Mr. Primitive Christianity

As a student at Oxford University in the 1720s, John Wesley earned the nickname "Mr. Primitive Christianity" for his great interest in the teachings and practices of the earliest Christian church. Indeed some scholars believe his whole ministry was "an attempt to recover the purity and vitality of Primitive Christianity." ~ The Assurance of Salvation

Initial sanctification

"We allow that the state of a justified person is inexpressibly great and glorious . . . He is 'created anew in Christ Jesus'; he is washed, he is sanctified. His 'heart is purified by faith' . . . And he has power both over outward and inward sin, even from the moment he is justified." ~ John Wesley

Joy unspeakable

"My soul can never forget that day. Dying, all but dead, diseased, pained, chained, scourged, bound in fetters of iron, in darkness and the shadow of death, Jesus appeared unto me. My eyes looked to Him; the disease was healed, the pains removed, chains were snapped, prison doors were opened, darkness gave place to light. What delight filled my soul! — what mirth, what ecstasy, what sound of music and dancing, what soarings towards Heaven, what heights and depths of ineffable delight! Scarcely ever since then have I known joys which surpassed the rapture of that first hour." ~ Charles Spurgeon

A tale of two sermons

"I was once preaching upon conversion and salvation, and I felt within myself, as preachers often do, that it was but dry work to tell this story, and a dull, dull tale it was to me; but, on a sudden, the thought crossed my mind,'Why, you are a poor, lost, ruined sinner yourself; tell it, tell it as you received it; begin to tell of the grace of God as you trust you feel it yourself.' Why, then, my eyes began to be fountains of tears; those hearers who had nodded their heads began to brighten up, and they listened, because they were hearing something which the speaker himself felt, and which they recognized as being true to him if it was not true to them." ~ Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon's reverence of Wesley

"Far be it from me even to imagine that Zion contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are none saved who do not hold our views. Most atrocious things have been spoken about the character and spiritual condition of John Wesley, the modern prince of Arminians. I can only say concerning him that, while I detest many of the doctrines which he preached, yet for the man himself I have a reverence second to no Wesleyan; and if there were wanted two apostles to be added to the number of the twelve, I do not believe that there could be found two men more fit to be so added than George Whitefield and John Wesley. The character of John Wesley stands beyond all imputation for self-sacrifice, zeal, holiness, and communion with God; he lived far above the ordinary level of common Christians." ~ Charles Spurgeon

Spurgeon's Wit

While I disagree with Mr. Spurgeon's view of the doctrine of election, I was greatly amused at his powerful wit:

"I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, 'I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures.'" ~ Charles Spurgeon

Seeking divine transformation

"What shall I do my suit to gain?
Oh Lamb of God for sinners slain,
I plead what thou hast done!
Didst thou not die the death for me?
Jesu, remember Calvary,
And break my heart of stone.

Oh let thy Spirit shed abroad
The love, the perfect love of God,
In this cold heart of mine!
Oh might he now descend, and rest,
And dwell for ever in my breast,
And make it all divine!"

~ Charles Wesley