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What Would Wesley Say
John Wesley's Journal
The journal of the English preacher and founder of Methodism, John Wesley.
Posted as a blog from his journals from 1737 onwards.
 Wesley on "heart-religion"
by D. Stephen Long, Evanston, IL. USA
Steve
Long
Associate Professor of Systematic Theology
Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary
Evanston, Illinois
s.long@garrett.edu
One
of the places from which the term 'heart religion' emerges in Wesley's
thought is his sermon "Catholic Spirit." The phrase "if your heart is as
my heart then give me your hand" is often quoted out of context to imply
Wesley set a religion of the heart against Christian doctrine."
Wesley is discussing different worship styles
— how one administers the Lord's Supper and baptism and how these are the
cause of division in the various churches (although he was clear that
Methodists should have a common and uniform way of doing this which was in
the Discipline up through the mid-twentieth century.) He simply recognized
the legitimacy of other traditions doing it differently.
Then he asks, "My only question at present is
this, 'Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart." (p. 87). This
is often used to argue Wesley was more concerned with the state of one's
heart than with matters such as doctrine or worship. But he then goes on to
explain what is meant by a "right heart" and he says, "But what is properly
implied in the question? . . . . The first thing implied is this: Is thy
heart right with God? Dost thou believe his being and his perfections? His
eternity, immensity, wisdom, power; his justice mercy and truth."
Note that his first response to this question
implies proper "belief" which is a doctrinal matter. He then says "Dost thou
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 'God over all, blessed for ever?"
Note the second thing implied in this "heart
religion" is a belief in Jesus' divinity.
Then he asks thirdly, "Is they faith filled
with the energy of love?"
Fourth — "Art thou employed in doing 'not
thy own will, but the will of him that sent thee'?
Fifth — "Does the love of God constrain thee
to 'serve' him 'with fear'?
Sixth — "Is thy heart right toward they
neighbor?"
Seventh — "Do you show your love by your
works?"
These are the seven questions Wesley says
constitute "having the same heart." And then he says, "If it be, give me
thine hand." Some wrongly interpret this as an indifference toward
doctrinal issues.
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Wesley on Authority of
Scripture
 What
Did John Wesley Say About the Bible?
"My ground is the Bible. Yea, I am a Bible bigot.
I follow it in all things, both great and small."
—(John
Wesley the Methodist, The Methodist Book Concern, 1903)
"The
general rule of interpreting Scripture is this: the literal sense
of every text is to be taken, if it be not contrary to some other texts.
But in that case, the obscure text is to be interpreted by those which
speak more plainly."
—(Letter to Samuel Furly, 10
May, 1755)
"Try
all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it. You are in
danger of [fanaticism] every hour, if you depart ever so little
from Scripture; yea, or from the plain, literal meaning of an text, taken
in connection with the context."
—(Works, 11:429)
"Nay,
if there be any mistakes in the Bible, there may as well be a thousand. If
there be one falsehood in that book, it did not come from the God of
truth"
—(John Wesley, Journal,
24 July 1776)
"Nay,
will not the allowing there is any error in Scripture, shake the authority
of the whole?"
—(Works, Jackson
ed., 9:150). (Wesley's Journal, 8 August 1773).
A. Skevington Wood, who also
wrote The Principles of Biblical Interpretation (Grand Rapids:
Zondervan, 1967), said that while it is fashionable to dismiss Wesley's
conservative approach to Scripture saying that he lived in pre-critical
times and had be been alive today would have adopted more liberal views,
fails to take into account that Wesley was conscious of the beginning of
the development of higher criticism — yet did not embrace it.
IMARC agrees with this view of Wesley. He was a defender, and not an
offender of the Faith.
"The
faith of the Protestants, in general, embraces only those truths,
as necessary to salvation, which are clearly revealed in the oracles of
God. Whatever is plainly declared in the Old and New Testaments is the
object of their faith. They believe neither more nor less than what is
manifestly contained in, and provable by, the Holy Scriptures....
The written Word is the whole and sole rule of their faith, as well as
practice. They believe whatsoever God has declared, and profess
to do whatsoever He hath commanded. This is the proper faith of
Protestants: by this they will abide, and no other."
—[John Wesley, "On Faith,"
Sermon #106, I.8].
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Coming Soon:
Wesley on the Virgin Birth
Wesley on the Trinity
Wesley on the deity of Christ
Wesley on substiutionary
atonement
Wesley on Jesus as the only
way of salvation
Wesley on the physical
resurrection of Jesus
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Wesley Center Online:
<<back
Wesley’s
Sermons (UMC Web Site)
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