It would be an endless history were I to attempt to tell you, one by one, of all the journeys taken by John Wesley for preaching the gospel from this time forward. He seems seldom to have spent more than a week or two in the same place; but for some time his journeys were chiefly between London and Bristol, stopping at places on the road, or going some distance out of the direct road, in order to preach. The year 1740 was thus spent. He sometimes rode on horseback, sometimes walked, and occasionally we hear of his traveling in what he calls “a machine,” which was a sort of stagecoach. This was, however, only on rare occasions. Whilst at Bristol, he would take the opportunity of going into Wales, generally for about six days. Whitefield was, meanwhile, in America. It was during the year 1740 that several of the Methodists began to preach and teach truths of which Wesley did not approve. One of them, Mr. Cennick, wrote to Whitefield to ask him what he thought on these matters, for Mr. Cennick felt that he ought to preach what he knew to be true, displeasing as it was to Mr. Wesley, and he wished to know whether Whitefield also thought him wrong. Whitefield, however, fully approved of Mr. Cennick’s preaching, and this grieved John Wesley very much. The matters about which they differed were chiefly two. John Wesley believed that a man, after being saved, could again be lost, by his own carelessness and neglect of prayer, or of obedience to God. He also believed, on the other hand, that a saved man could attain such complete victory over sin that it might at last be entirely rooted out of him, and nothing be left in him but what was perfect and holy. This he called attaining “perfection.” Whitefield and Cennick, on the other hand, said that salvation was entirely God’s work from beginning to end—that God had chosen His own people before the world was made—that He saved them because He loved them—that although no dependence could be put in them, God could be depended upon to keep them safe forever. That, moreover, He gave to them everlasting life, and that everlasting life lasts forever. That they should never perish, and that none should be able to pluck them out of His hand. They said that if their safety and continuance in faith depended in any degree upon themselves, they not only might be, but certainly would be lost at last; but that He who had begun the good work in them, would assuredly carry it on and complete it, for “whatsoever God doeth, it is forever.”
With regard to perfection, they said, that whilst it is true the believer has power over sin, there is always in him, as long as he is down here, the sin over which he has power; and that “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” More than that, “if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us.” But the very fact that we have power against sin leaves us without excuse when we do sin, so that as we go on we learn the more deeply to feel how sinful our natural hearts always are, and we condemn ourselves the more, the more we know not only God’s love and grace in forgiving us, but also His great power working in us, the power of the Holy Ghost, which leaves no room for the excuse, “I could not help it.” Moreover, the more we know of Christ, so as to be able to compare ourselves with Him, the more we learn how far short we fall in our conduct from that perfect standard—the only standard God will allow.
If you take the trouble to look into the Bible, you will see that in these matters John Wesley was in the wrong. It may be that the immense amount of preaching which filled up so much of his time, and the many journeys he took, left him often but a little while in the day to study the Word of God. He sometimes read whilst he rode on horseback; but he could not always have either a good horse or a good road, and would then have to give up his book, and attend to his journey. Besides which, he never seems to have entirely got rid of the teaching of Thomas à Kempis, and of other books of the same sort. We often see that people suffer in their bodies, even whilst living year after year on wholesome food, if, during their childhood, they have eaten many unwholesome things. So it is with reading. The bad books we read when young, even if we see afterward they were wrong, leave an evil effect, which never entirely passes away. Those are very happy children who have all books kept out of their way, except such as are really good and wholesome; and those are happy young men and women who have wisdom enough to read such books when left to themselves. But we need God’s care and guidance in all these matters; and I would advise you to pray earnestly to be kept from reading a page of anything that would do you harm. When you are old enough, you may perhaps have to read even bad books, when necessary, to show the evil they contain to those who might be misled by them; but any needless reading of what is wrong, at any age, will do lasting harm. “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken Thou me in Thy way “is a prayer which may specially be applied to the matter of reading. May you think of it when you see the many yellow volumes put out to tempt you on the railway-stalls; and may you more especially think of it when it is a question of reading any religious books, numbers of which are filled with error and folly, and are all the more dangerous because they have the appearance of being what people call “good books.” With regard to them, it is indeed needful to be directed aright, and God will direct you, if you look to Him, and desire to know His will in order to do it. The fact that it is God who keeps us safe forever, is by no means an encouragement to carelessness, neglect of prayer, or reading the word, and diligently seeking to know His will. Just as when God keeps us in health, His doing so is shown by our having a good appetite, not by our ceasing to eat; so the fact of God keeping our souls in health is shown by our diligence in using all the means He has given us for growing in grace, and also by our carefulness in avoiding whatever is contrary to His mind.
John Wesley had learned in former years from Thomas à Kempis that we are to work hard to mend and improve the old nature. This thought seems always to have clung to him. And if we are really thus to improve our evil nature, “why,” he would naturally think, “should we stop short of entirely mending it? Why may we not hope, with God’s help, to get rid of the last trace of evil, and be perfect?” For the answer to this we must look into the Word of God. We there find, on the contrary, not a word about attempting to mend or improve the old nature. We find God looks upon it as something past mending, and fit only to be utterly destroyed. Not only so, but God looks upon the “old man,” as it is called, in the believer, as something already not only condemned, but put to death. If Christ died in my place, that is my death. I am no longer, therefore, to treat the old self as alive, but as dead. I cannot improve it—it never will be improved. I am, therefore, not to indulge it, or attend to its desires, or treat it otherwise than as something done with and set aside. But as long as we are down here, this evil self is still there; and though it is true the new man is perfect, that does not improve the old nature; on the contrary, just because the new man is perfect, he sees and understands how evil the old nature is, and the believer condemns himself the more, the more he makes use of the light and grace which, as a new creature in Christ Jesus, he possesses. He condemns himself because he is the person in whom these two natures are; and he ought always to act according to the new, not according to the old. More than this, he has power to refuse and deny the desires of the old nature, and is left without excuse when he gives way to them. And even if he does not give way to them, the very desire is sin, and needs nothing short of the blood of Christ to blot it out of God’s sight. There are, therefore, two ways of shutting our eyes to our own sinfulness. One is to say, “I cannot help sinning,” which is not true, if we are really believers, strengthened with all might according to God’s glorious power; the other is to say that avoiding acts of sin is a perfect state. If we were perfect, we should never have to avoid sin, any more than if you were walking through a solitary desert you would have to avoid bad company. Christ had no sin to avoid, and He was the only perfect man who was ever on this earth. Moreover, Christ in heaven is the only standard or measure of perfection in God’s sight. Nothing short of Himself is perfect before God. Wesley’s thought of perfection must, therefore, have been different from God’s thought of it. I am sorry to have to tell you of the mistakes of so faithful a servant of God, but as it is needful to give you a true account as far as possible, this cannot be helped. Let us rejoice that there is a time coming when God’s people really will be perfect. “When He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” And “He shall present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, “but it shall be holy and without blemish.”