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Sermon 146: The One Thing Needful

https://wesleyworks.ecdsdev.org/sermons/Sermon146

04:351 An Introductory Comment

1The manuscript of this sermon stands as ‘II’ in the volume of Charles Wesley’s sermons in the Colman Collection in the Methodist Archives, Manchester. There is a note on the first page of the volume: ‘Transcribed from my brother’s copies on board the London Galley between Charlestown and Boston, Sept. 1736’. There is also, on the page previous to this sermon, a listing of the ten places (including St. Mary’s) where John had already preached it in the years 1734-36. Charles records his having preached it in Boston (September 26, 1736), near London (September 11, 1737), and in London (October 22, 1738).

Cf. his Journal. The MS records Charles’s preaching it at Mickleton, Stanton, and Duke Street chapel sometime in 1737; St. Olave’s, Old Jewry on October 30, 1737; St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street, October 30, 1737; Islington, October 1738; and St. Clement’s, October 22, 1738 (N.B.—the last two after May 1738, perhaps with only one notable change, see below, III.3 and n.).

John’s diary suggests that he had written it in May 1734, and it is clear that both Luke 10:42 and the theme of salvation as the restoration of the defaced image of God continued to preoccupy Wesley thereafter; there are at least fifty references to his having preached on Luke 10:42 between 1734 and 1790. It is therefore, interesting that John left it unpublished; was Charles’s the only copy of it that survived? In any case, a heavily edited version appeared as Sermon V in the posthumous volume of Charles Wesley’s Sermons in 1816.

2What is more notable, theologically, is Wesley’s interpretation of Luke’s phrase, ‘the one thing needful’, as signifying ‘the renewal of our fallen nature’. He would have known Jeremy Taylor’s famous essay, Unum Necessarium (1655), but there ‘the one thing needful’ is ‘the practice of true repentance’. Matthew Poole’s Annotations on this text provides a review of different options (but not this idea of restoration), with a summary definition: ‘the care of the soul with reference to eternity’.

Later, in his own Notes (perhaps with an eye on Poole), Wesley will comment on Mary’s motive in choosing ‘the one thing needful’—‘To save her own soul’.

Matthew Henry, in his Exposition, had taken the metaphor more literally: ‘the one thing needful is…the sitting at Christ’s feet to hear his Word.’ The young Wesley, however, had turned back to the 04:352Christian-Platonic vision of the imago Dei—created, defaced, restored—as the essence of human nature. This had come to him through Malebranche, John Norris, and William Law. In none of those sources, however, is this doctrine linked to the text in Luke 10:42. The result is that here we have an early allegorical venture pressed further than was Wesley’s wont. It is the earliest exposition that we have of an idea that will be thereafter woven into the textures of his mature doctrines of ‘the order of salvation’ as the chief agendum of Christian living.

The One Thing Needful

Luke 10:42

In the tenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, at the forty-second verse, it is thus written:

One thing is needful.

11. Could we suppose an intelligent being, entirely a stranger to the state of this world and its inhabitants, to take a view of their various enterprises and employments, and thence conjecture the end of their existence, he would surely conclude that these creatures were designed to be busied about many things. While he observed not only the infinite difference of the ends which different men were pursuing, but how vast a multitude of objects were successively pursued by almost every different person, he might fairly infer that for all these things were the sons of men placed upon the earth, even to gratify their several desires with sensual pleasure, or riches, or honour, or power.

22. How surprised then would he be to hear their Creator declare to all, without distinction, ‘One thing is needful!’ But how much more when he knew that this one thing needful for men, their one business, the one end of their existence, was none of all those things which men were troubled about, none of all those ends they were pursuing, none of all those businesses wherein they were so deeply engaged, which filled their hearts and employed their hands. Nay, that it was an end not only distinct 04:353from but contrary to them all—as contrary as light and darkness, heaven and hell, the kingdom of God and that of Satan!

33. The only thought he could form in their favour must be, that they had a surplusage of time at their command; that they therefore trifled a few hours, because they were assured of thousands of years wherein to work. But how beyond measure would he be amazed when he heard farther that these were creatures of a day; that as they yesterday arose out of the dust, so tomorrow they were to sink into it again; that the time they had for their great work was but a span long, a moment; and yet that they had no manner of assurance of not being snatched away in the midst of this moment, or indeed at the very beginning of it! When he saw that all men were placed on a narrow, weak, tottering bridge, whereof either end was swallowed up in eternity;

Cf. the similar metaphor in No. 54, ‘On Eternity’, §5 and n.

that the waves and storms which went over it were continually bearing away one after another, in an hour when they looked not for it;

See Matt. 24:50.

and that they who yet stood, knew not but they should plunge into the great gulf the very next instant, but well knew that if they fell before they had finished their work they were lost, destroyed, undone—for ever: how would all utterance, nay, all thought, be lost! How would he express, how would he conceive the senselessness, the madness, of those creatures who, being in such a situation, could think of anything else, could talk of anything else, could do anything besides, could find time for any other design, or care, but that of ensuring the one thing needful!

44. It cannot, therefore, be an improper employment for us, first, to observe what this one thing needful is; and, secondly, to consider a few of the numberless reasons that prove this to be the one thing needful.

1[I.] 1. We may observe what this one thing is, in which, ’tis true, many things are comprised—as are all the works of our callings, all that properly belong to our several stations in the world, insomuch that whoever neglects any of these so far neglects the one thing needful. And this indeed can no otherwise be pursued than by performing all the works of our calling, but performing them in such a manner as in and by every one to advance our great work.

204:3542. Now this great work, this one thing needful, is the renewal of our fallen nature. In the image of God was man made,

See Gen. 1:26; cf. other comments on the ‘image of God’ (its loss and renewal) in No. 1, Salvation by Faith, §1 and n.

but a little lower than the angels.

Ps. 8:5.

His nature was perfect, angelical, divine. He was an incorruptible picture of the God of glory. He bore his stamp on every part of his soul; the brightness of his Creator shone mightily upon him. But sin hath now effaced the image of God. He is no longer nearly allied to angels. He is sunk lower than the very beasts of the field. His soul is not only earthly and sensual, but devilish.

See Jas. 3:15.

Thus is the mighty fallen!

See 2 Sam. 1:19, etc.

The glory is departed from him!

See 1 Sam. 4:21.

His brightness is swallowed up in utter darkness!

33. From the glorious liberty wherein he was made he is fallen into the basest bondage. The devil, whose slave he now is, to work his will, hath him so fast in prison that he cannot get forth. He hath bound him with a thousand chains, the heavy chains of his own vile affections. For every inordinate appetite, every unholy passion, as it is the express image of the god of this world, so it is the most galling yoke, the most grievous chain, that can bind a free-born spirit. And with these is every child of Adam, everyone that is born into this world, so loaded that he cannot lift up an eye, a thought to heaven; that his whole soul cleaveth unto the dust!

See Ps. 119:25.

44. But these chains of darkness under which we groan do not only hold us in on every side, but they are within us, too; they enter into our soul; they pierce through its inmost substance. Vile affections are not only so many chains, but likewise so many diseases. Our nature is distempered, as well as enslaved; the whole head is faint, and the whole heart sick.

See Isa. 1:5.

Our body, soul, and spirit, are infected, overspread, consumed, with the most fatal leprosy. We are all over, within and without, in the eye of God, full of diseases, and wounds, and putrifying sores.

See Isa. 1:6.

Every one of our brutal passions and diabolical tempers, every kind of sensuality, pride, selfishness, is one of those deadly wounds, of those loathsome sores, full of corruption, and of all uncleanness.

504:3555. To recover our first estate, from which we are thus fallen, is the one thing now needful—to re-exchange the image of Satan

An echo here of the rabbinical comments on Satan as symbol of the impulse to evil in every human being (‘yeẓer har-á’); cf. ‘Satan’ in The Jewish Encyclopedia, 11:70.

for the image of God, bondage for freedom, sickness for health. Our one great business is to rase out of our souls the likeness of our destroyer, and to be born again, to be formed anew after the likeness of our Creator. It is our one concern to shake off this servile yoke and to regain our native freedom; to throw off every chain, every passion and desire that does not suit an angelical nature. The one work we have to do is to return from the gates of death to perfect soundness; to have our diseases cured, our wounds healed, and our uncleanness done away.

Cf. No. 44, Original Sin, III.3 and n.; also III.5 and n.

1II. 1. Let us in the second place consider a few of the numberless reasons which prove that this is the one thing needful; so needful that this alone is to be had in view, and pursued at all times and in all places; not indeed by neglecting our temporal affairs, but by making them all minister unto it; by so conducting them all, that every step therein may be a step to this higher end.

22. Now, that the recovery of the image of God, of this glorious liberty, of this perfect soundness, is the one thing needful upon earth, appears first from hence, that the enjoyment of them was the one end of our creation. For to this end was man created, to love God; and to this end alone, even to love the Lord his God with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.

See Mark 12:30.

But love is the very image of God: it is the brightness of his glory.

Heb. 1:3.

By love man is not only made like God, but in some sense one with him. ‘If any man love God, God loveth him, and cometh to him, and maketh his abode with him.’

Cf. John 14:23.

He ‘dwelleth in God, and God in him’;

Cf. 1 John 3:24.

and ‘he that is thus joined to the Lord is one spirit.’

Cf. 1 Cor. 6:17.

Love is perfect freedom. As there is no fear, or pain, so there is no constraint in love. Whoever acts from this principle alone, he doth whatsoever he will. All his thoughts move freely; they follow the bent of his own mind, they run after the beloved object. All his 04:356words flow easy and unconstrained; for it is the abundance of the heart that dictates.

See Matt. 12:34.

All his actions are the result of pure choice: the thing he would, that he does, and that only. Love is the health of the soul, the full exertion of all its powers, the perfection of all its faculties. Therefore, since the enjoyment of these was the one end of our creation, the recovering of them is the one thing now needful.

33. May not the same truth appear, secondly, from hence, that this was the one end of our redemption; of all our blessed Lord did and suffered for us; of his incarnation, his life, his death? All these miracles of love were wrought with no other view than to restore us to health and freedom. Thus himself testifies of the end of his coming into the world: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives;’

Cf. Luke 4:18.

or, as the prophet expresses it, ‘to preach good tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound’.

Cf. Isa. 61:1.

For this only he lived, that he might heal every disease, every spiritual sickness of our nature. For this only he died, that he might deliver those who were all their lifetime subject to bondage. And it was in pursuance of the very same design that he gave us his merciful law. The end of his commandment, too, was only our health, liberty, perfection, or, to say all in one word, charity. All the parts of it centre in this one point, our renewal in the love of God; either enjoining what is necessary for our recovery thereof, or forbidding what is obstructive of it. Therefore this, being the one end of our redemption as well as our creation, is the one thing needful for us upon earth.

44. This is the one thing needful, thirdly, because it is the one end of all God’s providential dispensations. Pleasure and pain, health and sickness, riches and poverty, honour and dishonour, friends and enemies, are all bestowed by his unerring wisdom and goodness with a view to this one thing. The will of God, in allotting us our several portions of all these, is solely our sanctification; our recovery from that vile bondage, the love of his creatures, to the free love of our Creator. All his providences, be 04:357they mild or severe, point at no other end than this. They are all designed either to wean us from what is not, or to unite us to what is worthy our affection. Are they pleasing? Then they are designed to lift up our hearts to the Parent of all good.

See Milton, Paradise Lost, v.153.

Are they painful? Then they are means of rooting out those passions that forcibly withhold us from him. So that all lead that same way, either directly or indirectly, either by gratitude or mortification. For to those that have ears to hear,

See Matt. 11:15, etc.

every loss, especially of what was nearest and dearest to them, speaks as clearly as if it were an articulate voice from heaven, ‘Little children, keep yourselves from idols.’

1 John 5:21.

Every pain cries aloud, ‘Love not the world, neither the things of the world.’

Cf. 1 John 2:15.

And every pleasure says, with a still small voice,

See 1 Kgs. 19:12.

‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.’

Matt. 22:37, etc.

55. To the same end are all the internal dispensations of God, all the influences of his Holy Spirit. Whether he gives us joy or sorrow of heart, whether he inspires us with vigour and cheerfulness, or permits us to sink into numbness of soul, into dryness and heaviness, ’tis all with the same view, viz., to restore us to health, to liberty, to holiness. These are all designed to heal those inbred diseases of our nature, self-love, and the love of the world. They are all given together with the daily bread of his external dispensations, to enable us to turn that into proper nourishment, and so recover his love, the health of our souls. Therefore the renewal of our nature in this love being not only the one end of our creation and our redemption, but likewise of all the providences of God over us, and all the operations of his Spirit in us, must be, as the eternal wisdom of God hath declared, the one thing needful.

1[III.] Exh[ortation.] 1. How great reason is there, then, even in the Christian world, to resume the Apostle’s exhortation, ‘Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead!’

Eph. 5:14; the text of Charles Wesley’s last sermon in St. Mary’s, Apr. 4, 1742, published in that year and then included by John in his own SOSO, I (1746); see No. 3, ‘Awake, Thou That Sleepest’.

Hath not Christ given thee light? Why then sittest thou still in the shadow of 04:358death?

See Luke 1:79.

What slumber is this which hangs on thy temples? Knowest thou not that only one thing is needful? What then are all these? Why hath any but that the least place in thy thoughts, the least share in thy affections? Is the entertainment of the senses the one thing needful? Or the gratifying the imagination with uncommon, or great, or beautiful objects? Our Lord saith not so. Saith he then that the one thing is to acquire a fortune, or to increase that thou hast already? I tell you, Nay: these may be the thoughts of those that dream, but they cannot [be those] of waking men. Is it to obtain honour, power, reputation, or (as the phrase is) to get preferment? Is the one thing to gain a large share in that fairest of the fruits of earth, learning?

Later, in No. 4, Scriptural Christianity, IV.6, Wesley will denounce learning without love as ‘splendid ignorance’.

No. Though any of these may sometimes be conducive to, none of them is, the one thing needful. That is simply to escape out of the snare of the devil, to regain an angelical nature;

Yet another connection of ‘angelical nature’ with ‘the image of God’ in man. This equation was shared by Charles Wesley as in No. 3, ‘Awake, Thou That Sleepest’, II.10 and n. This is the theme of participation in the divine life carried very far, as in William Law and the mystics.

to recover the image wherein we were formed; to be like the Most High. This, this done, is the one end of our abode here; for this alone are we placed on the earth; for this alone did the Son of God pour out his blood; for this alone doth his Holy Spirit watch over us. One thing we have to do, to press towards this mark of the prize of our high calling;

See Phil. 3:14.

to emerge out of chains, diseases, death, into liberty, health, and life immortal!

22. Let us well observe, that our Lord doth not call this our main concern, our great business, the chief thing needful, but the one thing—all others being either parts of this or quite foreign to the end of life. On this then let us fix our single view, our pure unmixed intention; regarding nothing at all, small or great, but as it stands referred to this. We must use many means; but let us ever remember we have but one end. For as while our eye is single our whole body will be full of light, so, should it ever cease to be single, in that moment our whole body would be full of darkness.

See Matt. 6:22-23; Wesley returned to this theme in his first Georgia sermon (No. 148, ‘A Single Intention’) and in a very late sermon in 1789 (No. 125, ‘On a Single Eye’).

304:3593. Be we then continually jealous over our souls, that there be no mixture in our intention.

See No. 26, ‘Sermon on the Mount, VI’, §1 and n.

Be it our one view in all our thoughts, and words, and works, to be partakers of the divine nature,

2 Pet. 1:4.

to regain the highest measure we can of that faith which works by love,

Gal. 5:6; see No. 2, The Almost Christian, II.6 and n. The orig. MS reading is ‘that love whereby we become one spirit with God’; this was altered by Charles (in 1738?) to read, ‘that faith which works by love and makes us become…’.

and makes us become one spirit with God. I say, the highest measure we can; for who will plead for any abatement of health, liberty, life, and glory? Let us then labour to be made perfectly whole, to burst every bond in sunder;

See Pss. 107:14; 116:14 (BCP).

to attain the fullest conquest over this body of death,

See Rom. 7:24.

the most entire renovation of our nature; knowing this, that when the Son of man shall send forth his angels to cast the double-minded into outer darkness, then shall the single of heart receive the one thing they sought, and shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father!

See Matt. 13:41-43.

Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be ascribed all honour and glory, adoration and worship, both now and for ever. Amen.

Note the nominal ascription here, probably added by Charles; see No. 1, Salvation by Faith, III.9 and n.

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