Sermon

# found: 0

Toggle:

Notes:

Sermon 60: The General Deliverance

https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/sermons/Sermon060

02:436 An Introductory Comment

This sermon first appeared in the Arminian Magazine in 1782, V.8-14, 61-69 (January and February), under the title ‘Free Thoughts on the Brute Creation’. The title had been borrowed from an essay by John Hildrop, D. D. (1680?-1756), theologian and satirist, published in 1742. Hildrop’s essay (‘In Two Letters to a Lady’) had been a rejoinder to a jeu d’esprit by a French Jesuit, G. H. Bougeant, Amusement Philosophique sur le Langage des Bêtes, 1739 (Eng. tr. also in 1739). Wesley thought well enough of Hildrop’s essay to abridge and publish it with its original title in the Arminian Magazine for 1783, in twelve instalments.

VI.33-36, 90-92, 141-44, 202-4, 259-61, 315-17, 370-72, 424-27, 487-89, 538-40, 596-98, 654-57.

Thus, when he prepared to reprint his own sermon for the 1788 collection, he had to give it a new title, and chose ‘The General Deliverance’.

Bougeant’s Aristotelian presupposition as to the immutability of animal species had prompted Hildrop to apply the Platonic ‘chain of being’ to the theory that the human fall set off the degradation of ‘the brute creation’ in tragic sequence. Wesley, sharing Hildrop’s cosmology, differs from him in three respects: (1) whereas for Hildrop the ‘chain of being’ idea implies a continuum, Wesley interprets it as a series in which man is the crucial link of ‘conveyance’ or ‘communication’ between the Creator and his ‘brute creation’; (2) man has a ‘capacity for God’, a gift not bestowed on creatures below him in the chain; (3) in the ‘general deliverance’ God may well enhance the status and glory of all creatures above their originals. This, obviously, expands Wesley’s point that ‘God’s Love to Fallen Man’ is such that, in his sovereign grace, God will turn even the Fall into the final advantage not only of ‘fallen man’ but of the entire creation as well. This essay may thus be correlated with the cognate eschatological notions of Nos. 15, The Great Assize; and 59, ‘God’s Love to Fallen Man’.

Wesley mentions having preached from Rom. 8:19-22 five times (1747, 1748, 1750, 1754, 1755), which is not to say that all of those sermons had the same topic as this one. It is, however, a reasonable guess that his basic vision of a cosmic redemption had come to him as part of his heritage from Christian Platonism.

02:437 The General Deliverance

Romans 8:19-22

The earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected it.

Yet in hope that the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.

For we know that the whole creation groaneth, and travaileth in pain together until now.

Cf. AV, and Wesley’s translation in his Notes.

11. Nothing is more sure than that, as ‘the Lord is loving to every man’, so ‘his mercy is over all his works’

Ps. 145:9 (BCP).

—all that have sense, all that are capable of pleasure or pain, of happiness or misery. In consequence of this ‘he openeth his hand and filleth all things living with plenteousness:’

Cf. Ps. 145:16 (BCP).

‘he prepareth food for cattle,’ as well as ‘herbs for the children of men.’

Cf. Pss. 104:14; 147:8-9 (BCP).

He provideth for the fowls of the air, ‘feeding the young ravens when they cry unto him’.

Cf. Ps. 147:9 (BCP).

‘He sendeth the springs into the rivers that run among the hills,’ to give drink to every beast of the field, and that even ‘the wild asses may quench their thirst.’

Cf. Ps. 104:10-11 (BCP).

And suitably to this he directs us to be tender of even the

Orig., AM and SOSO, ‘even’, to which Wesley added ‘the’ in his MS annotations of SOSO.

meaner creatures, to show mercy to these also. ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn’

Cf. Deut. 25:4.

—a custom which is observed in the eastern countries even to this day. And this is by no means contradicted by St. Paul’s question, ‘Doth God take care for oxen?’

1 Cor. 9:9.

Without doubt he does. We cannot deny it without flatly contradicting his word. The plain meaning of the Apostle is—Is this all that is implied in the text? Hath it not a farther meaning? Does it not teach us we are to feed the bodies of those whom we desire to feed our souls? Meantime it is certain God ‘giveth grass for the cattle’, as well as ‘herbs for the use of men’.

Cf. Ps. 147:8-9 (BCP).

202:4382. But how are these Scriptures reconcilable to the present state of things? How are they consistent with what we daily see round about us in every part of the creation? If the Creator and Father of every living thing is rich in mercy towards all; if he does not overlook or despise any of the works of his own hands;

See Job 10:3.

if he wills even the meanest of them to be happy according to their degree—how comes it to pass that such a complication of evils oppresses, yea, overwhelms them? How is it that misery of all kinds overspreads the face of the earth? This is a question which has puzzled the wisest philosophers in all ages. And it cannot be answered without having recourse to the oracles of God. But taking these for our guide we may inquire,

I. What was the original state of the brute creation?

Cf. OED for eighteenth-century (and prior) usages of this phrase.

II. In what state is it at present? And

III. In what state will it be at the manifestation of the children of God?

1I. 1. We may inquire, in the first place, What was the original state of the brute creation? And may not we learn this even from the place which was assigned them, namely, the garden of God? All the beasts of the field, and all the fowls of the air, were with Adam in paradise. And there is no question but their state was suited to their place: it was paradisiacal, perfectly happy.

This passage (I.1-4) is an earlier statement of the same thesis (with some of the same text) that would then be expanded a year later into ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, passim (see No. 56). In AM, ‘The General Deliverance’ had preceded ‘God’s Approbation’; here Wesley has reversed and repeated himself. For other references to the idea of ‘adamic perfection’, see also No. 5, ‘Justification by Faith’, I.4 and n.

Undoubtedly it bore a near resemblance to the state of man himself. By taking therefore a short view of the one we may conceive the other. Now ‘man was made in the image of God.’

Cf. Gen. 1:27; 9:6. Cf. below, III.11, 12; and cf. also, No. 1, Salvation by Faith, §1 and n.

But ‘God is a spirit.’

John 4:24.

So therefore was man. Only that spirit, being designed to dwell on earth, was lodged in an earthly tabernacle.

See 2 Cor. 5:1; and cf. No. 28, ‘Sermon on the Mount, VIII’, §21 and n.

As such he had an innate principle of self-motion. And so, it seems, has every spirit in the universe; this being the proper distinguishing difference between spirit and matter, which is totally, essentially passive and inactive, as appears from a [02:439]thousand experiments.

Cf. No. 15, The Great Assize, III.3 and n.

He was, after the likeness of his Creator, endued with understanding, a capacity of apprehending whatever objects were brought before it, and of judging concerning them. He was endued with a will, exerting itself in various affections and passions; and, lastly, with liberty, or freedom of choice, without which all the rest would have been in vain, and he would have been no more capable of serving his Creator than a piece of earth or marble. He would have been as incapable of vice or virtue as any part of the inanimate creation. In these, in the power of self-motion, understanding, will, and liberty, the natural image of God consisted.

22. How far his power of self-motion then extended it is impossible for us to determine. It is probable that he had a far higher degree both of swiftness and strength than any of his posterity ever had, and much less any of the lower creatures. It is certain he had such strength of understanding as no man ever since had. His understanding was perfect in its kind; capable of apprehending all things clearly, and judging concerning them according to truth, without any mixture of error. His will had no wrong bias of any sort, but all his passions and affections were regular, being steadily and uniformly guided by the dictates of his unerring understanding; embracing nothing but good, and every good in proportion to its degree of intrinsic goodness. His liberty likewise was wholly guided by his understanding: he chose or refused according to its direction. Above all (which was his highest excellence, far more valuable than all the rest put together) he was a creature capable of God,

See below, III.11; also No. 1, Salvation by Faith, §1 and n.

capable of knowing, loving, and obeying his Creator. And in fact he did know God, did unfeignedly love and uniformly obey him. This was the supreme perfection of man, as it is of all intelligent beings—the continually seeing and loving and obeying the Father of the spirits of all flesh.

See Num. 16:22; 27:16.

From this right state, and right use of all his faculties, his happiness naturally flowed. In this the essence of his happiness consisted; but it was increased by all the things that were round about him. He saw with unspeakable pleasure the order, the beauty, the harmony of all the creatures: of all animated, all inanimate nature—the serenity of the skies, the sun walking in 02:440brightness,

See Job 31:26.

the sweetly variegated clothing of the earth; the trees, the fruits, the flowers,

“And liquid lapse of murmuring streams.

Milton, Paradise Lost, viii.263. See No. 56, ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, I.4 and n.

”

Nor was this pleasure interrupted by evil of any kind. It had no alloy of sorrow or pain, whether of body or mind. For while he was innocent he was impassive, incapable of suffering. Nothing could stain his purity of joy. And to crown all, he was immortal.

33. To this creature, endued with all these excellent faculties, thus qualified for his high charge, God said, ‘Have thou dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.’

Gen. 1:28.

And so the Psalmist: ‘Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas!’

Ps. 8:6-8 (AV).

So that man was God’s viceregent upon earth, the prince and governor of this lower world; and all the blessings of God flowed through him to the inferior creatures. Man was the channel of conveyance between his Creator and the whole brute creation.

44. But what blessings were those that were then conveyed through man to the lower creatures? What was the original state of the brute creatures when they were first created? This deserves a more attentive consideration than has been usually given it. It is certain these, as well as man, had an innate principle of self-motion; and that at least in as high a degree as they enjoy it at this day. Again: they were endued with a degree of understanding not less than that they are possessed of now. They had also a will, including various passions, which likewise they still enjoy. And they had liberty,

An echo of a longstanding controversy over the distinctions between arbitrium (‘will’ or ‘judgment’) and voluntas (‘liberty’ or ‘choice’) and their implications for the vexed question of grace and free will. Wesley’s views in this matter had been influenced directly by Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Bk. II, chs. 5, 10, 11, and 21, but they rest back further on Erasmus, Diatribe de Libero Arbitrio (1524); cf. his Opera Omnia (1706), IX.1220-24, 1245-48. See Nos. 9, ‘The Spirit of Bondage and of Adoption’, I.3; 14, The Repentance of Believers, I.4; 43, The Scripture Way of Salvation, I.2; 62, ‘The End of Christ’s Coming’, I.4-5; 63, ‘The General Spread of the Gospel’, §9; 67, ‘On Divine Providence’, §15; 71, ‘Of Good Angels’, I.1; 95, ‘On the Education of Children’, §§15-16; 116, ‘What is Man? Ps. 8:4’, §11; 118, ‘On the Omnipresence of God’, II.1; 135, ‘On Guardian Angels’, §1; 140, ‘The Promise of Understanding’, II.1.

a power of choice, a degree of which is still 02:441found in every living creature. Nor can we doubt but their understanding too was in the beginning perfect in its kind. Their passions and affections were regular, and their choice always guided by their understanding.

55. What then makes the barrier between men and brutes? The line which they cannot pass? It was not reason. Set aside that ambiguous term: exchange it for the plain word, understanding, and who can deny that brutes have this? We may as well deny that they have sight or hearing. But it is this: man is capable of God;

Note the reiteration here of the same key phrase (an echo of the Lutheran capax infiniti?) from I.2, above. See also an even bolder use of it in III.6, below.

the inferior creatures are not.

This thesis, together with the cognate notion of ‘man as the channel of conveyance (or communication) between his Creator and the whole brute creation’ (above, I.3; below, II.1), differentiates Wesley’s interpretation of the ‘chain of being’ idea from Hildrop’s. Cf. No. 1, Salvation by Faith, §1 and n.

We have no ground to believe that they are in any degree capable of knowing, loving, or obeying God. This is the specific difference between man and brute—the great gulf which they cannot pass over. And as a loving obedience to God was the perfection of men, so a loving obedience to man was the perfection of brutes. And as long as they continued in this they were happy after their kind; happy in the right state and the right use of their respective faculties. Yea, and so long they had some shadowy resemblance of even moral goodness. For they had gratitude to man for benefits received, and a reverence for him. They had likewise a kind of benevolence to each other, unmixed with any contrary temper. How beautiful many of them were we may conjecture from that which still remains; and that not only in the noblest creatures, but in those of the lowest order. And they were all surrounded not only with plenteous food, but with everything that could give them pleasure; pleasure unmixed with pain; for pain was not yet—it had not entered into paradise. And they too were immortal. For ‘God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the death of any living.’

Cf. Wisd. 1:13. See No. 64, ‘The New Creation’, §17; also Ezek. 18:32, 23; 33:11.

66. How true then is that word, ‘God saw everything that he had made: and behold it was very good.’

Gen. 1:31.

But how far is this from [02:442]being the case now!

Orig., ‘the case’, altered in the AM errata and Wesley’s annotated copy to ‘the case now’. SOSO alters orig. to ‘the present case’.

In what a condition is the whole lower world! To say nothing of inanimate nature, wherein all the elements seem to be out of course, and by turns to fight against man. Since man rebelled against his Maker, in what a state is all animated nature! Well might the Apostle say of this, ‘The whole creation groaneth together, and travaileth together in pain until now.’

Cf. Rom. 8:22.

This directly refers to the brute creation. In what state this is at present we are now to consider.

1II. 1. As all the blessings of God in paradise flowed through man to the inferior creatures; as man was the great channel of communication between the Creator and the whole brute creation; so when man made himself incapable of transmitting those blessings, that communication was necessarily cut off. The intercourse between God and the inferior creatures being stopped, those blessings could no longer flow in upon them. And then it was that ‘the creature’, every creature, ‘was subject to vanity’,

Cf. Rom. 8:20.

to sorrow, to pain of every kind, to all manner of evils. ‘Not’ indeed ‘willingly’; not by its own choice, not by any act or deed of its own; ‘but by reason of him that subjected it’;

Ibid.

by the wise permission of God, determining to draw eternal good out of this temporary evil.

22. But in what respects was ‘the creature’, every creature, then ‘made subject to vanity’? What did the meaner creatures suffer when man rebelled against God? It is probable they sustained much loss even in the lower faculties, their vigour, strength, and swiftness. But undoubtedly they suffered far more in their understanding, more than we can easily conceive. Perhaps insects and worms had then as much understanding as the most intelligent brutes have now; whereas millions of creatures have at present little more understanding than the earth on which they crawl or the rock to which they adhere. They suffered still more in their will, in their passions, which were then variously distorted, and frequently set in flat opposition to the little understanding that was left them. Their liberty likewise was greatly impaired, yea, in many cases totally destroyed. They are still utterly [02:443]enslaved to irrational appetites which have the full dominion over them. The very foundations of their nature are out of course, are turned upside down. As man is deprived of his perfection, his loving obedience to God, so brutes are deprived of their perfection, their loving obedience to man. The far greater part of them flee from him, studiously avoid his hated presence. The most of the rest set him at open defiance, yea, destroy him if it be in their power. A few only, those we commonly term domestic animals, retain more or less of their original disposition, and (through the mercy of God) love him still and pay obedience to him.

33. Setting these few aside, how little shadow of good, of gratitude, of benevolence, of any right temper is now to be found in any part of the brute creation! On the contrary, what savage fierceness, what unrelenting cruelty, are invariably observed in thousands of creatures, yea, are

Orig., AM and SOSO, ‘is’, altered in Wesley’s printed errata and MS annotations in AM to ‘are’.

inseparable from their natures! Is it only the lion, the tiger, the wolf, among the inhabitants of the forest and plains; the shark and a few more voracious monsters among the inhabitants of the waters; or the eagle among birds; that tears the flesh, sucks the blood, and crushes the bones of their helpless fellow-creatures? Nay, the harmless fly, the laborious ant, the painted butterfly, are treated in the same merciless manner even by the innocent songsters of the grove!

A paraphrase of James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence (1748), I, st. 10: ‘The swarming songsters of the careless grove’.

The innumerable tribes of poor insects are continually devoured by them. And whereas there is but a small number, comparatively, of beasts of prey on the earth, it is quite otherwise in the liquid element there are but few inhabitants of the waters, whether of the sea or of the rivers, which do not devour whatsoever they can master. Yea, they exceed herein all the beasts of the forest, and all the birds of prey. For none of these have been ever observed to prey upon their own species,

“Saevis inter se convenit ursis

Juvenal, Satires, xv.164.

—”

Even savage bears will not each other tear.

But the water savages swallow up all, even of their own kind, that are smaller and weaker than themselves. Yea, such at present 02:444is the miserable constitution of the world, to such ‘vanity’ is it now ‘subjected’,

Cf. Rom. 8:20.

that an immense majority of creatures, perhaps a million to one, can no otherwise preserve their own lives than by destroying their fellow-creatures.

Cf. No. 56, ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, I.12 and n.

44. And is not the very form, the outward appearance of many of the creatures, as horrid as their dispositions? Where is the beauty which was stamped upon them when they came first out of the hands of their Creator? There is not the least trace of it left: so far from it that they are shocking to behold! Nay, they are not only terrible and grisly to look upon, but deformed, and that to a high degree. Yet their features, ugly as they are at best, are frequently made more deformed than usual when they are distorted by pain, which they cannot avoid any more than the wretched sons of men. Pain of various kinds, weakness, sickness, diseases innumerable, come upon them, perhaps from within, perhaps from one another, perhaps from the inclemency of seasons, from fire, hail, snow, or storm, or from a thousand causes which they cannot foresee or prevent.

55. Thus ‘as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; even so death passed upon all men.’

Cf. Rom. 5:12.

And not on man only, but on those creatures also that ‘did not sin after the similitude of Adam’s transgression’.

Cf. Rom. 5:14; note that the identification of ‘those creatures’ here had been variously interpreted—by Poole, Annotations, as infants (who could not have sinned as Adam did), and by Henry, Exposition, as the fallen angels (who also sinned in a different way).

And not death alone came upon them, but all of its train of preparatory evils: pain, and ten thousand sufferings. Nor these only, but likewise all those irregular passions, all those unlovely tempers (which in men are sins, and even in the brutes are sources of misery) ‘passed upon all’ the inhabitants of the earth, and remain in all, except the children of God.

66. During this season of ‘vanity’, not only the feebler creatures are continually destroyed by the stronger; not only the strong are frequently destroyed by those that are of equal strength; but both the one and the other are exposed to the violence and cruelty of him that is now their common enemy—man. And if his swiftness or strength is not equal to theirs, yet his art more than supplies 02:445 that defect. By this he eludes all their force, how great so ever it be; by this he defeats all their swiftness, and notwithstanding their various shifts and contrivances, discovers all their retreats. He pursues them over the widest plains, and through the thickest forests. He overtakes them in the fields of air, he finds them out in the depths of the sea. Nor are the mild and friendly creatures who still own his sway, and are duteous to his commands, secured thereby from more than brutal violence, from outrage and abuse of various kinds. Is the generous horse, that serves his master’s necessity or pleasure with unwearied diligence, is the faithful dog, that waits the motion of his hand or his eye, exempt from this? What returns for their long and faithful service do many of these poor creatures find? And what a dreadful difference is there between what they suffer from their fellow brutes and what they suffer from the tyrant, man! The lion, the tiger, or the shark, give them pain from mere necessity, in order to prolong their own life; and put them out of their pain at once. But the human shark, without any such necessity, torments them of his free choice; and perhaps continues their lingering pain till after months or years death signs their release.

1III. 1. But will the creature, will even the brute creation, always remain in this deplorable condition? God forbid that we should affirm this; yea, or even entertain such a thought! While ‘the whole creation groaneth together’ (whether men attend or not) their groans are not dispersed in idle air, but enter into the ears of him that made them. While his creatures ‘travail together in pain’, he knoweth all their pain, and is bringing them nearer and nearer to the birth which shall be accomplished in its season. He seeth ‘the earnest expectation’ wherewith the whole animated creation ‘waiteth for’ that final ‘manifestation of the sons of God’: in which ‘they themselves also shall be delivered’ (not by annihilation: annihilation is not deliverance) ‘from the’ present ‘bondage of corruption, into’ a measure of ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God.’

22. Nothing can be more express. Away with vulgar prejudices, and let the plain word of God take place. They ‘shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into glorious liberty’; even a measure, according as they are capable, of ‘the liberty of the children of God’.

A general view of this is given us in the twenty-first chapter of 02:446the Revelation. When he that ‘sitteth on the great white throne’

Cf. Rev. 20:11.

hath pronounced, ‘Behold I make all things new;’

Rev. 21:5.

when the word is fulfilled, ‘The tabernacle of God is with men, […] and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God;’

Cf. Rev. 21:3.

then the following blessing shall take place (not only on the children of men—there is no such restriction in the text—but) on every creature according to its capacity: ‘God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’

Rev. 21:4.

33. To descend to a few particulars. The whole brute creation will then undoubtedly be restored, not only to the vigour, strength, and swiftness which they had at their creation, but to a far higher degree of each than they ever enjoyed. They will be restored, not only to that measure of understanding which they had in paradise, but to a degree of it as much higher than that as the understanding of an elephant is beyond that of a worm. And whatever affections they had in the garden of God will be restored with vast increase, being exalted and refined in a manner which we ourselves are not now able to comprehend. The liberty they then had will be completely restored, and they will be free in all their motions. They will be delivered from all irregular appetites, from all unruly passions, from every disposition that is either evil in itself or has any tendency to evil. No rage will be found in any creature, no fierceness, no cruelty or thirst for blood. So far from it that ‘the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. […] They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain.’

Isa. 11:6, 7, 9.

44. Thus in that day all the ‘vanity’ to which they are now helplessly ‘subject’ will be abolished; they will suffer no more either from within or without; the days of their groaning are ended. At the same time there can be no reasonable doubt but all the horridness of their appearance, and all the deformity of their aspect, will vanish away, and be exchanged for their primeval 02:447 beauty. And with their beauty their happiness will return; to which there can then be no obstruction. As there will be nothing within, so there will be nothing without, to give them any uneasiness—no heat or cold, no storm or tempest, but one perennial spring. In the new earth, as well as in the new heavens, there will be nothing to give pain, but everything that the wisdom and goodness of God can create to give happiness. As a recompense for what they once suffered while under ‘the bondage of corruption’, when God has ‘renewed the face of the earth’,

Ps. 104:30.

and their corruptible body has put on incorruption,

See 1 Cor. 15:53, 54.

they shall enjoy happiness suited to their state, without alloy, without interruption, and without end.

55. But though I doubt not that the Father of all has a tender regard for even his lowest creatures, and that in consequence of this he will make them large amends for all they suffer while under their present bondage, yet I dare not affirm that he has an equal regard for them and for the children of men. I do not believe that

He sees with equal eyes, as Lord of all,

A hero perish or a sparrow fall!

Cf. Pope, Essay on Man, i.87-88:

Who sees with equal eye, as God of all,

A hero perish or a sparrow fall.

Wesley has added his own italics; see No. 67, ‘On Divine Providence’, §19 (the same couplet without italics). See also Wesley, A Collection of Moral and Sacred Poems (1744), I. 305.

By no means. This is exceeding pretty; but it is absolutely false. For though

Mercy, with truth and endless grace,

O’er all his works doth reign,

Yet chiefly he delights to bless

His favourite creature, man.

Cf. Charles Wesley, ‘Of God’, in Hymns for Children (1763), p. 4 (Poet. Wks., VI.372).

God regards his meanest creatures much; but he regards man much more. He does not equally regard a hero and a sparrow, the best of men, and the lowest of brutes. ‘How much more does your heavenly Father care for you’!

Cf. Matt. 7:11.

says he who is ‘in the bosom of the Father’.

John 1:18.

Those who thus strain the point are clearly confuted by his question, ‘Are not ye much better than they?’

Cf. Matt. 6:26.

Let it suffice that [02:448]God regards everything that he hath made in its own order, and in proportion to that measure of his own image which he has stamped upon it.

66. May I be permitted to mention here a conjecture concerning the brute creation? What if it should then please the all-wise, the all-gracious Creator, to raise them higher in the scale of beings?

See No. 56, ‘God’s Approbation of His Works’, I.14 and n.

What if it should please him, when he makes us ‘equal to angels’,

Luke 20:36.

to make them what we are now? Creatures capable of God? Capable of knowing, and loving, and enjoying the Author of their being? If it should be so, ought our eye to be evil because he is good?

See Matt. 20:15; note the rejection here of the anthropocentric notion of creation that blinds us to the interesting possibility that God can still make of ‘the brute creation’ whatever may please his ‘all-wise, all-gracious’ providence, quite beyond the present range of human imagination.

However this be, he will certainly do what will be most for his own glory.

77. If it be objected to all this (as very probably it will): ‘But of what use will those creatures be in that future state?’ I answer this by another question—‘What use are they of now?’ If there be (as has commonly been supposed) eight thousand species of insects, who is able to inform us of what use seven thousand of them are? If there are four thousand species of fishes, who can tell us of what use are more than three thousand of them? If there are six hundred sorts of birds, who can tell of what use five hundred of those species are? If there be four hundred sorts of beasts, to what use do three hundred of them serve? Consider this; consider how little we know of even the present designs of God;

Cf. Wesley’s Survey, I.191 ff., II.56 ff.; and Goldsmith’s History of the Earth. Here, as everywhere, Wesley presupposes that scientific knowledge is merely instrumental to faith and its acknowledgement of God’s omniscient wisdom. Cf. No. 69, ‘The Imperfection of Human Knowledge’, I.12.

and then you will not wonder that we know still less of what he designs to do in the new heavens and the new earth.

See 2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1.

88. ‘But what end does it answer to dwell upon this subject which we so imperfectly understand?’ To consider so much as we do understand, so much as God has been pleased to reveal to us, may answer that excellent end—to illustrate that mercy of God which is ‘over all his works’.

Ps. 145:9 (BCP).

And it may exceedingly confirm our belief that much more he is ‘loving to every man’.

Ibid.

For how well 02:449may we urge our Lord’s word, ‘Are not ye much better than they?’

Matt. 6:26.

If then the Lord takes such care of the fowls of the air and of the beasts of the field, shall he not much more take care of you, creatures of a nobler order? If ‘the Lord will save’ (as the inspired writer affirms) ‘both man and beast’ in their several degrees, surely ‘the children of men may put their trust under the shadow of his wings’!

Cf. Ps. 36:7 (BCP).

99. May it not answer another end, namely, furnish us with a full answer to a plausible objection against the justice of God in suffering numberless creatures that never had sinned to be so severely punished? They could not sin, for they were not moral agents. Yet how severely do they suffer! Yea, many of them, beasts of burden in particular, almost the whole time of their abode on earth. So that they can have no retribution here below. But the objection vanishes away if we consider that something better remains after death for these poor creatures also! That these likewise shall one day be delivered from this bondage of corruption, and shall then receive an ample amends for all their present sufferings.

1010. One more excellent end may undoubtedly be answered by the preceding considerations. They may encourage us to imitate him whose mercy is over all his works. They may soften our hearts towards the meaner creatures, knowing that the Lord careth for them. It may enlarge our hearts towards those poor creatures to reflect that, as vile as they appear in our eyes, not one of them is forgotten in the sight of our Father which is in heaven. Through all the vanity to which they are now subjected, let us look to what God hath prepared for them. Yea, let us habituate ourselves to look forward, beyond this present scene of bondage, to the happy time when they will be delivered therefrom into the liberty of the children of God.

1111. From what has been said I cannot but draw one inference, which no man of reason can deny. If it is this which distinguishes men from beasts, that they are creatures capable of God,

Cf. above, I.1-2 and n.; see also III.6.

capable of knowing, and loving, and enjoying him; then whoever is ‘without God in the world’

Eph. 2:12.

—whoever does not know, or love, or enjoy God, and is not careful about the matter—does in effect 02:450disclaim the nature of man, and degrade himself into a beast. Let such vouchsafe a little attention to those remarkable words of Solomon: ‘I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, …they might see that they themselves are beasts.’

Eccles. 3:18.

These sons of men are undoubtedly beasts—and that by their own act and deed. For they deliberately and wilfully disclaim the sole characteristic of human nature. It is true they may have a share of reason—they have speech and they walk erect. But they have not the mark, the only mark, which totally separates man from the brute creation. ‘That which befalleth beasts, the same thing befalleth them.’

Cf. Eccles. 3:19.

They are equally without God in the world, ‘so that a man’ of this kind ‘hath no pre-eminence above a beast.’

Ibid.

1212. So much more let all those who are of a nobler turn of mind assert the distinguishing dignity of their nature! Let all who are of a more generous spirit know and maintain their rank in the scale of beings. Rest not till you enjoy the privilege of humanity—the knowledge and love of God. Lift up your heads, ye creatures capable of God. Lift up your hearts to the Source of your being!

Know God, and teach your souls to know

The joys that from religion flow.

Cf. Thomas Parnell, ‘A Hymn to Contentment’, ll. 45-46:

Know God—and bring thy heart to know

The joys which from religion flow.

See also Wesley, A Collection of Moral and Sacred Poems (1744), I.266; and cf. ‘A Thought Upon Marriage’, §7, in AM (1785), V.535 (Vol. 14 of this edn.).

Give your hearts to him who, together with ten thousand blessings, has ‘given you his Son, his only Son’!

Cf. John 3:16.

Let your continual ‘fellowship be with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ’!

Cf. 1 John 1:3.

Let God be in all your thoughts, and ye will be men indeed. Let him be your God and your all! The desire of your eyes, the joy of your heart, and your portion for ever!

November 30, 1781

This note was added in AM only. Cf. JWJ on Wesley’s visit to Shoreham and the Revd. Vincent Perronet on this day.

How to Cite This Entry

, “” in , last modified February 29, 2024, https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/sermons/Sermon060.

Bibliography:

, “.” In , edited by . , 2024. Entry published February 29, 2024. https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/sermons/Sermon060.

About this Entry

Entry Title: Sermon 60: The General Deliverance

Copyright and License for Reuse

Show full citation information...