‘Most of the preceding advices are strongly enforced in the following reflections; which I recommend to your deep and frequent consideration, next to the Holy Scriptures :–

‘(1) The sea is an excellent figure of the fulness of God, and that of the blessed Spirit. For as the rivers all return into the sea, so the bodies, the souls, and the good works of the righteous return into God, to live there in His eternal repose.

‘Although all the graces of God depend on His mere bounty, yet is He pleased generally to attach them to the prayers, the instructions, and the holiness of those with whom we are. By strong though invisible attractions He draws some souls, through their intercourse with others.

‘The sympathies formed by grace far surpass those formed by nature. ‘The truly devout show that passions as naturally flow from true as from false love; so deeply sensible are they of the goods and evils of those whom they love for God’s sake. But this can only be comprehended by those who understand the language of love.

‘The bottom of the soul may be in repose even while we are in many outward troubles; just as the bottom of the sea is calm, while the surface is strongly agitated. ‘The best helps to growth in grace are the ill usage, the affronts, and the losses which befall us. We should receive them with all thankfulness, as preferable to all others, were it only on this account,-that our will has no part therein.

‘The readiest way to escape from our sufferings is, to be willing they should endure as long as God pleases. ‘If we suffer persecution and affliction in a right manner, we attain a larger measure of conformity to Christ, by a due improvement of one of these occasions, than we could have done merely by imitating His mercy, in abundance of good works.

‘One of the greatest evidences of God’s love to those that love Him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them. ‘Even in the greatest afflictions, we ought to testify to God, that, in receiving them from His hand, we feel pleasure in the midst of the pain, from being afflicted by Him who loved us, and whom we love.

‘The readiest way which God takes to draw a man to Himself is, to afflict him in that he loves most, and with good reason; and to cause this affliction to arise from some good action done with a single eye; because nothing can more clearly show him the emptiness of what is most lovely and desirable in the world.

‘(2) True resignation consists in a thorough conformity to the whole will of God, who wills and does all (excepting sin) which comes to pass in the world. In order to do this, we have only to embrace all events, good and bad, as His will.

‘In the greatest afflictions which can befall the just, either from heaven or earth, they remain immovable in peace, and perfectly submissive to God by an inward, loving regard to Him, uniting in one all the powers of their souls.

‘We ought quietly to suffer whatever befalls us; to bear the defects of others and our own, to confess them to God in secret prayer, or with groans which cannot be uttered; but never to speak a sharp or peevish word, nor to murmur or repine; but thoroughly willing that God should treat you in the manner that pleases Him. We are His lambs, and therefore ought to be ready to suffer, even to the death, without complaining.

‘We are to bear with those we cannot amend, and to be content with offering them to God. This is true resignation. And since He has borne our infirmities, we may well bear those of each other for His sake.

‘To abandon all, to strip one’s self of all, in order to seek and to follow Jesus Christ naked to Bethlehem, where He was born; naked to the hall where He was scourged; and naked to Calvary, where He died on the cross, is so great a mercy, that neither the thing, nor the knowledge of it, is given to any, but through faith in the Son of God.

‘(3) There is no love of God without patience, and no patience without lowliness and sweetness of spirit. ‘Humility and patience are the surest proof of the increase of love. ‘Humility alone unites patience with love; without which it is impossible to draw profit from suffering; or, indeed, to avoid complaint, especially when we think we have no occasion for what men make us suffer. ‘True humility is a kind of self-annihilation; and this is the centre of all virtues.

‘A soul returned to God ought to be attentive to everything which is said to him, on the head of salvation, with a desire to profit thereby. ‘Of the sins which God has pardoned, let nothing remain but a deeper humility in the heart, and a stricter regulation in our words, in our actions, and in our sufferings.

‘(4) The bearing men, and suffering evils in meekness and silence, is the sum of a Christian life. ‘God is the first object of our love: its next office is, to bear the defects of others. And we should begin the practice of this amidst our own household. ‘We should chiefly exercise our love towards them who most shock either our way of thinking, or our temper, or our knowledge, or the desire we have that others should be as virtuous as we wish to be ourselves.

‘(5) God hardly gives His Spirit even to those whom He has established in grace, if they do not pray for it on all occasions, not only once, but many times. ‘God does nothing but in answer to prayer; and even they who have been converted to God, without praying for it themselves (which is exceeding rare), were not without the prayers of others. Every new victory which a soul gains is the effect of a new prayer.

‘On every occasion of uneasiness we should retire to prayer, that we may give place to the grace and light of God, and then form our resolutions, without being in any pain about what success they may have. ‘In the greatest temptations, a single look to Christ and the barely pronouncing His name, suffices to overcome the wicked one, so it be done with confidence and calmness of spirit.

‘God’s command to “pray without ceasing” is founded on the necessity we have of His grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air. ‘Whether we think of or speak to God, whether we act or suffer for Him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than His love, and the desire of pleasing Him.

‘All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.. ‘Prayer continues in the desire of the heart though the understanding be employed on outward things.

‘In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer. ‘As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God. ‘God only requires of His adult children that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer Him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.

‘(6) It is scarce conceivable how strait the way is wherein God leads them that follow Him; and how dependent on Him we must be, unless we are wanting in our faithfulness to Him.

‘It is hardly credible of how great consequence before God the smallest things are; and what great inconveniences sometimes follow those which appear to be light faults. ‘As a very little dust will disorder a clock, and the least sand will obscure our sight, so the least grain of sin which is upon the heart will hinder its right motion towards God.

‘We ought to be in the church as the saints are in heaven, and in. the house as the holiest men are in the church: doing our work in the house as we pray in the church; worshipping God from the ground of the heart. ‘We should be continually labouring to cut off all the useless things that surround us; and God usually retrenches the superfluities of our souls in the same proportion as we do those of our bodies. ‘The best means of resisting the devil is, to destroy whatever of the world remains in us, in order to raise for God, upon its ruins, a building all of love. Then shall we begin, in this fleeting life, to love God as we shall love Him in eternity.

‘We scarce conceive how easy it is to rob God of His due, in our friendship with the most virtuous persons, until they are torn from us by death. But if this loss produce lasting sorrow, that is a clear proof that we had before two treasures, between which we divided our heart.

‘(7) If, after having renounced all, we do not watch incessantly, and beseech God to accompany our vigilance with His, we shall be again entangled and overcome.

‘As the most dangerous winds may enter at little openings, so the devil never enters more dangerously than by little unobserved incidents, which seem to be nothing, yet insensibly open the heart to great temptations. ‘It is good to renew ourselves, from time to time, by closely examining the state of our souls, as if we had never done it before; for nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith, than to keep ourselves by this means in humility, and the exercise of all good works.

‘To continual watchfulness and prayer ought to be added continual employment. For grace flies a vacuum as well as nature; and the devil fills whatever God does not fill. ‘There is no faithfulness like that which ought to be between a guide of souls and the person directed by him. They ought continually to regard each other in God, and closely to examine themselves, whether all their thoughts are pure, and all their words directed with Christian discretion. Other affairs are only the things of men; but these are peculiarly the things of God.

‘(8) The words of St. Paul, “No man can call Jesus Lord, but by the Holy Ghost,” show us the necessity of eyeing God in our good works, and even in our minutest thoughts: knowing that none are pleasing to Him but those which He forms in us and with us. From hence we learn that we cannot serve Him, unless He use our tongue, hands and heart, to do by Himself and His Spirit whatever He would have us to do.

‘If we were not utterly impotent, our good works would be our own property; whereas now they belong wholly to God, because they proceed from Him and His grace: while raising our works, and making them all divine, He honours Himself in us through them.

‘One of the principal rules of religion is, to lose no occasion of serving God. And since He is invisible to our eyes, we are to serve Him in our neighbour: which He receives as if done to Himself in person, standing visibly before us.

‘God does not love men that are inconstant, nor good works that are intermitted . Nothing is pleasing to Him but what has a resemblance of His own immutability, ‘A constant attention to the work which God entrusts us with is a mark of solid piety.

‘Love fasts when it can, and as much as it can. It leads to all the ordinances of God, and employs itself in all the outward works whereof it is capable. It flies, as it were, like Elijah over the plain, to find God upon His holy mountain.

‘God is so great, that He communicates greatness to the least thing that is done for His service. ‘Happy are they who are sick, yea or lose their life, for having done a good work. ‘God frequently conceals the part which His children have in the conversion of other souls. Yet one may boldly say, that person who long groans before Him for the conversion of another, whenever that soul is converted to God, is one of the chief causes of it.

‘Charity cannot be practised right, unless, first, we exercise it the moment God gives the occasion; and, secondly, retire the instant after to offer it to God by humble thanksgiving. And this for three reasons–First, to render Him what we have received from Him. The second, to avoid the dangerous temptation which springs from the very goodness of these works. And the third, to unite ourselves to God, in whom the soul expands itself in prayer, with all the graces we have received, and the good works we have done, to draw from Him new strength against the bad effects which these very works may produce in us, if we do not make use of the antidotes which God has ordained against these poisons. The true means to be filled anew with the riches of grace is thus to strip ourselves of it; and without this it is extremely difficult not to grow faint in the practice of good works.

‘Good works do not receive theirlast perfection till they, as it were, lose themselves in God. This is a kind of death to them, resembling that of our bodies, which will not attain their highest life, their immortality, till they lose themselves in the glory of our souls, or rather of God, wherewith they shall be filled. And it is only what they had of earthly and mortal which good works lose by this spiritual death.

‘Fire is the symbol of love; and the love of God is the principle and the end of all our good works. But truth surpasses figure; and the fire of divine love has this advantage over material fire, that it can reascend to its source, and raise thither with it all the good works which it produces. And by this means it prevents their being corrupted by pride, vanity, or any evil mixture. But this cannot be done otherwise than by making these good works in a spiritual manner die in God, by a deep gratitude, which plunges the soul in Him as in an abyss, with all that it is, and all the grace and works for which it is indebted to Him; a gratitude whereby the soul seems to empty itself of them, that they may return to their source, as rivers seem willing to empty themselves when they pour themselves with all their waters into the sea.

‘When we have received any favour from God, we ought to retire, if not into our closets, into our hearts, and say, “I come, Lord, to restore to Thee what Thou hast given; and I freely relinquish it, to enter again into my own nothingness. For what is the most perfect .creature in heaven or earth in Thy presence, but a void capable of being filled with Thee and by Thee; as the air which is void and dark is capable of being filled with the light of the sun, who withdraws it every day to restore it the next, there being nothing in the air that either appropriates this light or resists it? Oh, give me the same facility of receiving and restoring Thy grace and good works! I say, Thine; for I acknowledge the root from which they spring is in Thee, and not in me.” ‘

26. In the year 1764, upon a review of the whole subject, I wrote down the sum of what I had observed in the following short propositions:

‘(1) There is such a thing as perfection; for it is again and again mentioned in Scripture.

‘(2) It is not so early as justification; for justified persons are to “go on unto perfection” (Heb. vi. i).

‘(3). It is not so late ‘as death; for St. Paul speaks of living men that were perfect (Phil. iii. 15).

‘(4) It is not absolute. Absolute perfection belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone.

‘(5) It does not make a man infallible; none is infallible while he remains in the body.

‘(6) Is it sinless? It is not worth while tocontend for a term It is “salvation from sin.”

‘(7) It is “perfect love” (1 John iv. 18). This is the essence of it: its properties, or inseparable fruits, are, rejoicing evermore, praying without ceasing, and in everything giving thanks (1 Thess. v. 16, etc.).

‘(8) It is improvable. It is so far from lying in an indivisible point, from being incapable of increase, that one perfected in love may grow in grace far swifter than he did before.

‘(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.

‘(10) It is constantly both preceded and followed by a gradual work.

‘(11) But is it in itself instantaneous or not? In examining this, let us go on step by step.

‘An instantaneous change has been wrought in some believers; none can deny this. ‘Since that change they enjoy perfect love; they feel this, and this alone; they “rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, and in everything give thanks.” Now, this is all that I mean by perfection; therefore, these are witnesses of the perfection which I preach.

‘ “But in some this change was not instantaneous.” They did not perceive the instant when it was wrought. It is often difficult to perceive the instant when a man dies; yet there is an instant in which life ceases. And if ever sin ceases, there must be a last moment of its existence, and a first moment of our deliverance from it.

‘ “But if they have this love now, they will lose it.” They may; but they need not. And whether they do or no, they have it now; they now experience what we teach. They now are all love; they now rejoice, pray, and praise without ceasing.

‘ “However, sin is only suspended in them; it is not destroyed.” Call it which you please. They are all love to-day; and they take no thought for the morrow. ‘ “But this doctrine has been much abused.” So has that of justification by faith. But that is no reason for giving up either this or any other scriptural doctrine. “When you wash your child,” as one speaks, “throw away the water; but do not throw away the child.”

‘ “But those who think they are saved from sin say they have no need of the merits of Christ.” They say just the contrary. Their language is-
“Every moment, Lord, I want The merit of Thy death!”

They never before had so deep, so unspeakable a conviction of the need of Christ in all His offices, as they have now. ‘Therefore, all our preachers should make a point of preaching perfection to believers constantly, strongly, fand explicitly; and all believers should mind this one thing, and continually agonise for it.’

27. I have now done what I proposed. I have given a plain and simple account of the manner wherein I first received the doctrine of perfection, and the sense wherein I received, and wherein I do receive and teach it to this day. I have declared the whole and every part of what I mean by that scriptural expression. I have drawn the picture of it at full length, without either disguise or covering. And I would now ask any impartial person, What is there so frightful therein? Whence is all this outcry, which for these twenty years and upwards has been made throughout the kingdom; as if all Christianity were destroyed, and all religion torn up by the roots? Why is it that the very name of perfection has been cast out of the mouth of Christians; yea, exploded and abhorred, as if it contained the most pernicious heresy? Why have the preachers of it been hooted at, like mad dogs, even by men that fear God; nay, and by some of their own children; some whom they, under God, had begotten through the Gospel? What reason is there for this, or what pretence? Reason, sound reason, there is none; it is impossible there should be. But pretences there are, and those in great abundance. Indeed, there is ground to fear that , with some who treat us thus, it is mere pretence; that it is no more than a copy of their countenance, from the beginning to the end. They wanted, they sought, occasion against me; and here they found what they sought. ‘This is Mr. Wesley’s doctrine! He preaches perfection!’ He does: yet this is not his doctrine any more than it is yours, or any one else’s, that is a minister of Christ. For it is His doctrine, peculiarly, emphatically His! it is the doctrine of_Jesus Christ. Those are His words, not mine:–‘Ye shall therefore be perfect as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.” And who says ye shall not; or, at least, not till your soul is separated from the body? It is the doctrine of St. Paul, the doctrine of St. James, of St. Peter, and St. John; and no otherwise Mr. Wesley’s than as it is the doctrine of every one who preaches the pure and the whole gospel. I tell you, as plain as I can speak, where and when I found this. I found it in the oracles of God, in the Old and New Testaments; when I read them with no other view or desire but to save my own soul. But whosesoever this doctrine is, I pray you what harm is there in it? Look at it again; survey it on every side, and that with the closest attention. In one view, it is purity of intention, dedicating all the life to God. It is the giving to God all our hearts : it is one desire and design ruling all our tempers. It is the devoting, not a part, but all our soil, body, and substance to God. In another view, it is all the mind which was in Christ, enabling us to walk as Christ walked. It is the circumcision of the heart from all filthiness, all inward as well as outward pollution. It is a renewal of the heart in the whole image of God, the full likeness of Him that created it. In yet another, it is the loving God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves. Now, take it in which of these views you please (for there is no material difference), and this is the whole and sole perfection, as a train of writings proved to a demonstration, which I have believed and taught for these forty years, from the year 1725 to the year 1765.

28. Now, let this perfection appear in its native form, and who can speak one word against it? Will any dare to speak against loving the Lord our God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves? against a renewal of heart, not only in part, but in the whole image of God? Who is he that will open his mouth against being cleansed from all pollution both of flesh and spirit; or against having all the mind that was in Christ, and walking in all things as Christ walked? What man, who calls himself a Christian, has the hardiness to object to the devoting, not a part, but all our soul, body, and substance to God? What serious man would oppose the giving to God all our heart, and the having one design ruling all our tempers? I say again, let this perfection appear in its own shape, and who will fight against it? It must be disguised before it can be opposed. It must be covered with a bear-skin first, or even the wild beasts of the people will scarce be induced to worry it. But whatever these do, let not the children of God any longer fight against the image of God. Let not the members of Christ say anything against having the whole mind that was in Christ. Let not those who are alive to God oppose the dedicating all our life to Him. Why should you who have His love shed abroad in your heart withstand the giving Him all your heart? Does not all that is within you cry out, ‘Oh, who that loves can love enough?’ What pity that those who desire and design to please Him should have any other design or desire! much more, that they should dread, as a fatal delusion, yea abhor, as an abomination to God, the having this one desire and design ruling every temper! Why should devout men be afraid of devoting all their soul, body, and substance to God? Why should those who love Christ count it a damnable error to think we may have all the mind that was in Him? We allow, we contend, that we are justified freely through the righteousness and the blood of Christ. And why are you so hot against us, because we expect likewise to be sanctified wholly through His Spirit? We look for no favour either from the open servants of sin, or from those who have only the form of religion. But how long will you who worship God in spirit, who are ‘circumcised with the circumcision not made with hands,’ set your battle in array against those who seek an entire circumcision of heart, who thirst to be cleansed ‘from all filthiness of flesh and spirit,’ and to ‘perfect holiness in the fear of God’? Are we your enemies because we look for a full deliverance from that ‘carnal mind which is enmity against God’? Nay, we are your brethren, your fellow-labourers in the vineyard of our Lord, your companions in the kingdom and patience of Jesus. Although this we confess (if we are fools therein, yet as fools bear with us), we do expect to love God with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves. Yea, we do believe that He will in this world so ‘cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit, that we shall perfectly love Him, and worthily magnify His holy name.’

SOME thoughts occurred to my mind this morning concerning Christian perfection, and the manner and time of receiving it, which I believe may be useful to set down.

1. By perfection I mean the humble, gentle, patient love of God and our neighbour, ruling our tempers, words, and actions. I do not include an impossibility of falling from it, either in part or in whole. Therefore, I retract several expressions in our hymns, which partly express, partly imply, such an impossibility. And I do not contend for the term sinless, though I do not object against it.

2. As to the manner. I believe this perfection is always wrought in the soul by a simple act of faith; consequently in an instant. But I believe in a gradual work both preceding and following that instant.

3. As to the time. I believe this instant generally is the instant of death, the moment before the soul leaves the body. But I believe it may be ten, twenty, or forty years before. I believe it is usually many years after justification; but that it may be within five years or five months after it, I know no conclusive argument to the contrary. If it must be many years after justification I would be glad to know how many. Pretium quotus arroget annus?

And how many days or months, or even years, can any one allow to be between perfection and death? How far from justification must it be; and how near to. death?

LONDON, Jan. 27, 1767

THE PROMISE OF SANCTIFICATION

(Ezek. xxxvi. 25, etc.)

BY THE REV. CHARLES WESLEY

God of all power, and truth, and grace,
Which shall from age to age endure;
Whose word, when heaven and earth shall pass,
Remains and stands for ever sure:

Calmly to Thee my soul looks up,
And waits Thy promises to prove;
The object of my steadfast hope,
The seal of Thine eternal love.

That I Thy mercy may proclaim,
That all mankind Thy truth may see,
Hallow Thy great and glorious Name
And perfect holiness in me.

Chose from the world, if now I stand
Adorn’d in righteousness divine;
If, brought unto the promised land,
I justly call the Saviour mine:

Perform the work Thou hast begun,
My inmost soul to Thee convert:
Love me, for ever love Thine own,
And sprinkle with Thy blood my heart.

Thy sanctifying Spirit pour,
To quench my thirst and wash me clean;
Now, Father, let the gracious shower
Descend, and make me pure from sin.

Purge me from every sinful blot:
My idols all be cast aside :
Cleanse me from every evil thought,
From all the filth of self and pride.

Give me a new, a perfect heart,
From doubt, and fear, and sorrow free;
The mind which was in Christ impart,
And let my spirit cleave to Thee.

O take this heart of stone away!
(Thy rule it doth not, cannot own);
In me no longer let it stay;
O take away this heart of stone!

The hatred of my carnal mind
Out of my flesh at once remove;
Give me a tender heart, resigned,
And pure, and fill’d with faith and love.

Within me Thy good Spirit place,
Spirit of health, and love, and power;
Plant in me Thy victorious grace,
And sin shall never enter more.

Cause me to walk in Christ my way,
And I Thy statutes shall fulfil;
In every point Thy law obey,
And perfectly perform Thy will.

Hast Thou not said, who canst not lie,
That I Thy law shall keep and do?
Lord, I believe, though men deny:
They all are false; but Thou art true.

O that I now, from sin released,
Thy word might to the utmost prove!
Enter into the promised rest,
The Canaan of Thy perfect love

There let me ever, ever dwell;
Be Thou my God, and I will be
Thy servant: O set to Thy seal!
Give me eternal life in Thee.

From all remaining filth within
Let me in Thee salvation have;
From actual and from inbred sin
My ransom’d soul persist to save.

Washout my old orig’nal stain:
Tell me no more it cannot be,
Demons or men! The Lamb was slain,
His blood was all pour’d out for me!

Sprinkle it, Jesu, on my heart:
One drop of Thy all-cleansing blood
Shall make my sinfulness depart,
And fill me with the life of God.

Father, supply my every need;
Sustain the life Thyself hast given;
Call for the corn, the living bread,
The manna that comes down from heaven.

The gracious fruits of righteousness,
Thy blessings’ unexhausted store,
In me abundantly increase;
Nor let me ever hunger more.

Let me no more in deep complain,
‘My leanness, 0 my leanness!’ cry;
Alone consumed with pining want,
Of all my Father’s children I!

The painful thirst, the fond desire,
Thy joyous presence shall remove;
While my full soul doth still require
The whole eternity of love.

Holy, and true, and righteous Lord,
I wait to prove Thy-perfect will;
Be mindful of Thy gracious word,
And stamp me with Thy Spirit’s seal!

Thy faithful mercies let me find,
In which Thou causest me to trust;
Give me Thy meek and lowly mind,
And lay my spirit in the dust.

Show me how foul my heart hath been,
When all renew’d by grace I am;
When Thou hast emptied me of sin,
Show me the fulness of my shame.

Open my faith’s interior eye,
Display Thy glory from above;
And all I am shall sink and die,
Lost in astonishment and love.

Confound, o’erpower me, with Thy grace;
I would be by myself abhorr’d:
(All might, all majesty, all praise,
All glory be to Christ my Lord!)

Now let me gain perfection’s height,
Now let me into nothing fall!
Be less than nothing in my sight,
And feel that Christ is all in all.