1 This general attitude in Wesley, in spite of some deviation from orthodox principles, is urged by SCHNECKENBURGER in his Vorlesungen (see pp. 108, 111).
The same characteristic feature in his conception of sin is also stressed in more recent studies. See the chapter entitled The Infinite Distance of Sin in CELL, The Rediscovery of John Wesley, pp. 273-296. Cell asserts that Wesley is in the direct line of descent of St. Paul, St. Augustine, Luther, Calvin (p. 275). The affinity with central Lutheran ideas is also indicated in v. EICKEN, Rechtfertigung und Heiligung bei Wesley, pp. 8-11, and in SCOTT, John Wesleys Lehre von der Heiligung, p. 78 ff. See also BETT, The Spirit of Methodism, p. 153. In his doctrines of corruption through sin and of grace as the means of salvation, Bett finds that Wesley follows Calvin. The divergence lay in the limited redemption of the latter. Cf. also LERCH, Heil und Heiligung bei John Wesley, p. 37 ff. See further Introduction, pp. 7, 11 ff.
2 This expression only refers to the general principles of the Reformation. Thus it includes a Lutheran as well as a Calvinistic view.
5 See further the following sermons delivered in the same period: On Grieving the Holy Spirit, 1733, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 491; The Trouble and Rest of Good Men, 1735, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 365 f.; On the Holy Spirit, 1736, The Works of John Wesley, VII, pp. 509-512.
6 University sermon on Salvation by Faith, delivered 11 June 1738, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 1, p. 37 f.
9 Minutes, 1745, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 285: "Q. 23. Wherein may we come to the very edge of Calvinism? A. (1.) In ascribing all good to the free grace of God. (2.) In denying all natural free-will, and all power antecedent to grace. And, (3.) In excluding all merit from man; even for what he has or does by the grace of God."
14 See The Way to the Kingdom, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 156 f.
15 The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 1, p. 187.
16 The Sermon on the Mount: 1, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 323. On man as born in sin, also ib., p. 326 f., The Sermon on the Mount: XIII, 1750, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 34.
18 See The Way to the Kingdom, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 157; The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 187 f.; The Sermon on the Mount: I, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 324. On first repentance a man has his guilt always before him. He knows what punishment he has deserved "were it only on account of his carnal mind, the entire, universal corruption of his nature: how much more, on account of all his evil desires and thoughts, of all his sinful words and actions!" He cannot for a moment doubt that the most trifling of these deserves the damnation of Hell. See also ib., p. 326 f.
20 See the interpretation of Rom. vi. 6 in Notes, 1755. The expression Our old man is commented on as follows: "Coeval with our Being, and as old as the Fall; our evil Nature; a strong and beautiful Expression for that entire Depravity and Corruption, which by Nature spreads itself over the whole Man, leaving no Part uninfected." See also the commentary on John i. 14: "Grace and truth — We are all by Nature Liars and Children of Wrath, to whom both Grace and Truth are unknown. But we are made Partakers of them, when we are accepted thro' the Beloved."
21 See Notes, 1755, Rom. v. 12, 14, 19. See also ib., Eph. ii. 3.
22 The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, Preface, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 193. Wesley's treatise is an answer to John Taylor's book on original sin. For Taylor, whose unitarianism undermined the orthodox outlook, see HUNT, Religious Thought in England, III, p. 254 ff. For the two other theologians, Wesley's contemporaries, the latitudinarian Dr. Conyers Middleton and the deist Lord Bolingbroke with his radical biblical criticism, see ib., III, pp. 60-70 and 190-194 respectively.
25 See ib., The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 63: "But here is the shibboleth: Is man by nature filled with all manner of evil? Is he void of all good? Is he wholly fallen? Is his soul totally corrupted? Or, to come back to the text, is 'every imagination of the thoughts of his heart only evil continually'? Allow this, and you are so far a Christian. Deny it, and you are but an Heathen still."
In a letter to Taylor dated 3 July 1759, the year before, Wesley had spoken similarly of the fundamental importance of original sin in Christianity. Here his main point is that the controversy between them concerns "de re, if ever there was one in this world; indeed, concerning a thing of the highest importance — nay, all the things that concern our eternal peace." "It is," he continues, "Christianity or heathenism! for, take away the scriptural doctrine of Redemption or Justification, and that of the New Birth, the beginning of sanctification, or (which amounts to the same) explain them as you do, suitably to your doctrine of Original Sin, and what is Christianity better than heathenism? wherein, save in rectifying some of our notions, has the religion of St. Paul any pre-eminence over that of Socrates or Epictetus?" He concludes this letter with the following words: "Either I or you mistake the whole of Christianity from the beginning to the end! Either my scheme or yours is as contrary to the scriptural as the Koran is. Is it mine, or yours? Yours has gone through all England and made numerous converts. I attack it from end to end. Let all England judge whether it can be defended or not!" The Letters of John Wesley, IV, p. 67 f.
26 See Justification by Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 1, p. 116; The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 293.
30 The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 293. For Adam's perfect, and his descendants' defective, understanding, see ib., p. 289 f.
33 The sermon What Is Man?, 1788, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 230; sermon, The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels, written 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 344.
35 The sermon What Is Man?, 1788, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 230; sermon The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels, 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 344. Wesley does not think the natural and political image of man is totally lost, but he considers this irrelevant to salvation. See below p. 44 f.
41 Ib., Rom. v. 19. See also sermon on The New Birth, 1760, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 68: "And in Adam all died, all human kind, all the children of men who were then in Adam's loins."
42 Ib., Rom. v. 12. Cf. Augustine's conception in LJUNGGREN, Det kristna syndmedvetandet intill Luther, p. 181 ff.; SILÉN, Den kristna människouppfattningen intill Schleiermacher, p. 103 ff.
44 See The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 273. See also ib., p. 295, where it is likewise defined as a "natural propensity to evil."
46 See sermon on Original Sin, 1760, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 63, where the doctrine of original sin is said to be the fundamental difference between Christianity and paganism: "But still as none of them were apprized of the fall of man, so none of them knew of his total corruption. They knew not that all men were empty of all good, and filled with all manner of evil. They were wholly ignorant of the entire depravation of the whole human nature, of every man born into the world, in every faculty of his soul, not so much by those particular vices which reign in particular persons, as by the general flood of Atheism and idolatry, of pride, self -will, and love of the world."
According to Wesley it is these sins in particular that express the essence of inherent sin. Cf. The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 433, where the root of sin is said to be: pride, self-will, un-belief, heart-idolatry. In the sermon on The Deceitfulness of Man's Heart, written in 1790, self-will, pride, love of the world, independence of God, Atheism and idolatry are specified as the origin of human evil. The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 337 ff.
53 Ib., p. 316. See also ib., p. 313, where we read that by nature the child is. "a 'child of wrath', under the guilt and power of sin." Cf. p. 438, a quotation stating that even infants must be reborn. Just as they had to be circumcised in the age of the Old Testament, they must now be baptized at Christ's commandment.
54 Cf. passages already quoted in Minutes 1744, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 277; Justification by Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 1, p. 118 f.; The Righteousness of Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 1, p. 141. See further the sermon on Justification by Faith, p. 117 f.: "Thus 'by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men', as being contained in him who was the common father and representative of us all. Thus, 'through the offence of one', all are dead, dead to God, dead in sin, dwelling in a corruptible mortal body, shortly to be dissolved, and under the sentence of death eternal. For as, 'by one man's disobedience', all 'were made sinners'; so, by that offence of one, 'judgment came upon all men to condemnation'. (Rom. v. 12, & c.)" See The Sermon on the Mount: 1, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 324; The doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, p. 264: "By punishment I mean evil, suffered on account of sin. And are we not obnoxious to any evil on account of Adam's sin?" Ib., p. 291: "They suppose Adam to have been created holy and wise, like his Creator; and yet capable of falling from it. They suppose farther, that through temptations, of which we cannot possibly judge, he did fall from that state; and that hereby he brought pain, labour, and sorrow on himself and all his posterity; together with death, not only temporal, but spiritual, and (without the grace of God) eternal. And it must be confessed, that not only a few Divines, but the whole body of Christians in all ages, did suppose this, till after seventeen hundred years a sweet-tongered orator arose, not only more enlightened than silly Adam, but than any of his wise posterity, and declared that the whole supposition was folly, nonsense, inconsistency, and blasphemy!" See further ib., p. 303.
In A Treatise on Baptism, written 1756, Wesley has allowed the orthodox opinion to remain unaltered: "That we are all born under the guilt of Adam's sin, and that all sin deserves eternal misery, was the unanimous sense of the ancient Church, as it is expressed in the Ninth Article of our own." The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 190. By reason of the guilt of original sin children are "children of wrath, and liable to eternal damnation." Ib., p. 193. In his revision of The Shorter Catechism Wesley also allows the orthodox Calvinistic view to remain unqualified. See MACDONALD's text in Wesley's Revision of The Shorter Catechism, p. 4 f.
55 See further Justification by Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 118, The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 332 ff.
56 Minutes 1744, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 277: "That text, 'As by one man's disobedience all men were made sinners, so by the obedience of One, all were made righteous', we conceive means, By the merits of Christ, all men are cleared from the guilt of Adam's actual sin." See also The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 303.
Because of Christ's atonement children are not reprobate on account of the guilt of Adam's sin. See IMPETA, De Leer der Heiliging en Volmaking bij Wesley en Fletcher, p. 125.
57 Cf. Zinzendorf's conception, which in this respect deviates from the Augsburg Confession and the subsequent orthodox Protestant position. Referring to Christ's atonement Zinzendorf maintains that a child that dies before baptism will not be damned. ZINZENDORF'S Sendschreiben an Ihro Königl. Maj. von Schweden ... betreffende sein und seiner Gerneinde Glauben und Bekänntnis, Corp. Conf., Die Brödergemeinde, p. 692. Cf. PLITT, Zinzendorfs Theologie, 1, p. 252; 11, p. 213 f. Cf. also SPANGENBERG, Idea fidei fratrum, p. 157. See Augsburg Confession, Art. II in J. T. MÜLLER, Die symbolischen Bücher der evangelischlutherischen Kirche, p. 38; J. MÜLLER, Die christliche Lehre von der Sünde, II, p. 418 f.
Yet on this point too Wesley allows the orthodox outlook to remain unaltered in the Treatise on Baptism, which holds that deliverance from original guilt is not effected until baptism. The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 190 ff.
60 See sermon On Living without God, written 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 351. The relation of the natural man to the invisible world is here compared with that of a toad to the visible world; both are enveloped in darkness. "What a thick veil is between him and the invisible world, which, with regard to him, is as though it had no being! He has not the least perception of it, not the most distant idea. He has not the least sight of God, the intellectual Sun, nor any the least attraction toward him, or desire to have any knowledge of his ways. Although His light be gone forth into all lands, and His sound into the end of the world, yet he heareth no more thereof than of the fabled music of the spheres. He tastes nothing of the goodness of God, or the powers of the world to come. He does not feel (as our Church speaks) the working of the Holy Spirit in his heart. In a word, he has no more intercourse with, or knowledge of, the spiritual world, than this poor creature had of the natural, while shut up in its dark inclosure." Cf. sermon on The New Birth, 1760, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 70, where the situation of natural man is similarly described. The unborn child has no perception of things in the world; nor has man, before he has been born of God, any knowledge of or communion with Him.
64 See Wesley's Hebden quotation in The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 429: "A denial of original sin contradicts the main design of the gospel, which is to humble vain man, and to ascribe to God's free grace, not man's free will, the whole of his salvation. Nor, indeed, can we let this doctrine go without giving up, at the same time, the greatest part, if not all, of the essential articles of the Christian faith. If we give up this, we cannot defend either justification by the merits of Christ, or the renewal of our natures by his Spirit."
Cf. further Wesley's own account ib, p. 327, "Here is the ground, the real and the only ground, for true Christian thankfulness: 'Christ died for the ungodly that were without strength'; such as is every man by nature. And till a man has been deeply sensible of it, he can never truly thank God for his redemption; nor consequently, for his creation; which is, in the event, a blessing to those only who are 'created anew in Christ Jesus'." Cf. also p. 313: "This doctrine, therefore, is the 'most proper' of all others 'to be instilled into a child': That it is by nature a 'child of wrath', under the guilt and under the power of sin; that it can be saved from wrath only by the merits, and sufferings, and love of the son of God; that it can be delivered from the power of sin only by the inspiration of his Holy Spirit; but that by his grace it may be renewed in the image of God, perfected in love, and made meet for glory."
See further A Short History of Methodism, 1765, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 349, in which Wesley maintains that the doctrine of original sin is implicit in the doctrine of salvation by faith.
67 Ib., p. 326 f. See also The Sermon on the Mount: XIII, 1750, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 34.
68 See The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 313: "The power of godliness consists in the love of God and man; this is heavenly and substantial religion. But no man can possibly 'love his neighbour as himself', till he loves God; and no man can possibly love God, till he truly believes in Christ; and no man truly believes in Christ, till he is deeply convinced of his own sinfulness, guiltiness, and helplessness. But this no man ever was, neither can be, who does not know he has a corrupt nature."
69 Ib., p. 306. "So far," he continues, "'every man who comes to Christ is first convinced of the several things he lost by Adam'; though he may not clearly know the source of that corruption which he sees and feels in his heart and life."
70 Ib., p. 273. Experience, however, does not always tally with reality. Thus the justified but not entirely sanctified man, who at times does not feel sinful, must not draw the conclusion that he is not. Even though man does not feel sin stir within him, it is nevertheless there. See The Wilderness State, 1760, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 255; The Scripture Way of Salvation, 1765, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 446.
But it is seldom long, we are told, before the justified become aware that sin is still with them: "They now feel two principles in themselves, plainly contrary to each other; 'the flesh lusting against the spirit'; nature opposing the grace of God." The Scripture Way of Salvation, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 447. Experience shows "that the roots of sin, self-will, pride, and idolatry, remain still in his heart." Sermon on The Deceitfulness of Man's Heart, 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 341.
72 The Sermon on the Mount: I, 1748, StS I, p. 324.
73 See The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley IX, p. 313
74 See also The Scripture Way of Salvation, 1765, StS, II, p. 455.
75 Wesley finds authority in the Bible for this distinction between personal sin and imputed guilt. See The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 317. Adam's sin is imputed to his children, but they have no personal sin. Ib., p. 326.
78 See ib., p. 410. Quotation: "And yet it is allowed, we are no so guilty by nature, as a course of actual sin afterward makes us. But we are, antecedent to that course, 'children of wrath'; liable to some degree of wrath and punishment." Cf. ib., p. 286, where Wesley writes of the punishment in this world and that to come. "That all men are liable to these for Adam's sin alone, I do not assert; but they are so, for their own outward and inward sins, which, through their own fault, spring from the infection of their nature. And this, I think, may fairly be inferred from Rom. vi. 23: 'The wages of sin is death'; its due reward; death, temporal, spiritual, and eternal."
81 See Predestination Calmly Considered, 1752, The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 236. Cf. The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 315: "'But with regard to parents and their posterity, God assures us, children 'shall not die for the iniquity of their fathers.' No, not eternally. I believe none ever did, or ever will, die eternally, merely for the sin of our first father."
82 See letter to Dr. Robertson, 24 Sept. 1753, The Letters of John Wesley, III, p. 107. Cf. The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 306.
83 See sermon on Free Grace, delivered 1740, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 385: "Yea, the decree is past; and so it was before the foundation of the world. But what decree? Even this: 'I will set before the sons of men 'life and death, blessing and cursing'. And the soul that chooseth life shall live, as the soul that chooseth death shall die."'
85 See Wesley's rejection of the Calvinistic doctrine of reprobation with the help of such testimonies to individual responsibility as that in Ezekiel xviii: " 'Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father?' (Temporally he doth, as in the case of Achan, Korah, and a thousand others; but not eternally.) 'When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die'; shall die the second death." Ib., The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 216.
86 See in particular the sermon on The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption, The Works of John Wesley, V., p. 104. See also The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 273. Ib., p. 450. Quotation: "Leave the unrenewed will to itself, it will choose sin and reject holiness; and that as certainly as water poured on the side of a hill will run downward and not upward." There is a direct opposition to God Himself in the will of natural man. Ib., p. 451. Quotation.
Another quotation shows full agreement with Luther's view of natural man as 'incurvatus in se'. Ib., p. 456: "Yes, self is the highest end of unregenerate men, even in their religious actions. They perform duties for a name; for some worldly interest; or, at best, in order to escape from hell. They seek not God at all, but for their own interest. So that God is only the means, and self their end." Cf. also ib.: "Whithersoever they move, they cannot move beyond the circle of self. They seek themselves, they act for themselves; their natural, civil, and religious actions, from whatever spring they come, do all run into, and meet in, this dead sea."
87 See ib., p. 275: "But 'if all actual transgressions proceed from Adam's sin, then he is the only guilty person that ever lived. For if his sin is the cause of all ours, he alone is chargeable with them.'
"True; if all our transgressions so proceed from his sin, that we cannot possibly avoid them. But this is not the case; by the grace of God we may cast away all our transgressions: Therefore, if we do not, they are chargeable on ourselves. We may live; but we will die.
"Well, but 'on these principles all actual sins proceed from Adam's sin; either by necessary consequence, or through our own choice; or partly by one, and partly by the other'. Yes; partly by one, and partly by the other. We are inclined to evil, antecedently to our own choice. By grace we may conquer this inclination; or we may choose to follow it, and so commit actual sin." Of. Wesley's rejection of older and newer deterministic theories in Thoughts upon Necessity, 1774, The Works of John Wesley, X, pp. 457-474.
88 See The Way to the Kingdom, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 156 f. Cf. Justification by Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 123. The man who is not justified does only what is evil, for his heart is evil. As long as the tree is corrupt, the fruits are corrupt, 'for an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit'. Cf. also The Righteousness of Faith, 1746, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 142.
89 See The Sermon on the Mount: I, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 323. Cf. The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 433; here sin is regarded as an organic relation between the root, the branches and the leaves. All John Taylor's doctrine can do. Wesley says, "is to shake off the leaves. It does not affect the branches of sin. Unholy tempers are just as they were. Much less does it strike at the root: Pride, self-will unbelief, heart-idolatry, remain undisturbed and unsuspected."
90 See sermon on The Wilderness State, 1760, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 81. Here sin of omission is distinguished from inward sin. Cf. on the other hand the sermon on The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God, 1748, The Works of John Wesley, V, p. 232, where this distinction is not made.
95 Sermon on The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God, 1748, The Works of John Wesley, V, p. 231.
96 Virtually, it comprises all sins, for it is the seed of them all. The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 462. Quotation.
97 The connection between this and Wesley's interest in the cure of souls is particularly clearly seen in The Wilderness State, 1760, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 248 ff.
In John Wesleys Lehre von der Heiligung, p. 81, SCOTT maintains that Methodism, unlike Lutheranism, is very much concerned with sins but very little with sin. This is per se a correct observation, but true understanding of Wesley's attitude necessitates also due recognition of the importance he attached to original sin.
98 The Sermon on the Mount: VI, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 441 f. Cf. p. 23 f. above.
99 An Earnest Appeal to Man of Reason and Religion, 1743, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 24.
100 The Sermon on the Mount: V1, 1748, The Works of John Wesley, V, p. 339 f.
110 See also Self-Denial, 1760, in which the corruption of original sin is called an evil disease. The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 287.
113 Cf. LAW, A Practical Treatise on Christian Perfection, 1726, The Works of William Law, III, p. 11 ff. For Law's view, see further below.
114 The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 381. Quotation: "The 'image of God', in which Adam was created, consisted eminently in righteousness and true holiness. But that part of the 'image of God' which remained after the fall, and remains in all men to this day, is the natural image of God, namely, the spiritual nature and immortality of the soul; not excluding the political image of God. or a degree of dominion over the creatures still remaining. But the moral image of God is lost and defaced, or else it could not be said to be 'renewed'."
116 Sermon on The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels, 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 345. Cf. Some Remarks on "A Defence of the Preface to the Edinburgh Edition of Aspasio Vindicated," 1766, The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 350: "1 believe that Adam, before his fall, had such freedom of will, that he might choose either good or evil; but that, since the fall, no child of man has a natural power to choose anything that is truly good. Yet I know (and who does not?) that man has still freedom of will in things of an indifferent nature."
117 Cf. Wesley's declaration at the 1744 Conference; one of the questions at issue was whether the Methodists had not been inclining too much towards Calvinism. Minutes, 1744; The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 277 f.
120 Ib., p. 232 ff. Cf. Thoughts upon God's Sovereignty, 1777, The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 361 ff. Wesley here says that God as Creator has acted according to his supreme will. On the other hand, as Governor, he has to act "according to the invariable rules both of justice and mercy." It is in this latter character that God rewards and punishes; a prerequisite being that man has "free-agency" and is able to choose.
122 The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 265. See also Some Remarks on Mr. Hill's "Review of all the Doctrines Taught by Mr John Wesley," 1772, The Works of John Wesley, X, p. 392: "But, indeed, both Mr F. [Fletcher] and Mr W. [Wesley] absolutely deny natural free-will. We both steadily assert that the will of man is by nature free only to evil. Yet we both believe that every man has a measure of free-will restored to him by grace." Cf. FLETCHER, A Vindication, 1771, p. 15 f.
124 Ib., Rom. i. 19: "For what is to be known of God — Those great Principles which are indispensably necessary to be known, for God hath shewed it to them — By the Light which enlightens every Man that cometh into the World." Rom. ii. 14: "Do by nature — That is, without an outward Rule; though this also, strictly speaking, is by preventing Grace. These, not having the written law, are a law unto themselves — That is, what the Law is to the Jews, they are (by the Grace of God) to themselves; namely, a Rule of Life." Occasionally, however, Wesley can express the opinion that a certain residue of knowledge of the law was preserved after the Fall. The moral law that at the creation was inscribed on the heart of man has been largely defaced but not totally obliterated. The Sermon on the Mount: V, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 400 f.; The Original ... of the Law, 1750, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 43. Cf. below p. 49.
125 The Doctrine of Original Sin, 1757, The Works of John Wesley, IX, p. 268. Wesley adds: "They who, by this help, do the things contained in the law, we grant, 'are not the objects of God's wrath'." As this grace has been given them, they are without excuse if they remain corrupt: "True, if God had not offered them grace to balance the corruption of nature: But if he did, they are still without excuse; because they might have conquered that corruption, and would not. Therefore we are not obliged to seek any other sense of the phrase, 'By nature', than, 'By the nature we bring into the world'." Ib., p. 268. Cf. also ib., p. 273: "If you ask, 'Why, how are they capable of performing duty?' I answer, By grace; though not by nature. And a measure of this is given to all men."
126 Sermon On Working Out Our Own Salvation, 1788, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 506. Wesley admits, however, that in the best and most thoughtful heathens there can be "some resemblance of these truths." Ib., p. 506 f.
127 Sermon on The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels, 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 345.
128 See Notes, 1755, Rom. ii. 14.
129 The Scripture Way of Salvation, 1765, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, 11, p. 445. 4
130 Sermon On Conscience, 1788, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 187 ff.
132 See sermon on The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels, 1790, The Works of John Wesley, VII, p. 345.
133 See sermons The Scripture Way of Salvation, 1765, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, II, p. 445; On Working Out Our Own Salvation, 1788, The Works of John Wesley, VI, p. 509, where Wesley says:: "Salvation begins with what is usually termed (and very properly) preventing grace; including the first wish to please God, the first dawn of light concerning his will, and the first slight transient conviction of having sinned against him. All these imply some tendency toward life; some degree of salvation; the beginning of a deliverance from a blind, unfeeling heart, quite insensible of God and the things of God."
134 See Minutes, 1744, The Works of John Wesley, VIII, p. 277 f. Cf. Art. VIII in The Articles of Religion, 1784, Corp. Conf., Die Methodistenkirche, p. 12.
135 Wesley reduced the Thirty-nine Articles to twenty-four. This abridgement was first published in Wesley's 1784 revision of the Book of Common Prayer, entitled The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America With Other Occasional Services. See COOKE, History of the Ritual of the Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 163 ff., 166 ff. By the addition of an article called "Of the Rulers of The United States of America" at the Baltimore Conference in 1784-85 the number rose to twenty-five. See GREEN, Wesley Bibliography, p. 224; WHEELER, History and Exposition of the Twenty-five Articles of Religion of the Methodist Episcopal Church, p. 8 f.
136 The Book of Common Prayer, Articles of Religion, Art. IX. Cf. Augsburg Confession, Art. II in J. T. MÜLLER, op. cit., p. 38 f. See WHEELER, op. cit., p. 174.
138 See WHEELER, op. cit., p. 190. This is also pointed out by BICKNELL, A Theological Introduction to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, p. 219. For the Würtemberg Confession, which agrees with the Augsburg Confession, and its influence on the forty-two articles in the revision of 1562, see HARDWICK, A History of the Articles of Religion, p. 124 ff.
140 See BICKNELL, op. cit., p. 230 f. According to Bicknell the article represents a mediating position: "On the one side it clearly takes a gloomier view of man's present position than the Council of Trent. It follows St Augustine so far as to speak of 'the fault and corruption (depravatio) of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and is of his own nature inclined to evil'. It definitely repudiates the Pelagian idea that the 'Fall' had no effect on man at all. On the other side it carefully avoids the Calvinistic extravagance of saying 'Tota depravatio'." Ib., p. 231. See also ib., p. 21.
141 See WHEELER, op. cit., p. 187. A pro-Calvinistic revision in 1643, Wheeler says, gave the wording "whereby man is wholly deprived of original righteousness." After the power of Calvinism was broken, the phrase "very far gone from" was substituted.
This was a return to the versions of the Thirty-nine Articles of 1571 and that of earlier Articles. In the 1571 version original sin is "the fault and corruption of the nature of euery man that naturally is engendered of the ofspring of Adam, whereby man is very farre gone from originall ryghteousness. . ."In the Latin text of the 1562 Articles original sin is defined as "vitium. et deprauatio naturae cuiuslibet hominis ex Adamo naturaliter propagati, qua fit, vt ab originali iustitia quàm longissime distet.. ."The Latin text of the Forty-two Articles of 1552 has the same wording. In the English text original sin is described as "the fault and corruption of the nature of euery manne, that naturallie is engendered of the ofspring of Adam, whereby manne is very farre gone from his former righteousness, whiche he had at his creation. . ." These texts in HARDWICK, Op. Cit., p. 262 ff. See also Corp. Conf., Die Kirche von England, p. 381 f.
142 OLSSON, however, has shown that there is an inconsistency in Calvin's own view. On the one hand Imago Dei is considered "deleta" after the Fall, on the other, only "prope deleta." Calvin och reformationens teologi, I, pp. 220, 236 f., the note, 268 f.
144 Further confirmation that in this respect Wesley is not of one mind with the Thirty-nine Articles and later orthodoxy will be found in a comparison between the baptismal ritual of the Church of England and the corresponding ritual in the revision of the Book of Common Prayer which he published simultaneously with the Articles of Religion. See Corp. Conf., Die Kirche von England, p. 212. The corresponding passage in Wesley's revision in COOKE, op. cit., p. 192 f.
145 In this connection we can disregard the discrepancy between the latter part of the Article and Wesley's doctrine of Christian perfection.
146 But it is not looked upon as actual sin. James i. 15 is explained in Notes, 1755: "Then desire having conceived — By our own Will joining therewith, bringeth forth actual sin — It doeth not follow that the Desire itself is not Sin. He that begets a Man is himself a Man: and sin being perfected — Grown up to Maturity, which it quickly does, bringeth forth death — Sin is born big with death." Cf. The Great Privilege of Those That Are Born of God, 1748, The Standard Sermons of John Wesley, I, p. 307 ff., 311.147 WHEELER is quite right in maintaining that an earlier wording, "working in us," was later altered to "working with us." Op. cit., p. 190. The Latin texts of 1552 and 1562 read "cooperante dum volumus." The English text of the Articles of 1552 has the expression "working in us," the Thirty-nine Articles of 1571, "workyng with vs." See HARDWICK, op. cit., p. 264 f. See also Corp. Conf., Die Kirche von England, p. 382 f.; BICKNELL, op. cit., p. 242 ff.