Notes:
Sermon 125: On a Single Eye
Here is another sermon without an ‘occasion’. Wesley had remained in the West of England throughout August and September 1789, spending more of his time in Bristol than usual. It was there on September 25 that he finished another assignment for the Arminian Magazine. He had three correlated points to make. The first is a positive statement that what he had always meant by holiness was purity of intention. The second was a complaint that the world and the churches were still full of nominal Christians (‘The Almost Christian’ again after a half-century). And the third was yet another blast at ‘riches’ as the paramount distraction from Christian ‘simplicity’. The conclusion is a stem call to repentance: ‘Prefer grace to money’, or else ‘renounce the title of Christians.’
The essay was published next in order in the Arminian Magazine
XIII.569-75, 626-30.
Matthew 6:22-23
If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light: but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. Therefore if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
11. ‘Simplicity and purity’, says a devout man, ‘are the two wings that lift the soul up to heaven; simplicity, which is in the intention, and purity, which is in the affections.’
Kempis, Imitation, II.iv. 1-3; see also No. 79, ‘On Dissipation’, §17 and n. For other references to ‘simplicity’, see Wesley’s letter to Mary Bishop, Jan. 12, 1773, where he quotes Fénelon: ‘True simplicity is that grace whereby the soul is delivered from all unprofitable reflections upon itself…. A single eye is a great help to this.’ See also No. 12, ‘The Witness of Our Own Spirit’, §11 and n.
Jeremy Taylor; see No. 79, ‘Οn Dissipation’, §18 and n. Taylor’s work had originally been published as two separate volumes, but often were bound together; Wesley had grown accustomed to think of them as a single book.
Law, Serious Call, ch. iv, etc. Another instance of the elder Wesley’s mellowing; here is unstinted praise of a man and his work of which, earlier on, he had been sharply critical; see Wesley’s letters to Law, May 14 and 20, 1738, and the more lengthy one of Jan. 6, 1756.
22. Let us attentively consider this whole passage as it may be literally translated. ‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’
A borrowing from Poole’s Annotations on Matt. 6:22; cf. Wesley’s Notes on this text.
For Wesley’s other uses of this aphorism, see No. 12, ‘The Witness of Our Own Spirit’, §11 and n.
An exact quotation from Wesley’s commentary on Matt. 6:22 in the Notes.
33. Considering these things we may well cry out, How great a thing it is to be a Christian, to be a real, inward, scriptural Christian! Conformed in heart and life to the will of God! Who is 04:122sufficient for these things?
2 Cor. 2:16.
A recollection from a conversation with young Lord Huntingdon, son of the Countess; cf. No. 128, ‘The Deceitfulness of the Human Heart’, §3; and Wesley’s letter to Mary Bishop, Feb. 7, 1778; see also Thoughts Upon Necessity, 85.
Cf. Matt. 19:26, etc.
Mark 9:23.
44. But let us consider, first, the former part of our Lord’s declaration—‘If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light;’ secondly, the latter part—‘If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness;’ and thirdly, the dreadful state of those whose eye is not single—‘If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!’
11I. 1. And first, ‘If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.’ If thine eye be single, if God is in all thy thoughts,
See Ps. 10:4.
See John 6:38.
Cf. Prior, ‘Henry and Emma’, l. 710: * I see thee, lord and end of my desire’ (spoken by Emma to Henry); cf. No. 78, ‘Spiritual Idolatry’, §18.
then the promise will certainly take place: ‘Thy whole body shall be full of light;’ thy whole soul shall be filled with the light of heaven, with the glory of the Lord resting upon thee. In all thy actions and conversations thou shalt have not only the testimony of a good conscience toward God,
See 1 Pet. 3:21.
See Rom. 8:16; cf. No. 10, ‘The Witness of the Spirit, I’, I.12 and n.
22. When thy whole soul is full of this light, thou wilt be able (according to St. Paul’s directions to the Thessalonians), to ‘rejoice evermore’, to ‘pray without ceasing’, and ‘in everything’ to ‘give thanks’.
1 Thess. 5:16-18.
Cf. John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love (1586), st. III, l. 32, in E. Allison Peers, Complete Works of St. John of the Cross (1946), III.78.
Rom. 8:28.
33. Thus shall his ‘whole body be full of light’. The light of knowledge is doubtless one thing here intended, arising from ‘the unction of the Holy One’,
1 John 2:20.
1 John 2:27.
See 2 Pet. 3:18.
1II. [1.] Our Lord observes, secondly, ‘If thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.’ If it be evil, that is, not single (for the eye which is not single is evil) ‘thy whole body shall be full of darkness.’ It is certain, there can be no medium between a single eye and an evil eye. For whenever we are not aiming at God we are seeking happiness in some creature. And this, whatever that creature may be, is no less than idolatry. It is all one whether we aim at the pleasures of sense, the pleasures of the 04:124imagination,
For a fuller comment on Wesley’s interest in ‘imagination’, see No. 44, Original Sin, II.10 and n.
Cf. 1 John 2:15-16; and No. 7, ‘The Way to the Kingdom’, II.2 and n.
Exod. 10:21.
22. With how many instances of this melancholy truth, that those whose eye is not single are totally ignorant of the nature of true religion, are we surrounded on every side! How many, even of good sort of people,
For Wesley’s sense of social and religious classes, see No. 80, ‘On Friendship with the World’, §21 and n.
See John 4:24.
See Ps. 10:4.
33. For this reason they are as far from real holiness as they are from valuable knowledge. It is because their eye is not single that they are such strangers to vital religion. Let them be ever so accomplished in other respects, let them be ever so learned, ever so well versed in every branch of polite literature; yea, ever so courteous, so humane; yet if their eye is not singly fixed on God they can know nothing of scriptural religion. They do not even know what Christian holiness means; what is the entrance of it, 04:125‘the new birth’,
Cf. the answer to the question, ‘What is the inward and spiritual grace?’ in the BCP, Catechism.
See Mark 1:15.
Eph. 4:23.
Col. 3:10.
Cf. Acts 26:24.
44. And till their eye is single they are as far remote from happiness as from holiness.
Cf. No. 5, ‘Justification by Faith’, I.4 and n.
John and Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), p. 124 (Poet. Wks., I.111), possibly a paraphrase from Antoinette Bourignon; see No. 54, ‘On Eternity’, §17 and n.
But none of these can satisfy the appetite of an immortal soul. Nay, all of them together cannot give rest, which is the lowest ingredient of happiness, to a never-dying spirit which God created for the enjoyment of himself. The hungry soul, like the busy bee, wanders from flower to flower; but it goes off from each with an abortive hope and a deluded expectation. Every creature cries (some with a loud and others with a secret voice), ‘Happiness is not in me.’
Augustine, Confessions, XI. iv, see No. 77, ‘Spiritual Worship’, III.7 and n.
55. But although the vulgar herd of mankind
See No. 31, ‘Sermon on the Mount, XI’, I.6 and n.
Prior, Solomon, i.42-43; cf. Wesley, A Collection of Moral and Sacred Poems (1744), I.198.
By no means. On the contrary it has been the observation of all ages that the men who possessed the greatest learning were the most dissatisfied of all men. This occasioned a person of eminent learning to declare, ‘A fool may find a kind of paradise upon earth (although this is a grand mistake), but a wise man can find none.’
John Norris, Reflections Upon the Conduct of Human Life (1690), ‘Third Reflection’, sect. VIII, pp. 111-13: ‘This (world) is not a place to be wise in. The wise men cannot find a paradise here, though the fool can.’ Wesley published an extract of this work in 1741 (Bibliog, No. 3), omitting twenty-five chapters of the original, including this quotation. See Serious Thoughts on the Earthquake at Lisbon (1755), closing paragraph.
Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4.
Cf. Prior, Solomon, iii.343-46; see also Wesley, A Collection of Moral and Sacred Poems (1744), I.174; and No. 78, ‘Spiritual Idolatry’, II.2 and n.
1III. 1. It remains to consider, in the third place, our Lord’s important question, ‘If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness?’ The plain meaning is: if that principle which ought to give light to thy whole soul, as the eye does to the body—to direct thy understanding, passions, affections, tempers, all thy thoughts, words, and actions—if this principle itself be darkened, be set wrong, and put darkness for light, how great must that darkness be, how terrible its effects!
22. In order to see this in a stronger point of view, let us consider it in a few particular instances. Begin with one of no small importance. Here is a father choosing an employment for his son: if his eye be not single, if he does not singly aim at the glory of God in the salvation of his soul, if it be not his one consideration what calling is likely to secure him the highest place in heaven, not the 04:127largest share of earthly treasure, or the highest preferment in the church; the light which is in him is manifestly darkness—and Oh! how great is that darkness! The mistake which he is in is not a little one, but inexpressibly great. What! Do not you prefer his being a cobbler on earth, and a glorious saint in heaven, before his being a lord on earth, and a damned spirit in hell? If not, how great, unutterably great, is the darkness that covers your soul! What a fool, what a dolt, what a madman is he, how stupid beyond all expression, who judges a palace upon earth to be preferable to a throne in heaven! How unspeakably is his understanding darkened who, to gain for his child the honour that cometh of men,
See John 5:41.
33. I cannot dismiss this subject yet, as it is of the utmost importance. How great is the darkness of that execrable wretch (I can give him no better title, be he rich or poor) who will sell his own child to the devil! Who will barter her own eternal happiness for any quantity of gold or silver! What a monster would any man be accounted who devoured the flesh of his own offspring! And is not he as great a monster who by his own act and deed gives her to be devoured by that roaring lion? As he certainly does (so far as is in his power) who marries her to an ungodly man. ‘But he is rich; but he has ten thousand pounds!’ What if it were a hundred thousand? The more the worse—the less probability will she have of escaping the damnation of hell. With what face wilt thou look upon her when she tells thee in the realms below: ‘Thou hast plunged me into this place of torment. Hadst thou given me to a good man, however poor, I might have now been in Abraham’s bosom. But Oh! what have riches profited me! They have sunk both me and them into hell.’
44. Are any of you that are called Methodists thus merciful to your children? Seeking to ‘marry them well’
See No. 94, On Family Religion’, III.17 and n.
Cf. Sir William Davenant [D’Avenant], Gondibert: An Heroic Poem (1651), I.v.75: ‘Be not with honour’s gilded baits beguiled.’
Lev. 18:21.
Mark 9:43, 45.
Cf. Prov. 30:20.
55. Let us consider another case, not far distant from this. Suppose a young man, having finished his studies at the university, is desirous to minister in holy things, and accordingly enters into orders. What is his intention in this? What is the end he proposes to himself? If his eye be single, his one design is to save his own soul, and them that hear him;
See 1 Tim. 4:16; an autobiographical echo from Wesley’s own argument to his father against his leaving Oxford and settling in Epworth; see letter of Dec. 10, 1734 (§§3, 4, 11).
1 Pet. 2:9.
Matt. 5:22.
Phil. 3:19.
See No. 4, Scriptural Christianity, IV.2 and n.
Cf. John Eachard, Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy (1670). Eachard’s own stipulated grounds were (1) their useless education; (2) their extravagant rhetoric; (3) their poverty and consequent indignity before their patrons; (4) lack of practical influence.
A proverb cited in Ralph L. Woods, World Treasury of Religious Quotations (1966), as from ‘St. John Chrysostom, De Sacerdotio’. But the text, as such, does not appear in Chrysostom, ‘On the Priesthood’, either in NPNF, I, IX, or in Migne, PG, XLVIII, despite its frequent references to the fearful punishments in store for unworthy and wicked priests (as in III.6-7, 9; IV.1-2, etc.). Similar views are quoted in Stevenson, Home Book of Proverbs, as from Giles Firmin, The Real Christian (1670), who also cites Chrysostom and a variation, ‘Hell is paved with good intentions,’ attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, Apophthegmata.
See also Christopher Nesse, A Protestant Antidote Against the Poyson of Popery (1679), p. 63: ‘Chrysostom had long before discovered and lamented, Multi sacerdotes et tamen pauci, multi in nomine pauci in opere; and Petrarch complained in his time that the stench of that sink (the Romish clergy) was come up to heaven; this Ribera bewails also. But above all, famous Luther speaks home to this, affirming that hell is paved with the skulls of those profane popish priests.’ Charles Wesley repeated this in CWJ, Mar. 16, 1740.
Wesley’s use of the quotation here is clearly a recourse to a commonplace; see No. 2, The Almost Christian, III.9.
66. Take another case: suppose a young woman of an independent fortune to be addressed at the same time by a man of wealth without religion, and a man of religion without wealth; in other words, by a rich child of the devil, or a poor child of God. What shall we say if, other circumstances being equal, she prefers the rich man to the good man? It is plain her eye is not single; therefore her foolish heart is darkened. And how great is that darkness which makes her judge gold and silver a greater recommendation than holiness? Which makes a child of the devil, with money, appear more amiable to her than a child of God without it? What words can sufficiently express the inexcusable folly of such a choice? What a laughing-stock (unless she severely repent) will she be to all the devils in hell, when her wealthy companion has dragged her down to his own place of torment?
77. Are there any of you that are present before God who are concerned in any of these matters? Give me leave with ‘great plainness of speech to apply to your consciences in the sight of God’.
Cf. 2 Cor. 3:12; 4:2.
A sarcastic remark from Horace, Epistles, I.i.53-54: ‘O fellow citizens, you are seeking profit above all else, as if virtue would come after enough wealth.’ See also No. 95, ‘On the Education of Children’, §19 and n.
Bring the matter to a point. Which will you prefer? A rich heathen or a pious Christian? A child of the devil with an estate? Or the child of God without it? A lord or gentleman with the devil in his heart? (He does not hide it: his speech bewrayeth him.
See Matt. 26:73.
88. I call upon you more especially who are called Methodists, in the sight of the great God. Upwards of fifty years I have ministered unto you; I have been your servant for Christ’s sake. During this time I have given you many solemn warnings on this head. I now give you one more, perhaps the last. Dare any of you, in choosing your calling or situation, eye the things on earth rather than the things above? In choosing a profession, or a companion for life for your child, do you look at earth or heaven? And can you deliberately prefer, either for yourself or your offspring, a child of the devil with money, to a child of God without it? Why, the very heathens cry out,
“ O curvae in terras animae, et celestium inanes!—Cf. Persius, Satires, ii.61; see also No. 107, ‘On God’s Vineyard’, V.3 and n.
Repent, repent of your vile earthly-mindedness! Renounce the title of Christians, or prefer, both in your own case and the case of your children, grace to money, and heaven to earth. For the time to come at least, ‘let your eye be single’, that your ‘whole body may be full of light’!
Bristol, Sept. 25, 1789
How to Cite This Entry
Bibliography:
, “.” In , edited by . , 2024. Entry published February 25, 2024. https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/sermons/Sermon125.About this Entry
Entry Title: Sermon 125: On a Single Eye