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Practical, Accessible, Inward Holiness
in the Writings of John Wesley
by Soldier Aaron White
John Wesley’s disciplined Christian
spirituality, as seen in extracts of his writings from
1733-1743, aimed to make personal and corporate holiness a
present, attainable reality for all believers. Wesley believed
that holiness was accessible to each and every person. His
method of helping Christians pursue this holiness was
thoroughly practical and comprehensive, offering clear
strategies and aids such as self-examination, instructions on
spiritual reading and forms of prayer, and emphasis on the
means of grace offered by the Church. Undergirding this
pursuit was belief in the gift of complete inward holiness, an
experiential knowledge of freedom from sin that resulted in
the revival of the image of God in each believer.
Wesley’s writings display the conviction that no one was
inherently disqualified from choosing the life of faith and
holiness. Wesley taught that the entirety of humanity was in
need of God’s loving-kindness and deliverance from rebellion,
and having been created in God’s image, humans were all
“capable of knowing and loving [God] eternally.”(83) In his
journal Wesley described himself as having been “ignorant of
the righteousness of Christ, which, by a living faith in him,
bringeth salvation to everyone that believeth.”(105)
This faith, in Wesley’s estimation, was a gift from God, but
it was also comprised of the voluntary renunciation of one’s
will and the desires of humanity, alongside a firm resolution
to follow Christ.(78, 81-82) Though not easy, Wesley believed
this was obtainable, because Christ died for all so that all
may live for him.(78) As a result, Wesley prayed expansively
for people to receive God’s grace, love and mercy, because he
hoped that all might gain the opportunity to become God’s
faithful servants.(83) The belief in the universal potential
for holiness likewise inspired perseverance in mercy and
evangelism to all, evidenced in this question to be used for
self-examination:
“Have I given anyone up till he [sic] expressly renounced
me?”(86) Finally, those who wished to be disciples in Wesley’s
United Societies had to show that they desired “to flee from
the wrath to come, to be saved from their sins” through freely
chosen repentance and submission to Christ.(109)
For those who did desire to be saved from their sins, Wesley
designed pragmatic tools to help in the journey towards full
holiness. Rigorous self and group examination was a key part
of Wesley’s program, and by such work he believed Christians
would “daily meet with some means of drawing nearer to
God.”(78) He prescribed schemes of self-applied questions that
scrutinised all aspects of one’s life, to be used mornings and
evenings and when preparing for prayer and devotion.(79, 82)
These questions helped one to recollect sins and faults
so as to better repent of them, and to remember to be zealous
about growing in virtue and doing good.(86) They focused
primarily on examining devotion to God and practical love
towards others.(86-87) Similar interrogations were to be
undertaken within groups of friends, to enable people to work
out their salvation together and to use agreed upon signs to
hold one another accountable.(85, 108) Members of the United
Societies asked one another weekly about avoiding specific
evils and participating in good works enjoined by
Scripture.(108-109) Wesley personally knew the need for this
type of self-examination and accountability, confessing in his
journal the sin of “gross irrecollection, inasmuch as in a
storm I cry to God every moment; in a calm, not.”(99)
A second practical help to holiness was
Wesley’s advice for spiritual reading and his creation of
comprehensive forms of prayer. Wesley’s journal reveals how
powerfully he was affected by various books.(101, 103, 107) It
is therefore unsurprising that he gave thorough instructions
to followers on the benefits and proper methods for devotional
reading, including when to read, how to read, how to recollect
what was read, what results one should expect from reading,
and how to prepare one’s soul through prayer and pure
intentions.(86, 88-89)
The specificity, practicality and
comprehensiveness of Wesley’s advice on reading was matched or
exceeded by his directions concerning prayer. Wesley was
ever-growing in the personal knowledge that progress in
holiness was impossible without crying out for God’s “help
from his holy place.”(107) He thus created forms of prayer for
every day of the week and for other important occasions.(77)
These prayers embraced the whole of one’s individual life and
society, including prayers for the King, the Royals, Clergy,
Nobility, Universities, Gentry, Commons, Magistrates, family,
friends, relations, the oppressed, the ignorant, the sinful,
and all people for whom one was responsible.(81-84) There were
prayers for faithfulness in the routine duties of the day, and
prayers for deliverance from sins highlighted during
self-examination.(80-81, 83) Temporal blessings were
remembered in prayer as well as spiritual ones, with
thanksgiving for physical necessities alongside requests for
opportunities to be built up in faith, love and
obedience.(82-83) A significant part of Wesley’s schemes for
self-examination involved remembrances on how, when and where
to pray each day and hour.(85)
A third major tool that Wesley insisted upon for the
development of practical holiness was the use of the means of
grace available through the ministry of the Church.
Wesley saw his efforts as an extension of the Church’s work,
and believed the unity of the Church was a certain Scriptural
command.(101) As such, Wesley
created special forms of prayer to coincide with days the
Church had traditionally set aside for rejoicing, mourning,
and intercession.(77) He taught believers that they would know
their Christian duty by following the direction of “our
excellent Church, in the interpretation of the Holy
Scriptures”.(77, 101) He thanked God for being born in the
Church to Christian parents, as well as for the blessings of
baptism, public worship, good teaching, fellow believers, and
the Lord’s Supper.(80) Members of his United Societies were to
show their desire to be saved in part by attending upon these
same ecclesiastical “ordinances of God.”(110) He instructed
people to pray for good life and sound doctrine amongst the
clergy, and for the protection of the Church “against schism,
heresy, and sacrilege.”(81, 84) Wesley advised regular
self-reflection regarding one’s involvement in and promotion
of the Church,
including questions
about morning and evening Church attendance; praying with
fervour upon going in and out of Church; and persuading all
“to attend public prayers, sermons and sacraments, and in
general to obey the laws of the Church Catholic [and] the
Church of England.”(85-86)
All of this shows Wesley’s belief that holiness was not to be
sought outside the boundaries of the Church. The teaching,
sacraments, fellowship and worship offered by the Church were
indispensable aids to the sanctified Christian life.
With the help of down-to-earth tools like self-examination,
instructions on spiritual reading and prayer, and devoted
Church participation, Wesley wanted Christians to know and
experience full freedom from the ongoing power of sin. He
described this freedom as inward holiness, and it was the goal
towards which those who were not yet perfect should aim.(88)
Wesley taught that this perfection was derived from the five
successive stages of Christian duty.(77-78) The first four
duties – renunciation, thorough devotion to God, self-denial,
and mortification – led ultimately to Christ living completely
in the believer, which is “the fulfilling of the law, the last
stage of Christian holiness. This maketh the man [sic] of God
perfect….Grace hath had its full work upon his [sic]
soul.”(78) This perfection was earthly, and it meant that the
believer’s will, desire, heart, thoughts, words and actions
were wholly given over to God.(78) Wesley advised followers to
pray for an “entire indifference” to all things but God, as
their selfish desires would be utterly consumed once they had
personally tasted of God’s grace.(81) This experiential
knowledge of God’s goodness was the final key to holiness.
Once Christians had this experience, their loving obedience
would become “like that the holy angels render to [God] in
heaven.”(81) From this belief Wesley could teach people to
confidently ask and expect God to end their sin and misery,
perfect their repentance, and let his love fill and rule their
souls.(82-83) True religion, according to Wesley, was not
simply a list of external behaviours to avoid through one’s
own strength, but was rather a loving, grateful, obedient
response to an encounter with grace which restored God’s
sanctified image in the life of the believer.(86)
Wesley taught about inward holiness as he
learned it through his own life experiences. His journal
reveals that the methods he prescribed in his schemes for
self-examination, prayers, spiritual reading and submission to
the Church were not enough, in and of themselves, to produce
true holiness in him. He understood himself to be very
religious, and outwardly obedient to Scriptural commandments,
but an “inward feeling” proved to him that something was
missing.(99) He did not possess the inward witness of
holiness, nor did he have the certainty of salvation when
facing a near-death experience, and he credited this to still
trusting in his own righteousness.(102, 104) He confessed that
he “was only striving with, not freed from, sin. Neither had
[he] the witness of the Spirit with [his] spirit.”(105) This
was why Peter’s Bohler’s teaching that true faith in Christ
meant having “dominion over sin, and constant peace from a
sense of forgiveness,” was like a “new Gospel” to him.(105)
The testimony of those whose sanctified lives matched the
commands of Scripture gave him hope that it was actually
possible, as it proclaims in 2 Peter 1:4, to be “partakers of
divine nature.”(106) His experience of full forgiveness and
freedom at the society meeting in Aldersgate Street seemed to
turn his ideas about holiness into a lived reality.(107) Prior
to this, even though he practiced and taught about holiness,
he still experienced being conquered by sin. Subsequent to
this inward experience of God’s grace, he now claimed, like a
conqueror, to have the “peace and victory over sin” that “are
essential to faith.”(107)
Wesley understood holiness as the recovery
of the image of God in each person. This picture of a
deepening union with God may strike a chord with people who
long for spiritual connection and meaning but dismiss religion
as nothing more than cold theory and empty systems. Wesley’s
holiness teaching was hopeful, asserting that God makes his
grace available without discrimination, and that the power of
sin may be overcome through the transformative gift of God.
For those who, like Wesley, find themselves overwhelmed by the
discrepancy between the commands of Scripture and the reality
of their sinful lives, this idea of accessible, inward
holiness may be spiritually liberating. Wesley’s vision of
holiness was also pragmatic and active, giving people
straightforward ways to participate in their journey towards
sanctification. This hands-on spirituality may help embody the
teachings of Christ in a world that is disconnected from
Scripture and Church tradition in general, and from the idea
of holiness in particular.
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