Opus 2021-213: Immortal Quotes: Whatever Weakens Your Reason...

I heard a quotation that I thought was attributed to John Wesley and I wanted to find it.  I have the works of Wesley on disk.  I did a search and the words just were not there.  Finally I did an on line search and found that it was actually from his mother, Susanna.  It was an awesome definition of sin.

“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.”

    Letter to John Wesley, June 8, 1725 from his mother Susanna

Most people tend to think of sin as a list of things like telling lies, stealing, murder and such.  If you are a liberal who is confused enough to think you are a Christian the list would include voting for Donald Trump.  Most of us have a legalistic view that keeps us from living life to its fullest.

I like what Susanna Wesley had to say.  Many sins are cut and dried.  Adultery is a sin.  Drunkenness is a sin.  Also not taking a Sabbath is a sin.  There are also many activities and actions we can take that are either good or bad depending on our motive or whether we exercise moderation.  While sex is a divine blessing in marriage, withholding affection from you spouse for petty reasons is not.  There is a big difference between a social drink and drinking to excess.  Enjoying a good meal is just a few portions away from gluttony.  

The Christian life is full of nuance.  Live it to the full and sin not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-165: Middle Class Morality: Saving, Not Spending

We live in an affluent age.  Americans live in a culture that takes a massive amount of wealth just to provide the basics.  That is in relation to the rest of the world and even more so to history.  I don’t get too concerned when I hear about the poor people of the world living on $300 dollars a year.  The part most people don’t hear is that they are living on it.  And in their circumstances they might be doing quite well.

How can this be?  If you have no utility bills, grow your own food and don’t pay taxes, how much do you need to live in a third world country?  Obviously it would not get you through the week in Washington D.C.  Many today can spend that much at dinner.  The point is to live within your means.

The Bible gives us the concept of moderation and thrift. 

(Proverbs 21:17 KJV)  He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.

The reference to oil may go over your head.  They did more than mix it with balsamic vinegar to put on their salads.  They used it as a lotion and anointed their heads with it.  It was medicinal.  The rich would use large quantities for extravagant purposes.  Lots to drink and lots of massages can make Jack a poor boy.  Today with credit cards we face the same temptation.  Middle class Americans use to drive used cars and pass clothes down to their children.  It was a Biblical concept.

Another aspect of delayed gratification is leaving something for your children.

(Proverbs 13:22 KJV)  A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.

The name of the game in Middle Class America is not to die when your last cent is spent.  It is not to drive a giant RV with a bumper sticker saying, “We’re spending our children’s inheritance”.  Middle Class Morality says you are building for the future.  That is why old people plant fruit trees and invest in long term stocks and bonds.

I can’t give you the source but John Wesley was reported to have said, “Make all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”  Of course he was also reported to live on £20 a year.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-48: Ode to Old: Visions of Headstones Dancing in My Head?

As I get older I feel my aches and pains more.  I move slower but am blessed to be moving well for my age.  Since we live in a youth culture it is easy to begin feeling like there is little left for you to do in life except collect Social Security and run up hospital bills.  I thought the following was interesting as I was reading recently.

“For many years we seemed to be beating the air here; but a few months since, God so blessed the preaching of poor John Bredin, just tottering over the grave, that we have now a lively society, swiftly increasing both in grace and number.”  p. 368, Thursday, April 19, 1787

I am not quite “tottering over the grave,” in spite of what some of my students may think, but I can see the headstone in the distance.  Of course, with my vision, it may only be a USP truck.

It is good to know that in the year that the Constitution of the United States was written an old man was fanning the flames of revival in England.

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume IV, Third Edition.  Kansas City:  Beacon Hill
    Press of Kansas City, 1979.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-71: Wide but Not Deep

Have you ever felt out of the mainstream?  At this point in my life I am used to it.  I can find someone who agrees with me on almost any topic but few who agree with me on many.  John Wesley saw this.

“The stream here spread wide but is not deep.   Many are drawn, but none converted, or even awakened.  Such is the general method of God’s providence:  Where all approve, few profit.”

Wesley is saying, “Get used to it.”  Most people are sheep.  They don’t think, they follow.  Often what seems to be individualism is just an oblivious animal who wandered away from the heard by accident.

The best way to find out the wrong way is a public poll.  The kids at school wanted to talk about the crisis in Ukraine.  They were all excited and had their own opinions.  They wanted to express their opinions.  I pulled down the map and asked anyone to show me where Ukraine was located.  No one could even come close.  If you don’t know where it is, how can you understand what is happening?

Most people don’t know enough to express an opinion.  If they have one is was discovered on twitter and the opinion runs out when the 140 characters is reached. 

Are you out of the mainstream?  Then unjoin the crowd. 

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume III, Third Edition.  Kansas
          City:  Beacon Hill  Press of Kansas City, 1979, p. 485.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-261: Healthy Insights: Traditional Cure for Hoarseness

One of the things that you would not expect to find while reading the journals of John Wesley is medical advice.  But he has a cure for hoarseness.  Read it as his advice, not mine.

“However, pounded garlick (sic), applied to the soles of my feet, took it away before morning.”  page 46

Wesley was famous for preaching in the open fields of England in the late 1700's.  He would preach in the rain.  He would preach several times a day starting at 5:00 A.M.  If anyone would know about going hoarse it was John Wesley. 

Try garlic.

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume IV, Third Edition.  Kansas City:  Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1979.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-250: Get Serious

We sometimes think that the saints of the past had no sense of humor.  We think of them as dried up old prunes.  John Wesley would perpetuate that stereotype because he comes down hard on frivolous, jocular worship.  In his writing though he sometimes can’t restrain himself from making observations that surprise me in their humorous candor. 

Here he is reflecting on a sick lady that he had been visiting and ministering to.

“I had much satisfaction in conversing with one that was very ill and very serious.  But in a few days she recovered from her sickness and from her seriousness together.”  (page 19)

Haven’t we all seen this.  When people face hardship they are very serious and open to spiritual things.  Somehow their interest wains when the problem departs.  Even pain only teaches temporary lessons to some people.

Some things never change.

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume I, Third Edition.  Kansas City:  Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1979.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-249, Body Attitudes

Wesley met two types of attitudes, the sheep stealers and the life boaters.  One disrupting, the other sharing.

As I have been reading his journals I occasionally come across entries like this:

April 28, 1782 “Coming to Congleton, I found the Calvinists were just breaking in, and striving to make havoc of the flock.  Is this brotherly love?  Is this doing as we would be done to?  No more than robbing on the highway.  But if it is decreed, they cannot help it:  So we cannot blame them.” (Emphasis in original)

We see the same attitudes today.  The guilty parties can be Calvinists, Arminians, Pentecostals, Catholics, you name it.  They are people who have serious disagreements.  I disagree with most of them, but they all believe in a core of basics such as the divinity of Christ and salvation through grace.  (Yes, even the Catholics believe in salvation through grace.  The disagreements are on how and why, not what.)  Instead of going after the cults, pagans and atheists, they raid the folds of neighboring shepherds.

Wesley also ran into the opposite attitude.

November 1, 1785, “When I came to Northhampton, the new Presbyterian meeting house was offered me, twice as large as our own.”

This is the way it should be.  This is why so many Sunday worshipers cooperate with Saturday worshipers.  This is why non-English congregations are allowed to rent space. 

John Wesley was an Arminian.  George Whitefield was a Calvinist.  They had their disagreements and some serious head butting.  But they always came back to seeing each other as brothers in Christ.  In fact, Whitefield had Wesley preach his funeral. 

Brothers and sisters, lets stop the sheep stealing and get to changing the world.

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume IV, Third Edition.  Kansas City:  Beacon Hill
    Press of Kansas City, 1979.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-188, Styles of Worship

I am slowly working through Wesley’s Journals.  I usually only read a page or two at a time.  Much is just notes on where he preached and such but there are all kinds of windows into his thinking and his times.

One of the themes that seemed to be on his mind on July 7, 1784 was the conduct of people in worship.  Today I came across this:

“I recommended to the congregation here...the example of the people in Holland,... who never talk in a place of public worship, either before or after the service.” 

I have seen this brought up several times.  It would seem like the tendency to make worship a time of fellowship is not something new.  Wesley has a growing distaste for it.

I think he would remind us that worship is God directed not people directed.  We do not gather together to meet and fellowship but to lift up or voices in praise and listen to what the Holy Spirit might have to say to us.  It is hard to hear the “still small voice” when we are listening to the latest gossip or commiserating about the latest ache or pain.

I think I side with Wesley on this one.  I think the time when the congregation is told to greet each other sucks the life out of a service.  If we want to talk, lets go to coffee.  Even more radical, maybe you could invite me home for dinner.

I regularly thank God for the shoulders of giants on which we stand.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-178, Fellowship and Worship

I was reading in Wesley’s Journals and came across this bit of correction he offered:

“We went to Lowestoft, where the people have stood firm from the beginning.  Observing in the evening that forty or fifty people were talking together, as soon as the service was over, (a miserable custom that prevails in most places of public worship, throughout England and Ireland,) I strongly warned the congregation against it; as I had done those at Norwich and Yarmouth.  They received it in love; and the next evening, all went silently away.  But this warning must be given again and again in every place, or it will not be not effectual.”  Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume IV, Third Edition.  Kansas City:  Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1979, p. 263.

I thought this was interesting because it goes totally opposite of the current received wisdom.  Why was Wesley so straight laced?  At another place he had this to say about a school he ran,

“...either the school should cease, or the Rule of it be punctually observed:  Particularly that the children should never play; and that a master should b always present with them.”  ibid, p. 259

Children were not to be allowed to play.  Did this mean at all times or only in formal school?

Many of us want revival.  We want to be salt and light.  Instead of looking to the lesson taught by people whom God used to bring revival in the past we look to modern gurus who have a lot of money to be made selling books and DVD’s.  We listen to experts who have careers to build and egos to bloat.  We embrace styles of worship that mimic rock concerts because they appeal to a generation that has a history of casual drug use, fornication and alcohol abuse.  We laugh at people like Wesley who changed the course of history in England.

This is progress?

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-83, Wesley on Elections

We have just come through an election cycle that brought big gains for the Republicans in general and conservatives in particular.  It was a great time of “vote the suckers out.”  Now people are already looking forward to the next election.  As Christians we are called to honor Caesar.  Caesar is not the President or congress.  In our system of government, Caesar is the Constitution of the United States. 

As Christians we are to be engaged in supporting our Constitution.  We are to vote and campaign, not in the name of our church but as believers in a sinful world.  That means that we should behave different than the world.  John Wesley had something to say about that.

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them, 1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy: 2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against: And, 3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”  John Wesley’s Journals, October 6, 1774

We should campaign with vigor with clear statements based on principle.  We are to campaign with an attitude the bring glory to our God.  We are to be salt and light.

Some issues have clear Biblical positions:  Abortion, homosexuality, and marriage come to mind.  We should never compromise on these.

Some are open to interpretation.  What is the proper tax rate?  How should we handle immigration?  How do we respond to the crisis in the Middle East?  On these areas we need to have a lot more flex no matter how strongly we feel.

Get out and get involved but don’t forget that you are a Christian first and a voter second.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-48, God Is Dead (again)

There is an open attack on Christianity and Christians in our culture.  Recently I was at the library and there was an announcement they would be closed December 23-25 for the “holidays.”  I asked the librarian what holidays those would be.  The only thing she could come up with was Christmas.  It was obvious, yet the word is anathema. 

Take heart if you are a believer.  This is nothing new.  We sometimes think that the battles we fight are new but the pagans have been trying to drive God out of the public square all through history.  I saw this again recently.  I was reading in The Journals of John Wesley and on July 6, 1781 he wrote,

“It is true, the doctrine of a particular Providence...is absolutely out of fashion in England.” 

Then he added,

“...as the majority, even of Britons, to this day, retain some sort of respect for the Bible.”

The intellectuals were trying to drive out the idea of God, or Providence in 18th century vocabulary.  In spite of this there was a general positive feeling toward the Bible.  Does that sound familiar?  Recently I posted that even atheist Richard Dawkins had some good words to say about the KJV. 

Relax and trust.  God has been down this road before even if it is our first time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-12, John Wesley on Proselytizing

I was reading during my worship time from the Journals of John Wesley.  I came across a statement that was similar to comments he had made before but it struck me in light of a post I had read at “According to the Book,”  Wesley wrote:

June 20, 1780, “But here is still a loving people, though a little disturbed by the Calvinists, who seize on every halting soul as their own lawful prey.” p. 186 in edition I am using.

It would seem that in 1780 the inter-denominational wars were in full swing.  This is nothing new.  I offer this in light of what seems to be a renewed sense of self-righteousness that I am reading about among modern Calvinists. 

Some Christians, and I use the term deliberately, feel that they are the only ones with the true word.  They seek to convert everyone whether they are pagans or just have a different view of predestination.  I salute their desire to convert the pagans.  I question their zeal to go after Arminians.  It seems like they are more concerned with Arminians than pagans.  That is a serious issue.

Wesley was concerned about denominational cherry picking.  This reference is not the only place he brings this up.  In 1780 and before it was a serious issue.  I urge followers of Jesus Christ to go after the targets that need to be targeted.  A pagan has no chance of eternal life unless you share with him.  Sure, the Holy Spirit might use a tract or a Gideon Bible, but you are the main instrument He uses.  A misguided member of another church can at least be brought into conformity to your doctrine if the Holy Spirit chooses to lead him to the right scripture.  Even Roman Catholics, gasp, have access to the gospel.  Read some of their websites.  They have a chance of being saved, the pagan is waiting for you.

Let’s all stop proselytizing.  The fields are white unto harvest.  Focus on the real issue.