John
Wesley encouraged his followers to seek holy, perfecting love. This was a love that Wesley emphasized by
teaching and embodied by example: in the Old Testament, through God the Father,
as He attempted time and again to seek relationship with sinful man; in the
Gospels, through God the Son, who gave Himself to a world that was, and remains
to this day, His enemy; and finally throughout the New Testament with the gift
of the Paraclete.
John
and Charles were born the sons Samuel and Susanna Wesley of Lincolnshire, England.
Father Samuel was a busy priest at Epworth who left the majority of the child
rearing to Susanna. Both men were
educated first at Westminster then at Christ Church Oxford. John joined Charles
and some friends in what became known by mockers as the “Oxford Holy Club”
because of their mutual commitment to study scripture daily, live holy lives,
be faithful in private devotions and actively visit those in prison. John recalled this time in their lives
uniquely:
In 1729, two young men reading the
Bible, saw they could not be saved without holiness, followed after it and
incited others so to do. In 1737, they
saw that holiness comes by faith. They
saw likewise, that men are justified before they are sanctified; but still
holiness was their point. God then
thrust them out, utterly against their will to raise up a holy people.
(Asbury Journals)
Justo
Gonzales wrote: “As a pastor in Georgia, he failed miserably, for he expected
parishioners to behave like the ‘holy club’…Charles was disappointed with his
own work on this trip and decided to return to England. But John stayed on, not
because he had greater success but because he refused to give up.” (p. 266).
During these formative years, John Wesley had been the Moravians. Their
confidence and assurance in God’s salvation despite life-threatening
circumstances caused John to re-examine his own life and find it lacking. History marks May 1738 as a turning point for
both John and Charles. Some would term their experiences as conversion, others
as a second work of grace in the power of the Holy Spirit. I propose that the distinct terminology of this
experience matters not nearly so much as how the Spirit of the Lord broke into
their lives to use them to reach their own countrymen and eventually to the
corners of the earth.
A
fire was sparked in the Wesley brothers in May of 1738 that would turn upside
down their own faith and, as I submitted previously, for the faith of a good
portion of the English speaking world.
Because of the Holy Spirit’s work, John and Charles perceived the
Spirit’s leading them to spread the gospel outside of the physical church
walls. At the encouragement of their
Holy Club colleague, George Whitefield, John warmed to the idea of field
preaching. While the Church of England
served the middle and upper classes with spiritual training, it effectively
closed out the lower castes. Because of
this inequity, many of the working class were without any spiritual
direction. Whitefield, and eventually
the Wesley brothers, preached salvation to this hungry group of people and met
great success, a stark contrast to what appeared to be their fruitless outreach
to the colony of Georgia.
George
Whitefield differed from John and Charles in that he clung closely to preaching
merely salvation to the masses. This was
momentarily effective, drawing the attention of thousands into saving grace; however,
it also left many who wished to change languishing in -- or returning
eventually to former lives of sin. This
is where the Holy Spirit set John and Charles aflame, effectively utilizing
them as kindling to what became the roaring fire of the Methodist
Movement. John, aided closely by his
brother, Charles, organized those converted into societies, bands and classes
of accountability who would together worship and grow in holiness. In these
societies, men and women were challenged to turn not only from sin but toward
God, through scripture and living the life of grace. John, the elder Wesley,
was so attuned to the necessities of public worship that in the 1761
publication of “Select Hymns”, he gives seven very basic directions for singing
to the Methodists that are included to this day in United Methodist hymnals:
I.
Learn
these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please
II.
Sing
them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all;
and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.
III.
Sing
all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not
a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you,
take it up, and you will find it a blessing.
IV.
Sing
lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or
half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your
voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of
Satan.
V.
Sing
modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the
congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your
voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.
VI.
Sing
in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor
stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as
exactly as you can; and take care not to sing too slow. This drawling way
naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from
us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.
VII.
Above
all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at
pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this
attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not
carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your
singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in
the clouds of heaven. (United Methodist Hymnal, vii)
These
rules further aided the Wesleys in teaching singing and specifically singing
scriptural holiness with their followers. While the Church of England’s order
of worship encouraged choirs, soloists and special ensembles, Wesley’s revised
orders encouraged the voice of the congregation: “Methodist Singing was
decidedly congregational. In corporate worship,
efforts were to be made to ensure the greatest level of participation.”
(Tucker, 159)
A
generous measure of Wesley’s legacy to the Methodist Movement was an emphasis
on worship and most especially the encouragement of singing! While John Wesley’s name headlined the Methodist
movement, younger brother, Charles, was considered the hymnodic genius. The Center for Studies Wesleyan at Duke
University states:
Scholarly study of Charles Wesley
has been hampered by the absence of a reliable and accessible standard source
for his published verse. The original works published during his lifetime are
quite rare, scattered among research libraries. …..This collection gathers the
nearly 4,400 distinct poems and hymns published during Charles Wesley’s life
that scholarly consensus traces to his pen. (Duke website).
The
reference to 4,400 poems and hymns of Charles Wesley encompasses only those texts
that were published and directly attributable to him. It is widely agreed that he penned 6,000-9,000
hymns and poetic texts during the course of his life. It is generally accepted
that John frequently translated many hymns for the people called Methodist but
rarely composed original hymn texts.
John
and Charles were successful in utilizing the ever increasing amount of hymnody
to teach both scripture and their unique doctrine of Christian Perfection. “Perfection” was the term John Wesley chose to
characterize holiness based upon Matthew 5:48, which is reflective of Leviticus
19:2; The idea that Wesley taught through the scriptures: God’s command to be holy or perfect. This is not
be confused with the dictionary definition of perfection: completely correct, void of flaws. John Wesley believed that the
power of God calls us (prevenient grace), saves us from our sins (justifying
grace), and fills us with the love of God (sanctifying grace). Because God is capable of both forgiving and
forgetting our sin (Psalm 103:10-14), Wesley saw the potential as outlined in
the scriptures to live free from the constraints of sin. “By perfection, I mean
the humble, gentle, patient love of God, and our neighbor, ruling our tempers
and actions….I do not include an impossibility of falling from it, either in
part or in whole….and I do not contend for the term sinless.” (Wesley, p. 446)
If[D1] a believer chose to follow Christ and live
in the power and forgiveness each day, he could in essence, return to being
made in the image of God, lost when Adam and Eve were expelled from the
Garden. “The Spirit keeps stirring….
Christians on the wave-length of the Spirit to see their own faults, see needs
around them, sense the urge to speak or be still, and grasp truth with
spiritual insight. If we listen, He will develop in us a sense of
propriety. He gently shows us some area
that needs correction, we must obey.” (Taylor, P. 192ff) Living in obedience
allows God to reveal sin and to be forgiven and replaced immediately back into
relationship with the loving Father.
Wesley
taught that genuine faith produces inward and outward holiness. Jesus taught that true Christian discipleship
requires loving God with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength and loving
neighbor as self (Matthew 22:34-40).
Whereas Luther and Calvin tended to view perfection in the absolute
sense (i.e. perfect performance), Wesley understood it in a theological sense
as having to do with maturity of character and ever-increasing love for
God. The New Testament word “perfection”
translates from a Greek term that means maturity or completion: it does not
mean flawlessness. (Anderson)
The
Wesley brothers did reach people for Christ and discipled them effectively
through the means of music.
In order to implant Methodist
teaching in the minds and memories of the people, the Wesleys had for many
years incorporated hymn-singing into their services….Singing also gave the
believers an opportunity to testify to their shared spiritual experience.
Wesley warned against “formality” in singing—the complex tunes that are not
possible to sing with devotion…the repetition of words that shocks all common
sense and ‘has no more religion in it that a Lancashire hornpipe.’ (Heitzenrater,
P. 231)
While
John and Charles Wesley’s illumination of scripture changed the world in
powerful and pure ways through teaching, preaching, hymnody and living holy
lives, I wish now to zoom our focus specifically on perfecting love and the
implication it brings to the Christian life.
“The doctrine of entire sanctification contends the believer can be
victorious over sin.” (Robb, p. 50). This is completed, according to John
Oswalt, in large part through four steps:
(1) We must remember again that
there is nothing we can do to make God
love us any more than he does at this moment.
(2) Remember that the holy life is
not performance, but a new set of attitudes and a new way of responding to
God’s love.
(3) Deal with failures real or
perceived [by] distinguishing between sin and temptation to sin.
(4) Self-understanding, realizing
the potential for godliness that becames our upon accepting Christ can go on
without the hindrance of inner rebellion. (Oswalt, p. 195ff)
Indeed,
the best known Charles Wesley hymn is “O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (UMH #57), written in 1739 to
commemorate the first anniversary of his conversion and published in 1740 in
the Hymns and Sacred Poems under the title “For the Anniversary Day of
One’s Conversion”. The fourth stanza states clearly: He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets
the prisoner free; his blood can make
the foulest clean; his blood availed for me.
Charles
Wesley’s grasp of scripture, coupled with the poet’s gift and the need to teach
new converts how to grow in grace, defending themselves against an unseen enemy
is clearly seen in “I Want a Principle Within” (UMH#410).
I want a principle within of
watchful, godly fear,
a sensibility of sin, a pain to
feel it near.
I want the first approach to feel
of pride or wrong desire,
to catch the wandering of my will, And
quench the kindling fire.
From thee that I no more may stray,
no more thy goodness grieve,
grant me the filial awe, I pray,
the tender conscience give.
Quick as the apple of an eye, O
God, my conscience make;
awake my soul when sin is nigh, and
keep it still awake.
Almighty God of truth and love, to
me thy power impart;
the mountains of my soul remove, the hardness
of my heart.
O may the least omission pain my
reawakened soul,
and drive me to that blood again, which
makes the wounded whole.
Speaking
directly of perfection and consuming, holy love, Charles penned five verses in
“O For a Heart to Praise my God” (NNU website), which allude to the social
holiness element of perfection that the Wesley brothers saw as an integral part
of a holy life:
O for a heart to praise my God, a
heart from sin set free!
A heart that always feels thy
blood, so freely spilt for me!
A heart resigned, submissive, meek,
my dear Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak
where Jesus reigns alone.
A humble, lowly, contrite heart,
believing, true, and clean,
Which neither life nor death can
part from him that dwells within.
A heart in every thought renewed
and full of Love Divine,
Perfect, and right, and pure and
good, a copy, Lord, of Thine.
Thy tender heart is still the same,
and melts at human woe;
Jesus, for Thee distrest I am, I
want thy love to know.
I
must in good conscience admit that Charles and John, like typical brothers, did
not always agree on every point. In
fact, they often disagreed, including over the issue of perfection. “Charles
was also prone to self-depreciation and tended to set his expectations too
high, claiming in regard to entire sanctification ‘all the struggle then is
over. I wrestle not.’ At times he expressed a morbid view of life. He was influenced throughout his life by the
mystical writers.” (Reasoner, p. 65). An
example of this thought process is found in “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling”
(UMH#384):
Love divine, all loves excelling,
joy of heaven to earth come down;
fix in us thy humble dwelling; all
thy faithful mercies crown!
Jesus, thou art all compassion,
pure, unbounded love thou art;
visit us with thy salvation; enter
every trembling heart.
Breathe, O breathe thy loving
Spirit into every troubled breast!
Let us all in thee inherit; let us
find that second rest.
Take away our bent to sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
end of faith, as its beginning, set
our hearts at liberty.
Charles
would, at times, personify himself as the character in a Bible story and make
it his own, as he did in “Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown” (UMH#386), which encompasses
Genesis 32:24-32 as Jacob struggles with God only to find that as the morning
breaks, “thy nature and thy name is (Universal) Love.”
Another
hymn speaks of justification, perfection and action to be God’s agents in the
current world, “Eternal Son, Eternal Love” (Hymnal ???):
Eternal Son, eternal Love, Take to
thyself the mighty power;
Let all earth’s sons thy mercy
prove; Let all thy saving grace adore.
The triumphs of thy love display;
In every heart reign thou alone,
Til all thy foes confess thy sway,
And glory ends what grace begun.
Spirit of grace and health and
power, Fountain of light and love below,
Abroad thy healing influence
shower, O’er all the nations let it
flow.
Inflame our hearts with perfect
love; in us the work of faith fulfill,
So not heaven’s host shall swifter
move than we on earth, to do thy will.
A little
known hymn, “Thou Hidden Source of Calm Repose” (UMH #153) takes on both themes,
victory over sin and holy love:
Thou hidden source of calm repose,
thou all-sufficient love divine,
my help and refuge from my foes, secure I am
if thou art mine;
and lo! From sin and grief and
shame I hide me, Jesus, in thy name.
Thy mighty name salvation is, and
keeps my happy soul above;
comfort it brings, and power and peace, and
joy and everlasting love;
to me with thy dear name are given
pardon and holiness and heaven.
In want my plentiful supply, in
weakness my almighty power,
in bond my perfect liberty, my
light in Satan’s darkest hour,
in grief my joy unspeakable, my
life in death, my heaven in hell.
John
and Charles Wesley espoused the idea that there is no holiness without social
holiness. “Holiness itself implies an awareness of and
sensitivity to the social implications of the Gospel.
There
was great concern for the poor and disadvantaged among early holiness people.
They knew nothing of the separation between personal piety and social concern
that has marked the evangelical church of the last half-century.” (Purkiser, 5.I)
While not nearly as well known, this
text of Charles Wesley, “Come, Thou Holy God, and True” outlines social
holiness in verses 3-5 below:
Be to every sufferer nigh, hearing
not in vain,
of the widow in distress, of the
poor, the fatherless:
Raiment give to all that need, the
cry to the hungry furnish bread,
to the sick now give relief, sooth
the hapless prisoners’ grief:
Love, which wills that all should
live, Love, which all to all would give,
Love, that over all prevails, Love,
that never, never fails.
Refrain: Love immense and
unconfined, Love to all of humankind.
John
Oswalt aptly states: “So why does God want to make us holy? So that, forgetting
ourselves and our comfort and our prerogatives, we can handle the precious
lives of those around us with clean hands.
Like the manna in the wilderness, if we try to keep our holiness for
ourselves, it will grow sour and rancid in us….holiness is not an end in itself
so that we can revel in our own purity, but it is for the sake of others. God’s
reply, down through the ages, must reply ‘You must be holy, because I am holy’ is not a
demand, but a wonderful offer.” (Oswalt, p. 197ff).
The
unique doctrine of perfecting, holy, consuming love is captivatingly spoken of
in “Jesus, Thine All-Victorious Love” (UMH#422)
Jesus, thine all victorious love
shed in my heart abroad;
then shall my feet no longer rove,
rooted and fixed in God.
O that in me the sacred fire might
now begin to glow;
burn up the dross of base desire
and make the mountains flow!
O that it now from heaven might
fall and all my sins consume!
Come, Holy Ghost, for thee I call,
Spirit of burning, come!
Refining fire, go through my heart,
illuminate my soul;
scatter thy life through every part
and sanctify the whole.
Through
the gift of perfecting love, our eyes are opened to the needs all around
us. We are enabled to see the needs of
others and especially our great need of a Savior who forgives. Shoe-horned into the middle of Luke, Jesus
proclaimed unapologetically: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew
22:37-39). This is the Wesleyan
perfection--- If we are ruled by love, redeployed by the Holy Spirit to share this
holy love, God will use this as an unstoppable force for good.
Routley
goes so far as to say that Charles did not write the majority of his texts to
be sung in a congregation but primarily by soloists and trained choirs. The popular tunes of the day were from
secular operas; while this music literature was attractive, it was largely
unsingable by the average lay person. “[Charles]
wrote what John wanted: hymns for the devout in class-meetings, and hymns for
the heathen in the fields where their open-air preaching was done. He would write very simply: he could write in
remote and complex phrases; he could do something as clear and captivating as
the text which underlie ' Hark, the Herald Angels sing’, and something next day
perhaps, as allusive and contemplative as ‘Come, O Thou Traveler’. But while many of his hymns make first-rate
congregational material, they were mainly solos….even when the words are universal
and communal, the music was of the kind inspired by Handel and the lesser
opera-composers of the 1730s.” (Routley, p. 40) Largely, his hymns written for congregational
use were 1-2 verses, so that they could be sung by their followers and particularly
easier to learn and memorize doctrine for even the simplest minded saint.
Hardly any of this music is in
general use now; It is because hymn singing now is so different from what either
(Isaac) Watts or the Wesleys knew that we are not most familiar with the most
‘public’ of Wesley’s hymns At present the Wesley hymns are mostly for reading
and meditation and perhaps the occasional solo or choral piece rather than for
the congregational singing we are now accustomed to. Meanwhile we can just notice the exquisite sensitiveness
and insight which enable him so accurately to portray the silence of heaven,
the joys of penitence and the guiltless shame.
(Routley, p. 41)
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