Stacks Image 94






SECTION XVI.




MR. WESLEY APPROVED AND USED THE PHRASE "SECOND BLESSING."


To Mrs. Crosby, 1761: —

"The work of God goes on mightily here (London), both in conviction and conversion. This morning I have spoken with four or five who seem to have been set at liberty within this month. I believe, within five weeks, six in one class have received remission of sins, and five in one band received a second blessing. Peace be with you all!" — Works, vol. vii. p. 28.




"I had desired S. M. to give me some further account of the late work of God at Barnard Castle. Part of his answer was as follows: 'Within ten weeks, at least twenty persons in this town have found peace with God, and twenty-eight the pure love of God. This morning, before you left us, one found peace, and one the second blessing?"' — Journal, June, 1763.

To Miss Jane Hilton, 1766: —

"Do you now feel anything like anger, or pride, or self-will, or any remains of the carnal mind? Was your second deliverance wrought while I was at Beverly? at the time of the sermon, or after it? You did not tell me, in what manner you found the change; and whether it has continued without any intermission from that moment. Certainly there never need be any decay: there never will, if you continue watching unto prayer." — Works, vol. vii. p. 42.

To Miss Jane Hilton, 1774: —

"It is exceeding certain that God did give you the second blessing, properly so called. He delivered you from the root of bitterness, from inbred, as well as actual, sin. And at that time you were enabled to give Him all your heart; to rejoice evermore, and to pray without ceasing. Afterward, He permitted His work to be tried; and sometimes as by fire, For a while you were not moved; but could say in all things, 'Good is the will of the Lord.' But it seems you gave way, by little and little, till you were in some measure shorn of your strength." — Works, vol. vii. p. 45.

Tyerman says: "All agreed that the 'second blessing,' as it was then termed, was to be obtained by simple faith." — Tyerman, vol. ii. p. 422.

In these quotations we have the terms "second blessing," "second deliverance," and "second change," employed by Mr. Wesley, as expressive of entire sanctification, and, as he states, "properly so called."