PREMILLENNIALISM IN THE EARLY WRITINGS OF CHARLES WESLEY1
by
Kenneth G. C. Newport
Premillennialism, belief in the literal, visible and apocalyptic appearance of Jesus prior to the inauguration of the millennium described in Revelation 20, is not a belief which has generally been associated with the Wesleyan theological tradition. Indeed, premillennialism, with its concurrent theological pessimism, is sometimes said to be out of tune with bedrock Wesleyan theology.2
In premillennialism people are perceived to be fundamentally wicked and unable even to seek their own salvation, let alone work with God (through the church) for the salvation of others. Humankind, the world, and the church are destined to slip further and further into a state of corruption and decay, and this situation will change only as a result of the direct and cataclysmic intervention of God. The present evil age, according to the premillennialist, will go out with an apocalyptic bang and not an evolutionary fizz.
Wesleyans, however, are said to be more positive regarding the transformable nature of people and the church, and it is through these that God's grace and power are prepared to transform the world. Consequently, it has been argued, John Wesley himself, in bringing the gospel to "the brutish and besotted peasantry of his England," bore witness to his faith that it was through "the power of the Spirit of God" that "God purposed to make a new world."3 This, it is argued, is the historic Wesleyan faith which has been espoused "from the first."4 Thus, according to this view, Wesleyans and premillennialists are (and always have been) in disagreement on the answer to the very practical question: How shall the kingdom of God be brought upon earth?5
This attempt to contrast premillennialism and Wesleyanism raises numerous issues. One might wish to question the validity of the direct equation made between premillennialism and theological, anthropological, or social pessimism, for it is clear that not all premillennialists are socially inactive or espouse a negative "Augustinian" view of man.6 But the purpose of the present study is to make a case countering the view that Wesleyanism and premillennialism have always run along parallel or mutually exclusive lines. This will be done with particular reference to the early writings of Charles Wesley, though as I have argued elsewhere, there is evidence to suggest that Charles was not alone in this particular aspect of his theological vision.7
Evidence in Charles Wesley's Early Writings
In a previous publication I drew attention to the existence of a letter written by Charles Wesley in 1754.8 The letter is extraordinary in its presentation of a premillennial expectation characterized by chronological precision. Charles was, in 1754 at least, a premillennialist who thought that a date for the dawn of the millennial kingdom of Christ could be discerned from scripture. The end would come in 1794. Prior to this date the Jews would be converted (1761-1762) and the seven last plagues (Rev. 16) would fall upon the earth. Speaking of the eschatological events, Charles wrote:
As for the events themselves it is only proper at this time to mention in general, that they are the conversion of GOD's antient [sic] people the Jews, their restoration to their own land; the destruction of the Romish Antichrist and of all the other adversaries of Christ's kingdom; the inbringing of the fullness of the Gentiles, and the beginning of that long and blessed Period when peace, righteousness and felicity are to flourish over the whole earth. Then9 Christ the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem and before his Elders gloriously.... But O! dreadful days that are coming on the earth before the last of the above mentioned events, I mean before the long and blessed period takes place. There is a long train of dreadful judgments coming on the earth, more dreadful that ever it yet beheld.
And regarding the timescale:
The Scriptures point out the time when the judgments shall end and when the blessed days shall begin, but do not, so far as I have yet observed, point out the precise year when the judgments are to commence; only it is clear from scripture that they will begin before the end of SEVEN years hence. And tho' they should commence this very year, it would be no way inconsistent with the scripture-prophecies, but when once they are begun, they will go on in a continued train of one judgment on the back of another, till the end of the FORTY years, counting from this present year. Wars, famine and pestilence shall be but the beginning of sorrows; for besides and on the back of all these, shall follow all the woes contained under the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials; only that the Vials (the last excepted which extends to the wicked in general over the whole earth) seem chiefly, if not only, for the beast and his followers.10
It would appear, then, that at the time of writing this letter Charles was clearly of a premillennial persuasion. What is not so clear, however, is the extent to which this particular letter is representative of Charles' thought in general. On two counts the letter itself suggests that Charles' interest in eschatological matters was more than surface deep.
First, the evident detail with which Charles has worked out his interpretation indicates more than a brief flirtation with such matters. Second, Charles himself says that the first time he became interested in prophetic interpretation was in the year 1746.11 In the light of these indications, some further investigation of Charles' writings is clearly called for. The scope of the material presented here is limited and focused primarily on the period before and immediately after the writing of the letter noted above. Preliminary investigation suggests that Charles' interest in apocalypticism waned with the passing of time. However, as the present study seeks to make clear, in the period up to c.1760 at least his concern with such matters was very much alive and well.
Journal Evidence
Charles' journal entries around the time of the writing of the 1754 letter quoted above seem significant. It is unfortunate that the journal was not kept (or has been lost) for the period 6th December 1753 to 8th July 1754, but Charles' entry for July 24, 1754, is illuminating. He wrote:
My congregation at night was considerably increased by marketfolk out of the country. I preached repentance from Rev. i. 7: "Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him," &c.12
On July 23, 1754, Charles had preached on "the end of our Lord's coming, even that they might have life and have it more abundantly"13 and these two references (July 23, 24) suggest that the kinds of issues addressed in detail in the letter of April 25 were still very much in Charles' mind three months later. In the same context, the journal entry for December 3, 1753, ought to be noted. On this date, Charles states that he was at a loss for a subject, but then opened the book of Revelation and began to expound it. Luther might well say in times of trouble,14 "Come, let us sing the forty-sixth Psalm," but Charles would rather say "Let us read the Revelation of Jesus Christ," for
What is any private or public loss, or calamity; what are all the advantages Satan ever gained or shall gain, over particular men or churches; when all things, good and evil, Christ's power and Antichrist's, conspire to hasten the grand event, to fulfill the mystery of God, and make all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdoms of Christ?15
It would seem reasonably clear, then, that around the time of the writing of the April 25 letter Charles expected the literal, visible appearance of Christ. Several later journal entries are also open to this interpretation. Unfortunately, Charles says little regarding the content of his "expositions"16 during this period, but a number of his journal entries suggest that some of his preaching had a distinctly eschatological ring.
On August 2, 1754, for example, Charles preached on "blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" and proceeded to bring "all the threatenings of God's word" to bear upon one particular gentleman. The threatenings mentioned here are presumably the threatenings of judgment which play such a central role in the eschatological scheme laid out by Charles in the letter of April 25. If so, then the kingdom which the poor in spirit, according Charles' exposition of Matt. 5:3, are destined to inherit is perhaps more likely to be a literal than a spiritual realm. The very first line of the April 25 letter is, "Dear Sir, the answer of many prayers is at hand; I mean the kingdom of our Lord in its fullness upon earth," and throughout the letter it is apparent that Charles is thinking in literal and not spiritual terms. So too, then, perhaps here also the promised kingdom is understood as a literal kingdom on earth where "Christ the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Sion, and in Jerusalem and before his Elders gloriously."17
On the same day (August 2, 1754) Charles also expounded the text 'The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with songs unto Zion' (Isa. 35:10),18 and four days later (August 6) Christ assured the congregation (through Charles' words), "Fear not, little flock: it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."19 Again, these entries cannot be said unequivocally to indicate premillennial expectation, but the case is surely arguable when such material is seen within its broader context.
Even clearer is the entry for July 16, 1751. Again it seems that Charles' mind is on the book of Revelation and again the particular text is Rev. 1:7, "Behold, he cometh with the clouds and every eye shall see him." As noted above, Charles preached on this text on July 24, 1754, and it hardly needs to be noted that it is this very text that provided Charles with the opening line of what was to become a classic of advent expectation, "Lo he comes with clouds descending," a verse first penned in 1758.20 It is probably significant that in Jackson's edition we read that these words from Rev. 1:7 contain "that most glorious promise," where the italics represent Charles' own underlining in the MS journal.21 For Charles, the promise of Christ's coming was not peripheral, but rather central to the gospel message.22
It would appear that Charles' journal is strongly suggestive of the fact that its author held a belief in the literal and visible descent of Christ to this earth, a descent which would take place prior to the onset of the anticipated millennial period. For example, as is noted briefly below,23 Charles' journal entries for October and early November, 1756, strongly suggest that the content of his preaching during this period moved in the direction of an urgent warning of the expected and imminent eschaton.
Letters
The letters of Charles Wesley have not to date received the kind of detailed attention they certainly deserve. No critical edition of this important and substantial collection of primary materials has as yet appeared, and references to them appear only infrequently in Wesleyan historical and theological research. Some indication of the wealth of these materials can perhaps be gained by noting the results of only a brief investigation into a relatively small selection of the corpus on the question of Charles' apparent interest in eschatological matters and premillennial beliefs. As with the journal entries noted above, the situation seems relatively clear.
We have noted already the very detailed letter which Charles wrote in 1754 regarding the fulfillment of prophecy, the coming of judgment and the visible, literal return of Christ. This evidence, however, does not stand alone. Some two years later Charles wrote to Vincent Perronet urging the latter to "watch and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape the judgments coming on the world, and to stand before the Son of Man,"24 words which seem to voice clearly enough a premillennialist position. The words "watch and pray" are part of a biblical injunction which appears more than once in Charles' writings. The precise biblical reference is unclear and there are several possibilities (of which Luke 21:36 is perhaps the most likely). However, whichever text is in view, the point of the injunction is much the same: the believer must be always vigilant since the return of Christ will come when least expected (cf. Mark 13:35, 14:36; Matt. 24:42-43, 25:13; Luke 21:36 [cf. Luke 21:34]). We have noted above how Charles brought "all the threatenings of God's word" to bear on one of those listening to his sermon of August 2, 1754.25 We have noted also that "judgments" play a key part in the April 25 letter (e. g. the "long train of dreadful judgments" which are to come upon the earth). Charles' letter to Perronet probably refers to the same expected cataclysmic events.
To be noted also is a letter written from Dublin on Dec. 18 [1747] in which Charles assures "Sally" (Sarah Whitham) that "Yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and take us all into everlasting habitations."26 This reference is short and to the point and its implication unmistakable. Similarly in c.1750 Charles wrote to Mrs. Jones at Fonmon castle at a time when she was evidently suffering some "fresh troubles" and afflictions. Charles' advice, which he gives in the first line of the letter, is simple enough and linked to an expected chronological framework: "bear up under your burthen, till the everlasting comforter comes."27
It might be argued that in this case Charles is thinking not of the literal premillennial return of Christ, but of the coming of the Spirit into the hearts of believers (the word "comforter" may be taken from John 14:16 [in the King James Version]), but within the broader context sketched above such an interpretation seems unlikely. Also, from 1750 (August 10) comes a letter Charles wrote to John Bennet where again the premillennial views of its author seem plain enough: "We see our calling," writes Charles to Bennet, "which is to suffer all things; disrespect and ingratitude in particular from those we serve in the Gospel. But we expect no reward, 'till the great shepherd comes'." Only the coming of Christ then, will bring the reward. Does Charles have in mind Matt. 16:27 - "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works"? On the same MS as this letter to Bennet, Charles added a note to Grace [Murray] which includes the words: "Fear not: in six troubles the Lord hath saved you. A little more suffering, and the end cometh, and the Lord and bridegroom of our souls."28
The letters strongly suggest that in the 1740s and 1750s at least Charles' eschatology was imminent and premillennial. This world would not get better. The end to troubles would not come in this present age and rewards could not presently be expected. Rather, when "the great shepherd comes," rewards will be given and at the coming of the Lord and bridegroom troubles will cease. Trouble, not joy, lies ahead and things will get worse, not better. Only the coming of Christ will bring sin and evil to an end. The following extract has been quoted already, but its developmental pessimism is worth noting again:
But O! dreadful days that are coming on the earth before the last of the above mentioned events, I mean before the long and blessed period take place. There is a long train of dreadful judgments coming on the earth, more dreadful that ever it yet beheld.29
To this passage might be added one further example of Charles' belief that things will get worse before getting better. Speaking of expected persecution at the hands of the Roman Church (which was generally identified as antichrist in this period),30 Charles notes that this church had as yet "gained but a small increase in comparison of what it has yet to gain."31 The final destruction of the Romish Antichrist is certain, but:
...before she shall be brought to her final Ruin, power shall be given her to distress the Protestant Churches by wars and persecutions, and many of Christ's faithful ones in those days shall be tried and purified and made white.32
The main beams of the premillennial theological structure seem to be in place in the Charles Wesley letters which have been quoted. Things will get worse rather than better and the end to trouble will come instantaneously with the literal advent of Christ, not gradually with the spread of Christian socialethical standards. This letter evidence confirms and complements that gleaned from the contemporary journal entries referred to above.
Sermons
Assessing the evidence of Charles' surviving sermon material is difficult indeed. This problematic situation is largely the result of the confusion that surrounds Charles' sermon MSS. As is well known, a collection of twelve sermons attributed to Charles was edited and published in 1816,33 but it is now clear that at least seven of these were not in fact written by him, but were copies made from his brother's MSS.34 Conversely, two of the sermons included among early collections of the sermons of John Wesley ("Awake thou that Sleepest" and "On the Cause and Cure of Earthquakes") turn out to be by Charles. Nonetheless, the following material appears relevant to the present investigation.
1. Sermon on Phil. 3:13, 14 (1735).35 On October 21, 1735, Charles either preached or wrote (or both)36 a sermon on board the Simmonds, the ship on which he sailed to America. Charles' text was Phil. 3:13-14 and the central point of his sermon is the need for Christians to move constantly onward and grow in spiritual maturity and moral rectitude. The goal may never be reached, but the effort to reach it is nevertheless a solemn duty. In the course of this sermon Charles reminds his hearers of the words of Jesus reported in Mark 13:35, 14:36 and Matt 24:42-43, 25:13 and urges his hearers to "watch and pray." Charles does not finish the quotation, though its context is significant ("...for you know not the hour in which your Lord cometh." cf. Mark 13:35; Matt 24:42-43; Luke 21:36, etc.). In one passage, Charles' thinking emerges clearly . The relevant section reads:
Caution and watchfulness is a necessary characteristic of a true Xtian. It is enjoined by our blessed Lord himself frequently to his disciples, and by them the obligation to it extended to all mankind; "what I say unto you I say unto all, watch." None you see excepted from the duty, no excuse can be urged for not performing it. Watch therefore for the coming of your Lord, for you know neither the day nor hour of his coming. "Let your loins be girded, your lamps burning and ye yourselves like unto men that watch for their Lord that they may be ready to enter in with him when he cometh. For blessed are those servants whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Stand fast therefore in the faith, be strong and quit yourselves like men, that so in God's good time ye may at length apprehend or attain the crown of glory, which is laid up for those that unfeignedly love God, that faithfully strive serve, honour, and humbly obey him.37
Such words seem fairly plain. Of course, one might argue that what Charles meant by the "coming" here was the coming of Christ to the individual at death and that "Watch therefore for the coming of your Lord, for you know neither the day nor the hour of his coming" means, to Charles, "you never know the hour of your death"; however this interpretation seems rather strained. Charles probably here is urging his hearers never to slacken from their task of reaching Christian perfection (even if it can never be attained), lest the Lord return unexpectedly and catch them idle in their duties.
2. Sermon: Awake, thou that Sleepest (1742).38 The tone of Charles' sermon "Awake, Thou That Sleepest" is well known. In this sermon Charles calls the slumbering sinner (the one who "sleeps in the arms of the Devil") to awake and return to God. The sermon is, as Outler notes, "a lively evangelical statement, a personal identification with the Revival and a valedictory to Oxford."39
The theme of judgment runs throughout the sermon. Charles does indeed call the sleeper to awaken, and part of the force of his sermon on the matter is his appeal to the threat of coming judgment. For example, at a fairly early stage of the sermon's development Charles refers to those who disregard "the warning voice of God 'to flee from the wrath to come'."40 Farther on we read:
Wherefore, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead." God calleth thee now by my mouth; and bids thee know thyself, thou fallen spirit, the true state and only concern below: "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise! Call upon the God, if so be thy God will think upon thee, that thou perish not." A mighty tempest is stirred up round about thee, and thou art sinking into the depths of perdition, the gulf of God's judgments. If thou wouldst escape them, cast thyself into them. "Judge thyself," and thou shalt "not be judged of the Lord."41
This is an intense passage. It is a call to renewal, but the threat of judgment hangs heavy. Again, it might be argued that what Charles has in mind here is an individual judgment which each professed believer must face at death, or perhaps a collective future judgment to be faced in the celestial realms. However, such an interpretation is not the only one possible. In the April, 1754, letter Charles argues clearly that the "judgments" of God are the punishments meted out under the seven vials of Revelation 16, when few indeed shall escape the plagues that are poured out upon the earth. In 1756 Charles warned Perronet to "watch and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape the judgments coming on the world and to stand before the Son of Man."42 In this present sermon, Charles, echoing the words of John the Baptist, warns his hearers to "flee from the wrath to come" and, in the passage immediately following the one quoted above, to
Awake, awake! Stand up this moment, lest thou "drink at the Lord's hand the cup of his fury" .... At least, let the earthquake of God's threatenings shake thee.43
It would appear then that in this sermon Charles has in mind not simply the judgment of the individual at death, nor even a general celestial/spiritual event, but rather the grand visitation of God "on the day of the Lord" when he will call the inhabitants of the earth to account.
Two other passages from the sermon make this interpretation seem plausible. Both are from the concluding part which, we might reasonably expect, brings to a head the arguments that Charles has been developing to that point. Speaking of the deplorable condition into which mankind has slipped and the need for Christians to rise above it, he warns his hearers:
And "shall not I visit for these things?" saith the Lord. "Shall not my soul be avenged on a nation such as this?" Yea, we know not how soon he may say to the sword, "Sword? go though this land!" He hath given us long space to repent. He lets us alone this year also. But he warns and awakens us by thunder. His judgments are abroad in the earth. And we have all reason to expect that heaviest of all, even "that he should come unto us quickly, and remove our candlestick out of its place, except we repent and do the first works."44
And the whole sermon rounds off with a passage which begins with the words:
My brethren, it is high time for us to awake out of sleep; before "the great trumpet of the Lord be blown," and our land become a field of blood. O may we speedily see the things that make for our peace, before they are hid from our eyes! Turn thou us, O good Lord, and let thine anger cease from us. O Lord, look down from heaven, behold and visit this vine; and cause us to know the time of our visitation.45
Taken together and given the more general context of the sermon, these passages provide an interesting insight into Charles' expectations. This world, for Charles, was not set to improve with a gradual spreading of the kingdom of God through the preaching and acceptance of the gospel. Rather, the future has a definite apocalyptic climax which will itself bring the age to a close. Things are bad and will get worse. Even professed Christians are slipping into perdition unawares. But, though the Lord has spared the earth "this year also," the space to repent is getting ever smaller. Indeed, the time will come when "the things that make for our peace" will be hidden and it will be too late. Then the Lord will say "Sword, go though this land." The wrath to come will have come and unpleasant indeed will it be for those who have not fled from it. While the whole eschatological scheme it is not laid out in detail in this sermon, the general picture is distinctly and unmistakeably premillennial and agrees with the thrust of the evidence detailed above.
3. Sermon: On the Cause and Cure of Earthquakes (1750). It would be rather unwise to take Charles' sermon "On the Cause and Cure of Earthquakes"46 out of context. The earthquakes which hit London in 175047 gave rise to a general upsurge in warnings of impending apocalyptic doom, and Charles was not alone in seeing in them the hand of God.48 This one sermon, then, may have been relatively uncharacteristic of Charles' general frame of mind (though he also wrote at least eighteen hymns on the same subject).49 It has been argued here, however, that a premillennial and pessimistic apocalypticism and expectations of the coming wrath of God are not uncharacteristic of Charles' work. This sermon on earthquakes is but further evidence in support of the general argument that has already been advanced on the basis of other materials from the Charles Wesley corpus.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of Charles' sermon on the cause and cure of earthquakes is its theological pessimism. Rall correctly noted that in general (though not invariably) those who look for the sudden appearance of Jesus as Son of Man and judge are not at all optimistic regarding the possibility of human progress. Things are set to get worse, not better. Society will continue to slide downwards into a moral and spiritual abyss until the great eschaton, the coming of Christ, sets all things right. The wicked will finally be destroyed and the good rewarded.
In this sermon on earthquakes Charles seems to express just this kind of thinking. To be sure, it is his task to call those who will respond to escape the coming wrath, but this faithful remnant is not typical of the whole. People are not able on their own to come to repentance or even see the danger. Rather, thinks Charles, the gracious God has sent a sign of what is to come in an effort to awaken the sleeping sinner. Earthquakes are a "call to repentance." For instance:
In the name of the Lord Jesus, I warn thee once more, as a watchman over the house of Israel, to flee from the wrath to come! I put thee in remembrance (if thou hast so soon forgotten it) of the late awful judgment, whereby God shook thee over the mouth of hell!50
Such predictions of woe run throughout the course of the sermon. The present earthquakes were only one timely reminder of more awful things to come.
He hath spared thee for this very thing; that thine eyes might see his salvation. Whatever judgments come in these latter days, yet whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord Jesus shall be delivered.51
The sermon concentrates on the possibility of escape from these judgments and wrath. Charles is in the business of seeking to save those he can from falling headlong into the apocalyptic abyss. No details of the expected apocalyptic timetable are immediately obvious from the content of this sermon, but, as has been said, its vision of doom is more characteristic of premillennial pessimism than postmillennialist optimism. Some might be saved, but the outlook for many is grim indeed.52
One further scrap of information is worth noting. The full content of the sermon which Thomas Illingworth heard Charles preach in October, 1756, is unknown. However, Illingworth reported:
He [Charles] spoke much concerning the end of the World, telling us the Signs foretold were so fully accomplish'd as demonstratively shew'd its Dissolution near.53
The sermon evidence seems to point in the same direction as that in the journals and letters. Charles looked forward with hope. However, his hopes were pinned not on a gradual spread of Christian ethics and a consequent improvement in the lot of individuals and societies. Individual Christians may grow in spiritual awareness and moral rectitude, but the world at large was doomed. Only at the sudden appearance of Christ would evil be fully dealt with, and only then and in that way would humankind's pristine condition be restored.
Hymns and Poems
The above material represents only a small portion of Charles' literary output, and far more extensive is the corpus of his poetical works, estimated to include some 9000 individual hymns and other poetical compositions.54 Obviously no claim can here be made to comprehensiveness, but even a preliminary study of some of these materials provides further evidence supportive of the general argument advanced above. Perhaps the most obvious composition from which to quote is that classic of advent hope "Lo! he comes with clouds descending" (1758), the first verse of which is worth repeating here in full:
Lo! He comes with clouds descending,
Once for favour'd sinners slain!
Thousand, thousand saints attending,
Swell the triumph of his train:
Hallelujah!
God appears on earth to reign!55
To this hymn could be added a multitude of others, all of which similarly witness to Charles' expectation of the literal, visible return of Christ in the not-too-distant future. Indeed, in the hymn "He comes! He comes! the Judge severe," a hymn published in the same collection as "Lo! He comes with clouds descending," Charles' belief in an imminent and visible return of Christ comes into relief.
He comes! He comes! the Judge severe!
The seventh trumpet56 speaks Him near!
His lightnings flash, His thunders roll,
How welcome to the faithful soul!57
This is an interesting verse. Christ is expected to come as "judge severe" and it is only to the "faithful soul" that the event is a welcome one. Such sentiments seem to fit into the more general picture sketched above: things are set to get worse, but some will awaken to the call of God and be prepared to meet the great Shepherd whenever he comes. Others, however, will not be so prepared and will as a consequence suffer the "wrath which is to come."
Any one of Charles' eighteen Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake (1750)58 might also be quoted here. Sample verses of one will suffice.
1. Vengeance on Thy foes to take,
Hast thou in anger sworn?
Sworn again our earth to shake,
And from its base o'erturn?
Surely then to Abraham's seed
Thou shalt reveal the wrath to come,
Speak the punishment decreed
And warn us of our doom.
4. Blessed are thy servants, Lord,
Whom thou shalt watching find,
Hanging on thy faithful word,
And to thy will resign'd;
Safe amidst the darts of death,
Secure they rest in all alarms,
Sure their God hath spread beneath
His everlasting arms.59
A later hymn, written after the Lisbon earthquake and added to the edition of Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake published in 1756, is even clearer. A few sample verses follow.
1:1 Woe! to the men on earth who dwell,
Nor dread the' Almighty's frown;
When God doth all His wrath reveal,
And shower his judgments down!
Sinners, expect those heaviest showers;
To meet your God prepare!
For, lo! the seventh angel pours
His phial in the air.
1:4 Lo! from their roots the mountains leap;
The mountains are not found;
Transported far into the deep,
And in the ocean drown'd.
Jesus descends in dread array
To judge the scarlet whore:
And every isle is fled away,
And Britain is no more!
2:4 Yet still the Lord, the saviour reigns,
When nature is destroy'd,
And no created thing remains
Throughout the flaming void.
Sublime upon his azure throne,
He speaks the almighty word:
His fiat is obeyed! 'tis done;
And Paradise restored.
2:5 So be it! let this system end,
This ruinous earth and skies;
The New Jerusalem descend,
The new creation rise.
Thy power omnipotent assume;
Thy brightest majesty!
And when Thou dost in glory come,
My Lord, remember me!60
Sentiments such as these must, of course, be taken in the context in which they were penned. However, as we have seen, it was not only following disturbing natural disasters such as earthquakes that Charles could give vivid voice to what appears to be a basically premillennial faith.
Conclusion
Evidence to support the view that Charles Wesley espoused a premillennial faith (at least during the period with which this study has been concerned) is not difficult to locate. Perhaps the clearest indication of this aspect of Charles' belief is the letter of April 25, 1754, a document which not only contains a detailed account of expected premillennial events, but also gives precise dates for their occurrence. It might be argued of course that this letter is not representative of Charles' general thinking on the matter, but rather bears witness to a bout of severe pessimism, perhaps brought on by his brother's and wife's recent illnesses and the death of his son, John. However, such an understanding does not do justice to the surviving historical data, for the 1754 letter does not stand alone. Rather, it is but the best and most detailed example of the setting forth of this distinctive theological position. Similar expressions seem ubiquitous in the early Charles Wesley corpus. They are found in the journal, the letters, the sermons, and the hymns.
It is worth noting that, if Charles was of a basically premillennial persuasion, he stands out in relief against his general eighteenth-century background. Premillennialism has always had its exponents, but in general it was with the turn of the eighteenth-century that vivid belief in the literal return of Christ prior to the onset of a millennial period really began to be expounded with a clear voice. By contrast, the standard view in the eighteenth century was that, as the Christian gospel spread throughout the world and individuals and societies came under its sway, a perfect kingdom would gradually emerge and take the place of the corrupt kingdom presently in existence. This perfect kingdom, which would last either literally for 1000 years or at least for some lengthy period, would prepare the people of God to meet Lord when he returned at the millennium's close.61 In this context John Wesley's sermon "The General Spread of the Gospel"62 seems reasonably typical of his age. Charles, however, seems to have seen things differently.
That Charles was able to hold in tandem (1) a hope in the soon return of Christ and (2) a belief in the centrality of the individual and the church in the plans of God for the salvation of the world is not a point to be passed over quickly. For Charles, even though it is God who will ultimately set the world aright, this is no excuse for a lack of human endeavor. God, for Charles, is calling the world to repentance and has spared the world "this year also" so that the task may be carried out. However, individuals are free and not all will respond positively to the call. Those who do respond must press forward and do the will of God and not be caught idle when the Master returns. God is a righteous God and the judgments which are coming on the world, while terrible, are an expression of that uncompromising righteousness. Human freedom, individual responsibility, moral progression, ecclesiological endeavor, divine omnipotence and righteousness, and an acute awareness of the reality and durability of sin are thus all held in balance with one another by Charles. No doubt the system would reveal cracks if placed under sufficient philosophical strain. However, Charles was not a philosopher, but an experiential theologian who sought to do justice both to his received traditions, his understanding of the Bible, and his experience of the world. While it might be easy enough to find weak points in the theological edifice he constructed, it would not perhaps be as easy to build a better one.
End Notes
1. It is a pleasure to acknowledge my gratitude to the Board of the John Rylands Research Institute, University of Manchester, for the award of a generous research bursary without which this article would not have been written. I am grateful also to Gareth Lloyd, Methodist Archivist at the John Rylands University Library, for numerous helpful suggestions and comments.
2. Harris Franklin Rall, "Methodism and Premillennialism," Methodist Re-view, fifth series, xxxvi(1920):209-219. (Rall was also the author of Modern Premillennialism and the Christian Hope [New York: Abingdon, 1920]). A similar position to that of Rall is taken by D. N. Hempton ("Evangelicalism and Eschatology," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 31[1980]:179-194; Methodism and Politics in British Society 1750-1850 [London, Hutchinson, 1984], 77, 95). Like Rall, Hempton draws a distinction between those who hope for a basically apocalyptic answer to humankind's ills and those who look rather for a gradual improvement resulting from the spread and acceptance of the gospel message. Methodism, states Hempton, fits more into the latter category, though unlike Rall he does not claim that this has always been the case.
3. Rall, "Premillennialism," 211-212.
4. Rall, "Premillennialism," 210.
5. Rall, "Premillennialism," 209.
6. We might note, for example, the activities of the Millerites, a group of mid nineteenth-century date-setting premillennialists who expected Christ to return on Oct. 22 1844. Some Millerites took a very firm stance on slavery and, notwithstanding the expected dawn of the perfect millennial kingdom, sought actively to rid the present society of this perceived ill (see Ronald D. Graybill, "The Abolitionist-Millerite Connection" in Ronald L. Numbers and Jonathan M. Butler, eds., The Disappointed: Millerism and Millenarianism in the Nineteenth Century [Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987], 139-152). Similarly, one of the denominational successors of the Millerites, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, continues to maintain a rigid and uncompromising premillennialism and yet combines this with extensive missionary, educational, famine and disaster relief work. The Seventh-day Adventist Church also provides a counter example to the suggestion that premillennialists are invariably Augustinian in their understanding of human nature, for it is clear from Adventist literature that the theology of this particular group is more akin to the thinking of Pelagius than Augustine (see further Seventh-day Adventists Believe...: A Biblical Exposition of 27 Fundamental Doctrines [Washington, DC: General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 1988], 78-96).
7. Kenneth G. C. Newport, "Methodists and the Millennium: Eschatological Beliefs and the Interpretation of Biblical Prophecy in Early British Methodism," Bulletin of the John Rylands Universitv Library of Manchester 78(1996):103-122.
8. The contents of this letter are discussed in detail in Kenneth G. C. Newport, "Charles Wesley's Interpretation of Some Biblical Prophecies according to a Previously Unpublished Letter Dated April 25th, 1754," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester 77(1995):31-52.
9. The general sense of this letter strongly suggests that the "then" here is probably best taken as indicating consequential relationship (or as a conjunctive adverb) rather than chronological sequence.
10. The letter is held in the Methodist Archives and Research Centre at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (hereinafter MARC), ref. DDCW 1/51. A full transcription appears in Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 33-37.
11. "The first time I began to attempt the scripture calculations relating to the conversion of the Jews, the fall of Antichrist and the introduction of the fulness of the Gentiles was in the year 1746," (Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 36 § 12).
12. Journal 2:104.
13. Journal 2:104. One might, of course, argue that this latter reference is to a sermon on the incarnation rather than on the eschatological coming of the Son of Man, but, given the broader context, this seems unlikely.
14. The trouble in question, in Charles' case, was of course the severe sickness of his brother, who was "far gone in a galloping consumption" and whom Charles did not expect to recover (Journal 2:96).
15. Journal 2:98.
16. It has been argued by John Tyson (Charles Wesley: A Reader, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, 13-20) that Charles' style of preaching underwent a distinct shift in October, 1738. Before this date Charles seems to have been dependent on written compositions which he "preached" or "read" to his audiences (as for example he did on August 31, 1738, when he "read" his sermon on Gal. 3:22 to the society at Stanton-Harcourt, Journal vol. 1, 129). After this date, argues Tyson, Charles turned more to ex tempore exposition of biblical passages. The argument seems to carry weight, but clearly the distinction is not hard and fast. In 1742 Charles published his sermon "Awake thou that Sleepest" and in 1750 he wrote and later published his sermon on Earthquakes. In would appear from the journal, however, that as he matured and gained mastery of the art of speaking ex tempore, Charles did indeed turn more and more to unprepared exposition on biblical texts (sometimes chosen at complete random by opening the Bible and beginning to expound the first words that came to his attention (see, e.g., Journal 2:96). Such a process might help to explain why it is that so few of Charles' sermons have survived.
17. MARC, ref. DDWC 1/51 (Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 34).
18. Journal 2:108.
19. Journal 2:111.
20. See below, n. 55.
21. MARC, ref. DDCW 10/2 (a bound copy of Charles' journal in his own hand), 432.
22. One further relevant journal entry is relatively well known and needs therefore to be repeated only in brief form. In any case, the reference is too early (and somewhat ambiguous) to be of central importance here. In May, 1738, Charles lay sick. On Sunday, May 21, 1738, reports Charles, "I waked in the hope and expectation of His coming" (Journal 1:90). Again, the reference might be to a spiritual advent (or indeed to the coming of the Holy Spirit since it was Pentecost), but such is perhaps not the only possible interpretation, especially so in the light of what comes immediately after Charles' expression of "hope and expectation." Mrs. Musgrave took it upon herself to come into Charles' room (while his eyes were closed) and say, "In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise, and believe, and thou shalt be healed of all thy infirmities" (Journal 1:90). Charles guessed it was Mrs. Musgrave by the voice, but on reflection thought that he ought at least to check and see if it were not Christ himself who had spoken the words. He, therefore, sent Mrs Turner to enquire into the matter and investigations eventually revealed that it had been Mrs. Musgrave and not Christ who had come into the room and spoken the words. This "coming" of Christ, which was expected and which, for a moment at least, Charles believed he may have experienced, was not a spiritual one. The events recorded in this part of the journal do not, it is true, bear witness to a belief in the apocalyptic coming of the Son of Man. However, at the very least the entry does indicate that, when Charles writes of the Christ's coming, he does not invariably mean a spiritual advent or harness it chronologically to the moment of his own death.
23. Below, n. 52.
24. MARC, ref. DDCW 1/15a.
25. See in pages above.
26. MARC, ref. DDCW 1/16.
27. MARC, ref. DDCW 1/32.
28. MARC, ref. DDCW 1/37.
29. Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 34.
30. See further Kenneth G. C. Newport, "Revelation 13 and the Roman Antichrist in Eighteenth-Century England: A Study in New Testament Eisegesis," Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester (forthcoming).
31. Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 34.
32. Newport, "Biblical Prophecies," 34.
33. Sermons by the Late Rev. Charles Wesley. A.M., Student of Christ-Church. Oxford. With a Memoir of the Author by the Editor (London: 1816). The editor is not named, but is often thought to have been Sarah Gwynne, Charles' wife.
34. See Richard P. Heitzenrater, "John Wesley's Earliest Sermons," Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society 37(1969-1970), 112-113.
35. The sermon is printed as number 11 in the 1816 edition (186-206). The MS of this sermon (which has been edited significantly in the 1816 edition) is now held in the MARC (ref. CW Box V). As noted briefly above, it is difficult to assess the probability that this sermon was composed by Charles himself. Thomas Albin, for example, thinks that the case is "exceedingly weak" (Thomas R. Albin, "Charles Wesley's Other Prose Writings" in S. T. Kimbrough, ed., Charles Wesley: Poet and Theologian [Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1992, 89]), stating that the only evidence is that the MS is in Charles' own hand. However, this evidence is surely not to be ignored. The fact that Charles took care to indicate (in Byrom's shorthand) that he had copied some of the sermons from his brother or some other unspecified source (as is the case with a sermon on Luke 16:8 [MARC ref. CW Box V, printed in Albert C. Outler, ed., The Works of John Wesley (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1984-1987), 4:361370]) suggests that (counter evidence being lacking) those that are not specifically said to be copies are original compositions.
36. The MS does not indicate whether the sermon was preached on October 21, 1735, or merely written (or copied) on that day. Charles' journal does not begin until March, 1736, and so cannot be called upon to shed light. John's journal for October 21, 1736, indicates only that Charles "writ sermons" and does not say if Charles preached on that day (The Works of John Wesley, 14 vols. [London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1872; repr. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, n.d., 1:18) hereinafter WJW). If Charles did preach the sermon on 21 October it may well have been the first sermon he had ever preached, since he had been ordained only three weeks before.
37. I have used the original here (MARC, ref. CW Box V). The form in the 1816 edition is a little different (196-197).
38. Outler, Sermons 1:142-158.
39. Outler Sermons 1:112
40. Outler Sermons 1:143.
41. Outler, Sermons 1:147.
42. MARC, ref. DDCW 1:15a.
43. Outler, Sermons 1:147.
44. Outler, Sermons 1:157-158.
45. Outler, Sermons 1:158.
46. This sermon was printed in WJW 7:386-399.
47. An account of the earthquake is found in John Wesley's journal for March 8, 1750 (WJW 2:175) with a briefer note on the earlier shake on February 8 (WJW 2:172-173). Charles records on February 8 simply that "there was an earthquake in London" (Journal 2:67). Charles' journal has no entry for March 8, but the entry for March 10 records how Charles preached on Isa. 24, "a chapter I had not taken much notice of, till this awful providence explained it." See also Luke Tyerman's account of the events and its effect on the Wesleys (Luke Tyerman, The Life and Times of the Rev. John Weslev, M.A., 3 vols. [1870-1871], 2:71-74) and that of Thomas Jackson (The Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, M.A., 2 vols. [1841], 1:549-556).
48. Brief details of this eighteenth-century interest are found in Outler, Sermons 1:357 n. 6.
49. Charles Wesley, Hymns Occasioned by the Earthquake March 8, 1750, Parts I and II (1750); reprinted in George Osborn, ed., Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, 13 vols. (1868-1872, hereinafter PW), 6:17-52.
50. WJW, 7:397-398.
51. WJW, 7:399.
52. Note further the hymn "Tremendous Lord of Earth, and Skies" (PW 6:21-23), the sixth verse of which begins:
If earth its mouth must open wide,
To swallow up its prey,
Jesus, Thy faithful people hide
In that vindictive day.
53. As quoted in Frank Baker, William Grimshaw 1708-1763 (London: Epworth, 1963), 195; cf. Charles' journal entries for October 1756, many of which could be quoted here with profit. On October 7-9, for example, Charles appears to have spoken several times to different audiences on Luke 21 (the apocalyptic discourse) and concluded, "I have no doubt but they will be counted worthy to escape, and to stand before the Son of Man" (cf. Luke 21.36). Later on the 9th of October he warned his audience of the "impending storm." On the 10th of October, wrote Charles, "between four and five thousand were left to receive my warning from Luke xxi" and later he judged those to whom he spoke to be like men prepared to meet the Lord." The remainder of the journal continues in this vein right up to the last few entries. It would appear, then, that during October and the first few days of November, 1756, Charles was much concerned to warn of an impending crisis. The Lord was about to come. Indeed, the next to last entry in the journal (November 4, 1756) reads, "I described the last times to between forty and fifty at our sister Blackmore's; and it was a solemn time of refreshing."
54. PW; Oliver A. Beckerlegge and S. T. Kimbrough, eds., The Unpublished Poetry of Charles Wesley, 3 vols. (Nashville, TN: Kingswood Books, 1988-1992).
55. PW 6:143.
56. The reference here to the seventh trumpet is of course a reference to the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15. During the course of the eighteenth century this biblical book was read as a chart of world and church history stretching from the time of the prophet John to the end of the world. The seventh trumpet, the last in its sequence, was naturally taken as heralding the close of the present age and the dawn of the age to come.
57. PW 6:141.
58. See in pages above.
59. PW 6: 23-24.
60. PW 6:25-28.
61. The literature on this topic is significant. The classic study is Ernest Lee Tuveson, Millennium and Utopia (Berkerly: University of California Press, 1949). A brief summary is to be found in Richard Bauckham's contribution to the entry "Chiliasmus" in Theologische Realenzyklopädie (1980) 7:737-745, while D. W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989), 60-63, 81-86, gives an overview of British schemes.
62. Outler, 2:485-499.
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