[FROM JOHN WESLEY'S MISCELLANEOUS WORKS.]
By John Wesley
BETWEEN AN ANTINOMIAN AND HIS FRIEND.
Antinomian.—Well, I am not bound. St. Paul himself says to believers, "Why are ye subject to ordinances?" Col. 2 : 20. Friend.—True; that is, Why are you, Christian believers, subject to Jewish ordinances? such as those which are mentioned in the very next verse, "Touch not, taste not, handle not." Ant.—Nay, that is not all. I say "Outward things do nothing avail to salvation." This is plain; for "if love to God, and love to our neighbor, and relieving the poor, be altogether unprofitable and unavailable either to justification or salvation, then these outward works in submitting to outward ordinances, are much less available." F.—Do you speak of the ordinances of Christ? Ant.—I do. "They bring in the most dangerous kind of popery, and pervert the pure Gospel of Christ, who persuade men, that if they do not submit to the ordinances of the Lord Jesus, he will not confess them before his Father." And I affirm, it is better not to practice outward ordinances at all, than to practice them on these gospel-destroying principles, to the ruining of our souls." F.—What Scripture do you produce for this? Ant.—I wish you would not build so much upon the letter; it is your letter learning too, that makes you talk of inherent righteousness. F.—Do you say then, a believer has no inherent righteousness? Ant.—That I do. I say, "God will save us to the utmost, without any righteousness or holiness of our own." To look for inherent righteousness, "is to deny the Spirit, and trample under foot the blood of the covenant. Believers have not any inherent righteousness in them. Our righteousness is nothing but the imputation of the righteousness of Christ." F.—Now, I believe that Christ by his Spirit works righteousness in all those to whom faith is imputed for righteousness. Ant.—"By no means; all our righteousness is in Christ. It is wholly imputed, not inherent. We are always righteous in Christ, but never righteous in ourselves." F.—Is not, then, every believer righteous or holy? Ant.—Doubtless; but he is holy in Christ, not in himself. F.—Does he not live a holy life, and is he not holy of heart? F.—Is he not, by plain consequence, holy in himself? Ant.—No, no, in Christ only; not holy in himself; he has no holiness at all in himself. F.—Has he not in him the love of God, and of his neighbor; yea, the whole image of God? Ant.—He has. But this is not gospel holiness. F.—What vain jangling is this! You cavil at the name, while you allow the thing I contend for. You allow a believer is holy both in heart and life. This is all I mean by inherent righteousness. Ant.—But, I tell you, this is not gospel holiness. Gospel holiness is faith. F.—Stand to this, and you still give up the whole cause. For on your supposition, I argue thus:—Faith is holiness or righteousness; but faith is in every believer, therefore, holiness or righteousness is in every believer. Ant.—Alas, alas! I pity you. Take my word for it, you are in utter darkness. You know nothing yet of true faith; nothing at all about it. F.—Will you then be so kind as to explain it to me? Ant.—I will. I will make it as clear as the sun. I will show you the very marrow of that doctrine which I recommend, with all my heart, to all, as the most wholesome doctrine of Jesus Christ. "Many think they know it, when they have but crude, carnal, indigestible notions of it. And they imagine we rest contented with such a faith as theirs; namely, that Christ has died to ward off the wrath of God, to purchase his favor, and, as an effect of that, to obtain certain inherent qualities and dispositions, to make us meet for the kingdom of Heaven. Was this our faith, it would be requisite to seek after this sort of sanctification, and to be at rest, without we felt something of it. But, on the contrary, we believe that the blood shed upon the cross has put away and blotted out all our sins, and then there was an everlasting righteousness brought in; by believing which, our hearts and consciences are made as perfectly clean as though we had never sinned. In this consists true purity of soul, and not139in habitual qualities. And whoso are thus made pure and perfect are delivered from the dominion of sin. They do also bear forth the fruits of righteousness, not in order to become more holy, but because they are perfectly holy, through faith. It is true, we have still the vile, sinful body, which continually disposes the mind to evil. But the blood of Jesus makes us free from sin, and, as it were, destroys the connection." F.—Of all the accounts I have ever yet heard, this is the most "crude and indigested." But let us go over it step by step. You first describe what you judge a false faith, viz: "A faith that Christ hath died, to ward off" (or appease) "the wrath of God, and to purchase his favor;" (suppose, for me, a lost sinner) "and as an effect of that" (of God's favor bought with the blood of Christ) "to obtain for me certain inherent qualities and dispositions, to make me meet for the kingdom of Heaven." Now, how do you prove this to be a false faith? Ant.—Easily enough; for men are obliged to support it by frames, feelings, and works. F.—And did you not allow, just now, that whosoever has true faith is "holy both in heart and life?" that he has in him "the love of God and of his neighbor; yea, the whole image of God?" Ant.—I did. And what then? F.—Why then you have abundantly confuted yourself; for you have allowed, that true faith not only cannot be supported, but cannot exist, no, not for one moment, without "certain inherent qualities and dispositions," (viz. the love of God and of all mankind) "which makes us meet for the kingdom of Heaven." You have allowed, that true faith cannot subsist without a holy frame of heart, a continuance in good works, and a feeling sense of God's love to me, a sinner. F.—You said next, "Was this our faith, it would be requisite to seek after this sort of sanctification." From your own words it appears, that this is your faith, if you have any true faith at all. See then that you "seek after this sort of sanctification," viz. love of God and of your neighbor. For if you can be at rest, though you feel nothing of it, it is plain your heart is not clean, but hardened. Ant.—You may say what you please. You know no better. F.—You went on; "On the contrary, we believe that the blood shed upon the cross has put away and blotted out all our sins." Why, who believes otherwise? If you mean only, that Christ then put away the punishment of all our sins, who believe in him: what a marvellous discovery is this! I pray, whom doth this arguing reprove? Ant.—It reproves you, who deny that "an everlasting righteousness was then brought in." F.—I do not deny it; no more than you understand it. But I ask, in what sense was it brought in? Was it then first brought into the world? You cannot say this without saying that all who went out of the world before that hour were lost. Or was it brought into the souls of believers? Then believers have an inward or inherent righteousness. You had better therefore, let this text alone. It will do no service at all to your cause. Ant.—I see plain you are as blind as a beetle still. I am afraid your head-knowledge will destroy you. Did not I tell you, "Our hearts and consciences are made perfectly clean by our believing; and that in this consists true purity of soul, and not in habitual qualities? And though "the vile, sinful body continually disposes the mind to evil," yet, "the blood of Christ makes us free from sin, and, as it were, destroys the connection." F.—Destroys the connection of what? I doubt you have stumbled upon another word which you do not understand. But whether you understand yourself or no, it is sure I do not understand you. How can my mind at the same time it is "continually disposed to evil" be "free from sin, perfectly clean, perfectly holy?" Ant.—O, the dullness of some men! I do not mean really holy, but holy by imputation. I told you plainly, the holiness of which we speak is not in us, but in Christ. The fruit of the spirit, (commonly called sanctification) such as love, gentleness, longsuffering, goodness, meekness, temperance, neither make us holy before God, nor in our own consciences. F.—I know these cannot atone for one sin. This is done by the blood of Christ alone; for the sake of which, God forgives, and works these in us by faith. Do I reach your meaning now? Ant.—No, no; I wonder at your ignorance. I mean, we are not made good or holy by any inward qualities or dispositions; but being made pure and holy in our consciences, by believing in Christ, we bear forth, inwardly and outwardly, the fruits of holiness." Now I hope you understand me. F.—I hope not. For if I do, you talk as gross nonsense and contradictions as ever came out of the mouth of man. F.—You say, "We are not made good or holy by any inward qualities or dispositions." No! are we not made good by inward goodness? (observe, we are not speaking of justification, but sanctification;) holy, by inward holiness? meek, by inward meekness? gentle, by inward gentleness? And are not all these, if they are anything at all, "inward qualities or dispositions?" Again: Just after denying that we have any inward holiness, you say, "We are made holy in our consciences, and bear forth, inwardly and outwardly, the fruits of holiness." What heaps of self-contradiction are here! Ant.—You do not take me right. I mean, these inward dispositions "are not our holiness. For we are not more holy, if we have more love to God and man, nor less holy if we have less." F.—No! Does not a believer increase in holiness, as he increases in the love of God and man? Ant.—I say, No. "The very moment he is justified, he is wholly sanctified. And he is neither more or less holy from that hour, to the day of his death. Entire justification, and entire sanctification are in the same instant. And neither of them is thenceforth capable either of increase or decrease." F.—I thought we were to grow in grace! Ant.—"We are so; but not in holiness. The moment we are justified we are as pure in heart as we ever shall be. A new-born babe is as pure in heart as a father in Christ. There is no difference." F.—You do well to except against Scripture and reason. For till a man is done with them, he can never swallow this. I understand your doctrine now, far better than I like it. In the main, you are talking much and saying nothing; laboring, as if you had found out the most important truths, and such as none ever knew before. And what does all this come to at the last? A mere, empty "strife of words." All that is really uncommon in your doctrine is a heap of broad absurdities, in most of which you grossly contradict yourselves, as well as Scripture and common sense. In the meantime, you boast and vapor as if "ye were the men, and wisdom should die with you." I pray God to "humble you, and prove you, and show you what is in your hearts!"