diff --git a/data/sermons/tei/Sermon057 b/data/sermons/tei/Sermon057 new file mode 100644 index 000000000..501f9ed6f --- /dev/null +++ b/data/sermons/tei/Sermon057 @@ -0,0 +1,603 @@ + + + + + + Sermon 57: On the Fall of Man + Wesley, John + Van Buskirk, Gregory P. + Taylor, Michelle M. + + + The Wesley Works Digitzation Project + Tampa, FL + 2024-02-29 + + + + + + Sermon 57: On the Fall of Man + + + The Works of John Wesley, Volume II: Sermons II, + 34-70 + Outler, Albert + + Abingdon Press + Nashville, TN + 1985-11-01 + + + + + + The Works of John Wesley + Baker, Frank + + + + + + +

Greg Van Buskirk created Word docs for all of Wesley's sermons using a combination of + OCR software and manual proofing. Michelle Taylor converted these docx into XML + using Oxygen's DITA automatic transformation scenario, then touched them up + manually.

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + An Introductory Comment +

This sermon is dated March 13, 1782, and was printed in the May and June issues + of the Arminian Magazine of that same year as ‘Sermon IX. + On Genesis iii.19’, but without any other title. It was then repositioned in SOSO, V.57-72, with its present title and a comment on + sin as the basic cause of pain and evil, especially in view of the vision of a + paradisiacal earth delineated in ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’. Wesley had + preached from Gen. 3:19 four times before (twice in 1759, once in 1760, and once + in 1761); he would return to it once more in 1789. This published sermon is a + reprise of the main themes of Wesley’s early manuscript sermon on Gen. 1:27 (see + No. 141); thus, one may consider the consonance between his earliest reflections + on the problems of creation and the Fall and his latest.

+ + On the Fall of Man + +

Genesis 3:19

+

Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.

+ +
+

1. Why is there pain in the world?

Cf. Jenyns, Free Inquiry, pp. 18, 53, 60, 62.

Seeing God is + ‘loving to every man, and his mercy is over all his works’?

Cf. Ps. 145:9 (BCP).

 + Because there is sin: had there been no sin there would + have been no pain. But pain (supposing God to be just) is the necessary effect + of sin. But why is there sin in the world? Because man was created in the image + of God:

See Gen. + 1:27; 9:6.

 because he is not mere matter, a clod of earth, a + lump of clay, without sense or understanding, but a spirit like his Creator; a + being endued not only with sense and understanding but also with + a will exerting itself in various affections. To crown all the rest, he was + endued with liberty, a power of directing his own affections and actions, a + capacity of determining himself, of choosing good or evil. Indeed had not man + been endued with this, all the rest would have been of no use. Had he not been a + free as well as an intelligent being, his understanding would have been of no + service. For he would have been as incapable of holiness, or any kind of virtue, + as a tree or a block of marble. And having this power, a power of choosing good + or evil, he chose the latter—he chose evil. Thus ‘sin entered into the + world,’

Rom. + 5:12.

 and pain of every kind, preparatory to death.

+

2. This plain, simple account of the origin of evil, whether natural or moral, + all the wisdom of man could not discover till it pleased God to reveal it to the + world. Till then man was a mere enigma to himself, a riddle which none but God + could solve.

Cf. + Nos. 128, ‘The Deceitfulness of the Human Heart’, II.8; 129, ‘Heavenly + Treasure in Earthen Vessels’, §1; 140, ‘The Promise of Understanding’, + I.2.

And in how full and satisfactory a manner has he solved + it in this chapter! In such a manner as does not indeed serve to gratify vain + curiosity, but as is abundantly sufficient to answer a nobler end, to

+ Justify the ways of God with men.

Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, + i.26. See No. 15, The Great Assize, II.10 and + n.

 +

To this end I would, first, briefly consider the preceding part of this chapter, + and then, secondly, more particularly weigh the solemn words which have been + already recited.

+
+
+

I. 1. In the first place let us briefly consider the preceding part of this + chapter. ‘Now the serpent was more subtle’ or knowing, ‘than any beast of the + field which the Lord had made’

Ver. + 1.

—endued with more understanding than any other animal in + the brute creation. Indeed there is no improbability in the conjecture of an + ingenious man,

The late Dr. Nicholas + Robinson [1697?-1775, a Welsh physician with theological interests whose + ingenious book, The Christian Philosopher (see + its 2nd, enlarged edn., 1757), Wesley ‘took some pains in correcting…’ + (JWJ, Feb. 10, 1757). Robinson’s discussion of the serpent’s speaking + comes in An Appendix to the First Book of the + Christian Philosopher, Containing a Physico-Theological Discourse on + the Nature, Attributes and Properties of the Serpent that Tempted + Eve… (1742), pp. 65-68: ‘Now the serpent was more wise and + prudent than all the animals of the earth which the Lord had made…. He + was above man himself…. And if he spoke to Eve, in consequence of that + superiority, then it follows that she had no reason to be surprised at + the speech of the serpent; since language was natural to the state and + condition of that species of animals. From whence I deduce the following + proposition: Proposition I: That the serpent who spoke to Eve was of a + species of creatures superior to every class of brutes that was in + nature; and very nearly approaching if not entirely coming up to the + privileges that the individuals of the human nature obtain in this + imperfect state of things, save that he was endued with innocence (which + we lost upon the Fall) and also clear of guilt and crime…. Speech was a + faculty inherent in the serpent, by the rights of his creation…. Had the + faculty of speech been a new thing, then the surprise must have + terrified Eve….’

[The same idea, however, had + received a rather different interpretation in Joseph Mede, Works (1677); cf. his Discourse XL, p. 223: ‘I + think none so unreasonable as to believe it was the “unreasonable and + brute serpent”; …for whence should he learn or how should he understand + God’s commandment to our first parents? And how is it possible a serpent + should speak?… If we say she (Eve) thought the tempter to be “the brute + serpent”, how will this stand with the perfection of man’s knowledge in + his integrity to think a serpent could speak like a reasonable creature, + who would not judge her a silly woman now that should think so. And yet, + the wisest of us all is far short of Eve in regard of her knowledge + then.’ Cf. below, No. 62, ‘The End of Christ’s Coming’, I.9].

 + that the serpent was then endued with that reason which is now + the property of man. And this accounts for the circumstance which on any other + supposition would be utterly unintelligible. How comes Eve not to be surprised, + yea, startled and affrighted, at hearing the serpent speak and reason? Unless she knew that reason, + and speech in consequence of it, were the original properties of the serpent? + Hence without showing any surprise she immediately enters into conversation with + him. ‘And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every + tree of the garden?’ See how he who was a liar from the beginning mixes truth + and falsehood together! Perhaps on purpose, that she might be the more inclined + to speak, in order to clear God of the unjust charge. Accordingly ‘the woman + said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but + of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said, Ye shall not eat + of it; neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.’

Ver. 2[-3].

 Thus far she appears to have + been clear of blame. But how long did she continue so? ‘And the serpent said + unto the woman, Surely ye shall not die. For God doth know, in the day ye eat + thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and + evil.’

Ver. 4-5.

 Here sin + began, namely, unbelief. ‘The woman was deceived,’

Cf. 1 Tim. 2:14.

 says + the Apostle. She believed a lie: she gave more credit to the word of the devil + than to the word of God. And unbelief brought forth actual sin. + ‘When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes, + and to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit and did eat,’

Gen. + 3:6.

 and so completed her sin. But ‘the man’, as the Apostle + observes, ‘was not deceived.’

Cf. 1 Tim. 2:14.

 How then came he to + join in the transgression? ‘She gave unto her husband, and he did eat.’

Gen. + 3:6.

 He sinned with his eyes open. He rebelled against his + Creator, as is highly probable,

+ + Not by stronger reason moved, + But fondly overcome with female charms. + +

Cf. Milton, Paradise Lost, ix. 998-99:

+ + Against his better knowledge, not deceived, + But fondly overcome with female charm. + +

And if this was the case there is no absurdity in the assertion of a great man + that ‘Adam sinned in his heart before he sinned outwardly, before he ate of the + forbidden fruit;’

The source of this idea (although not the actual + quotation given here) is Augustinian. Cf. Enchiridion, ch. xiii, ‘Baptism and Original Sin’; see also, + ibid., ch. xvii, ‘On Forgiveness of Sins’, + passim; and cf. N. P. Williams, The Ideas of the Fall and Original Sin (London, + New York, Longmans, Green, and Co., Ltd., 1927), pp. 362-66.

+ namely by inward idolatry, by loving the creature more than the Creator.

+

2. Immediately pain followed sin. When he lost his + innocence he lost his happiness. He painfully feared that God in the love of + whom his supreme happiness before consisted. ‘He said, I heard thy voice in the + garden; and I was afraid.’

Ver. + 10.

He fled from him who was till then his desire, and glory, and + joy. He ‘hid himself from the presence of the Lord God, among the trees of the + garden’!

Cf. + Gen. 3:8.

 Hid himself! What, from the all-seeing eye? The eye + which with one glance pervades heaven and earth! See how his understanding + likewise was impaired! What amazing folly was this! Such as one would imagine + very few even of his posterity could have fallen into. So dreadfully was his + ‘foolish heart darkened’

Rom. 1:21.

 by sin, and guilt, and + sorrow, and fear! His innocence was lost; and at the same time his happiness and + his wisdom! Here is the clear, intelligible answer to that question, how came + evil into the world?

+

3. One cannot but observe throughout this whole + narration the inexpressible tenderness and lenity of the almighty Creator from + whom they had revolted, the sovereign against whom they had + rebelled. ‘And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art + thou?’

Gen. + 3:9.

Thus graciously calling him to return who would + otherwise have eternally fled from God. ‘And he said, I heard thy voice in the + garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked.’

Ver. 10.

 Still here is no + acknowledgement of his fault, no humiliation for it. But with what astonishing + tenderness does God lead him to make that acknowledgement! ‘And he said, Who + told thee that thou wast naked?’ How camest thou to make this discovery? ‘Hast + thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And + the man said’ (still unhumbled, yea, indirectly throwing the blame upon God + himself), ‘The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, + and I did eat. And the Lord God’, still endeavouring to bring them to + repentance, ‘said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the + woman said’, nakedly declaring the thing as it was, ‘The serpent beguiled me, + and I did eat.

Ver. [11-] 13.

 + And the Lord God said unto the serpent’, to testify his utter abhorrence of sin + by a lasting monument of his displeasure in punishing the creature that had been + barely the instrument of it, ‘Thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every + beast of the field…. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and + between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise + his heel.’

Ver. + 14-15.

 Thus in the midst of judgment hath God remembered + mercy,

See + Hab. 3:2.

 from the beginning of the world! Connecting the + grand promise of salvation with the very sentence of condemnation.

+

4. ‘Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply + thy sorrow and’ (or in) ‘thy conception; in sorrow’, or + pain, ‘thou shalt bring forth children;’ yea, above any other creature under + heaven: which original curse we see is entailed on her latest posterity. ‘And + thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.’

Gen. + 3:16.

It seems the latter part of this sentence is explanatory of + the former. Was there till now any other inferiority of the woman to the man + than that which we may conceive in one angel to another? ‘And unto Adam he said, + Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast + eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it; + cursed is the ground for thy sake.’

Gen. 3:17.

 ‘Thorns and thistles shall it + bring forth unto thee’—useless, yea, and hurtful productions: whereas nothing + calculated to hurt or to give pain had at first any place in the creation. ‘And + thou shah eat the herb of the field’—coarse and vile compared to the delicious + fruits of paradise. ‘In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou + return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken. For dust thou art, and + unto dust thou shalt return.’

Gen. 3:18-19.

+
+
+

II. 1. Let us now, in the second place, weigh these solemn words in a more + particular manner. ‘Dust thou art.’ But how fearfully and wonderfully wrought + into innumerable fibres, nerves, membranes, muscles, arteries, veins, vessels of + various kinds! And how amazingly is this dust connected with water, with enclosed, circulating fluids, diversified a thousand ways + by a thousand tubes and strainers! Yea, and how wonderfully is air impacted into + every part, solid or fluid, of the animal machine!

Cf. No. 51, The Good Steward, I.4 and n. For ‘body-soul dualism’, cf. No. + 41, Wandering Thoughts, III.5 and n.

+ Air, not elastic, which would tear the machine in pieces, + but as fixed as water under the pole! But all this would not avail were not + ethereal fire intimately mixed both with this earth, air, + and water.

Cf. + No. 15, The Great Assize, III.4 and n. Cf. also + No. 56, ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, I.1, where Wesley also speaks + of the four primal elements.

 And all these elements are + mingled together in the most exact proportion; so that while the body is in + health no one of them predominates in the least degree over the others.

+

2. Such was man, with regard to his corporeal part, as he came out of the hands + of his Maker. But since he sinned he is not only dust but mortal, corruptible + dust. And by sad experience we find that this ‘corruptible body presses down the + soul’.

Cf. + Wisd. 9:15. Cf. below, II.5 and, above, No. 41, Wandering Thoughts, II.3 and n.

It very frequently + hinders the soul in its operations, and at best serves it very imperfectly. Yet + the soul cannot dispense with its service, imperfect as it is. For an embodied + spirit cannot form one thought but by the mediation of its bodily organs. For + thinking is not (as many suppose) the act of a pure spirit, but the act of a + spirit connected with a + body, and playing upon a set of material keys.

The repetition of a passage from Wesley’s + letter to Mrs. Bennis, Oct 28, 1771. See also, No. 51, The Good Steward, II. 10 and n.

 It cannot possibly + therefore make any better music than the nature and state of its instruments + allow it. Hence every disorder of the body, especially of the parts more + immediately subservient to thinking, lays an almost insuperable bar in the way + of its thinking justly. Hence the maxim received in all ages, Humanum est errare et nescire.

See No. 39, ‘Catholic Spirit’, I.4 and + n.

 Not ignorance alone (that belongs more or less to every creature in heaven and earth; seeing none is omniscient, + none knoweth all things, save the Creator), but error is + entailed on every child of man. Mistake as well as ignorance is, in our present + state, inseparable from humanity. Every child of man is in a thousand mistakes, + and is liable to fresh mistakes every moment. And a mistake in judgment may + occasion a mistake in practice, yea, naturally leads thereto. I mistake, and + possibly cannot avoid mistaking, the character of this or that man. I suppose + him to be what he is not; to be better or worse than he really is. Upon this + wrong supposition I behave wrong

Used adverbially, although ‘wrongly’ also had long + been in common use.

 to him, that is, more or less + affectionately than he deserves. And by the mistake which is occasioned by the + defect of my bodily organs I am naturally led so to do. Such is the present + condition of human nature, of a mind dependent on a mortal body. Such is the + state entailed on all human spirits while connected with flesh and blood!

+

3. ‘And unto dust thou shalt return.’ How admirably + well has the wise Creator secured the execution of this sentence on all the + offspring of Adam! It is true he was pleased to make one exception from this + general rule, in a very early age of the world, in favour of an eminently + righteous man. So we read: after Enoch had ‘walked with God three hundred, sixty + and five years, he was not: for God took him’.

Gen. 5:23-24.

He exempted him from the + sentence passed upon all flesh, and took him alive into heaven. Many ages after + he was pleased to make a second exception, ordering the prophet Elijah to be + taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire—very probably by a convoy of angels + assuming that appearance.

See 2 Kgs. 2:11.

 And it is not unlikely + that he saw good to make a third exception in the person of the + beloved disciple. There is transmitted to us a particular account of the apostle + John’s old age. But we have not any account of his death, and not the least + intimation concerning it. Hence we may reasonably suppose that he did not die, + but that after he had finished his course, and ‘walked with God’ for about a + hundred years, ‘the Lord took him,’ as he did Enoch—not in so open and + conspicuous a manner as he did the prophet Elijah.

All the standard references + (Polycarp, Irenaeus, Jerome, and even the best MSS of the apocryphal Acts of John) speak of John’s death in natural + terms. A couple of inferior Greek MSS of the Acts, however, have ‘appendices’ which describe St John’s + ‘removal’ much as Wesley does here. See ‘The Acts of John’, §115, The Apocryphal New Testament, tr. by M. R. James + (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1953), p. 270. Cf. Nos. 68, ‘The Wisdom of + God’s Counsels’, §8; and 104, ‘On Attending the Church Service’, + §1.

+

4. But setting these two or three instances

AM, ‘these rare instances’, altered in 1788 to what appears to + have been an only partially successful attempt at a revision, reproduced + by the compositor as ‘these rare or three instances’. Wesley’s personal + copy, however, (in MA), sets the matter straight by substituting ‘two’ + for ‘rare’.

aside, who has been able in the course of near + six thousand years to evade the execution of this sentence passed on Adam and + all his posterity? Be men ever so great masters of the art of healing, can they + prevent or heal the gradual decays of nature? Can all their boasted skill heal + old age, or hinder dust from returning to dust? Nay, who among the greatest + masters of medicine has been able to add a century to his own years? Yea, or to + protract his own life any considerable space beyond the common period? The days + of man for above three thousand years, from the time of Moses at least, have + been fixed by a middling computation at threescore years and ten. How few are + there that attain to fourscore years! Perhaps hardly one in five hundred. So + little does the art of man avail against the appointment of God!

+

5. God has indeed provided for the execution of his + own decree in the very principles of our nature. It is well known, the human + body when it comes into the world consists of innumerable membranes, exquisitely + thin, that are filled with circulating fluids, to which the solid parts bear a + very small proportion. Into the tubes composed of these membranes nourishment + must be continually infused; otherwise life cannot continue, but will come to an + end almost as soon as it is begun. And suppose this nourishment to be liquid, + which as it flows through those fine canals continually enlarges them in all + their dimensions, yet it contains innumerable solid particles, + which continually adhere to the inner surface of the vessels through which they + flow; so that in the same proportion as any vessel is enlarged it is stiffened + also. Thus the body grows firmer as it grows larger, from infancy to manhood. In + twenty, five and twenty, or thirty years, it attains its full measure of + firmness. Every part of the body is then stiffened to its full degree: as much + earth adhering to all the vessels as gives the solidity they severally need to + the nerves, arteries, veins, muscles, in order to exercise their functions in + the most perfect manner. For twenty, or it may be thirty years following, + although more and more particles of earth continually adhere to the inner + surface of every vessel in the body, yet the stiffness caused thereby is hardly + observable, and occasions little inconvenience. But after sixty years (more or + less, according to the natural constitution, and a thousand accidental + circumstances) the change is easily perceived, even at the surface of the body. + Wrinkles show the proportion of the fluids to be lessened, as does also the

Wesley’s MS + annotations and errata add ‘the’ to the orig. text of AM.

dryness of the skin, through a diminution of + the blood and juices which before moistened and kept it smooth and soft. The + extremities of the body grow cold, not only as they are remote from the centre + of motion, but as the finer vessels

Orig., AM, ‘but as more + remote, the inner vessels’. The AM errata and + Wesley’s annotations in his personal copy delete ‘more remote’ and alter + to ‘the finer vessels’. In turn this is altered in SOSO to ‘the smaller vessels’.

 are filled up, and + can no longer admit the circulating fluid. As age increases fewer and fewer of + the vessels are pervious, and capable of transmitting the vital stream; except + the larger ones, most of which are lodged within the trunk of the body. In + extreme old age the arteries themselves—the grand instruments of circulation—by + the continual apposition of earth, become hard and as it were bony, till having + lost the power of contracting themselves they can no longer propel the blood, + even through the largest channels, in consequence of which death naturally + ensues. Thus are the seeds of death sown in our very nature. Thus from the very + hour when we first appear on the stage of life we are travelling toward death: + we are preparing, whether we will or no, to return to the dust from whence we + came!

This + account of aging, and especially of the process of arterial hardening, + is a repetition of Wesley’s much earlier account of the fatal effects of + eating the forbidden fruit in Eden (a vivid description of + atherosclerosis!); see No. 141, ‘The Image of God’, on Gen. 1:27. See + also, above, II.1; and No. 51, The Good Steward, + I.4 and n. Cf. also Chambers’s Cyclopaedia, on + ‘Blood’, ‘Circulation’, etc. Wesley knew of Dr. Andrew Wilson’s work on + the circulation of the blood, Medical Researches + (1777), as well as that of William Harvey, Exercitatio + anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (Frankfurt, + 1628), which he noted in the intro. to his Survey; cf. No. 116, ‘What is Man? Ps. 8:4’, §4.

+

6. Let us now take a short review of + the whole, as it is delivered with inimitable simplicity, what an unprejudiced + person might even from hence infer to be the word of God. In that period of + duration which he saw to be most proper (of which he alone could be the judge + whose eye views the whole possibility of things from everlasting to everlasting) + the Almighty, rising in the greatness of his strength, went forth to create the + universe. ‘In the beginning he created’, made out of nothing, ‘the matter of the + heavens and the earth.’

Cf. Gen. 1:1.

(So Mr. Hutchinson

See No. 56, + ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, I.1 and n.

 observes the + original words properly signify.) Then ‘the spirit or breath from the Lord’, + that is the air, ‘moved upon the face of the waters.’

Cf. Gen. 1:2.

 Here + were earth, water, air, three of the elements or component parts of the lower + world. ‘And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.’

Gen. + 1:3.

 By his omnific word light, that is, fire, the fourth + element, sprang into being. Out of these, variously modified and proportioned to + each other, he composed the whole universe. ‘The earth brought forth grass, and + herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit after its kind:’

Cf. Gen. + 1:12.

 and then the various tribes of animals to inhabit the + waters, the air, and the earth. But the very heathen could observe,

+ + Sanctius his animal mentisque; capacius altae + Deerat adhuc! +

Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoses, i.76-77: ‘A holier animal was + wanting still/With mind of wider grasp.’

 + +

There was still wanting a creature of a higher rank, capable of wisdom and + holiness. Natus homo est.

Ibid., + i.78; ‘Man was born.’

‘So God created man in his own image: + in the image of God created he him!’

Gen. 1:27. Cf. No. 1, Salvation + by Faith, §1 and n.

 Mark the emphatical repetition! + God did not make him mere matter, a piece of senseless, unintelligent clay, but + a spirit like himself (although clothed with a material vehicle). As such he was + endued with understanding, with a will, including various affections, and with + liberty, a power of using them in a right or wrong manner, of choosing good or + evil. Otherwise neither his understanding nor his will would + have been to any purpose; for he must have been as incapable of virtue or + holiness as the stock of a tree. Adam, in whom all mankind were then contained, + freely preferred evil to good. He chose to do his own will rather than the will + of his Creator. He ‘was not deceived’,

1 Tim. 2:14.

 but knowingly and + deliberately rebelled against his Father and his King. In that moment he lost + the moral image of God, and, in part, the natural. He commenced unholy, foolish, + and unhappy. And ‘in Adam all died.’

Cf. 1 Cor. 15:22.

 He entitled all his + posterity to error, guilt, sorrow, fear; pain, diseases, and death.

+

7. How exactly does matter of fact, do all things + round us, even the face of the whole world, agree with this account? Open your + eyes! Look round you! See darkness that may be felt; see ignorance and error; + see vice in ten thousand forms; see consciousness of guilt, fear, sorrow, shame, + remorse, care, covering the face of the earth! See misery, the daughter of sin. + See on every side sickness and pain, inhabitants of every nation under heaven, + driving on the poor, helpless sons of men, in every age, to the gates of death! + So they have done wellnigh from the beginning of the world. So they will do till + the consummation of all things.

+

8. But can the Creator despise the work of his own hands? Surely that is + impossible! Hath he not then, seeing he alone is able, provided a remedy for all + these evils? Yea, verily he hath! And a sufficient remedy, every way adequate to + the disease. He hath fulfilled his word: he hath given ‘the seed of the woman to + bruise the serpent’s head’.

Cf. Gen. 3:15.

‘God so loved the world + that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not + perish, but have everlasting life.’

Cf. John 3:16.

 Here is a remedy provided + for all our guilt: he ‘bore all our sins in his body on the tree’.

Cf. 1 Pet. + 2:24.

 And ‘if any man have sinned, we have an advocate with + the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.’

Cf. 1 John 2:1.

 And here is a remedy + for all our disease, all the corruption of our nature. For ‘God hath also’, + through the intercession of his Son, ‘given us his Holy Spirit’,

Cf. 1 Thess. + 4:8.

 to ‘renew’ us both ‘in knowledge’,

Cf. Col. 3:10.

 in + his natural image, ‘opening the eyes of our understanding, and + enlightening’

Cf. Luke 24:45; Eph. 1:18.

 us with all + such knowledge as is requisite to our pleasing God; and also in his moral image, namely, ‘righteousness and true holiness’.

Eph. + 4:24.

 And supposing this is done, we know that ‘all things will + work together for our good.’

Cf. Rom. 8:28.

 We know by happy + experience that all natural evils change their nature and turn to good; that + sorrow, sickness, pain, will all prove medicines to heal our spiritual sickness. + They will all be ‘to our profit’; will all tend to our unspeakable advantage, + making us more largely ‘partakers of his holiness’

Cf. Heb. 12:10.

 + while we remain on earth, adding so many stars to that crown

This metaphor of ‘stars’ added + to our heavenly ‘crown’ was a favourite of Wesley; cf. Nos. 59,‘God’s + Love to Fallen Man’, II.11; 89, ‘The More Excellent Way’, §8; and 144, + ‘The Love of God’, II.10. Cf. also Samuel Wesley, Sen., Life of Christ (1697), V.278 (p. 152): ‘Stript + from my robes of light and starry crowns’. See also the 1780 Collection (Vol. 7 of this edn.) 487:23, ‘And + each a starry crown receive’; and 496:30, ‘Till all receive the starry + crown’.

 which is reserved in heaven for us.

+

9. Behold then both the justice and mercy of God! + His justice in punishing sin, the sin of him in whose loins we were then all + contained, on Adam and all his whole posterity! And his mercy, in providing an + universal remedy for an universal evil! In appointing the Second Adam to die for + all who had died in the first: that ‘as in Adam all died, so in Christ all might + be made alive;’

Cf. 1 Cor. 15:22.

that ‘as by one man’s offence judgment + came upon all men to condemnation, so by the righteousness of one’ the free gift + ‘might come upon all, unto justification of life’.

Cf. Rom. 5:18.

 + ‘Justification of life’, as being connected with the new birth, the beginning of + spiritual life,

Cf. No. 14, The Repentance of Believers, III.2 + and n.

 which leads us through the life of holiness to life + eternal, to glory.

+

10. And it should be particularly observed that + ‘where sin abounded, grace does much more abound.’

Cf. Rom. 5:20.

For + ‘not as the condemnation’ so ‘is the free gift;’

Cf. Rom. 5:15, 18.

 + but we may gain infinitely more than we have lost. We may now attain both higher + degrees of holiness and higher degrees of glory than it would have been possible + for us to attain if Adam had not sinned. For if Adam had not sinned, the Son of + God had not died.

An echo of Wesley’s long-time commitment to the felix culpa tradition. Cf. No. 59, ‘God’s Love to + Fallen Man’, I.1 and n.

 Consequently that amazing instance of + the love of God to man had never existed which has in all ages excited the + highest joy, and love, and gratitude from his children. We might have loved God + the Creator, God the Preserver, God the Governor. But there + would have been no place for love to God the Redeemer: this could have had no + being. The highest glory and joy of saints on earth and saints in heaven, Christ + crucified, had been wanting. We could not then have praised him that, ‘thinking + it no robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied himself, took upon him the form + of a servant, and was obedient to death, even the death of the cross’!

Cf. Phil. 2:6-8 + (Notes).

 This is now the noblest + theme of all the children of God on earth; yea, we need not scruple to affirm, + even of angels, and archangels, and all the company of heaven:

BCP, Communion, + Sanctus.

+ + Hallelujah they cry + To the King of the sky, + To the great, everlasting I Am; + To the Lamb that was slain, + And liveth again, + Hallelujah to God and the Lamb. +

Charles Wesley, + Hymns and Sacred Poems (1749), 11.314 (Poet. Wks., V.458).

 + +

Bristol, March 13, 1782

Place and date as in AM + only.

+
+ + +