View source for Wesleyan theology

{{short description|Protestant Christian theological tradition}}
{{For|churches or universities called "Wesleyan"|Wesleyan (disambiguation)}}
{{Methodism |background}}
[[File:Oxford's Christ Church Cathedral, floor memorial (d) - geograph.org.uk - 2352762.jpg|thumb|Memorial to [[John Wesley]] and [[Charles Wesley]] in [[Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford]]]]
'''Wesleyan theology''', otherwise known as '''Wesleyan–[[Arminianism|Arminian]] theology''', or '''Methodist theology''', is a [[Christian theology|theological]] tradition in [[Protestant]] [[Christianity]] based upon the [[Christian ministry|ministry]] of the 18th-century [[evangelical]] reformer brothers [[John Wesley]] and [[Charles Wesley]]. More broadly it refers to the theological system inferred from the various [[sermon]]s (e.g. the [[Forty-four Sermons]]),<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wesley |first1=John |title=John Wesley's Forty-Four Sermons |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Forty-four_Sermons |access-date=11 May 2021 |via=[[WikiSource]]}}</ref> theological [[treatise]]s, letters, journals, diaries, [[hymn]]s, and other spiritual writings of the Wesleys and their contemporary coadjutors such as [[John William Fletcher]], Methodism's [[Systematic theology|systematic theologian]].

In 1736, the Wesley brothers travelled to the Georgia colony in America as [[Christian missionaries]]; they left rather disheartened at what they saw. Both of them subsequently had "religious experiences", especially John in 1738, being greatly influenced by the [[Moravian Church|Moravian Christians]]. They began to organize a renewal movement within the [[Church of England]] to focus on personal faith and holiness, putting emphasis on the importance of [[Sanctification in Christianity#Methodist|growth in grace]] after the [[Born_again#Methodism|New Birth]].<ref name="Danker2024">{{cite web |last1=Danker |first1=Ryan N. |title=A Wesleyan Account of Sanctifying Grace |url=https://seedbed.com/a-wesleyan-account-of-sanctifying-grace/ |publisher=Seedbed |access-date=1 July 2024 |date=15 February 2024}}</ref> Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, John Wesley taught that the propagation of the doctrine of [[entire sanctification]]—the work of grace that enables Christians to be made perfect in love—was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.<ref name="DaviesGeorge2017"/><ref name="Gibson"/>

Wesleyan–Arminian theology, manifest today in [[Methodism]] (inclusive of the [[Holiness movement]]), is named after its founders, John Wesley in particular, as well as for [[Jacobus Arminius]], since it is a subset of [[Arminian]] theology. The Wesleys were clergymen in the Church of England, though the Wesleyan tradition places stronger emphasis on extemporaneous preaching, [[evangelism]], as well as personal faith and personal experience, especially on the [[born again|new birth]], [[assurance (theology)|assurance]], [[Sanctification_in_Christianity#Methodist|growth in grace]], [[entire sanctification]] and [[outward holiness]]. In his ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists|Sunday Service]]'' John Wesley included the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]], which were based on the [[Thirty-nine Articles]] of the Church of England, though stripped of their more peculiarly [[Calvinism|Calvinistic]] theological leanings.<ref name="Melton2005">{{cite book|last=Melton|first=J. Gordon|title=Encyclopedia of Protestantism|date=1 January 2005|publisher=Infobase Publishing|language=en |isbn=9780816069835|page=48|quote=Among the items deleted by Wesley as unnecessary for Methodists were articles on "Of Works Before Justification," which in Calvinism are largely discounted, but in Methodism lauded; "Of Predestination and Election," which Wesley felt would be understood in a Calvinist manner that the Methodists rejected; and "Of the Traditions of the Church," which Wesley felt to be no longer at issue.}}</ref> Wesleyan theology asserts the [[prima scriptura|primary authority]] of [[Bible|Scripture]] and affirms the [[Christological]] orthodoxy of the first five centuries of church history.<ref name="FMC"/>

== Background ==
{{Further|Arminianism}}
[[File:Arminius 5.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Jacobus Arminius]] was a 17th-century Dutch theologian]]
Wesleyan–Arminianism developed as an attempt to explain Christianity in a manner unlike the teachings of [[Calvinism]].{{sfn|Wynkoop|1967|loc=chap. 3, Wesleyan-Arminianism}} Arminianism is a theological study conducted by Jacobus Arminius, from the Netherlands, in opposition to Calvinist orthodoxy on the basis of [[free will in theology|free will]].<ref name="StanglinMcCall2012">{{cite book |last1=Stanglin |first1=Keith D. |last2=McCall |first2=Thomas H. |title=Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780199755677 |page=153 |language=en}}</ref> In 1610, after the death of Arminius his followers, the [[Remonstrants]] led by [[Simon Episcopius]], presented a document to the Netherlands. This document is known today as the ''[[Five Articles of Remonstrance]]''.<ref name="StanglinMcCall2012"/> Wesleyan theology, on the other hand, was founded upon the teachings of John Wesley, an English evangelist, and the beliefs of this [[dogma]] are derived from his many publications, including his [[Sermons on Several Occasions|collected sermons]], journal, abridgements of theological, devotional, and historical Christian works, and a variety of tracts and treatises on theological subjects. Subsequently, the two theories have joined into one set of values for the contemporary church;{{sfn|Sayer|2006|loc=Ch. Wesleyan-Arminian theology|ps=. "Evangelical Wesleyan-Arminianism has as its center the merger of both Wesley's concept of holiness and Arminianism's emphasis on synergistic soteriology."}} yet, when examined separately, their unique details can be discovered, as well as their similarities in ideals.<ref name="StanglinMcCall2012"/>

[[File:John Wesley. Engraving by J. Thomson after J. Jackson. Wellcome V0006250.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|[[John Wesley]] was an Anglican clergyman]]
In the early 1770s, John Wesley, aided by the theological writings of [[John William Fletcher]], emphasized Arminian doctrines in his controversy with the Calvinistic wing of the evangelicals in England. Then, in 1778, he founded a theological journal which he titled the ''[[Arminian Magazine]]''. This period, [[History of the Calvinist–Arminian debate|during the Calvinist–Arminian debate]], was influential in forming a lasting link between Arminian and Wesleyan theology.<ref>{{cite book |language=en |last=Stevens |first=Abel |title=The History of the Religious Movement of the Eighteenth Century, called Methodism |volume=1 |location=London |publisher=Carlton & Porter |year=1858 |page=155}}</ref>

Wesley's opposition to Calvinism was more successful than Arminius's, especially in the United States where Arminianism would become the dominant school of soteriology of [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical]] Protestantism, largely because it was spread through popular preaching in a series of [[Great Awakening]]s.{{sfn|Cracknell|White|2005|p=100}} Arminius's work was not a direct influence on Wesley. Yet, he chose the term "Arminianism" to distinguish the kind of Evangelicalism his followers were to espouse from that of their Calvinist theological opponents. Many have considered the most accurate term for Wesleyan theology to be "Evangelical Arminianism."{{sfn|Cracknell|White|2005|p=100}}

Wesley is remembered for visiting the Moravians of both Georgia and Germany and examining their beliefs, then founding the Methodist movement, which gave rise to a variety of [[List of Methodist denominations|Methodist denominations]]. Wesley's desire was not to form a new sect, but rather to reform the nation and "spread scriptural holiness" as truth.<ref>{{cite book |language=en |last=Thorsen |first=Don |title=The Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, & Experience as a Model of Evangelical Theology|location=Lexington, Ky |publisher=Emeth Press |year=2005 |page=97}}</ref> However, the creation of Wesleyan–Arminianism has today developed into a popular standard for many contemporary churches. 

Methodism also navigated its own theological intricacies concerning salvation and human agency.{{sfn|Grider|1982|pp=53-55}}{{sfn|Bounds|2011|p=50|loc={{zwnj}}}} In the 1830s, during the [[Second Great Awakening]], critics accused the [[Holiness Movement]] of [[Pelagianism|Pelagian]] teaching. Consequently, detractors of Wesleyan theology have occasionally unfairly perceived or labeled its broader thought.{{sfn|Bounds|2011|p=50|ps=. "The American Holiness movement, influenced heavily by the revivalism of Charles Finney, inculcated some of his Soft Semi-Pelagian tendencies among their preachers and teachers [...] This has provided critics of Wesleyan theology with fodder by which they pigeonhole inaccurately larger Wesleyan thought."}} However, its core is recognized to be Arminianism.{{sfn|Grider|1982|p=55}}{{sfn|Bounds|2011|p=50|loc={{zwnj}}}}

Its primary legacy remains within the various Methodist denominations and the [[Holiness movement]] (which includes Methodism, but spread to other traditions too) spearheaded by [[Phoebe Palmer]] of the Methodist Episcopal Church,<ref name="Winn"/> and involved leaders such as [[B. T. Roberts|Benjamin Titus Roberts]] (who founded the [[Free Methodist Church]]) and [[Phineas F. Bresee]] (who founded the [[Church of the Nazarene]]), among others (see ''{{sectionlink||Churches upholding Wesleyan theology}}''). A modified form of Wesleyan theology became the basis for other distinct denominations as well, e.g. the [[Holiness Pentecostal]] movement launched by [[William J. Seymour]] and [[Charles Parham]], represented by denominations such as the [[Apostolic Faith Church]] and [[International Pentecostal Holiness Church]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dayton |first1=Donald W. |title=The Holiness and Pentecostal Churches: Emerging from Cultural Isolation – |url=https://www.religion-online.org/article/the-holiness-and-pentecostal-churches-emerging-from-cultural-isolation/ |website=www.religion-online.org |publisher=Religion Online |access-date=12 May 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Knight III |editor-first=Henry H. |title=From Aldersgate to Azusa Street: Wesleyan, Holiness, and Pentecostal visions of the new creation |date=2010 |location=Eugene, Or. |isbn=978-1630876562}}</ref>

==Wesleyan distinctives==
=== Definition of sin ===
{{See also|Christian views on sin}}
Methodist theology teaches:
{{quotation|We believe that sin is the willful transgression of the known law of God, and that such sin condemns a soul to eternal punishment unless pardoned by God through repentance, confession, restitution, and believing in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. This includes all men "For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. (Prov. 28:13, John 6:47; Acts 16:31; Rom. 6:23, I John 1:9; I John 3:4). —''Manual of the Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches''<ref name="WHAC2017">{{cite book |title=Declaration of Principles: Manual of the Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches |date=2017 |publisher=[[Wesleyan Holiness Association of Churches]] |page=10}}</ref>}}

Firstly, it categorizes sin as being [[original sin]] and [[actual sin]]:<ref name="Rothwell1998">{{cite book |last1=Rothwell |first1=Mel-Thomas |last2=Rothwell |first2=Helen F. |title=A Catechism on the Christian Religion: The Doctrines of Christianity with Special Emphasis on Wesleyan Concepts |date=1998 |publisher=Schmul Publishing Co. |page=53 |language=en}}</ref>
{{quotation|Original sin is the sin which corrupts our nature and gives us the tendency to sin. Actual sins are the sins we commit every day before we are saved, such as lying, swearing, stealing.<ref name="Rothwell1998"/>}} Wesleyans have a distinct understanding of the nature of actual sin, which is divided into the categories of "sin proper" and "sin improper".<ref name="Whidden2005"/> As explained by John Wesley, "Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God. Therefore, every voluntary breach of the law of love is sin; and nothing else, if we speak properly. To strain the matter farther is only to make way for Calvinism."<ref>John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition., vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 394.</ref> With this narrower understanding of sin, John Wesley believed that it was not only possible but necessary to live without committing sin. Wesley explains this in his comments on {{Bibleverse|1 John|3:8|NRSV}} "Whosoever abideth in communion with him—By loving faith, sinneth not—While he so abideth. Whosoever sinneth certainly seeth him not—The loving eye of his soul is not then fixed upon God; neither doth he then experimentally know him—Whatever he did in time past."<ref>John Wesley, [[Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament]], Fourth American Edition. (New York: J. Soule and T. Mason, 1818), 661.</ref>

===Salvation===
{{See also|Soteriology}}

====Atonement====
[[File:Sankt Georgen am Laengsee Launsdorf Kreisverkehr Bildstock Kreuzigung Christi 02122015 2428.jpg|thumb|Methodists believe Jesus Christ died for all humanity, not a limited few: the doctrine of [[unlimited atonement]].]]

Wesleyan–Arminian theology falls squarely in the tradition of [[substitutionary atonement]], though it is linked with [[Christus Victor]] and [[Moral influence theory of atonement|moral influence]] theories.<ref name="Wood2007">{{cite journal|last=Wood|first=Darren Cushman|year=2007|title=John Wesley's Use of Atonement|journal=The Asbury Journal|volume=62|issue=2|pages=55–70|language=en}}</ref> John Wesley, reflecting on {{Bibleverse|Colossians|1:14|NRSV}}, connects [[penal substitution]] with victory over [[Satan]] in his ''[[Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament]]'': "the voluntary passion of our Lord appeased the Father's wrath, obtained pardon and acceptance for us, and consequently, dissolved the dominion and power which Satan had over us through our sins."<ref name="Wood2007"/> In elucidating {{Bibleverse|1 John|3:8|NRSV}}, John Wesley says that Christ manifesting himself in the hearts of humans destroys the work of Satan, thus making Christus Victor imagery "one part of the framework of substitutionary atonement."<ref name="Wood2007"/> The Methodist divine [[Charles Wesley]]'s hymns "Sinners, Turn, Why Will You Die" and "And Can It be That I Should Gain" concurrently demonstrate that Christ's sacrifice is the example of supreme love, while also convicting the Christian believer of his/her sins, thus using the moral influence theory within the structure of penal substitution in accordance with the Augustinian theology of [[Divine illumination|illumination]].<ref name="Wood2007"/> Wesleyan theology also emphasizes a participatory nature in atonement, in which the Methodist believer spiritually dies with Christ and Christ dies for humanity; this is reflected in the words of the following Methodist hymn (122):<ref name="Wood2007"/>
{{quotation|
"Vouchsafe us eyes of faith to see<br />
The Man transfixed on Calvary,<br />
To know thee, who thou art—<br />
The one eternal God and true;<br />
And let the sight affect, subdue,<br />
And break my stubborn heart...<br />
The unbelieving veil remove,<br />
And by thy manifested love,<br />
And by thy sprinkled blood,<br />
Destroy the love of sin in me,<br />
And get thyself the victory,<br />
And bring me back to God...<br />
Now let thy dying love constrain<br />
My soul to love its God again,<br />
Its God to glorify;<br />
And lo! I come thy cross to share,<br />
Echo thy sacrificial prayer,<br />
And with my Saviour die."<ref name="Wood2007"/>}}
The Christian believer [[Christian mysticism|mystically]] draws themselves into the scene of the [[crucifixion of Jesus|crucifixion]] in order to experience the power of salvation that it possesses.<ref name="Wood2007"/> In the [[Eucharist|Lord's Supper]], the Methodist especially experiences the participatory nature of substitutionary atonement as "the sacrament sets before our eyes Christ's death and suffering whereby we are transported into an experience of the crucifixion."<ref name="Wood2007"/>

With regard to the [[fate of the unlearned]], [[Willard Francis Mallalieu]], a Methodist [[Bishops in Methodism|bishop]], wrote in ''Some Things That Methodism Stands For'':<ref name="Mallalieu1903"/>
{{quote|Starting on the assumption that salvation was possible for every redeemed soul, and that all souls are redeemed, it has held fast to the fundamental doctrine that repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ are the divinely-ordained conditions upon which all complying therewith may be saved, who are [[Age of accountability|intelligent enough to be morally responsible]], and have heard the glad tidings of salvation. At the same time Methodism has insisted that all children who are not willing transgressors, and all irresponsible persons, are saved by the grace of God manifest in the atoning work of Christ; and, further, that all in every nation, who fear God and work righteousness, are accepted of him, through the Christ that died for them, though they have not heard of him. This view of the atonement has been held and defended by Methodist theologians from the very first. And it may be said with ever-increasing emphasis that it commends itself to all sensible and unprejudiced thinkers, for this, that it is rational and Scriptural, and at the same time honorable to God and gracious and merciful to man.<ref name="Mallalieu1903">{{cite book|last=Mallalieu|first=Willard Francis|title=The Fullness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ|url=https://archive.org/details/fullnessofblessi00mall|year=1903|publisher=Jennings and Pye|language=en|page=[https://archive.org/details/fullnessofblessi00mall/page/28 28]}}</ref>}}

====Justification and sanctification====
[[File:John Wesley preaching in the City Chapel. Engraving by T. Bl Wellcome V0006869 (Cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2 |Wesley preaching to his assistants in the City Road Chapel (now [[Wesley's Chapel]]), London]]
In Methodism, the way of salvation includes conviction, [[repentance in Christianity|repentance]], [[Restitution (theology)#Methodism|restitution]], [[Faith#Methodism|faith]], [[Justification (theology)#Arminianism/Methodism|justification]], [[Regeneration (theology)#Wesleyan-Arminianism|regeneration]] and [[Adoption (theology)|adoption]], which is followed by [[sanctification in Christianity|sanctification]] and [[witness of the Spirit]].<ref name="WilliamsonTrim2012"/><ref name="POF1948"/> Being convicted of sin and the need for a saviour, as well as repenting of sin and making restitution, is "essential preparation for saving faith".<ref name="WilliamsonTrim2012"/> Wesleyan theology teaches that the [[Born again|new birth]] contains two phases that occur together, [[Justification (theology)|justification]] and [[Regeneration (theology)|regeneration]]:<ref name="Emmanuel2002"/>
{{quotation|Though these two phases of the new birth occur simultaneously, they are, in fact, two separate and distinct acts. Justification is that gracious and judicial act of God whereby a soul is granted complete absolution from all guilt and a full release from the penalty of sin (Romans 3:23–25). This act of divine grace is wrought by faith in the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). Regeneration is the impartation of divine life which is manifested in that radical change in the moral character of man, from the love and life of sin to the love of God and the life of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23). ―Principles of Faith, Emmanuel Association of Churches<ref name="Emmanuel2002">{{cite book |title=Guidebook of the Emmanuel Association of Churches |date=2002 |publisher=[[Emmanuel Association]] |location=[[Logansport, Indiana|Logansport]] |pages=7–8 |language=English}}</ref>}}

At the moment a person experiences the New Birth, he/she is "[[Adoption (theology)|adopted]] into the family of God".<ref name="WilliamsonTrim2012">{{cite book |editor1-last=Williamson |editor1-first=Edward W. |editor2-last=Trim |editor2-first=Peggy |title=The Evangelical Methodist Church Catechism |date=2012 |page=116|publisher=[[Evangelical Methodist Church]]}}</ref> The Wesleyan tradition seeks to establish [[justification by faith]] as the gateway to [[Sanctification#Methodism|sanctification]] or "scriptural holiness."<ref name="Joyner2007">{{cite book|last=Joyner|first=F. Belton|title=United Methodist Questions, United Methodist Answers: Exploring Christian Faith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5wH-h0WQ0aEC&pg=PA39|access-date=10 April 2014|year=2007|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=9780664230395|page=39|quote=The new birth is necessary for salvation because it marks the move toward holiness. That comes with faith.}}</ref> Wesleyans teach that God provides [[prevenient grace|grace that enables]] any person to freely choose to place faith in Christ or reject his salvation (see [[synergism]]).<ref name="Fahlbusch2008">{{cite book|last=Fahlbusch|first=Erwin|title=The Encyclopedia of Christianity|year=2008|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802824172|page=272|quote=Methodist 'synergism' is grounded in the conviction that in the justification begun in the new birth (the beginning of the divine work), there will have to be 'appropriate fruits.'}}</ref><ref name="POF1948"/> If the person accepts it, then God justifies them and continues to give further grace to spiritually heal and sanctify them.<ref name="Fahlbusch2008"/> In Wesleyan theology, justification specifically refers to "pardon, the forgiveness of sins", rather than "being made actually just and righteous", which Wesleyans believe is accomplished through sanctification,{{sfn|Elwell|2001|p=1268|ps=. "[Wesley] states what justification is not. It is not being made actually just and righteous (that is sanctification). It is not being cleared of the accusations of Satan, nor of the law, nor even of God. We have sinned, so the accusation stands. Justification implies pardon, the forgiveness of sins. [...] Ultimately for the true Wesleyan salvation is completed by our return to original righteousness. This is done by the work of the Holy Spirit."}} that is, the pursuit of holiness in salvation.<ref name="Joyner">{{cite book|last=Joyner|first=F. Belton|title=United Methodist Answers|year=2007|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press|isbn=9780664230395|page=80|quote=Jacob Albright, founder of the movement that led to the Evangelical Church flow in The United Methodist Church, got into trouble with some of his Lutheran, Reformed, and Mennonite neighbors because he insisted that salvation not only involved ritual but meant a change of heart, a different way of living.}}</ref> John Wesley taught that the keeping of the moral law contained in the [[Ten Commandments]],<ref name="Campbell2011">{{cite book|last=Campbell|first=Ted A.|title=Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, 2nd Edition|date=1 October 2011|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=9781426753473|pages=40, 68–69}}</ref>{{sfn|Elwell|2001|loc={{zwnj}}|p=1268|ps=. "The Wesleyan tradition insists that grace is not contrasted with law but with the works of the law. Wesleyans remind us that Jesus came to fulfill, not destroy the law. God made us in his perfect image, and he wants that image restored. He wants to return us to a full and perfect obedience through the process of sanctification. [...] Good works follow after justification as its inevitable fruit. Wesley insisted that Methodists who did not fulfill all righteousness deserved the hottest place in the lake of fire."}} as well as engaging in the [[works of piety]] and the [[works of mercy]], were "indispensable for our sanctification".<ref name="Knight2013"/>

Wesley insisted that [[imputed righteousness]] must become [[imparted righteousness]]. He taught that a believer could progress in love until love became devoid of self-interest at the moment of entire sanctification.<ref name="Wagner">{{cite web|url=http://www.catalystresources.org/wesley-on-faith-love-and-salvation/|title=Wesley on Faith, Love, and Salvation|last=Wagner|first=Amy|date=20 January 2014|publisher=AFTE|language=en|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref> Wesleyan theology teaches that there are two distinct phases in the Christian experience.<ref name="Synan1997">{{cite book|last=Synan|first=Vinson|title=The Holiness-Pentecostal tradition: Charismatic movements in the twentieth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-npoRWoZuUC&pg=PA152|access-date=5 March 2011|year=1997|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-4103-2|pages=6–7}}</ref> In the [[first work of grace]] (the new birth) a person [[Repentance (Christianity)|repents]] of his/her sin that he/she confesses to God, places his/her faith in Jesus, receives [[Forgiveness#Christianity|forgiveness]] and becomes a Christian;<ref name="Stokes1998"/><ref name="POF1948">{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Pillar of Fire Church |date=1948 |publisher=Pillar of Fire Church |pages=39–40}}</ref> during the [[second work of grace]], entire sanctification, the believer is purified and made holy.<ref name="Stokes1998"/>

{{quotation|Wesley understood faith as a necessity for salvation, even calling it "the sole condition" of salvation, in the sense that it led to justification, the beginning point of salvation. At the same time, "as glorious and honorable as [faith] is, it is not the end of the commandment. God hath given this honor to love alone" ("The Law Established through Faith II," §II.1). Faith is "an unspeakable blessing" because "it leads to that end, the establishing anew the law of love in our hearts" ("The Law Established through Faith II," §II.6) This end, the law of love ruling in our hearts, is the fullest expression of salvation; it is Christian perfection. —Amy Wagner<ref name="Wagner"/>}}

Wesleyan Methodism, inclusive of the [[holiness movement]], thus teaches that [[Restitution (theology)|restitution]] occurs subsequent to repentance.<ref name="WilliamsonTrim2012"/><ref name="POF1948"/> Additionally, "justification [is made] conditional on obedience and progress in sanctification"<ref name="Sawyer2016"/> emphasizing "a deep reliance upon Christ not only in coming to faith, but in remaining in the faith."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timothytennent.com/2011/07/09/means-of-grace-why-i-am-a-methodist-and-an-evangelical-part-3/|title=Means of Grace: Why I am a Methodist and an Evangelical|last=Tennent|first=Timothy|date=9 July 2011|publisher=[[Asbury Theological Seminary]]|language=en|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref> Bishop [[Scott J. Jones]] states that "United Methodist doctrine thus understands true, saving faith to be the kind that, give time and opportunity, will result in good works. Any supposed faith that does not in fact lead to such behaviors is not genuine, saving faith."<ref>{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Scott J.|title=United Methodist Doctrine|year=2002|publisher=Abingdon Press|isbn=9780687034857|page=190}}</ref> For Methodists, "true faith...''cannot'' subsist without works".<ref name="Knight2013">{{cite web|url=http://www.catalystresources.org/wesley-on-faith-and-good-works/|title=Wesley on Faith and Good Works|last=Knight III|first=Henry H.|date=9 July 2013|publisher=AFTE|language=en|access-date=21 May 2018}}</ref> (See {{Bibleref|James|2:14–26}}.) Methodist evangelist [[Phoebe Palmer]] stated that "justification would have ended with me had I refused to be holy."<ref name="Sawyer2016">{{cite book|last=Sawyer|first=M. James|title=The Survivor's Guide to Theology|date=11 April 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781498294058|page=363}}</ref> While "faith is essential for a meaningful relationship with God, our relationship with God also takes shape through our care for people, the community, and creation itself."<ref name="Langford2011">{{cite book|last1=Langford|first1=Andy|last2=Langford|first2=Sally|title=Living as United Methodist Christians: Our Story, Our Beliefs, Our Lives|year=2011|publisher=Abingdon Press|isbn=9781426711930|page=45}}</ref>

=====First work of grace: new birth=====
John Wesley held that the new birth "is that great change which God works in the soul when he brings it into life, when he raises it from the death of sin to the life of righteousness" (''Works'', vol. 2, pp.&nbsp;193–194).<ref name="Joyner2007"/> In the life of a Christian, the new birth is considered the first work of grace.<ref name="Stokes1998">{{cite book|last=Stokes|first=Mack B.|title=Major United Methodist Beliefs|year=1998|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=9780687082124|page=95}}</ref> The [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]], in Article XVII—Of Baptism, state that baptism is a "sign of regeneration or the new birth."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1651 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060427002238/http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=1&mid=1651 |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 April 2006 |title=The Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church XVI-XVIII |year=2004 |work=The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church |publisher=The United Methodist Church |access-date=10 April 2014 |quote=Article XVII—Of Baptism: Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church. }}</ref> (See ''{{slink||Baptism}}''.) ''The Methodist Visitor'' in describing this doctrine, admonishes individuals: "'Ye must be born again.' Yield to God that He may perform this work in and for you. Admit Him to your heart. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.'"<ref>{{cite book|title=The Methodist Visitor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uEAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA137|year=1876|publisher=Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Row, E.C. |page=137|quote="Ye must be born again." Yield to God that He may perform this work in and for you. Admit Him to your heart. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."}}</ref><ref name="RicheyRowe1993">{{cite book|last1=Richey|first1=Russell E.|last2=Rowe|first2=Kenneth E.|last3=Schmidt|first3=Jean Miller|title=Perspectives on American Methodism: interpretive essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P1vuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=10 April 2014|date=19 January 1993|publisher=Kingswood Books|isbn=9780687307821}}</ref>

In congruence with the [[Wesleyan_theology#Definition_of_sin|Wesleyan (Methodist) definition of sin]]:<ref name="Olson2022"/>
{{quotation|Wesley explains that those born of God do not sin ''habitually'' since to do so means that sin still reigns, which is a mark of an unbeliever. Neither does the Christian sin ''willfully'' since the believer’s will is now set on living for Christ. He further claims that believers do not sin by desire because the heart has been thoroughly transformed to desire only God’s perfect will. Wesley then addresses “sin by infirmities.” Since infirmities involve no “concurrence of (the) will,” such deviations, whether in thought, word, or deed, are not “properly” sin. He therefore concludes that those born of God do not commit sin, having been saved from “all their sins” (II.2, 7).<ref name="Olson2022">{{cite web |last1=Olson |first1=Mark K. |title=John Wesley on Sin and Holiness |url=https://wesleyscholar.com/john-wesley-on-sin-and-holiness/ |publisher=Wesley Scholar |access-date=23 May 2024 |language=English |date=4 June 2022}}</ref>}}
This is reflected in the Articles of Religion of the [[Free Methodist Church]] (emphasis added in italics), which uses the wording of John Wesley:<ref name="McClintockStrong2024"/>
{{quotation|''Justified persons, while they do not outwardly commit sin'', are nevertheless conscious of sin still remaining in the heart. They feel a natural tendency to evil, a proneness to depart from God, and cleave to the things of earth. Those that are sanctified wholly are saved from all inward sin-from evil thoughts and evil tempers. No wrong temper, none contrary to love remains in the soul. All their thoughts, words, and actions are governed by pure love. Entire sanctification takes place subsequently to justification, and is the work of God wrought instantaneously upon the consecrated, believing soul. After a soul is cleansed from all sin, it is then fully prepared to grow in grace" (''Discipline'', "Articles of Religion," ch. i, § 1, p. 23).<ref name="McClintockStrong2024">{{cite web |title=Methodists, Free |url=https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/M/methodists-free.html |publisher=McClintock and Strong Biblical Cyclopedia Online |access-date=23 May 2024 |language=en |date=2024}}</ref>}}
After the New Birth, if a person commits sin, he/she may be restored to fellowship with God through sincere [[repentance (Christianity)|repentance]] and then "by the grace of God, rise[s] again and amend[s]" his/her life.<ref name="Long2012">{{cite book |last1=Long |first1=D. Stephen |title=Keeping Faith: An Ecumenical Commentary on the Articles of Religion and Confession of Faith in the Wesleyan Tradition |date=1 March 2012 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-62189-416-2 |language=English}}</ref> This concept is taught in the Methodist [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]], in Article XII.<ref>{{cite web |title=Articles of Religion |url=https://www.bible.ca/cr-methodist.htm |publisher=The Interactive Bible |access-date=24 July 2024}}</ref>

=====Second work of grace: Christian perfection=====
{{Listen
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| description ="[[Love Divine, All Loves Excelling]]" is a popular hymn by Charles Wesley with a theme of Christian perfection.<ref>This is the rubric for the hymn in the 1935 (U.S.) Methodist hymn book.</ref>
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}}
Methodists, following in John Wesley's footsteps, believe in the second work of grace— enabling entire sanctification, also called [[Christian perfection#Wesleyan teaching|Christian perfection]]—which removes [[original sin]] (the carnal nature of the person) and makes the believer holy (cf. ''[[baptism with the Holy Spirit]]''); Wesley explained: "Entire sanctification, or Christian perfection, is neither more nor less than pure love; love expelling sin, and governing both the heart and life of a child of God. The Refiner's fire purges out all that is contrary to love."<ref name="White2008">{{cite book |last1=White |first1=Charles E. |title=The Beauty of Holiness: Phoebe Palmer as Theologian, Revivalist, Feminist and Humanitarian |date=2 September 2008 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-7252-2173-4 |page=121 |language=en |quote=Wesley also taught that Christians experience several distinct acts of God's grace as they grow into the image of Christ. Two of these acts of grace are justification and entire sanctification. Justification occurs when a sinner is forgiven, regenerated, and made right with God. Entire sanctification happens when the carnal nature within a Christian is finally destroyed, and the believer is then enabled to love God with the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Entire sanctification makes Christians perfect in their love for God, but in now other way. Their hearts are so filled with the love of God that there is no room for a contrary affection. Hence they are sinless in that while in this state they do not willingly violate the known law of God. Although believers' hearts are filled with love and freed from sin, sanctified people still suffer the effects of sin on their minds and bodies. They are not free from errors in judgment or mistakes in action. Thus, they continually need the blood of Christ to cleanse them from these accidental "fallings short of the glory of God."}}</ref><ref>John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition., vol. 12 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 432.</ref><ref name="Stokes1998"/><ref name="Whidden2005">{{cite web |last1=Whidden |first1=Woodrow W. |title=Adventist Theology: The Wesleyan Connection |url=https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/es/node/203 |publisher=Biblical Research Institute |access-date=30 June 2019 |language=English |date=18 April 2005|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630044749/https://adventistbiblicalresearch.org/es/node/203|archive-date=30 June 2019}}</ref> Wesley taught both that sanctification could be an instantaneous experience,<ref name="AlexanderFerguson1988">{{cite book|last1=Alexander|first1=Donald L.|last2=Ferguson|first2=Sinclair B.|title=Christian spirituality: five views of sanctification|url=https://archive.org/details/christianspiritu00alex|url-access=registration|access-date=5 March 2011|date=1988|publisher=InterVarsity Press|isbn=978-0-8308-1278-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/christianspiritu00alex/page/97 97]}}</ref> and that it could be a gradual process.<ref name="Curtis2006">{{cite book|last=Curtis|first=Harold|title=Following the Cloud: A Vision of the Convergence of Science and the Church|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvd5DJ3ibVkC&pg=PA86|access-date=5 March 2011|date=2006-09-21|publisher=Harold Curtis|isbn=978-1-4196-4571-6|page=86}}</ref><ref name="Southey1820">{{cite book|last=Southey|first=Robert|title=The life of Wesley: and the rise and progress of Methodism|url=https://archive.org/details/lifewesleyandri04soutgoog|access-date=5 March 2011|year=1820|publisher=Evert Duyckinck and George Long; Clayton & Kingsland, printers|page=[https://archive.org/details/lifewesleyandri04soutgoog/page/n265 80]}}</ref> Before a believer is entirely sanctified, he/she consecrates himself/herself to God; the theology behind [[Consecration#Methodist Churches|consecration]] is summarized with the maxim "Give yourself to God in all things, if you would have God give Himself to you."<ref>{{cite book |title=Guidebook of the Emmanuel Association of Churches |date=2002 |publisher=[[Emmanuel Association]] |location=[[Logansport, Indiana|Logansport]] |page=8 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="Ruth2017">{{cite web |last1=Ruth |first1=C.W. |title=Consecration: The Human Side of Sanctification |url=https://www.gbs.edu/consecration-the-human-side-of-sanctification/ |publisher=[[God's Bible School and College|God's Bible College]] |access-date=19 May 2021 |language=English |date=29 June 2017}}</ref>

The Methodist Churches teach that [[apostasy]] can occur through a loss of faith or through [[sin in Christianity|sinning]] (refusing to be holy).<ref name="Pinson2002">{{cite book |last1=Pinson |first1=J. Matthew |title=Four Views on Eternal Security |date=2002 |publisher=Harper Collins |isbn=9780310234395 |page=18 |language=English |quote=While for Arminius loss of salvation came only through ceasing to believe in Christ, Wesleyans held that it could result from eiter unbelief or unconfessed sin. ... Anabaptists (e.g., Mennonites, Brethren) and Restorationists (e.g., the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, Disciples of Christ) have traditionally tended towards doctrines of salvation similar to that of Wesleyan Arminianism—without affirming a "second blessing" and entire sanctification. There have always been some in these groups, however, who has espoused a view more akin to Reformed Arminianism. Many traditional Lutherans also affirm the possibility of apostasy and reconversion.}}</ref><ref name="Robinson2016">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Jeff |title=Meet a Reformed Arminian |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/meet-a-reformed-arminian/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |accessdate=16 June 2019 |language=English |date=25 August 2016 |quote=Reformed Arminianism's understanding of apostasy veers from the Wesleyan notion that individuals may repeatedly fall from grace by committing individual sins and may be repeatedly restored to a state of grace through penitence.}}</ref> If a person [[backsliding|backslides]] but later decides to return to God, he or she must confess his or her sins and be entirely sanctified again (see [[conditional security]]).<ref name="Robinson">{{cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Jeff |title=Meet a Reformed Arminian |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/meet-a-reformed-arminian/ |publisher=[[The Gospel Coalition]] |access-date=16 June 2019 |language=en |date=25 August 2016 |quote=Reformed Arminianism's understanding of apostasy veers from the Wesleyan notion that individuals may repeatedly fall from grace by committing individual sins and may be repeatedly restored to a state of grace through penitence.}}</ref><ref name="CaugheyAllen1850">{{cite book |last1=Caughey |first1=James |last2=Allen |first2=Ralph William |title=Methodism in Earnest |url=https://archive.org/details/methodisminearn00wisegoog |date=1850 |publisher=Charles H. Peirce |language=en |quote=She had lost the blessing of entire sanctification; but a few days after this she obtained it again.}}</ref><ref name="Brown2008">{{cite web |last1=Brown |first1=Allan P. |title=Questions About Entire Sanctification |url=https://www.gbs.edu/questions-about-entire-sanctification/ |website=God's Bible School & College |access-date=17 June 2019 |language=en |date=1 June 2008 |quote=Does an entirely sanctified person who rebels against God but later comes back to Him need to be entirely sanctified again? We do know that a person can rebel against God and later turn back in repentance and then be "re-saved." Answer: Yes. To come back to God is the action of a backslider having his re in need of continual cleansing. The verb "cleanses us" is a present indica-relationship with God restored. After the restoration, one must walk in the light and obey Romans 12:1 and offer himself a living, holy, and acceptable sacrifice to God. This can be done only by a person in right relationship with God.}}</ref>

====Assurance of faith====
[[File:John Wesley memorial Aldersgate.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|This monument marks the approximate location of John Wesley's "Aldersgate experience", in London. It features Wesley's account of the experience, taken from his journal.<ref>{{cite web|title=John Wesley's Conversion Place Memorial – The 'Aldersgate Flame'|url=http://www.methodistheritage.org.uk/aldersgateflame.htm|publisher=Methodist Heritage|accessdate=21 May 2016}}</ref>]]
John Wesley believed that all Christians have a faith which implies an "assurance" of God's forgiving love, and that one would feel that assurance, or the "witness of the Spirit". This understanding is grounded in [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]]'s affirmation, "...ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father. The same Spirit beareth witness with our spirits, that we are the children of God..." ({{Bibleverse|Romans|8:15–16}}, ''Wesley's translation''). This experience was mirrored for Wesley in his [[Aldersgate Day|Aldersgate experience]] wherein he "knew" he was loved by God and that his sins were forgiven.

:"I felt my heart ''strangely warmed''. I felt I ''did'' trust in Christ, Christ ''alone'' for salvation, and an assurance was given me that He had taken my sin, ''even mine''." — from Wesley's Journal<ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/journal.vi.ii.xvi.html "I Felt My Heart Strangely Warmed"]. Journal of John Wesley.</ref>

===Conditional security===
{{Main|Conditional preservation of the saints}}
{{Further|Antinomianism#Methodism}}

John Wesley was an outspoken defender of the doctrine of conditional preservation of the saints, or commonly "conditional security". In 1751, Wesley defended his position in a work titled, "Serious Thoughts Upon the Perseverance of the Saints." In it he argued that a believer remains in a saving relationship with God if he "continue in faith" or "endureth in faith unto the end."<ref>''The Works of John Wesley'', 10:288. In his Sermon: "The Repentance of Believers," Wesley proclaimed, "For, by that faith in his life, death, and intercession for us, renewed from moment to moment, we are every whit clean, and there is ... now no condemnation for us ... By the same faith we feel the power of Christ every moment resting upon us ... whereby we are enabled to continue in spiritual life ... As long as we retain our faith in him, we 'draw water out of the wells of salvation'" (''The Works of John Wesley'', 5:167).</ref> Wesley affirmed that a child of God, "while he continues a true believer, cannot go to hell."<ref name=":5">''The Works of John Wesley'', 10:297.</ref> However, if he makes a "shipwreck of the faith, then a man that believes now may be an unbeliever some time hence" and become "a child of the devil."<ref name=":5" /> He then adds, "God is the Father of them that believe, so long as they believe. But the devil is the father of them that believe not, whether they did once believe or no."<ref name=":6">''The Works of John Wesley'', 10:298.</ref>

Like his Arminian predecessors, Wesley was convinced from the testimony of the Scriptures that a true believer may abandon faith and the way of righteousness and "fall from God as to perish everlastingly."<ref name=":6" />

===Covenant theology===
{{Main|Covenant theology#Wesleyan covenant theology}}
Methodism maintains the superstructure of [[classical covenant theology]], but being Arminian in soteriology, it discards the "predestinarian template of Reformed theology that was part and parcel of its historical development."<ref name="Rodes2014">{{cite book|last=Rodes|first=Stanley J.|title=From Faith to Faith: John Wesley's Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation|date=25 September 2014|publisher=James Clarke & Co|language=en|isbn=9780227902202|pages=7; 62–76}}</ref> The main difference between Wesleyan covenant theology and classical covenant theology is as follows:
{{quotation|The point of divergence is Wesley's conviction that not only is the inauguration of the covenant of grace coincidental with the fall, but so is the termination of the covenant of works. This conviction is of supreme importance for Wesley in facilitating an Arminian adaptation of covenant theology—first, by reconfiguring the reach of the covenant of grace; and second, by disallowing any notion that there is a reinvigoration of the covenant of works beyond the fall.}}

As such, in the traditional Wesleyan view, only [[Adam]] and [[Eve]] were under the covenant of works, while on the other hand, all of their progeny are under the covenant of grace.<ref name="Rodes2014"/> With Mosaic Law belonging to the covenant of grace, all of humanity is brought "within the reach of the provisions of that covenant."<ref name="Rodes2014"/> This belief is reflected in John Wesley's sermon ''Righteousness of Faith'':<ref name="Rodes2014"/> "The Apostle does not here oppose the covenant given by Moses, to the covenant given by Christ. ... But it is the covenant of grace, which God, through Christ, hath established with men in all ages".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-6-the-righteousness-of-faith/|title=Sermon 6 – The Righteousness Of Faith|last=Wesley|first=John|publisher=The Wesley Center Online|language=en|access-date=27 June 2017}}</ref> The covenant of grace was therefore administered through "promises, prophecies, sacrifices, and at last by circumcision" during the patriarchal ages and through "the paschal lamb, the scape goat, [and] the priesthood of Aaron" under [[Mosaic Law]].<ref name="Crowther1815"/> Under the [[Gospel]], the covenant of grace is mediated through the greater [[sacrament]]s, baptism and the Lord's Supper.<ref name="Crowther1815">{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan |title=A Portraiture of Methodism|year=1815|language=en|page=224}}</ref>

===Ecclesiology===
[[File:Camp meeting of the Methodists in N. America J. Milbert del M. Dubourg sculp (cropped).jpg|thumb|300px|Methodist preachers are known for promulgating the doctrines of the [[Born again#Methodism|new birth]] and [[entire sanctification]] to the public at events such as [[tent revival]]s, [[brush arbour revival]]s and [[camp meeting]]s, which they believe is the reason that God raised them up into existence.<ref name="Gibson"/>]]
Methodists affirm belief in "[[Four Marks of the Church|the one true Church, Apostolic and Universal]]", viewing their Churches as constituting a "privileged branch of this true church".<ref name="Wesley1863">{{cite book|last=Newton|first=William F. |title=The Magazine of the Wesleyan Methodist Church|year=1863|publisher=J. Fry & Company|language=en|page=673}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/vatican-stance-nothing-new-say-church-leader|title=Vatican stance "nothing new" say church leader|last=Bloom|first=Linda|date=20 July 2007|publisher=The United Methodist Church|language=en|access-date=10 June 2018|archive-date=31 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190531215408/http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/vatican-stance-nothing-new-say-church-leader|url-status=dead}}</ref> With regard to the position of Methodism within [[Christendom]], the founder of the movement "John Wesley once noted that what God had achieved in the development of Methodism was no mere human endeavor but the work of God. As such it would be preserved by God so long as history remained."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://peopleneedjesus.net/2016/08/25/the-birth-pangs-of-united-methodism-as-a-unique-global-orthodox-denomination/|author=William J. Abraham|title=The Birth Pangs of United Methodism as a Unique, Global, Orthodox Denomination|date=25 August 2016|language=en|access-date=30 April 2017|author-link=William J. Abraham}}</ref> Calling it "the grand depositum" of the Methodist faith, Wesley specifically taught that the propagation of the doctrine of [[entire sanctification]] was the reason that God raised up the Methodists in the world.<ref name="DaviesGeorge2017">{{cite book|last1=Davies|first1=Rupert E.|last2=George|first2=A. Raymond|last3=Rupp|first3=Gordon|title=A History of the Methodist Church in Great Britain, Volume Three|date=14 June 2017|publisher=Wipf & Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781532630507|page=225}}</ref><ref name="Gibson">{{cite web|url=https://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|title=Wesleyan Heritage Series: Entire Sanctification|last=Gibson|first=James|publisher=South Georgia Confessing Association|language=en|access-date=30 May 2018|archive-date=29 May 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180529053529/http://ucmpage.org/sgca/wesley01.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Eschatology===
John Wesley described his [[eschatology|eschatological]] views on the [[Book of Revelation]] in his ''[[Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament]]'' (1755). He struggled with how to interpret the middle of the book which describes heavenly and earthy conflict in very symbolic language.  He relied heavily on the works of German theologian [[Johann Albrecht Bengel]] (1687-1752) for a mathematical interpretation of the numbers in the book to find a correspondence between church history and the events described in Revelation.  For example, by Wesley's calculations, using Bengel's mathematical key, the story of the [[Woman of the Apocalypse|woman in the wilderness]] in Revelation 12 was the story of the Christian church in two overlapping periods of church history (847-1524 CE and 1058-1836 CE).<ref name="Revelation"/>  

Wesley's primary concern, however, was not so much with prophecy or chronology, but rather with how to use Revelation to help believers have strength in times of trial.<ref name="Revelation">{{cite journal|url=https://place.asburyseminary.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2527&&context=asburyjournal&&sei-redir=1|title=John Wesley on the Book of Revelation|author=Külli Tõniste|journal=The Asbury Journal|volume=17|number=2|pages=227-245|date=2021}}</ref>

=== Evangelism and missions ===
{{Further|Christian mission#Methodist missions}}
Methodism has emphasized [[evangelism]] and [[Christian mission|missions]]. Wesleyan-Arminian theology stresses [[missional living]] as normative for Methodist Christians.<ref name="Dragos2012">{{cite web |last1=Dragos |first1=Andrew |title=How Prevenient Grace Shapes Our Missional Presence |url=https://seedbed.com/how-prevenient-grace-shapes-our-missional-presence/ |publisher=Seedbed |access-date=24 February 2024 |date=8 May 2012}}</ref> In particular, ordinands were asked by [[John Wesley]] "Will you visit from house to house?" with the assumed answer being "yes" as [[Door-to-door#Religious work| door-to-door evangelism]] was the expectation of Methodist clergy for the purpose of reaching people outside the walls of churches.<ref name="Torpy2009">{{cite book |last1=Torpy |first1=Arthur Alan |title=The Prevenient Piety of Samuel Wesley, Sr. |date=26 October 2009 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-7082-6 |page=109 |language=en}}</ref>

===Free will===
Methodist theology teaches the doctrine of [[free will]]:<ref name="IMC1986"/>
{{quotation|Our Lord Jesus Christ did so die for all men as to make salvation attainable by every man that cometh into the world. If men are not saved that fault is entirely their own, lying solely in their own unwillingness to obtain the salvation offered to them. (John 1:9; I Thess. 5:9; Titus 2:11–12).<ref name="IMC1986">{{cite book |title=Discipline of the Immanuel Missionary Church |date=1986 |page=7 |publisher=[[Immanuel Missionary Church]] |location=[[Shoals, Indiana]]|language=English}}</ref>}}

===Four sources of theological authority===
{{Further|Wesleyan Quadrilateral|Prima scriptura#Wesleyan Methodism}}
The 20th-century Wesley scholar [[Albert Outler]] argued in his introduction to the 1964 collection ''John Wesley'' that Wesley developed his theology by using a method that Outler termed the [[Wesleyan Quadrilateral]].<ref>{{cite web |language=en |last=Mellor |first=G. Howard |title=The Wesleyan Quadrilateral |website=Methodist Evangelicals Together |date=2003 |url=http://methodistevangelicals.org.uk/resources/wesleyan-quadrilateral}}</ref> The [[Free Methodist Church]] teaches:<ref name="FMC"/>
{{quotation|In the Free Methodist church, we believe all truth is God's truth. If something is true, we embrace it as from the Lord. First and foremost, we hold scripture up to be the primary source of God's inspired revealed truth to us. And, we also embrace truth that is found in three other places: reason, tradition, and experience. Along with scripture, this has come to be called the Wesleyan Quadrilateral and we believe it informs our theology.<ref name="FMC">{{cite web |title=Wesleyan Quadrilateral: Tradition |date=6 October 2019 |url=http://fmcsb.org/event/2019/10/6/encounter-wesleyan-quadrilateral-tradition |publisher=Free Methodist Church of Santa Barbara |access-date=30 June 2021 |language=English}}</ref>}}
Likewise, the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]] refers to the quadrilateral as "a fourfold approach" to learning and applying the Christian faith,<ref>Methodist Church of Great Britain, [https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/the-methodist-church/what-is-distinctive-about-methodism/the-methodist-quadrilateral/ The Methodist quadrilateral], accessed 10 January 2023</ref> and the [[United Methodist Church]] asserts that:{{quote|Wesley believed that the living core of the Christian faith was revealed in Scripture, illumined by tradition, vivified in personal experience, and confirmed by reason. Scripture [however] is primary, revealing the Word of God 'so far as it is necessary for our salvation'.<ref>{{cite book |author=United Methodist Church|author-link=United Methodist Church |title=[[Book of Discipline (United Methodist)|The book of discipline of the United Methodist Church]] |publisher=[[Abingdon Press]] |location=[[Nashville, Tennessee]] |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofdiscipline00unit/page/77 77] |isbn=0-687-02373-4 |oclc=58046917 }}</ref>}}

===Four Last Things===
{{Further|Last Judgment#Anglicanism and Methodism|Christian burial#Methodist funeral}}
With respect to the [[four last things]], Wesleyan theology affirms the belief in [[hades in Christianity|Hades]], "the [[Intermediate state (Christianity)|intermediate state]] of souls between death and the [[general resurrection]]," which is divided into [[Bosom of Abraham|Paradise]] (for the righteous) and [[Gehenna]] (for the wicked).<ref>{{cite book|quote=The country is called Hades. That portion of it which is occupied by the good is called Paradise, and that province which is occupied by the wicked is called Gehenna.|last=Withington |first=John Swann |title=The United Methodist Free Churches' Magazine |year=1878|publisher=Thomas Newton |location=London |page=685}}</ref><ref name="Smithson1859">{{cite book|last=Smithson|first=William T.|title=The Methodist Pulpit|url=https://archive.org/details/methodistpulpits00smit|year=1859|publisher=H. Polkinhornprinter|page=[https://archive.org/details/methodistpulpits00smit/page/363 363]|quote=Besides, continues our critical authority, we have another clear proof from the New Testament, that ''hades'' denotes the intermediate state of souls between death and the general resurrection. In Revelations (xx, 14) we read that ''death'' and ''hades''-by our translators rendered ''hell'', as usual-shall, immediately after the general judgment, "be cast into the lake of fire: this is the second death." In other words, the death which consists in the separation of soul and body, and the receptacle of disembodied spirits shall be no more. ''Hades'' shall be emptied, death abolished.}}</ref> After the [[general judgment]], Hades will be abolished.<ref name="Smithson1859"/> John Wesley "made a distinction between [[Christian views on hell|hell]] (the receptacle of the damned) and Hades (the receptacle of all separate spirits), and also between paradise (the antechamber of heaven) and [[Heaven (Christianity)|heaven]] itself."<ref name="Jr.Warrick2005">{{cite book|last1=Yrigoyen|first1=Charles Jr.|last2=Warrick|first2=Susan E.|title=Historical Dictionary of Methodism|date=16 March 2005|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=9780810865464|page=107|quote=Considering the question of death and the intermediate state, John Wesley affirmed the immortality of the soul (as well as the future resurrection of the body), denied the reality of purgatory, and made a distinction between hell (the receptacle of the damned) and hades (the receptacle of all separate spirits), and also between paradise (the antechamber of heaven) and heaven itself.}}</ref><ref name="University2001">{{cite book|title=American Methodist Worship|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I1TDD5-CLlEC|access-date=10 April 2014|date=8 March 2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780198029267|page=202|author=Karen B. Westerfield Tucker|quote=Decisions made during life were therefore inseparably connected to what came after life. Upon death, according to Wesley, the souls of the deceased would enter an intermediate, penultimate state in which they would remain until reunited with the body at the resurrection of the dead. In that state variously identified as "the ante-chamber of heaven," "Abraham's bosom," and "paradise".}}</ref> The dead will remain in Hades "until the [[Day of Judgment]] when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see {{Bibleverse|Matthew|25|NRSV}})."<ref>{{cite book|last=Swartz|first=Alan|title=United Methodists and the Last Days|url=http://hermeneutic.org/2009/04/united-methodists-and-last-days.html|date=20 April 2009|publisher=Hermeneutic|quote=Wesley believed that when we die we will go to an Intermediate State (Paradise for the Righteous and Hades for the Accursed). We will remain there until the Day of Judgment when we will all be bodily resurrected and stand before Christ as our Judge. After the Judgment, the Righteous will go to their eternal reward in Heaven and the Accursed will depart to Hell (see Matthew 25).|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120411115342/http://hermeneutic.org/2009/04/united-methodists-and-last-days.html|archive-date=11 April 2012}}</ref> 
{{quotation|Everyone that has a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord on departing from this life, goes to be in felicity with Him, and will share the eternal glories of His everlasting Kingdom; the fuller rewards and the greater glories, being reserved until the final Judgment. Matt. 25:34, 46; John 14:2, 3; II Cor. 5:6, 8, 19; Phil. 1:23, 24 —Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline (¶24)<ref name="EMCC2017"/>}}
{{quotation|While the saint goes from the judgment to enjoy eternal bliss, the impenitent sinner is turned away into everlasting condemnation, punishment and misery. As heaven is described in the Bible as a place of everlasting happiness, so hell is described as a place of endless torment, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Matt. 25:41, 46; Mark 9:44–48; Luke 13:3; John 8:21, 23 —Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline (¶25)<ref name="EMCC2017">{{cite book |title=Evangelical Methodist Church Discipline |date=15 July 2017 |publisher=[[Evangelical Methodist Church Conference]] |language=English|pages=17}}</ref>}}
Wesley stated that: "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to [[prayer for the dead|pray for the Faithful Departed]]".<ref name="Walker1885">{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Walter James|title=Chapters on the Early Registers of Halifax Parish Church|url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_16943|year=1885|publisher=Whitley & Booth|language=en |page=[https://archive.org/details/cihm_16943/page/n34 20]|isbn=9780665169434 |quote=The opinion of the Rev. John Wesley may be worth citing. "I believe it to be a duty to observe, to pray for the Faithful Departed."}}</ref> He "taught the propriety of Praying for the Dead, practised it himself, provided ''Forms'' that others might."<ref name="HoldenWesley1872">{{cite book|last=Holden|first=Harrington William|title=John Wesley in Company with High Churchmen|url=https://archive.org/details/johnwesleyincom00weslgoog|year=1872|publisher=J. Hodges|location=London |page=84|quote=Wesley taught the propriety of Praying for the Dead, practised it himself, provided ''Forms'' that others might. These forms, for daily use, he put fort, not tentatively or apologetically, but as considering such prayer a settled matter of Christian practice, with all who believe that the Faithful, living and dead, are one Body in Christ in equal need and like expectation of those blessings which they will together enjoy, when both see Him in His Kingdom. Two or three examples, out of many, may be given:--"O grant that we, with those who are already dead in Thy faith and fear, may together partake of a joyful resurrection."}}</ref> In a joint statement with the [[Catholic Church in England and Wales]], the [[Methodist Church of Great Britain]] affirmed that "Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God."<ref name="Gould">{{cite book|last=Gould|first=James B.|title=Understanding Prayer for the Dead: Its Foundation in History and Logic|date=4 August 2016|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en |isbn=9781620329887|pages=57–58|quote=The Roman Catholic and English Methodist churches both pray for the dead. Their consensus statement confirms that "over the centuries in the Catholic tradition praying for the dead has developed into a variety of practices, especially through the Mass. ... The Methodist church ... has prayers for the dead ... Methodists who pray for the dead thereby commend them to the continuing mercy of God."}}</ref>

===Sacraments and rites===
{{Further|Sacrament#Anglicanism and Methodism}}

====Baptism====
[[File:Baptistry (United Methodist Church of the Saviour).jpg|thumb|right|A [[baptistry]] in a Methodist church]]
The Methodist [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]], with regard to baptism, teach:<ref name="NettlesPrattKolbCastelein2009">{{cite book|title=Understanding Four Views on Baptism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jUmAMlP8YOYC&pg=PA92|date=30 August 2009|publisher=Zondervan|language=en|isbn=9780310866985|page=92|quote=Thomas J. Nettles, Richard L. Pratt Jr., Robert Kolb, John D. Castelein}}</ref>
{{quotation|Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.<ref name="NettlesPrattKolbCastelein2009"/>}}
While baptism imparts regenerating grace, its permanence is contingent upon [[Repentance (theology)|repentance]] and a [[Born again#Methodism|personal commitment to Jesus Christ]].<ref name="By Water and the Spirit – Method">{{cite web|url = http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=992| title = By Water and the Spirit: A United Methodist Understanding of Baptism|publisher = [[The United Methodist Church]]|quote= In United Methodist churches, the water of baptism may be administered by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion.|access-date =August 2, 2007}}</ref>
Wesleyan theology holds that baptism is a sacrament of initiation into the visible Church.<ref name="StuartChappell1922">{{cite book|last1=Stuart|first1=George Rutledge|last2=Chappell|first2=Edwin Barfield|title=What Every Methodist Should Know|url=https://archive.org/details/whateverymethod00chapgoog|year=1922|publisher=Lamar & Barton|language=en |page=[https://archive.org/details/whateverymethod00chapgoog/page/n87 83]}}</ref> [[Covenant theology#Wesleyan covenant theology|Wesleyan covenant theology]] further teaches that baptism is a sign and a seal of the covenant of grace:<ref name="Summers1857">{{cite book|last=Summers|first=Thomas Osmond|title=Methodist Pamphlets for the People|year=1857|publisher=E. Stevenson & F. A. Owen for the M. E. Church, South|language=en|page=18}}</ref>
{{quotation|Of this great new-covenant blessing, baptism was therefore eminently the ''sign''; and it represented "the ''pouring out''" of the Spirit, "the ''descending''" of the Spirit, the "falling" of the Spirit "upon men," by the mode in which it was administered, the pouring of water from above upon the subjects baptized. As a seal, also, or ''confirming'' sign, baptism answers to circumcision.<ref name="Summers1857"/>}} 
Methodists recognize three modes of baptism as being valid—immersion, aspersion or affusion—in the name of the [[Holy Trinity]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|language=en|page=140}}</ref>

====Real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper====
The followers of John Wesley have typically affirmed that the sacrament of Holy Communion (the Lord's Supper) is an instrumental [[Means of Grace]] through which the [[real presence]] of Christ is communicated to the believer,<ref name="UMC – This Holy Mystery 1">{{cite web |url=http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/theologyofsacraments.html |title=This Holy Mystery: Part One |publisher=The United Methodist Church GBOD |access-date=10 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070807115823/http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/theologyofsacraments.html |archive-date=7 August 2007 |df=dmy }}</ref> but have otherwise allowed the details to remain a mystery.<ref name="UMC – This Holy Mystery 2">{{cite web |url=http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |title=This Holy Mystery: Part Two |publisher=The United Methodist Church GBOD |access-date=10 July 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090707030906/http://www.gbod.org/worship/thisholymystery/parttwo.html |archive-date=7 July 2009 |df=dmy }}</ref> In particular, Methodists reject the Catholic doctrine of [[transubstantiation]] (see "Article XVIII" of the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]]); the [[Primitive Methodist Church]], in its ''Discipline'' also rejects the [[Lollardist]] doctrine of [[consubstantiation]].<ref name="PMC2013">{{cite book|title=Discipline of the Primitive Methodist Church in the United States of America|publisher=[[Primitive Methodist Church]]|language=en|year=2013|quote= We reject the doctrine of transubstantiation: that is, that the substance of bread and wine are changed into the very body and blood of Christ in the Lord's Supper. We likewise reject that doctrine which affirms the physical presence of Christ's body and blood to be by, with and under the elements of bread and wine (consubstantiation).}}</ref> In 2004, the [[United Methodist]] Church affirmed its view of the sacrament and its belief in the real presence in an official document entitled ''This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion''. Of particular note here is the church's unequivocal recognition of the [[Anamnesis (Christianity)|anamnesis]] as more than just a memorial but, rather, a ''re-presentation'' of Christ Jesus and his love.<ref>[http://gbod.org.s3.amazonaws.com/legacy/kintera/entry_8350/19/THM-BYGC.PDF This Holy Mystery: A United Methodist Understanding of Holy Communion]. (PDF). General Conference of The United Methodist Church, 2004.</ref>

:Holy Communion is remembrance, commemoration, and memorial, but this remembrance is much more than simply intellectual recalling. "Do this in remembrance of me" (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24–25) is ''anamnesis'' (the biblical Greek word). This dynamic action becomes re-presentation of past gracious acts of God in the present, so powerfully as to make them truly present now. Christ is risen and is alive here and now, not just remembered for what was done in the past.

[[File:Methodistcommunion6.jpg|thumb|upright|A United Methodist minister consecrates the elements]]

This affirmation of real presence can be seen clearly illustrated in the language of the United Methodist Communion Liturgy<ref>for example, {{cite web|url=http://www.revneal.org/communionlit1.html|title=United Methodist Communon Liturgy: Word and Table 1|work=revneal.org|year=2010|access-date=23 September 2011|archive-date=17 April 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090417073138/http://www.revneal.org/communionlit1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> where, in the [[epiclesis]] of the Great Thanksgiving, the celebrating minister prays over the elements:

:Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.

Methodists assert that Jesus is truly present, and that the means of his presence is a "Holy Mystery". A celebrating minister will pray for the Holy Spirit to make the elements "be for us the body and blood of Christ", and the congregation can even sing, as in the third stanza of [[Charles Wesley|Charles Wesley's]] hymn ''[[wikisource:Come, Sinners, to the Gospel Feast (version 2)|Come Sinners to the Gospel Feast]]'':

:Come and partake the gospel feast,
:be saved from sin, in Jesus rest;
:O taste the goodness of our God,
:and eat his flesh and drink his blood.

The distinctive feature of the Methodist doctrine of the real presence is that the way Christ manifests his presence in the sacrament is a sacred mystery—the focus is that Christ ''is'' truly present in the sacrament.<ref>{{cite book|last=Neal|first=Gregory S.|title=Grace Upon Grace|date=19 December 2014|publisher=WestBow Press|language=en |isbn=9781490860060|page=107}}</ref> The ''Discipline'' of the [[Free Methodist Church]] thus teaches:
{{quotation|The Lord's Supper is a sacrament of our redemption by Christ's death. To those who rightly, worthily, and with faith receive it, the bread which we break is a partaking of the body of Christ; and likewise the cup of blessing is a partaking of the blood of Christ. The supper is also a sign of the love and unity that Christians have among themselves. Christ, according to his promise, is really present in the sacrament. –''Discipline'', [[Free Methodist Church]]<ref name="Oden2008">{{cite book|last=Oden|first=Thomas C.|title=Doctrinal Standards in the Wesleyan Tradition: Revised Edition|year=2008|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=9780687651115|page=184}}</ref>}}

====Confession====
[[Penance]], including the practice of confessing sins, is defined by the [[Articles of Religion (Methodist)|Articles of Religion]] as one those "Commonly called Sacraments but not to be counted for Sacraments of the Gospel", also known as the "[[Anglican sacraments|five lesser sacraments]]".<ref name="Blunt1891">{{cite book|last=Blunt|first=John Henry|title=Dictionary of Doctrinal and Historical Theology|year=1891|publisher=Longmans, Green & Co.|page=670}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://rethinkbishop.com/tag/the-united-methodist-church/|title=Where The Line Is Drawn: Ordination and Sexual Orientation in the UMC|last=Pruitt|first=Kenneth|date=22 November 2013|publisher=Rethink Bishop|access-date=27 April 2014|quote=Sacraments for the UMC include both Baptism and Eucharist. The Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions count five more, which many Protestants, including the UMC, acknowledge as sacramental: Confession/Absolution, Holy Matrimony, Confirmation/Chrismation, Holy Orders/Ordination, and Anointing/Unction.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428000914/http://rethinkbishop.com/tag/the-united-methodist-church/|archive-date=28 April 2014}}</ref> John Wesley held "the validity of Anglican practice in his day as reflected in the [[Book of Common Prayer (1662)|1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'']]",<ref name="Underwood1992">{{cite book|last=Underwood|first=Ralph L.|title=Pastoral Care and the Means of Grace|date=1 October 1992|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=9781451416466|page=76|quote=The reason is simply that Wesley assumed the validity of Anglican practice in his day as reflected in the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer''. His later comments on the priestly office substantiate this. Just as preaching in the Methodist movement was not a substitute for Holy Communion, so for Wesley class meetings did not take the place of personal confession and absolution.}}<!--|access-date=27 April 2014--></ref> stating that "We grant confession to men to be in many cases of use: public, in case of public scandal; private, to a spiritual guide for disburdening of the conscience, and as a help to repentance."<ref name="Wesley1882">{{cite book|last=Morris|first=F.O. |title=The Ghost of Wesley [extracts from his writings]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z8MHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA10|access-date=27 April 2014|year=1882|page=10}}</ref> Additionally, per the recommendation of Wesley, Methodist [[class meeting#History|class meeting]]s, as well as [[penitent band]]s, traditionally met weekly in order to confess sins to one another.<ref>{{cite web |title=Methodist Christianity |url=http://orderofsaintpatrick.org/church/methodist-church.htm |publisher=The Order of Saint Patrick |access-date=31 May 2019 |language=en |date=21 April 2017 |quote=The society groups could be divided into smaller groups called "classes" that would provide for even more intimate spiritual support and nurture. These classes were composed of about a dozen people who met once a week for spiritual conversation and guidance. Members spoke about their temptations, confessed their faults, shared their concerns, testified to the working of God in their lives and exhorted & prayed for each other. Every Methodist was expected to attend class meetings.}}</ref>

====Lovefeast====
{{Main|Lovefeast#Methodist}}
Lovefeasts (in which bread and the loving-cup is shared between members of the congregation) are a [[means of grace]], a "converting ordinance" that John Wesley believed to be an apostolic institution.<ref name="Tovey2016">{{cite book|last=Tovey|first=Phillip|title=The Theory and Practice of Extended Communion|date=24 February 2016|publisher=Routledge|language=en|isbn=9781317014201|pages=40–49}}</ref> One account from July 1776 expounded on the fact that people experienced entire sanctification at a Lovefeast:<ref name="Tovey2016"/>
{{quotation|We held our general love-feast. It began between eight and nine on Wednesday morning, and continued till noon. Many testified that they had 'redemption in the blood of Jesus, even the forgiveness of sins.' And many were enabled to declare that it had 'cleansed them from all sin.' So clear, so full, so strong was their testimony that while some were speaking their experience hundreds were in tears, and others vehemently crying to God for pardon or holiness. About eight our [[watchnight service|watch-night]] began. Mr. J. preached an excellent sermon: the rest of the preachers exhorted and prayed with divine energy. Surely, for the work wrought on these two days, many will praise God to all eternity (ibid.: pp. 93–4)<ref name="Tovey2016"/>}}

====Footwashing====
In certain Methodist connexions, such as the [[Missionary Methodist Church]] and the New Congregational Methodist Church, [[footwashing]] is practiced at the time that the Lord's Supper is celebrated.<ref name="Melton1987">{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=J. Gordon |title=The Encyclopedia of American Religions |date=1987 |publisher=Gale Research Company |isbn=978-0-8103-2133-5 |page=275 |language=English}}</ref><ref name="MMC2004">{{cite book |title=Discipline of the Missionary Methodist Church |date=2004 |publisher=Missionary Methodist Church |page=7}}</ref> The Missionary Methodist Church states in its [[Book of Discipline]]:<ref name="MMC2004"/>
{{quotation|Feet Washing: We would sanction and encourage the rite of feet washing as a religious act. It is provided that each church be required to partake of the Supper of the Lord as often as is convenient; it is provided that each church observe the rite of feet washing.<br />
''John 13:1–17; 1 Timothy 5:10''<br />
Four reasons why Jesus washed His disciples' feet:<br />
1. "That He might testify His love to His disciplines."<br />
2. "That He might give an instance of His own voluntary humility and condescension."<br /> 
3. "That He might signify to them spiritual washing, which is referred to in His discourse with Peter."<br />
4. "That He might set them an example."<ref name="MMC2004"/>}}
In other connexions such as the United Methodist Church, footwashing is practiced especially on [[Maundy Thursday]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Burns |first1=Stephen |last2=Cones |first2=Bryan |title=Liturgy with a Difference: Beyond Inclusion in the Christian Assembly |date=31 May 2019 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-05742-0 |language=English}}</ref>

====Validity of Holy Orders====
{{See also|Elder (Methodist)|Bishops in Methodism|Ordination of women in Methodism}}
[[File:17 22 169 window.jpg|thumb|Stained glass of three Methodist ministers, Charles Wesley, John Wesley, and [[Francis Asbury]], at [[Lake Junaluska, North Carolina|Lake Junaluska]]]]
John Wesley held that the offices of bishop and [[presbyter]] constituted one [[holy orders|order]],<ref name="John McClintock, James Strong">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NBAMAAAAIAAJ&q=alexandria+wesley+ordination&pg=PA170|title=Cyclopædia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature, Volume 6|quote= Wesley had believed that bishops and presbyters constituted but one order, with the same right to ordain. He knew that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone. "I firmly believe", he said, "I am a scriptural ἐπίσκοπος, as much as any man in England or in Europe; for the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable which no man ever did or can prove;" but he also held that "Neither Christ nor his apostles prescribe any particular form of Church government." He was a true bishop of the flock which God had given to his care. He had hitherto refused "to exercise this right" of ordaining, because he would not come into needless conflict with the order of the English Church to which he belonged. But after the Revolution, his ordaining for American would violate no law of the Church; and when the necessity was clearly apparent, his hesitation ceased. "There does not appear," he said, "any other way of supplying them with ministers." Having formed his purpose, in February 1784, he invited Dr. Coke to his study in City Road, laid the case before him, and proposed to ordain and send him to America. |access-date=10 June 2013|last1=McClintock|first1=John|year=1894}}</ref> citing an ancient opinion from the [[Church of Alexandria]];<ref name="John McClintock, James Strong"/> [[Jerome]], a Church Father, wrote: "For even at Alexandria from the time of Mark the Evangelist until the episcopates of Heraclas and Dionysius the presbyters always named as bishop one of their own number chosen by themselves and set in a more exalted position, just as an army elects a general, or as deacons appoint one of themselves whom they know to be diligent and call him archdeacon. For what function, excepting ordination, belongs to a bishop that does not also belong to a presbyter?" (Letter CXLVI).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gloria-deo.blogspot.com/2010/09/methodists-and-apostolic-succession.html|title=Methodists and Apostolic Succession|last=Hixon|first=Daniel McLain|date=5 September 2010|publisher=Gloria Deo|language=en|access-date=8 May 2017|quote=The succession normally proceeds from bishop to bishop, however, in certain instances where the death of a bishop made this impossible, groups of elders have consecrated new bishops, who in turn have been recognized as legitimate by the broader catholic Church. We read of one example of this in the Ancient Church in St. Jerome's Letter CXLVI when he describes the episcopal succession of the city of Alexandria. Thus, considering the unusual historical circumstances of Christians in the American colonies cut off from valid sacraments, Fr. John Wesley's action in consecrating Thomas Coke was irregular but not invalid, and the United Methodist Church enjoys a valid succession to this day.}}</ref> John Wesley thus argued that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria, which was founded by [[Mark the Evangelist]], was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone and was considered valid by that ancient Church.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge Medieval History Series, Volumes 1–5|publisher=Plantagenet Publishing|page=130|quote=Severus of Antioch, in the sixth century, mentions that "in the former days" the bishop was "appointed" by presbyters at Alexandria. Jerome (in the same letter that was cited above, but independent for the moment of Ambrosiaster) deduces the essential equality of priest and bishop from the consideration that the Alexandrian bishop "down to Heraclas and Dionysius" (232–265) was chosen by the presbyters from among themselves without any special form of consecration.}}</ref><ref name="Hinson1995">{{cite book|last=Hinson|first=E. Glenn|title=The Church Triumphant: A History of Christianity Up to 1300|year=1995|publisher=Mercer University Press|isbn=9780865544369|page=135|quote=In Alexandria presbyters elected bishops and installed them until the fourth century. Throughout this critical era the power and importance of bishops increased steadily. At the beginning of the period Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria still thought of bishops as presbyters, albeit presbyters in a class by themselves.}}</ref><ref name="McClintockStrong1894">{{cite book|last1=McClintock|first1=John|last2=Strong|first2=James|title=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature|volume=6|year=1894|publisher=Harper|page=170|quote=For forty years Mr. Wesley had believed that bishops and presbyters constituted but one order, with the same right to ordain. He knew that for two centuries the succession of bishops in the Church of Alexandria was preserved through ordination by presbyters alone.}}</ref>

Since the Bishop of London refused to ordain [[Anglican ministry|ministers]] in the [[British colonization of the Americas|British American colonies]],<ref name="William Joseph Whalen">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sw9ILcqw2hsC&q=methodism+our+separated+brethren&pg=PA71|title=Separated Brethren: A Review of Protestant, Anglican, Eastern Orthodox & Other Religions in the United States|quote=the Methodists were directed to receive baptism and Holy Communion from Episcopal priests. They soon petitioned to receive the sacraments from the same Methodist preachers who visited their homes and conducted their worship services. The Bishop of London refused to ordain Methodist preachers as deacons and priests for the colonies, so in 1784 Wesley assumed the power to ordain ministers himself.|publisher=[[Our Sunday Visitor]]|access-date=10 June 2013|isbn=9781931709057|year=2002}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> this constituted an emergency and as a result, on 2 September 1784, Wesley, along with a priest from the Anglican Church and two other elders,<ref name="Richard Joseph Cooke – Ordination of Dr. Coke">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/10166422.emory.edu |page=[https://archive.org/details/10166422.emory.edu/page/n145 145] |title=The historic episcopate: a study of Anglican claims and Methodist orders|quote= IN September, 1784, the Rev. John Wesley, assisted by a presbyter of the Church of England and two other elders, ordained by solemn imposition of the hands of the Rev. Dr. Thomas Coke to the episcopal office. |publisher = Eaton & Mains |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1896}}</ref> operating under the ancient Alexandrian habitude, ordained [[Thomas Coke (bishop)|Thomas Coke]] a superintendent, although Coke embraced the title bishop.<ref name="James Grant Wilson, John Fiske – Ordination of Dr. Coke">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=takoAAAAYAAJ&q=Thomas+Coke+bishop+1780&pg=PA438 |title=Appleton's cyclopædia of American biography, Volume 6|quote= Being refused, he conferred with Thomas Coke, a presbyter of the Church of England, and with others, and on 2 Sept., 1784, he ordained Coke bishop, after ordaining Thomas Vasey and Richard Whatcoat as presbyters, with his assistance and that of another presbyter. |publisher =D. Appleton & Company |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1889}}</ref><ref name="Abel Stevens – Coke">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r2QFAAAAQAAJ&q=alexandria+wesley+ordination&pg=PA544 |title=A compendious history of American Methodism |quote= Wesley referes(sic) to the ordination of bishops by the presbyters of Alexandria, in justification of his ordination of Coke.|publisher =Scholarly Publishing Office |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1885 }}</ref>

Today, the [[United Methodist Church]] follows this ancient Alexandrian practice as bishops are elected from the presbyterate:<ref name="UMC – Election of a Bishop">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbhem.org/networking/ministry-elder|title=The Ministry of the Elder|publisher=[[United Methodist Church]]|access-date=10 June 2013|archive-date=28 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528191618/http://www.gbhem.org/networking/ministry-elder|url-status=dead}}</ref> the ''[[Book of Discipline (United Methodist)|Discipline of the Methodist Church]]'', in ¶303, affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the [[Holy Spirit]]."<ref name="Alexander W. McLeod, Charles J. Shreve – Church Fathers">{{cite web|url=http://www.gbhem.org/atf/cf/%7B0BCEF929-BDBA-4AA0-968F-D1986A8EEF80%7D/DOM7DaysofPreparation.pdf |title=Seven Days of Preparation – A Guide for Reading, Meditation and Prayer for all who participate in The Conversation: A Day for Dialogue and Discernment: Ordering of Ministry in the United Methodist Church |quote=The ''Discipline'' affirms that "ordination to this ministry is a gift from God to the Church. In ordination, the Church affirms and continues the apostolic ministry through persons empowered by the Holy Spirit" (¶303). |publisher=[[United Methodist Church]] |access-date=31 December 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226171839/http://www.gbhem.org/atf/cf/%7B0BCEF929-BDBA-4AA0-968F-D1986A8EEF80%7D/DOM7DaysofPreparation.pdf |archive-date=26 December 2010 }}</ref> It also cites Scripture in support of this practice, namely, 1 Timothy 4:14, which states: {{quote|Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the ''presbytery''.<ref name="P. Douglass Gorrie – Sacred Scripture">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jxZBAAAAcAAJ&q=apostolic+succession+methodist&pg=PA223|title=Episcopal Methodism, as it was, and is;: Or, An account of the origin, progress, doctrines, church polity, usages, institutions, and statistics, of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States|quote= "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by the laying on of the hands of the ''presbytery''." Here it is plain that the ministerial gift or power which Timothy possessed, was given him ''by'' the laying on of the hands of the body of the elders who ordained him. And in regard to the ''government'' of the church, it is equally plain that ''bishops'', in distinction from ''presbyters'', were not charged with the oversight thereof, for it is said – Acts xx. 17, 28, that Paul "called the elders (not the bishops) of the Church of Ephesus, and said unto them, 'Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers,' feed the church of God." On this passage we remark, 1st, that the original Greek term for the word "overseer" is "episcopos," they very word from which our term "bishop" is derived, and which is generally translated "bishop" in the English version of the New Testament. Now this term episcopos, overseer, or bishop, is applied to the ''identical'' persons called ''elders'' in the 17th verse, and to none other. Consequently, Paul must have considered elders and bishops as one, not only in office, but in order also; and so the Ephesian ministers undoubtedly understood him.|publisher = Miller, Orton & Mulligan |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1852}}</ref>|[[Paul of Tarsus|St. Paul of Tarsus]]|[[KJV]]}}
The Methodist Church also buttresses this argument with the leg of [[sacred tradition]] of the [[Wesleyan Quadrilateral]] by citing the [[Church Fathers]], many of whom concur with this view.<ref name="Alexander W. McLeod, Charles J. Shreve – Church Fathers1">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=EScYAAAAYAAJ&q=bishop+methodist+succession&pg=PA41|title=The Methodist Ministry Defended, Or, a Reply to the Arguments in Favour of the Divine Institution, and the Uninterrupted Succession of Episcopacy|quote= Even "after the introduction of the practice by which the epithet Bishop was generally confined to one person, the older writers who dwell upon this, occasionally use that epithet as synonymous with presbyter, it not having been till the ''third'' century, that the appropriation was so complete as never to be cast out of view.|publisher = General Books LLC |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1899}}</ref><ref name="P. Douglass Gorrie – Church Fathers">{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jxZBAAAAcAAJ&q=apostolic+succession+methodist&pg=PA223|title=Episcopal Methodism, as it was, and is;: Or, An account of the origin, progress, doctrines, church polity, usages, institutions, and statistics, of the Methodist Episcopal church in the United States|quote= But if Scripture is opposed to modern high church claims and pretensions, so is ''history'', on which successionists appear to lay so much stress.|publisher = Miller, Orton & Mulligan |access-date=10 June 2013|year=1852}}</ref>

In addition to the aforementioned arguments, in 1937 the annual Conference of the [[British Methodist Church]] located the "true continuity" with the Church of past ages in "the continuity of Christian experience, the fellowship in the gift of the one Spirit; in the continuity in the allegiance to one Lord, the continued proclamation of the message; the continued acceptance of the mission;..." [through a long chain which goes back to] "the first disciples in the company of the Lord Himself ... This is our doctrine of [[apostolic succession]]" [which neither depends on, nor is secured by,] "an official succession of ministers, whether bishops or presbyters, from apostolic times, but rather by fidelity to apostolic truth".<ref name="autogenerated229">Jay, Eric G. ''The Church: its changing image through twenty centuries''. John Knox Press: 1980, p.228f</ref>

===Prayer===
Methodism has heavily emphasized "offerings of extempore and spontaneous prayer".<ref name="Nichols2012">{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=Bridget |title=The Collect in the Churches of the Reformation |date=12 May 2012 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-04207-5 |page=85 |language=en}}</ref> To this end, many [[Methodist]] churches devote a portion of their Sunday evening service and mid-week Wednesday evening prayer meeting to having congregants share their prayer requests, in addition to hearing personal [[Testimony#Religion|testimonies]] about their faith and experiences in living the Christian life.<ref name="POF1948">{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Pillar of Fire Church |date=1948 |publisher=Pillar of Fire Church |pages=39–40}}</ref> After listening to various members of the congregation voice their prayer requests, congregants often kneel for [[Intercession#Christianity|intercessory prayer]].<ref name="WFMC2024">{{cite web |title=Prayer |url=https://wilmorefmc.org/worship/prayer/ |publisher=Wilmore Free Methodist Church |language=English |date=2024 |quote=We gather each Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. for singing, joyful thanksgiving, sharing, and prayer. Anyone is welcome to come and share a burden for us to bear together or a blessing for us to celebrate together.}}</ref>

Early Methodism was known for its "almost monastic rigors, its living by rule, [and] its canonical hours of prayer".<ref name="Hurst1902">{{cite book|last=Hurst|first=John Fletcher|title=The History of Methodism|year=1902|publisher=Eaton & Mains|pages=310}}</ref> It inherited from its [[Daily Office (Anglican)|Anglican patrimony]] the rubrics of reciting the [[Daily Office]], which Methodist Christians were expected to [[Christian prayer|pray]].<ref name="Jones2019">{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Susan H. |title=Everyday Public Worship |date=30 April 2019 |publisher=SCM Press |isbn=978-0-334-05757-4 |language=en}}</ref> The first prayer book of Methodism, ''[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists|The Sunday Service of the Methodists with other occasional Services]]'' thus included the canonical hours of both Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer; these services were observed everyday in [[early Christianity]], though on the [[Lord's Day]], worship included the Eucharist.<ref name="Bercot2021">{{cite book |last1=Bercot |first1=David W. |title=Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs: A Reference Guide to More Than 700 Topics Discussed by the Early Church Fathers |date=28 December 2021 |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. |isbn=978-1-61970-168-7 |language=English |quote=Morning and Evening Prayer were liturgical services held each day at the local church, during which psalms were sung and prayers were offered to God.}}</ref><ref name="Jones2019"/><ref name="Beckwith2005">{{cite book |last1=Beckwith |first1=Roger T.|author-link1=Roger T. Beckwith |title=Calendar, Chronology And Worship: Studies in Ancient Judaism And Early Christianity |date=2005 |publisher=[[Brill Academic Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-14603-7 |page=193 |language=en}}</ref> Later Methodist liturgical books, such as The Methodist Worship Book (1999) provide for Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer to be prayed daily; the [[United Methodist Church]] encourages its communicants to pray the canonical hours as "one of the essential practices" of being a disciple of Jesus.<ref>{{cite web |title=Praying the Hours of the Day: Recovering Daily Prayer |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/praying-the-hours-of-the-day-recovering-daily-prayer |publisher=[[General Board of Discipleship]] |access-date=6 September 2020 |date=6 May 2007}}</ref> Some Methodist religious orders publish the Daily Office to be used for that community, for example, ''The Book of Offices and Services of The Order of Saint Luke'' contains the canonical hours to be prayed traditionally at [[fixed prayer times|seven fixed prayer times]]: [[Lauds]] (6 am), [[Terce]] (9 am), [[Sext]] (12 pm), [[Nones (liturgy)|None]] (3 pm), [[Vespers]] (6 pm), [[Compline]] (9 pm) and [[Vigil]] (12 am).<ref>{{cite book|title=The Book of Offices and Services|date=6 September 2012|publisher=[[Order of St. Luke]]}}</ref> Some Methodist congregations offer daily Morning Prayer.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philosophy of St. Paul's |url=http://www.stpaulsfmc.org/guiding-philosophies.html |publisher=St Paul's Free Methodist Church |access-date=17 May 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

===Outward holiness===
{{Main|Outward holiness}}
{{Further|Works of Piety|Works of mercy#In Methodism|Penitent band}}
Early Methodists wore [[plain dress]], with Methodist clergy condemning "high headdresses, ruffles, laces, gold, and 'costly apparel' in general".<ref name="Lyerly1998">{{cite book|last=Lyerly|first=Cynthia Lynn|title=Methodism and the Southern Mind, 1770–1810|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRiddXHU584C&pg=PA39|access-date=19 June 2017|date=24 September 1998|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|isbn=9780195354249|page=39}}</ref> John Wesley recommended that Methodists annually read his thoughts ''On Dress'';<ref>Journals of Wesley, Nehemiah Curnock, ed., London: Epworth Press 1938, p. 468.</ref> in that sermon, John Wesley expressed his desire for Methodists: "Let me see, before I die, a Methodist congregation, full as plain dressed as a [[Quaker]] congregation".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/john-wesley/the-sermons-of-john-wesley-1872-edition/sermon-88-on-dress/|title=The Wesley Center Online: Sermon 88 – On Dress|last=Wesley|first=John|year=1999|publisher=Wesley Center for Applied Theology|language=en|access-date=19 June 2017}}</ref> The 1858 Discipline of the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (United States)|Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] thus stated that "we would ... enjoin on all who fear God plain dress".<ref name="America1858">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, of America|year=1858|publisher=Wesleyan Methodist Connection of America|language=en |page=85}}</ref> [[Peter Cartwright (revivalist)|Peter Cartwright]], a Methodist [[Christian revival|revivalist]], stated that in addition to wearing plain dress, the early Methodists distinguished themselves from other members of society by [[Fasting#Methodism|fasting]] on Fridays, [[teetotalism|abstaining from alcohol]], and devoutly [[Sabbatarianism#Sunday Sabbatarians|observing the Sabbath]].<ref name="Cartwright">{{cite book|last=Cartwright|first=Peter|title=Autobiography of Peter Cartwright: The Backwoods Preacher|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00incart|year=1857|publisher=Carlton & Porter|language=en |page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00incart/page/74 74]}}</ref><ref name="Wesley1825"/> Methodist [[Circuit rider (religious)|circuit riders]] were known for practicing the [[Spiritual practice#Christianity|spiritual discipline]] of [[Mortification of the flesh#Methodism|mortifying the flesh]] as they "arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees [[Fasting#Methodism|without food or drink]] or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end".<ref name="Bratt2012">{{cite book|last=Bratt|first=James D.|title=By the Vision of Another World: Worship in American History|year=2012|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|language=en |isbn=9780802867100|page=44|quote=Methodist preachers, in particular, may have been tempted to take the elevation of the spirit and concomitant mortification of the body to extremes. Early circuit riders often arose well before dawn for solitary prayer; they remained on their knees without food or drink or physical comforts sometimes for hours on end.}}</ref> The early Methodists did not participate in, and condemned, "worldly habits" including "playing cards, racing horses, gambling, attending the theater, dancing (both in frolics and balls), and cockfighting".<ref name="Lyerly1998"/>

Over time, many of these practices were gradually relaxed in mainline Methodism, although practices such as teetotalism and fasting are still very much encouraged, in addition to the current prohibition of gambling;<ref name="Jones">{{cite book|last=Jones|first=Scott J.|title=United Methodist Doctrine: The Extreme Center|year=2002|publisher=Abingdon Press|language=en|isbn=9780687034857|page=235}}</ref> denominations of the [[conservative holiness movement]], such as the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] and [[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]], continue to reflect the spirit of the historic Methodist practice of wearing plain dress, encouraging members in "abstaining from the wearing of extravagant hairstyles, jewelry—to include rings, and expensive clothing for any reason".<ref>{{cite book|title=Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|language=en|chapter=I. The Church|quote=Should we insist on plain and modest dress? Certainly. We should not on any account spend what the Lord has put into our hands as stewards, to be used for His glory, in expensive wearing apparel, when thousands are suffering for food and raiment, and millions are perishing for the Word of life. Let the dress of every member of every Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Church be plain and modest. Let the strictest carefulness and economy be used in these respects.}}</ref><ref name="EWC2015">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church |year=2015|publisher=[[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]]|language=en|pages=41, 57–58}}</ref> The [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]], which continues to observe the [[ordinance (Christianity)|ordinance]] of [[Christian head covering|women's headcovering]], stipulates "renouncing all vain pomp and glory" and "adorning oneself with modest attire."<ref>{{cite web |title=Brief Description |url=http://fimc.org.uk/about_us.htm |publisher=[[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]] |access-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220126234944/http://fimc.org.uk/about_us.htm |archive-date=26 January 2022 |language=English |date=26 January 2022}}</ref> The General Rules of the Methodist Church in America, which are among the doctrinal standards of many Methodist Churches, promote first-day Sabbatarianism as they require "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God" and prohibit "profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling".<ref name="Tucker2011">{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Karen B. Westerfield|title=American Methodist Worship|date=27 April 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en |isbn=9780199774159|page=46}}</ref><ref name="AbrahamKirby2009">{{cite book|last1=Abraham|first1=William J.|last2=Kirby|first2=James E.|title=The Oxford Handbook of Methodist Studies|date=24 September 2009|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|language=en|isbn=9780191607431|page=253}}</ref>

===Teetotalism===
[[File:Cardiff Methodist Temperance Magazine (Welsh Journal).jpg|thumb|''Methodist Temperance Magazine'', a [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist]] publication in [[Cardiff]], [[Wales]]]]
John Wesley "laid foundations for Methodism's traditional call to abstain from beverage alcohol and its warnings about the use of drugs."<ref name="Yrigoyen2010">{{cite book |last1=Yrigoyen |first1=Charles |title=John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life |date=1 October 2010 |publisher=Abingdon Press |isbn=978-1-4267-2945-4 |language=English |quote=Wesley understood both the health and social issues related to the intemperate use of alcoholic beverages, especially liquors such as gin and brandy. He described distilled liquor as a "certain, though slow, poison," "liquid fire," prepared by the devil and his angels. Although he allowed for the use of liquor for "medicinal purposes," he cautioned against its consumption as a regular beverage and condemned those who sold it as "poisoners." About the "sellers of spirits" he stressed: "They murder His Majesty's subjects by wholesale, neither does their eye pity or spare [them]. They drive [their customers] to hell like sheep." Alcohol was not only a threat to good health, it was a menace to morality. Drunkenness affected the family and community, causing chaos in both. Wesley laid foundations for Methodism's traditional call to abstain from beverage alcohol and its warnings about the use of drugs (see United Methodism's Social Principles in The Book of Discipline).}}</ref> Wesley referred to liquors as "certain, though slow, poison" and condemned those who sold it of leading people to [[hell]].<ref name="Yrigoyen2010"/> Methodist Churches are traditionally aligned with the [[temperance movement]] and its call for [[teetotalism]].<ref name="Whitaker2011">{{cite book|last=Whitaker|first=Sigur E.|title=James Allison: A Biography of the Engine Manufacturer and Indianapolis 500 Cofounder|date=31 March 2011|publisher=McFarland|language=English|isbn=9780786486397|page=150}}</ref> In Great Britain, both [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodists]] and [[Primitive Methodist]]s championed the cause of temperance;<ref name="Wheeler1882">{{cite book|last=Wheeler|first=Henry|title=Methodism and the Temperance Reformation|year=1882|publisher=Walden and Stowe|language=English|page=278}}</ref> the [[Methodist Board of Temperance, Prohibition, and Public Morals]] was later established in the United States to further the movement.<ref name="Fowler2018">{{cite book|last=Fowler|first=Robert Booth|title=Religion and Politics in America: Faith, Culture, and Strategic Choices|date=4 April 2018|publisher=Taylor & Francis|language=English |isbn=9780429972799|page=213}}</ref> ¶91 of the 2014 ''Discipline'' of the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]] summarizes the traditional practice of Methodists regarding their requirement of abstinence from alcohol and other drugs:<ref name="AWMC2014">{{cite book|title=The Discipline of the Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection (Original Allegheny Conference)|year=2014|publisher=[[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]]|location=[[Salem, Ohio|Salem]]|language=en|page=37}}</ref>
{{quotation|We believe total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors as a beverage to be the duty of all Christians. We heartily favor moral suasion and the gospel remedy to save men from the drink habit. We believe that law must be an adjunct of moral means in order to suppress the traffic side of this evil. We believe that the State and the citizen each has solemn responsibilities and duties to perform in regard to this evil. We believe that for the State to enact any law to license or tax the traffic, or derive revenues therefrom, is contrary to the policy of good government, and brings the State into guilty complicity with the traffic and all the evils growing out of it, and is also unscriptural and sinful in principle and ought to be opposed by every Christian and patriot. We therefore believe that the only true and proper remedy for the gigantic evil of the liquor traffic is its entire suppression; and that all our people and true Christians everywhere should pray and vote against this evil, and not suffer themselves to be controlled by or support political parties which are managed in the interest of the drink traffic.<ref name="AWMC2014"/>}}

===Fasting===
Fasting is considered one of the [[works of piety]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/disciple.stm |title=John Wesley and Spiritual Disciplines-- The Works of Piety |year=2012 |publisher=The United Methodist Church |access-date=5 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110150935/http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/disciple.stm |archive-date=10 November 2014 }}</ref> Methodism's principal liturgical book [[The Sunday Service of the Methodists]] (put together by John Wesley), as well as The Directions Given to Band Societies (25 December 1744) by John Wesley, mandate [[Fasting#Methodism|fasting]] and abstinence from meat on all Fridays of the year (in remembrance of the crucifixion of Jesus).<ref name="Wesley1825">{{cite book |author1=[[John Wesley]] |title=[[The Sunday Service of the Methodists]] |date=1825 |publisher=J. Kershaw |page=145 |language=English |quote=''Days of Fasting or Abstinence'' All the Fridays in the Year, except Christmas-Day}}</ref><ref name="McKnight2010">{{cite book |last1=McKnight |first1=Scot |title=Fasting: The Ancient Practices |date=2010 |publisher=Thomas Nelson |isbn=9781418576134 |pages=88 |language=English|quote=John Wesley, in his ''Journal'', wrote on Friday, August 17, 1739, that "many of our society met, as we had appointed, at one in the afternoon and agreed that all members of our society should obey the Church to which we belong by observing 'all Fridays in the year' as 'days of fasting and abstinence.'}}</ref><ref name="1815Crowther">{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan|title=A Portraiture of Methodism: Or, The History of the Wesleyan Methodists|year=1815|publisher=T. Blanshard|language=English|pages=251, 257}}</ref> Wesley himself also kept the Eucharistic Fast, thus [[Eucharistic discipline|fasting before receiving Holy Communion]] "for the purpose of focusing his attention on God," and asked other Methodist Christians to do the same.<ref name=Beard>{{cite journal|title=The spiritual discipline of fasting|last=Beard|first=Steve|date=30 January 2012|publisher=United Methodist Church|newspaper=Good News Magazine }}</ref>

===Law and Gospel===
{{Further|Ten Commandments#Methodist}}
John Wesley admonished Methodist preachers to emphasize both the [[Law and Gospel|Law and the Gospel]]:<ref name="Seedbed2016">{{cite web |title=Wesley on Preaching Law and Gospel |url=https://www.seedbed.com/law-gospel-wesley/ |publisher=Seedbed |date=25 August 2016}}</ref>
{{quotation|Undoubtedly both should be preached in their turn; yea, both at once, or both in one. All the conditional promises are instances of this. They are law and gospel mixed together. According to this model, I should advise every preacher continually to preach the law — the law grafted upon, tempered by, and animated with the spirit of the gospel. I advise him to declare explain, and enforce every command of God. But meantime to declare in every sermon (and the more explicitly the better) that the flint and great command to a Christian is, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ': that Christ is all in all, our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; that all life, love, strength are from Him alone, and all freely given to us through faith. And it will ever be found that the law thus preached both enlightens and strengthens the soul; that it both nourishes and teaches; that it is the guide, 'food, medicine, and stay' of the believing soul.<ref name="Seedbed2016"/>}}
Methodism makes a distinction between the ceremonial law and the moral law that is the [[Ten Commandments]] given to Moses.<ref name="Dayton1991"/> In Methodist Christianity, the moral law is the "fundamental ontological principle of the universe" and "is grounded in eternity", being "engraved on human hearts by the finger of God."<ref name="Dayton1991">{{cite journal |last1=Dayton |first1=Donald W. |title=Law and Gospel in the Wesleyan Tradition |journal=Grace Theological Journal |date=1991 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=233–243 |url=https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/gtj/12-2_233.pdf}}</ref> In contradistinction to the teaching of the Lutheran Churches, the Methodist Churches bring the Law and the Gospel together in a profound sense: "the law is grace and through it we discover the good news of the way life is intended to be lived."<ref name="Dayton1991"/> John Wesley, the father of the Methodist tradition taught:<ref name="Dayton1991"/>
{{quotation|... there is no contrariety at all between the law and the gospel; ... there is no need for the law to pass away in order to the establishing of the gospel. Indeed neither of them supersedes the other, but they agree perfectly well together. Yea, the very same words, considered in different respects, are parts both of the law and the gospel. If they are considered as commandments, they are parts of the law: if as promises, of the gospel. Thus, 'Thou shalt love the Lord the God with all thy heart,' when considered as a commandment, is a branch of the law; when regarded as a promise, is an essential part of the gospel-the gospel being no other than the commands of the law proposed by way of promises. Accordingly poverty of spirit, purity of heart, and whatever else is enjoined in the holy law of God, are no other, when viewed in a gospel light, than so many great and precious promises. There is therefore the closest connection that can be conceived between the law and the gospel. On the one hand the law continually makes way for and points us to the gospel; on the other the gospel continually leads us to a more exact fulfilling of the law .... We may yet further observe that every command in Holy Writ is only a covered promise. (Sermon 25, "Sermon on the Mount, V," II, 2, 3)<ref name="Dayton1991"/>}}

===Sunday Sabbatarianism===
{{Main|Sabbatarianism#Methodist Churches}}
{{further|Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy#Methodist views}}
The early Methodists were known for "religiously keeping the Sabbath day".<ref name="Cartwright1857">{{cite book|author=Peter Cartwright|title=Autobiography of Peter Cartwright: The Backwoods Preacher|url=https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00incart|year=1857|publisher=Carlton & Porter|language=en |page=[https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofp00incart/page/74 74]|author-link=Peter Cartwright (revivalist)}}</ref> They regarded "keeping the Lord's Day as a duty, a delight, and a [[means of grace]]".<ref name="Tucker"/> The General Rules of the Methodist Church require "attending upon all the ordinances of God" including "the public worship of God" and prohibit "profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work therein or by buying or selling".<ref name="Tucker">{{cite book|last=Tucker|first=Karen B. Westerfield|title=American Methodist Worship|date=27 April 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en |isbn=9780199774159|pages=46, 117}}</ref><ref name="AbrahamKirby2009"/> The [[Sunday Sabbatarian]] practices of the earlier [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]] in Great Britain are described by Jonathan Crowther in ''A Portraiture of Methodism'':<ref name="Crowther">{{cite book|last=Crowther|first=Jonathan|title=A Portraiture of Methodism: Or, The History of the Wesleyan Methodists|year=1815|publisher=T. Blanshard|language=en|pages=224, 249–250}}</ref>
{{quotation|They believe it to be their duty to keep the first day of the week as a sabbath. This, before Christ, was on the last day of the week; but from the time of his resurrection, was changed into the first day of the week, and is in scripture called, ''The Lord's Day'', and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian sabbath. This they believe to be set apart by God, and for his worship by a ''positive'', ''moral'', and ''perpetual'' commandment. And they think it to be agreeable to the law of nature, as well as divine institution, that a due proportion of time should be set apart for the worship of God. ... This day ought to be kept holy unto the Lord, and men and women ought so to order their affairs, and prepare their hearts, that they may not only have a holy rest on that day, from worldly employments, words, and thoughts, but spend the day in the public and private duties of piety. No part of the day should be employed in any other way, except in works of mercy and necessity. On this day, they believe it to be their duty to worship God, and that not only in form, but at the same time in spirit and in truth. Therefore, they employ themselves in prayer and thanksgiving, in reading and meditating on the scriptures, in hearing the public preaching of God's word, in singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, in Christian conversation, and in commemorating the dying love of the Lord Jesus Christ. ... And with them it is a prevailing idea, that God must be worshipped in ''spirit'', daily, in private families, in the closet, and in the public assemblies.<ref name="Crowther"/>}}

== Churches upholding Wesleyan theology ==
{{Main|List of Methodist denominations}}
Methodism began as a reform movement within the Church of England, and, for a while, it remained as such. The movement separated itself from its "mother church" and became known as the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]] in America and the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (Great Britain)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]] in Britain (as distinguished from [[Calvinistic Methodism]]). Many divisions occurred within the Methodist Episcopal Church in the 19th century, mostly over attitudes towards slavery (though doctrinally, opposition to slavery is one of the [[Works of mercy#In Methodism|works of mercy]]).<ref name="Smedley2005">{{cite book |last1=Smedley |first1=R. C. |title=History of the Underground Railroad: In Chester and the Neighboring Counties of Pennsylvania |date=2005 |publisher=Stackpole Books |isbn=978-0-8117-3189-8 |page=xvi |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Lawrence |first1=William B. |title=Slavery and the founders of Methodism |url=https://www.umnews.org/en/news/slavery-and-the-founders-of-methodism |website=United Methodist News Service |access-date=15 May 2021 |language=en}}</ref> Some of these schisms healed in the early 20th century, and many of the splinter Methodist groups came together by 1939 to form the [[Methodist Church (USA)|Methodist Church]]. In 1968, the Methodist Church joined with the Radical Pietist [[Evangelical United Brethren Church]] to form [[The United Methodist Church]],<ref>The Constitution of The United Methodist Church, Preamble footnote, as found in [[Book of Discipline (United Methodist)|''The Book of Discipline'']] of the United Methodist Church, 1984, p. 20.</ref> the largest Methodist church in America. Other groups include the [[African Methodist Episcopal Church]], the [[African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church]], [[Christian Methodist Episcopal Church]], the [[Congregational Methodist Church]], the [[Evangelical Methodist Church]], the [[Free Methodist Church]], the [[Global Methodist Church]], the [[Lumber River Conference of the Holiness Methodist Church|Holiness Methodist Church]], the [[Methodist Protestant Church]], the [[Primitive Methodist Church]], and the [[Southern Methodist Church]]. There are also various [[Independent Methodist (disambiguation)|Independent Methodist]] associations, such as the [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]]. 

In 19th-century America, a dissension arose over the nature of [[entire sanctification]]. Those who believed that entire sanctification could occur both instantaneously or could result from progressive sanctification culminating in Christian perfection, remained within the mainline Methodist Churches; others, however, heavily emphasized the instantaneous nature of entire sanctification. The latter line of thought came to be known as the [[holiness movement]] and while many of those who supported it remained in mainline Methodism (e.g. [[Asbury Theological Seminary]]),<ref name="Winn">{{cite book |last1=Winn |first1=Christian T. Collins |title=From the Margins: A Celebration of the Theological Work of Donald W. Dayton |date=2007 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=9781630878320 |page=115 |language=en|quote=In addition to these separate denominational groupings, one needs to give attention to the large pockets of the Holiness movement that have remained within the United Methodist Church. The most influential of these would be the circles dominated by Asbury College and Asbury Theological Seminary (both in Wilmore, KY), but one could speak of other colleges, innumerable local campmeetings, the vestiges of various local Holiness associations, independent Holiness oriented missionary societies and the like that have had great impact within United Methodism. A similar pattern would exist in England with the role of Cliff College within Methodism in that context.}}</ref> others began the various holiness churches,<ref>{{cite web |title=Holiness churches |url=https://www.oikoumene.org/church-families/holiness-churches |website=www.oikoumene.org |publisher=World Council of Churches |access-date=6 February 2021}}</ref> including the [[Free Methodist Church]], [[Church of God (Holiness)]], the [[Church of God (Anderson)]], the [[Churches of Christ in Christian Union]], and the [[Wesleyan Methodist Church (United States)|Wesleyan Methodist Church]], which later merged with the Pilgrim Holiness Church to form the [[Wesleyan Church]], which is present today. Other holiness groups, which also rejected the competing Pentecostal movement, merged to form the [[Church of the Nazarene]]. The [[Salvation Army]] is another Wesleyan-Holiness group which traces its roots to early Methodism. The Salvation Army's founders Catherine and William Booth founded the organization to stress [[evangelism]] and [[Social Gospel|social action]] when William was a minister in the [[Methodist Reform Church]].

The [[conservative holiness movement]], including denominations such as the [[Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection]], [[Bible Methodist Connection of Churches]], [[Evangelical Methodist Church Conference]], [[Evangelical Wesleyan Church]] and [[Fellowship of Independent Methodist Churches]], emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries to herald many of the strict standards of primitive Methodism, including [[outward holiness]], [[plain dress]], and [[Christian views on alcohol#Methodism|temperance]].<ref>Sidwell, Mark, "[http://www.lcoggt.org/history/conservative_holiness_movement.htm Conservative Holiness Movement: A Fundamentalism File Report]". Retrieved 6 February 2021.</ref>

==Relationship with other religions==
{{Main|Islam and Christianity}}
John Wesley's statements against the [[Islamic faith]] are well known. Wesley assumed the superiority of Christianity vis-a-vis to Islam, based on his commitment to the biblical revelation as "the book of God". His theologic interpretation of Christianity was seeking its imperative rather than considering other [[Abrahamic]] and [[Eastern religion]]s to be equal. He often regarded the lifestyles of Muslims as an "ox goad" to prick the collective Christian conscience (cf. Acts 9 :5). Furthermore, his Anglo-centrism and common lay preaching had pulled future Methodist churches in conflict with other world religions.<ref> Richie T. (2003). [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/216998131.pdf "John Wesley and Mohammed"] core.ac.uk. Accessed 11 April 2023.</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Saints in Methodism]]
* [[Eucharist#Methodist|Eucharist § Methodist]]

== Notes and references ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal |language=en |last=Bounds |first=Christopher. T. |title=How are People Saved? The Major Views of Salvation with a Focus on Wesleyan Perspectives and their Implications |journal=Wesley and Methodist Studies |year=2011 |volume=3 |pages=31–54 |doi=10.5325/weslmethstud.3.2011.0031 |jstor=42909800 |s2cid=171804441 |doi-access=free}}
* {{cite book |language=en |last1=Cracknell |first1=Kenneth |last2=White |first2=Susan J. |title=An introduction to world Methodism |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2005}}
* {{cite book |language=en |last=Elwell |first=Walter A. |title=Evangelical Dictionary of Theology |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=Baker Publishing Group |date=2001 |isbn=9781441200303}}
* {{cite journal |language=en |last=Grider |first=J. Kenneth |title=The Nature of Wesleyan Theology |journal=Wesleyan Theological Journal |volume=17 |issue=2 |year=1982 |pages=43–57 |url=http://wesley.nnu.edu/fileadmin/imported_site/wesleyjournal/1982-wtj-17-2.pdf}}
* {{cite book |language=en |last=Sayer |first=M. James |title=The Survivor's Guide to Theology |location=Grand Rapids, MI  |publisher=Zondervan |date=2006}}
* {{cite book |language=en |last=Wynkoop |first=Mildred Bangs |title=Foundations of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology |location=Kansas City, MO |publisher=Beacon Hill Press |year=1967}}
{{refend}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book |title = A Catechism on the Christian Religion: The Doctrines of Christianity with Special Emphasis on Wesleyan Concepts |first1=Mel-Thomas |last1=Rothwell |first2=Helen |last2=Rothwell |year=1998|publisher=Schmul Publishing Co. |location=[[Nicholasville, Kentucky|Nicholasville]]|isbn=0880193867|ref=none}}
*{{cite book |title = A Catechism Prepared Especially for the Members of the Evangelical Wesleyan Church |year=2014|publisher=LWD Publishing|location=[[Cooperstown, Pennsylvania|Cooperstown]]}}
*Wallace Thornton, Jr., ''Radical Righteousness''
*Wallace Thornton, Jr., ''The Conservative Holiness Movement: A Historical Appraisal''
*Steve Harper, ''The Way to Heaven: The Gospel According to John Wesley''
*Kenneth J. Collins, ''Wesley on Salvation''
*Kenneth J. Collins, ''The Scripture Way of Salvation''
*Harald Lindström, ''Wesley and Sanctification''
*Thomas C. Oden, ''John Wesley's Scriptural Christianity''
*Adam Clarke, ''Clarke's Christian Theology''
*John Wesley, ''The Works of John Wesley'' (Baker Books, 2002)
*Huzar, Eleanor, "Arminianism" in the ''[[Encyclopedia Americana]]'' (Danbury, 1994).
*Outler, Albert C., "John Wesley" in the ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (Danbury, 1994).

== External links ==
* [https://steelesanswers.blogspot.com/2012/04/some-things-that-methodism-stands-for_20.html Some Things That Methodism Stands For] by [[Willard Francis Mallalieu]]
* [https://www.holinessmovement.org/resources/ Wesleyan theological texts, tracts, and discipleship resources]

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