Later English Reformers
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Said John Wesley, referring to the charges against himself and his
associates: “Some allege that the doctrines of these men are false,
erroneous, and enthusiastic; that they are new and unheard-of till
of late; that they are Quakerism, fanaticism, popery. This whole
pretense has been already cut up by the roots, it having been shown
at large that every branch of this doctrine is the plain doctrine of
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Scripture interpreted by our own church. Therefore it cannot be false
or erroneous, provided the Scripture be true.” “Others allege that their
doctrines are too strict; that they make the way to Heaven too narrow;
and this is in truth the original objection, as it was almost the only
one for some time, and is secretly at the bottom of a thousand more
which appear in various forms. But do they make the way to Heaven
any narrower than our Lord and his apostles made it? Is their doctrine
stricter than that of the Bible? Consider only a few plain texts: ‘Thou
shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as
thyself.’ [
Luke 10:27
.] ‘Every idle word that men shall speak, they
shall give account thereof in the day of Judgment.’ [
Matthew 12:36
.]
‘Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the
glory of God.’ [
1 Corinthians 10:31
.]
“If their doctrine is stricter than this, they are to blame; but you
know in your conscience it is not. And who can be one jot less
strict without corrupting the Word of God? Can any steward of the
mysteries of God be found faithful if he change any part of that sacred
deposition?—No; he can abate nothing; he can soften nothing; he is
constrained to declare to all men, I may not bring down the Scriptures
to you taste. You must come up to it, or perish forever. The popular
cry is, The uncharitableness of these men! Uncharitable, are they?
In what respect? Do they not feed the hungry and clothe the naked?
No; that is not the thing; they are not wanting in this, but they are so
uncharitable in judging; they think none can be saved but those who
are of their own way.”
The spiritual declension which had been manifest in England just
before the time of Wesley, was in great degree the result of Antinomian
teaching. Many affirmed that Christ had abolished the moral law, and
that Christians are therefore under no obligation to observe it; that a
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believer is freed from the “bondage of good works.” Others, though
admitting the perpetuity of the law, declared that it was unnecessary