions-the method for which any good theologian opts. First
he suggests that the general prejudice against Christian perfection is
the result of misunderstanding. Perfection is neither a dispensation from
doing good and attending the ordinances of God, nor is it freedom from
ignorance, mistake, temptation, or infirmities. But instead of stating
what perfection is, Wesley tells us who is perfect. Using scriptural phrases
which become stock phrases, he says one is perfect who has "the mind which
was in Christ," who "walketh as Christ walked," who is "cleansed from all
filthiness of flesh and spirit," who "doth not commit gin," etc. 51
"This is to be 'a perfect man,' to be sanctified throughout: even 'to have
a heart so all flaming with the love of God' . . . as continually to offer
up every good thought, word, and work, as a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable
to God through Christ."52
The subject matter shifts then in
The Principles to the doctrine of assurance and regeneration. The leading
of the Spirit is different with different people. Quoting Michael Linner,
Wesley says, "Usually the method is to give in the same moment forgiveness
of sin and a full assurance."53 Regeneration comes in stages. It
usually begins the moment a person comes to Christ by faith and is justified.
But the person is born again in an imperfect sense, for there are two,
if not more, degrees of regeneration. At this stage the person has power
over all the stirrings and motives of sin, but not a total freedom from
them. That freedom Wesley calls sanctification. Sanctification is
the last and highest state of perfection
in this life. For then are the fruitful born again in the full and perfect
sense. Then is there given unto them a new and clean heart; and the struggle
between the old and new man is over.54
Sanctification here means what Wesley
will later term Christian perfection, or entire sanctification. As we will
see when the term sanctification appears two years later, it will include
the entire movement beginning simultaneously with justification, and cover
assurance, regeneration, and perfection.
Wesley's first sermon publication
addressing this issue was an unpreached sermon, "Christian Perfection."
It was printed in 1741, along with Charles Wesley's twenty-eight stanza
hymn on "The Promise of Sanctification." The origin of the sermon he explains
arose in the latter part of 1740, out of a conversation with Dr. Gibson,
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.55
Beginning with a caveat that "whosoever
'preaches perfection'-that is, asserts that it is attainable in this life-runs
great hazard of being accounted by them as a heathen man or a publican,"56
Wesley then proceeds by averring that we must speak of perfection because
Scripture does; but we must distinguish in what sense Christians are not,
and in what sense Christians are "perfect." Christians are not perfect
in knowledge, or free from mistakes, ignorance, infirmities, or temptation.
Christians, rather, are perfect in that Christian perfection "is only another
term for 'holiness.' Thus, every one that is perfect is holy, and every
one that is holy is, in the Scriptural sense, perfect."57 Unfortunately,
Wesley does not define what he means by holiness. Yet he says there is
no absolute perfection on earth. "So that how much so ever any man has
attained, or in how high a degree so ever he is perfect, he hath still
need to 'grow in grace' and daily to advance in the knowledge and love
of God his Saviour."58
In what sense Christians are perfect
is thoroughly examined in the second section of the sermon. Wesley prefaces
his remarks with the premise "that there are stages in Christian life;
some Christians are babes while others have attained more maturity."59
What follows is a long discourse on sin. Wesley zeroes in on Scripture,
attempting to demonstrate that Scripture itself holds the high view that
Christians do not commit sin. Though he admits that Old Testament characters
committed sin, he argues that they were under the dispensation of the law;
but the Christian dispensation changed this. The necessity of sinning no
longer exists. In conformity to the New Testament, "we fix this conclusion:
a Christian is so far perfect as not to commit sin."60
Several significant points stand
out in this sermon. First, the sermon concentrates on sin; freedom from
sin as the sum of Christian perfection. Second, the sermon provides the
exegetical basis for Wesley's doctrine throughout his career. No other
writing contains such an extensive Biblical study of the scriptural position.
A third point is that this sermon becomes Wesley's touchstone for the next
two decades, which he refers to repeatedly as his standard position. Lastly,
Wesley chooses specific terminology: holiness and perfection. Their meaning
is synonymous, and they are understood to describe Christians, from babes
to those becoming mature.61
In 1742, Wesley published a pamphlet
entitled The Character of a Methodist. The point of the pamphlet
is to set out the distinguishing marks of a Methodist. "These marks are
not opinions of any sort, neither are they words or phrases, nor actions,
customs, or usages of an indifferent nature nor by laying the whole stress
of religion on any single part of it. Rather, a Methodist is one who has
'the love of God shed in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him' "62
; one who loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength; one who
is filled with "perfect love." All distinctions that may separate Methodists
from other Christians here are disparaged. And no special doctrine is exemplary
of a Methodist.
Wesley made his first major defense
of his movement to the English world in 1742 with the publication of An
Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion. By this time, he had experienced
mob violence, pamphlet smears, and name calling, a good deal of which was
generated due to poorly informed sources. In an age boasting of rationality,
Wesley attempts to provide serious recovery of the validity of faith.63
He begins his discussion on Christian
perfection by defending his earlier writings (especially "Christian Perfection").
First, he notes that they have heard his teaching that "Men may live without
sin." He then asserts that Scripture teaches the same thing-people may
live without committing sin. Paul says that those who believe do not "continue
in sin."64 Peter says he that suffers in the flesh has ceased to
sin.65 John says he who commits sin is of the devil . . . whoever
is born of God does not commit sin,66 and whoever is born of God
sins not.67 So, Wesley claims, it is not the Methodists but God's
Word which proclaims this doctrine. So Christians "then have been empowered
not to commit sin."68
Nothing new with regard to Christian
perfection appears in An Earnest Appeal. As already mentioned, it
is basically the same as Wesley's sermon "Christian Perfection." However,
the emphasis appears to shift more toward love than sin.
By 1744, the novelty of the Revival
was wearing off. It would have probably dissipated had it not been for
Wesley's own patterns of polity and discipline. His preachers were in need
of an elementary doctrinal compend and an administrative charter.69
Wesley accomplished both with an annual conference in which the format
was question and answer. The Minutes of those meetings, along with Wesley's
sermons which he began to publish two years later, and the Explanatory
Notes On the New Testament, become the standards of doctrine for Methodists.
The Minutes of 1744 mark a change
in the terminology of Wesley' s doctrine of Christian perfection. The term
sanctification replaces the term Christian perfection, which is not mentioned
in the Minutes of 1744. The change might be explained partly by Wesley
reverting back more heavily to the Homilies and Articles of Religion
of the Church of England.70 Pressure was mounting on what some
considered novel and dangerous theology. Wesley saw sanctification as being
renewed in the image of God, in true righteousness, and true holiness.
Faith is the condition and instrument of sanctification. When we begin
to believe, salvation begins; and as faith increases, holiness increases
(notice that Wesley uses "holiness" and "sanctification" synonymously).
When one is reborn, a great change is wrought in the heart and affections,
although one is still full of sin so that he or she does not have a new
heart in the full sense. Here a distinction is made between different levels
of believers. A believer who has sin is born of God in a low sense. "But
he that is in the proper sense born of God cannot commit sin.''71
This distinction was made first in the sermon "Christian Perfection." Being
made perfect in love is defined as loving God with all our mind, soul and
strength. The term "Perfect in love" also appeared in The Character of
a Methodist, but this time it is directly connected with the term sanctification,
for if one is "perfect in love," one cannot sin. All sin is taken away.
This is another instance where "sanctification" is used as "Christian perfection."
In the second conference of 1745,
the doctrine of sanctification is more fully developed. And the doctrine
of assurance becomes tangled with it. Assurance is absolutely necessary
to inward holiness, but not to outward holiness.
Wesley is confronted with the often
repeated charge, especially later on, that he has changed his preaching
or doctrine. He responds in 1745 by pointing out that at first he preached
to unbelievers. But those now whose
foundation is already laid, we
exhort to go on to perfection; which we did not see so clearly at first,
although we occasionally spoke of it from the beginning. Yet we now
preach, and that continually, faith in Christ as Prophet, Priest and King,
at least as clearly, as strongly and as fully as we did six years ago.
72
Full attention is then directed toward
sanctification. Inward sanctification begins at the moment of justification,
when "the seed of every virtue is then instantaneously sown in the soul.
>From that the believer gradually dies to sin and grows in grace. Yet sin
remains in him, yea, the seed of all sin till he is sanctified throughout
in spirit, soul and body."73 If a person dies without being sanctified,
"he cannot see the Lord. But none who seeks it sincerely shall or can die
without it, though possibly he may not attain till the very article of
death."74 In fact, Wesley believes that those who expect and ask
for it may attain it much sooner than a little before death. "Although
we grant (1) that the generality of believers are not so sanctified till
near death; (2) that few of those to whom St. Paul writes in his Epistles
were so at the time he wrote; (3) that he himself was not perfected at
the time of his former Epistles."75 But Scripture does affirm St.
John and all of those he wrote to as being wholly sanctified.76
In the first two years' Minutes,
sanctification is understood as beginning simultaneously with justification.
But in the second year, Wesley introduces two new terms-"the state of full
sanctification" and "wholly sanctified"-and stresses striving after such
an experience. So "sanctification" and "the state of full sanctification"
or "wholly sanctified" are different. "Entire sanctification" is a new
term as well. But it is not clear from the Minutes what it means. On the
one hand, it is used in connection with justification77 similar to
sanctification in the 1744 Minutes. On the other hand, entire sanctification
is used like "wholly sanctified" or "the state of full sanctification"
in suggesting that we should preach this to those not pressing on.
Later in the same year, Wesley published
A
Further Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion in response to the urging
of his associates at the June conference of 1744. He follows a similar
course to that already charted in the 1739 preface to Hymns and Sacred
Poems. He also uses the term "sanctification," a word not employed
in the first Appeal. It is used interchangeably with salvation, and retains
a similar relation to justification as in the Minutes early in the year.
What is new in the Further Appeals
is the discussion on salvation. Salvation does not mean
barely (accordingly to the vulgar
notion) deliverance from hell, or going to heaven, but a present deliverance
from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original
purity, a recovery of the divine nature- the renewal of our souls after
the image of God in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy
and truth.78
The difference between these two notions
is this: the vulgar notion, with its focus on our future state, does not
deal with present sin. Wesley believes it is paramount to do so. Only when
we deal with present sin can we speak of holiness. And holiness and salvation,
Wesley believes, are synonymous.
Several earlier aspects are missing
in this description of sanctification. Entire sanctification is cursorily
named as something that goes before our final justification at the last
day.79 Wesley also employs a new image in speaking about salvation.
Its gradation is compared to the kingdom of God: if a person should cast
seed into the ground, it springs up, first the blade, then the ear, then
the full corn on the ear. The first sowing of the seed is instantaneous.
After explicating his beliefs, Wesley takes up the argument of his critics.
Regarding the doctrine of sanctification, the pamphlet Observations,80
which was widely ascribed to Bishop Gibson of London. Questions Wesley
about the practical outcome of this doctrine.81 He asks, "Does not
imagining that one is in the state of perfection lead man into spiritual
pride? And do not men who have attained this probably despise others as
to what they account the low and imperfect way, i.e., as growing in grace
and goodness by degree?"82 Wesley answers simply that false imagination
is spiritual pride. "But true Christian perfection is no other than humble
love."83
The second question is also highly
perceptive. Bishop Gibson has picked the issue which Wesley adroitly passed
over-whether there is a difference between Christian perfection (a state
achieved after sanctification) and gradual sanctification. Wesley responds
in two parts. First, he notes that persons who only imagine they have attained
perfection despise others. Second, growing in grace and goodness by degrees,
he says is no mere mark of the low and perfect way. "Those who are fathers
in Christ grow in grace by degrees as well as the new born babes."84
Gibson again presses Wesley on the
conditions of salvation. Faith, holiness, or universal obedience is the
ordinary condition of final salvation, Wesley responds. But the condition
of present salvation is faith alone. Faith implies that (1) persons are
saved from their sins and can be inwardly or outwardly holy, and (2) that
whenever faith is given, holiness commences in the soul.
The Minutes of 1746 address the issue
of salvation once again. By asserting salvation by faith Wesley means the
following: That pardon (salvation begun) is received by faith producing
works; that holiness (salvation continued) is faith working by love; that
heaven (salvation finished) is the reward of this faith.
The question of doctrine changing
arises in the 1746 Minutes a second time. How is what you now preach different
from your Oxford days? Can some degree of love of God go before a distinct
sense of justification? This question addresses Wesley's early years sharply.
He answers, "We believe it may." But this response raises the sticky question
of sanctification or holiness in degrees before justification. Wesley affirms
outward holiness may come before sanctification, but qualifies the statement"-.
. . they do not spring from Christian principles. For the abiding love
of God cannot spring but from faith in a pardoning God, and no true Christian
holiness can exist without that love of God for its foundation."85
The Minutes of 1747 are special in
that they clarify some important aspects of Wesley's writing on the doctrine.
Wesley affirms that assurance comes in degrees. He then turns to the Church
of England's doctrine of sanctification. They grant:
1. That everyone must be entirely
sanctified in the article of death;
2. That till then a believer daily
grows in grace, and comes nearer and nearer to perfection;
3. That we ought to be continually
pressing after this, and to exhort all others so to do.86
Wesley agrees that (1) the greater part
of those who have died in the faith were not sanctified throughout until
a little before death; (2) that the term "sanctified" is continually applied
by Paul to all that were justified-were true believers, (3) that by this
term alone he rarely (if ever) means saved from all sin; (4) that it is
not proper to use it in this sense, without adding the word "wholly," "entirely,"
or the like; (5) that the Biblical writers very rarely spoke of those wholly
sanctified, either of themselves or those to whom they wrote; (6) that
consequently we must speak almost continually of the state of justification,
but rarely, and in full and explicit terms, concerning entire sanctification.
The difference between Wesley's view
and the Church of England's view is that Wesley believes God will save
us from all sin before the article of death. It is a clear scriptural promise.
Wesley believes perfection and entire sanctification are used interchangeably,
but he does not include the former in his six points above regarding the
latter.
Issues surrounding sanctification
die down for a decade after 1747. The Minutes deal with the problems of
discipline. Little is written on this subject during this period. In 1753
Wesley publishes A Plain Account of Genuine Christianity, "his vision
of the Christian ideal."87 The ideal Christian is one who cannot
think of God without abasing himself/herself before God; one who has a
continual sense of dependence on God, one who has the strongest affection
for the fountain of all good, one who remembers that God above all is generous
and disinterested love. This love is productive of all right affections
and constrains one with a strict regard for truth, with artless sincerity
and genuine simplicity. This same love is productive of all right actions.
The Christian is happy knowing there is a God and that God loves her/him.
This is the plain naked portraiture of a Christian, Wesley believes. Christianity
describes this character, especially in 1 Corinthians 13 and the Beatitudes.
Christianity promises this character will be mine if I will not rest till
I attain it. Christianity tells me how I may attain, namely by faith. "So
Christianity tells me and so I find it . . . And Christianity, considered
as an inward principle, is the completion of all those promises. It is
holiness and happiness, the image of God impressed on a created spirit;
a fountain of peace and love springing up into everlasting life."88
Three years later Wesley penned two
of his clearest accounts of perfection in his letters to William Dodd.
They were both later published in 1779 in The Arminian Magazine.
Nevertheless, nothing new appears in them. They simply reaffirm Wesley's
concept of Christian perfection in his middle years.
Wesley's letter to Thomas Olivers
in March of 1757 brings a new situation to light. People are claiming a
"second blessing" experience. Two other things appear related as well to
Christian perfection. One is Wesley's claim that without Christian perfection
no one can be happy on this earth. Such a claim is reminiscent of Lucas.
The other is that one fruit is given at the same instant as a positive,
direct testimony of the Spirit that the work of perfection is done.
The following year was also a troubled
one for Wesley's doctrine of sanctification. In a letter to Elizabeth Hardy,
April 5, 1758, Wesley indicates some of his preachers are propounding new
doctrines.89 The doctrines are one, if you die without attaining
perfection, you will perish. And two, a believer is under the curse of
God and in a state of damnation till he or she receives perfection. Such
radicalness leads Wesley in his letter to define perfection solely as "perfect
love" or "loving God with all our heart." Wesley is convinced every believer
may attain this, yet no damnation exists for those who do not. Nevertheless
Wesley still holds it is fit or necessary in the nature of things that
a soul should be saved from all sin before it enters glory. It is written
"no unclean thing shall enter into it."90
A new dimension of Christian perfection
emerges out of this conflict in the 1758 Minutes. It is a discussion of
the need that the "perfect" have for the merits of Christ. They also have
a need for forgiveness, Wesley says, because even a mistake is a transgression
of the perfect law. Every such mistake, were it not for atonement, would
expose one to eternal damnation. With this move, Wesley succeeds in demonstrating
that even the most perfect have continual need of the merits of Christ.
Once again, Wesley takes up his pen
in defense of his doctrine. This time it is 1759. The pamphlet Thoughts
on Christian Perfection was published in Sermons On Several Occasions
in 1760. Using loaded questions, his critics had tried to force Wesley
to admit that he had modified his earlier teaching. Instead, Wesley wisely
gathered all the objections into a series of questions at the London Conference
of 1759, and soon after published Thoughts.91
Wesley adds a preface to Thoughts
for the Christian Reader. In it he states his purpose for writing Thoughts
is not to gratify curiosity, to prove the doctrine in opposition to those
who ridicule it, or to answer the numerous objections by serious persons
to his doctrine of Christian perfection. Rather, Wesley intends to declare
his sentiments, which he has entertained for the last twenty-five years,
as to what Christian perfection includes, what it does not, and to add
a few observations.
What then is Christian perfection
in 1760 for John Wesley? His stock answer is-"The loving God with all our
heart, mind, soul, and strength." He first defined it in this fashion in
the preface of Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739. Next he quotes from
the 1758 Minutes a list of mistakes and the need for perfect Christians
to depend on the merits of Christ. This is then elaborated in Thoughts.
In every state we need Christ: for grace, for all blessings-temporal, spiritual,
and eternal-and for atonement of all our omissions, shortcomings, and deviations.
Wesley also approaches the topic
from another vantage point very similar to Law's. Christian perfection
is the subject of every desire to obedience of Christ. "The will is entirely
subject to the will of God and the affections wholly fixed on him."92
If a person is in such a state, what motive could induce a person to a
transgression of the law? Wesley's answer is that no evil can induce a
"perfect" person to do any act that is "formally evil," though materially
through infirmity the person may be condemned by the perfect law. Some
people do not make this distinction between formal and material. Therefore
they misunderstand Wesley's claims that Christians may be perfect.
But can a person be deceived about
being perfect? Wesley believed that even if one is deceived, it is a harmless
mistake because the person feels nothing but love in his or her heart.
His point is that as long as one feels love and is animated by love in
all one's actions, thoughts, and words, anyone else can call this whatever
they like. At the same time, nevertheless, Wesley recognizes that this
is not a permanent state of being. Love can die. He stresses though, that
simply because some lose entire sanctification, that does not mean the
doctrine is false. Such logic would demand that all persons are deceived
who experience entire sanctification.
The next year, Wesley extended his
previous work by writing Farther Thoughts On Christian Perfection.
In his Journal, he wrote, "Had the cautions given herein been observed,
how much scandal had been prevented! And why were they not? Because my
own familiar friend [Thomas Maxfield] was even now forming a party against
me."
In Farther Thoughts Wesley
introduces for the first time, in his discussion of Christian perfection,
the concept of the Adamic covenant. The purpose is clearly to make sense
of the notion of material evil that he had introduced in Thoughts. When
Adam fell, he not only lost the original powers allowing him to act, speak,
and think rightly, but in addition, his incorruptible body became corruptible.
"It is as natural for a man to [make a] mistake as to breathe; and he can
no more live without one than without the other . . ."93 Consequently,
no person is able to serve this law. But Christ brought an end to the Adamic
law. The new law is faith in Christ as our Prophet. And even the holiest
of persons constantly needs Christ, due to Adam's sin. Wesley then reiterates
his previous position from the Minutes of 1745 explaining again the meaning
of Prophet, Priest, and King.94
A subtle change occurs here in Wesley's
idea of perfection. In the 1747 Minutes, he stated that generally Christians
have been entirely sanctified right before death. One senses that he is
referring to non-Methodists. By 1761, Wesley sees Methodists there, too.
However, he says, "I believe this is the cast of most, but not all."95
By 1762, things have progressed to
the point where Wesley felt compelled to write Cautions and Directions
Given to the Greatest Professors in the Methodist Societies. The "enthusiasts,"
as Wesley called them, were led by George Bell and Thomas Maxfield. They
developed a doctrine of entire sanctification to compensate for what they
viewed as Wesley's compromise in allowing a preacher who had not experienced
entire sanctification to teach those who had. Wesley responded to the situation
with six pieces of advice: Watch and pray continually against pride; beware
of enthusiasm, antinomianism, sins of omission, desiring anything but God,
and of schism.
In summary, John Wesley's understanding
of "sanctification" and "perfection" during his middle years should be
bisected into two segments. The first segment, from 1739 to approximately
1744, is characterized by stressing "sanctification" and "perfection" as
meaning sinless living. Although he does see people at different levels
of maturity, these levels are stages of regeneration, not sanctification
or perfection. This understanding of the terms explains why he can equate
sanctification and perfection: they both mean the absence of sin. The identical
meaning also explains how Wesley can claim them both to be synonymous with
holiness. Even "perfect in love" means sinless living during this segment.
The other segment of this middle period runs from 1745 to roughly 1763.
Wesley is developing some sophistication in understanding what it means
to become a mature Christian. Sanctification begins simultaneously with
justification and continues to death. Perfection is an instantaneous experience
after sanctification where the believers ceases to sin. Sin is still the
constitutive element of his concept of Christian perfection. However, is
this very point that initiates the last period of John Wesley's understanding
of Christian perfection.
IV
Gradually over the second segment
of the middle years, Wesley had been moving away from the position that
sin has a direct correlation with those "perfect in love." Characteristic
of the late period is the constant reminder that the "perfect" can fall
from grace. Another aspect Wesley energetically stresses is the works of
sanctification. It is as if he has reverted back to a pre-1738 emphasis
on works as his concept of sanctification, except for the dimension of
faith. These new aspects mark the maturation of Wesley's thought, and thus
bring us to the final section of this paper.
The restatement of sin relating to
love can be seen in the letter Wesley wrote to Mrs. Maitland, in May of
1763. Is there not sin in those Christians that are perfect? she asks.
Wesley answers, "I believe not; but be that as it may, they feel no temper
but 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."96
Wesley, in his Journal on March 28,
1763, writes that the sermon "On Sin In Believers" was to correct the notion
that there is no sin in any who are justified. This notion of "sinless
perfection," Wesley says, springs up from Count Zinzendorf's influence;
and although Zinzendorf has given up the notion, it lives on in England.97
Hence we have the problem of sinless Christians.
The problem is one that has already
been discussed. However, Wesley illumines us with his response. The question
is this: Are the justified freed from all sin at their justification? At
that time they are sanctified and washed, and have power over both inward
and outward sin. But Wesley does not believe that the person is freed from
sin at this point, for Paul says the contrary. Moreover, the "position
'there is no sin in a believer, no carnal mind, no bent to backsliding,'
is thus contrary to the Word of God, so it is to the experience of his
children."98 Christians continually feel a heart bent to backsliding,
a natural tendency to evil. Daily they sense this. Yet at the same time,
they know that they are of God, and feel the witness of God's Spirit with
theirs. "They are equally assured that sin is in them and that 'Christ
is in them the hope of glory.' "99
But the question arises: Can Christ
dwell in the same heart with sin? Wesley answers yes. Christ, however,
cannot reign where sin reigns. "But he is and dwells in the heart of every
believer, who is fighting against all sin. . ."100
Wesley lays out twelve arguments
used to support sinless perfection, and counters each one skillfully. The
sum of all this is:
there are in every person, even
after he is justified, two contrary principles, nature and grace, termed
by St. Paul the flesh and the Spirit. Hence, although even babes in Christ
are sanctified, yet it is only in part. In a degree, according to the measure
of their faith they are spiritual; yet in a degree they are carnal.101
From experience, Christians know this
struggle.
Let us, therefore, hold fast the
sound doctrine, 'once delivered to the saints,' and delivered down by them,
with the written word, to all succeeding generations: that, although we
are renewed, cleansed, purified, sanctified, the moment we truly believe
in Christ, yet we are not then renewed, cleansed, purified altogether;
but the flesh, the evil nature, still remains (though subdued), and wars
against the Spirit. So much the more let us use all diligence in 'fighting
the good fight of faith.'102
"The Scripture Way of Salvation" was
occasioned in 1765 by the controversy of the antinomian teachings of John
and Robert Sanderman (who had gained the following of two of Wesley's most
gifted preachers, Thomas Maxfield and George Bell). More than any other
single statement, this sermon clarifies Wesley's concept of sanctification,
placing it in the context of his overall theology.
Some who have forsaken sanctification
made the mistake of assuming that all sin was gone. Macarius, fourteen
hundred years ago, described this very situation.
The unskillful [inexperienced],
when . . . grace operates, presently imagine they have no more sin. Whereas
they that have discretion cannot deny that even we who have the grace of
God may be molested again . . . For we have often had instances of some
among the brethren who have experienced such . . . grace as to affirm that
. . . they had no sin in them, and yet, after all, when they thought themselves
entirely freed . . . from it, the corruption that lurked within was stirred
up anew and they were well nigh burnt up.103
The aspects Wesley clarifies are helpful.
One is sanctified in the same manner that one is justified: faith is the
condition. There must be good works for both, though good works are not
the condition for faith. Good works of sanctification are bifurcated into
works of piety and works of mercy, both of which are in some sense necessary
for sanctification, just as the fruits of repentance are in some sense
necessary for justification. This means there are good works that come
before sanctification and good works that follow it; without these works,
one is not sanctified. Such is the case with justification. This point
is at the heart of the controversy with antinomianism.
In The Scripture Way, Wesley draws
heavily from his previous sermon "On Sin in Believers" to stress that sin
remains, though it does not necessarily reign. Experience produces a conviction
of our helplessness, our utter inability to think one good thought, or
to form one good desire. It is only through God's free, almighty grace,
first preventing us and then accompanying us every moment that we do any
good.
But contrary to "On Sin In Believers,"
Wesley now speaks of entire sanctification forcefully. It is full salvation
from all our sins. It is equivalent to perfection defined as "perfect love."
But what is that faith whereby we are sanctified, saved from sin, and perfected
in love? This faith Wesley says is first promised in Scripture. What God
promised, second, He is able to perform. God can bring the uncleanness
out. Third, God is ready to do it now. Fourthly, God does it instantaneously.
This progressive movement is identical with Genuine Christianity.
In 1765, Wesley published the first
of six editions of A Plain Account of Christian Perfection as Believed
and Taught by the Rev. John Wesley from 1725 to 1765. The tract, a
collection of his writings on the subject,104 is a defense once again
of his movement. The writings that appear in A Plain Account have
been discussed, with the exception of a short account of the life and death
of Jane Cooper, an unidentified tract, and Wesley's own conclusion. The
first two exceptions add little to our understanding of Christian perfection.
But the conclusion is helpful.
In the conclusion, two things are
noteworthy. Wesley says in 1764 he summed up Christian perfection in the
following propositions. (I mention what is not repetitious.)
4. It is not absolute. Absolute perfection
belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone.
6. Is it sinless? It is not worth
while to contend for the term. It is 'salvation from sin' (my emphasis).
7. It is 'perfect love.' This is
the essence of it; its properties, or inseparable
fruits, are rejoicing evermore, praying
without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks.
9. It is amissible, capable of being
lost; of which we have numerous instances. But we were not thoroughly convinced
of this till five or six years ago (my emphasis).105
The other thing is this: Wesley now
sees Christian perfection from at least three vantage points.
In one view, it is purity of intention,
dedication of all the life to God . . . In another view, it is all the
mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked . . . In
yet another, it is the loving God with all our heart, and our neighbor
as ourselves.106
In the same year Wesley wrote an important
sermon-"The Lord Our Righteousness." The important and controversial point
of the sermon is that Wesley argued "must we not put off the filthy rags
of our own righteousness before we can put on the spotless righteousness
of Christ?"107 He says certainly we must. The implication here appears
to be that (1) there are works of justification and sanctification that
come before being justified and sanctified. And (2) our works are an integral
part of salvation.
In Brief Thoughts On Christian
Perfection, written in 1767, Wesley says he needs to "retract several
expressions in our Hymns, which partly express, partly imply, such an impossibility"108
as never falling from perfection. Wesley is referring to the 1740 edition
of Hymns and Sacred Poems. In his second edition of A Plain Account,
he admits overstating the case regarding the following: not desiring ease
of pain, having no thoughts when coming before God except of Him; having
no doubt or fear as to any action; relying on the Holy One for what to
speak or do, and thus having no need for reason.109
The Minutes CF 1768 are also insightful.
Wesley castigates the preachers for the societies' laxity, for formality
creeping into singing, and for neglecting fasts. He complains that
few are convinced, few justified,
few of our brothers are sanctified. Hence more and more doubt, if we be
sanctified at all till death: I mean sanctified throughout, saved from
all sin, perfect in love. That way we may speak the same thing. I ask once
more, shall we defend this perfection or give it up?110
The Minutes are also helpful in clearing
up ambiguous terminology. "Sanctified throughout," "saved from all," "perfected
in love," "perfection," and "entire sanctification" all mean the same thing-an
instantaneous experience in the gradual movement of sanctification.
In the 1770 Minutes Wesley's concern
is reviving the work of God. Visitation has slacked. Idleness and loitering
abound. Such a condition is not compatible with growth in grace. "Without
exactness in redeeming time," he says, "it is impossible to retain even
the life you received in justification."111 He refers back to the
Minutes of 1768 for suggesting the place to begin is dispersing books,
preaching in morning services, singing, fasting, and experiencing instantaneous
deliverance from sin.112
At the end of the 1770 Minutes, Wesley
says those of us accepted now by God are those that believe in Christ with
a loving obedient heart. Those who have never heard Christ, fear God and
do works of righteousness according to the light they have. This raises
the controversy of salvation by works. Wesley affirms salvation "not by
the merit of works but by works as a condition"; of merit itself we have
been afraid, but "we are rewarded 'according to our works'; yea 'because
of our works.'"113 Such a view seems to diverge form the earlier
position that faith is the only condition of justification and sanctification.
In a sermon entitled "On Perfection,"
written in 1784, Wesley exegetes Hebrew 6:1, "Let us go on unto perfection."
If we do not go on to perfection, we are in danger of falling away. Wesley
says, "and if we do fall away, it is 'impossible,' that is, exceedingly
hard, 'to renew us again to repentance.' "114 He then clarifies what
perfection here means. It is neither the perfection of angels, nor Adamic
perfection. It is not perfection from ignorance, error, infirmities, or
some affections. Rather "the sum of Christian perfection . . . is all comprised
in that one word, love."115 In addition to this definition, Wesley
produces eight scriptural quotations for what he understands as perfection.116
Only one of the definitions mentions sin.
Two sermons, written in the last
years of Wesley's life, reinforce the common thread that weaves throughout
the last section of this paper. In "On Working Out Our Own Salvation,"
a sermon written in 1785, Wesley is developing the idea that "it is God
who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure." First he affirms
this "grand truth." He then creates tension by saying
. . . work out your own salvation.
The original word, rendered work out, implies the doing a thing thoroughly.
Your own, for yourselves must do this, or it will be left undone for ever.117
He goes on to say salvation begins with
preventing grace which includes wishing to please God, discovering His
will, and discerning our sin against Him. "All these imply some tendency
toward life, some degree of salvation."118 Salvation is carried on
by convincing grace-repentance. It is then that we experience the proper
Christian salvation, that is, justification and sanctification. This tension
of both God and humans working out our salvation is brought together by
Wesley's averring "first God works: therefore you can work. Secondly, God
works, therefore you must work."119
The other sermon, "On the Wedding
Garment" was written on March 26, 1790, only months before his death. It
is based on the parable of Matthew 22:12. The parable is about the banquet
a king throws for his son. When the king greets his guests, he notices
one guest has failed to wear the proper wedding garment. When asked why,
the friend is speechless. So the king has him thrown into the outer darkness.
Wesley interprets the wedding garment as that "holiness without which no
one will see the Lord." The righteousness of Christ and the holiness of
the person are both necessary. The former entitles us to heaven: the latter
qualifies us for it. But what is this holiness? "In a word, holiness is
the having 'the mind that was in Christ' and 'the walking as he walked.'
"120
To sum up Wesley's understanding
of "sanctification" and "perfection" in the late period, we need to recognize
several shifts. From his mounting years of experience, Wesley seems to
be taking sin more seriously, as seen in his sermon "On Sin in Believers."
He speaks of perfection in terms of "perfect love" which is not necessarily
related to not sinning. In fact, Wesley says he will not contend for the
term "sinless." A shift is also seen in the stress laid upon the works
of sanctification. Wesley seemingly goes to the extent of equating works
with faith as the condition of salvation-the beginning of sanctification.
A third shift occurs in the way Wesley speaks of perfection being lost.
Experience again has shown him too many examples to deny this. And lastly,
Wesley speaks on several occasions of different vantage points for understanding
perfection. But when these points are boiled down to essentials, the essence
of Christian perfection for John Wesley is love.
V
In reviewing the three periods of
Wesley's life we have seen, contrary to his own claims, that his concept
of Christian perfection changed in some ways, and yet it remained the same
in other ways.
We will deal first with the unchanging
aspect of the doctrine. In reference to his reading of Taylor and Kempis,
Wesley saw that every part of his life must be dedicated to God, to simplicity
of intention and purity of affection coupled with love. This should govern
all speech, desires, and tempers. In this sense Wesley consistently maintained
his doctrine of sanctification, for these aspects consumed his entire life.
I say sanctification here instead
of perfection intentionally. This is due to Wesley's own usage over the
last six decades of his life. He came to understand sanctification as the
entire gradation of Christian maturity, beginning Simultaneously with justification
and extending to the moment of death. Perfection, however, should be limited
to the instantaneous work of the Spirit whereby one is cleansed, as in
Wesley's early understanding, or whereby one's entire being is consumed
with the love of God and neighbor, according to Wesley's later understanding.
It becomes difficult to grasp this distinction clearly without first discussing
how Wesley's doctrine of sanctification changed. Herein lies the historical
confusion. He began his "serious religion" with sanctification as the condition
for justification. In 1738 he reversed his order and faith became the condition
of both. Wesley disregarded any works prior to sanctification for the next
twenty-five years. But gradually he gravitated back toward his pre-1738
position to the extent of incorporating works as necessary along with faith
for sanctification. Put most strongly in the 1768 Minutes, Wesley claims
works joined with faith is the condition for sanctification-but not the
merits of it.
Another change occurred in how the
doctrine of perfection was proclaimed. In Wesley's middle years, the absence
of sin usually, if not always, was juxtaposed to love. This created the
constant tension of "sinless perfection." In his later years, he stressed
love reigning in the whole heart, at times even disparaging the notion
of absence of sin. Such a state of "perfect love" is always temporary.
That is, Wesley emphasized that this state could be lost. But it could
also be regained. Wesley was emphatic at this point. No person is ever
so secure in grace that he or she can never fall from it.
And finally, Wesley's notion of "perfection"
within his doctrine of sanctification was first and foremost a practical
doctrine. One could argue that it evolved out of Wesley's own need to keep
his Methodists ever pressing on toward inward and outward holiness. For
if perfection is only possible in the next life, why press on in this life?
Yet if perfection is attained simultaneously with justification, why do
any good works at all?
Not only is his doctrine practical,
as it steers between extremes, it is also logically necessary. If he rejects
the two extremes, there must be a middle position. Yet such a middle position
cannot have any degree of absoluteness or else the position becomes one
of the extremes.
Notes
1. Wesley makes this claim in A
Plain Account in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson
(Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1979), (hereafter Jackson: Works),
11:369.
2. Martin Schmidt, John Wesley:
A Theological Biography, trans. Norman R. Goldhawk (Nashville: Abingdon,
1960), 1:77-80.
3. Ibid., p. 67. It is said of King,
Schmidt avers, that he "always carried about with him a copy of The Imitation
of Christ."
4. Schmidt says Wesley reasoned that
God made humans to be happy, and gave them the physical ability to enjoy
little pleasures.
5. Ibid., p. 53.
6. John Wesley: A Christian Library
(hereafter A Christian Library) (Bristol n.p., 1749-1755), 24:60-430.
7. Lucas in A Christian Library,
24:283.
8. Ibid, p. 283.
9. Ibid., p. 283.
10. This is Wesley's interpolation.
11. Ibid, p. 308.
12. Wesley published parts of it
in 1748.
13. William Law, A Serious Call
to a Devout and Holy Life (London: J. M. Dent and Sons, 1955), p. 18.
14. However she knew the book under
the title Spiritual Conflict, by the Benedictine Juan de Castaniza,
who published Scupoli's work with his own. Schmidt, p. 48.
15. Ibid, p. 53.
16. Ibid, p. 48.
17. From Spiritual Combat in Albert
C. Outler's John Wesley (London: Epworth Press, 1964), p. 252.
18. Henry Scougal, The Life of
God in the Soul of Man, ed. W. S. Hudson (Philadelphia. Westminster
Press, 1958), p. 30.
19. Ibid, p. 48.
20. Ibid, p. 49.
21. Wesley says he read both of Law's
works before 1730. See The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, ed.
Nehemiah Curnock (New York: Eaton and Mains, n.d.), (henceforth Wesley:
Journal),
1:467.
22. R. Newton Flew, The Idea of
Perfection in Christian Theology (London: Oxford, 1934), p. 294.
23. Ibid, p. 295. I am indebted to
Flew for my discussion of Law's Christian Perfection.
24. Cited in Fogg's Journal,
December 9, 1732-quoted in E. H. Sugden (ed): Wesley's Standard Sermons
(hereafter The Standard Sermons), (London: Epworth Press. 1921). 1:264.
25. A Plain Account in Jackson:
Works,
11:367-68.
26. Most of the quotations Wesley
used in "The Circumcision of the Heart" I suspect come from the above writers.
When the new Works come out this can be verified.
27. Molinos, The Spiritual Guide
Which Disentangles the Soul, ed. Kathleen Lyttelton (London: Methuen
and Company, 1950), p. 199.
28. de Sales, Introduction to
the Devout Life, trans. and ed. J. K. Ryan (New York: Harper and Row,
1952), p. 3.
29 John Wesley, ed. Albert
C. Outler (London: Oxford, 1964), 47. (Journal entry for January 24, 1738).
30. Ibid, p. 47.
31. Outler, John Wesley, p.
252.
32. Ibid, p. 252.
33. R. Newton Flew, The Idea of
Perfection in Christian Theology, p. 180. I have drawn extensively
from Flew on Macarius.
34. The Homilies of Macarius
in A Christian Library, 1:88.
35. Ibid., p. 88-89.
36. Outler, John Wesley, p.
12-13.
37. See Wesley: Journal, 1:151.
38. Outler, John Wesley, p.
14.
39. The Standard Sermons,
1:40f.
40. Frank Baker, gen. ed., The
Works of John Wesley, 42 vols. (London: Oxford, 1975-), (hereafter
Baker: Works) 11:176-77: The Appeals, by Gerald Cragg.
41. Minutes of the Methodist Conferences
(London: John Mason, 1872), (henceforth The Minutes), 1:55.
42. Ibid, p. 55.
43. Ibid, p. 55.
44. Wesley acknowledges some verses
were written upon the scheme of the Mystic divines. "But we are now convinced
that we therein greatly erred: not knowing the Scripture, neither the power
of God," Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1st ed., coll. and arr. in George Osborn,
The
Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley (London: Wesleyan-Methodist
Conference Office,1868), (henceforth Osborn: Poetical Works), lxix.
45. Ibid., p. xiv.
46. Ibid., p. xx.
47. Ibid, p. xxii.
48. Ibid., p. XXii.
49. Ibid, p. xxii.
50. Hymns and Sacred Poems,
2nd ed., in Osborn: Poetical Works, 1:199.
51. Jackson: Works, 8:374.
52. Ibid., p. 365.
53. Ibid, p. 371
54. Ibid., p. 373.
55. A Plain Account in Jackson:
Works,
11:374.
56. Outler, John Wesley, p.
254.
57. Ibid, p. 254.
58. Ibid, p. 254.
59. Ibid, p. 259.
60. Ibid, p. 267.
61. Several scriptural references
Wesley repeatedly uses to round his doctrine are: Matt. 7:17-18; 21:12-33;
Mark 7:12; Luke 6:40; and 2 Cor. 10:4.
62. Jackson: Works, 8:342.
63. Gerald Cragg, in the "Introduction"
to A Farther Appeal in Baker: Works, 11:95, notes that Wesley assigned
this writing together with the Farther Appeals a distinctive role.
In his Journal, on January 5,1761, he writes, "I have again communicated
my thoughts on both heads to all mankind I believe intelligibly, particularly
in the "Appeals To Men of Reason and Religion. "
64. Romans 6:12.
65. 1 Peter 4:12.
66. 1 John 3:8-9.
67. 1 John 5:18.
68. Baker: Works, 11:66.
69. Outler, John Wesley, p.
135.
70. Here I mean sometime after his
1738 reading and before or during writing Farther Appeals.
71. Outler, John Wesley, p.
160.
72. Ibid., p. 151.
73. Ibid, p. 152.
74. Ibid, p. 152.
75. Ibid, p. 152-53.
76. 1 John 4:17.
77. Outler, John Wesley, p.
151.
78. Baker: Works, 11:106.
79. Ibid., p. 106.
80. The full title is Observations,
upon the Conduct of a Certain Sect usually distinguished by the name of
Methodists.
81. The Bishop's remarks strongly
resembled the terminology of the sermon "Christian Perfection."
82. Baker: Works, 11: 126.
83. Ibid., p. 126.
84. Ibid, p. 126.
85. Outler, John Wesley, p.
160.
86. Ibid, p. 167.
87. Ibid, p. 183.
88. Ibid, p. 191.
89. The Letters of the Rev. John
Wesley, A.M., ed. John Telford, (London Epworth Press, 1931) (henceforth
Wesley; Letters), 4:10.
90. Ibid., p. 11.
91. Outler, John Wesley, p.
283.
92. Ibid, p. 286.
93. Jackson: Works, 11:415.
94. Ibid, p. 417.
95. Ibid, p. 423.
96. Wesley: Letters, 4:213.
97. Wesley's confrontation with the
Count can be found in Outler, John Wesley, p. 353-76.
98. The Standard Sermons,
2:368.
99. Ibid., p. 369.
100. Ibid., p. 369.
101. Ibid., p. 377.
102. Ibid, p. 378.
103. Outler, John Wesley,
p. 274.
104. Here is a list of writings Wesley
reprinted in A Plain Account: (1) "Circumcision of the Heart," (2)
the preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739 edition, (3) The Principles
of a Methodist (which he mistakenly entitled The Character of a Methodist),
(4) "Christian Perfection," (5) the preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems,
1740 edition, (6) the preface to Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1742 edition,
(7) the Minutes of Conference; 1744-47, 1758, (8) Thoughts on Christian
Perfection, (9) Farther Thoughts on Christian Perfection, (10) a short
account of the life and death of Jane Cooper, (11) Cautions and Directions
Given to the Greatest Professors in the Methodist Societies, (12) and an
unidentified tract.
105. Jackson: Works, 11:442.
106. Ibid, p. 442.
107. The Standard Sermons,
2: 433.
108. Jackson: Works, 11:446.
109. Ibid, pp. 379-80.
110. The Minutes, 1:80.
111. Ibid, p. 95.
112. In the 1744 Minutes he said,
"We have leaned too much toward Calvinism," with regard to human faithfulness,
and with regard to working for life. Our Lord expressly commanded us to
"labor," literally "work" for the meat that endures to everlasting life.
113. Minutes of the Methodist
Conferences (London, 1812), 1:96. This has its rationale in "The Lord
Our Righteousness." "The Lord Our Righteousness" draws from the first reference
to this in Hymns and Sacred Poems, the 1739 edition.
114. Jackson: Works, 6:411.
115. Ibid, p. 413.
116. (1) "Let this mind be in you
which was also in Christ Jesus." (2) It is the one undivided fruit of the
Spirit: "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness,
goodness, fidelity, meekness, temperance." (3) "Putting on the new man"
and "the new man renewed after the image of him that created him." (4)
"As he that hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation."
(5) "the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly and may the whole of
you, the spirit, the soul, and the body, be preserved blameless unto the
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (6) "I beseech you, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice unto God."
(7) "Ye are a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable
to God through Jesus Christ." And (8) He will "save his people from their
sins."
117. Jackson: Works, 6:509.
118. Ibid, p 509
119. Ibid, p. 511.
120. Jackson: Works, 7:317.
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