The Meaning of Pentecost in Early Methodism: Rediscovering John Fletcher as John Wesley's Vindicator and Designated Successor (Volume 15) (Pietist and Wesleyan Studies, 15)

428 Pages·2002·14.612 MB·English

by  Laurence W. Wood

EYANSJWĎIES
and J. Stdyen 0 ’Malley
This rtaonograph senes will publish vpljáries in two areas of scholarly research:
Pietisrmand Methodism (broadly^Merstood). The focus will be Pietism, its
history and development, and-tfíe influence of this socio-religious tradition in
modem culttue, especiaHýwithin the Wesleyan religious traditions.
Consideration will be given to scholarly works on classical and neo-Pietism, on
English and American Methodism, as well as on the sociál and ecclesiastical
institutions shaped by Pietism (e.g., Evangelicals, United Brethren, and the
Pietist traditions among the Lutherans, Reformed, and Anabaptists). Works
focusing on leaders within the Pietist and Wesleyan traditions will also be
included in the series, as well as occasional translations and/or editions of Pietist
texts. It is anticipated that the monographs will emphasize theological develop-
ments, but with close attention to the interaction of Pietism with other cultural
forces and to the sociocultural identity of the Pietist and Wesleyan movements.
1. Gregory S. Clapper, John Wesley on Religious Affections. 1989.
2. Peter Erb, Gottfried Arnold. 1989.
3. Henry H. Knight III, The Presence of God in the Christian Life: John
Wesley and the Means of Grace. 1992.
4. Frank D. Macchia, Spirituality and Sociál Liberation: The Message of the
Blumhardls in the Light of Wuerttemberg Pietism. 1993.
5. Richard B. Steele, “Gracious Affection " and "True Virtue " according to
Jonathan Edwards and John Wesley. 1994.
6. Stephen L. Longenecker, Piety and Tolerance: Pennsylvania German
Religion, 1700-1850. 1994.
7. J. Steven 0 ’Malley, Early German-American Evangelicalism: Pietist
Sources on Discipleship and Sanctification. 1995.
8. R. David Rightmire, Salvationist Samurai: Gunpei Yamamuro and the Rise
of the Salvation Army in Japan. 1997.
9. Simon Ross Valentine, John Bennet and the Origins of Methodism and the
Evangelical Revival in England. 1997.
10. Tore Meistad, Martin Luther and John Wesley on the Sermon on the Mount.
1999.
11. Robert C. Monk, John Wesley: His Puritán Heritage. 1999.
12. Richard B. Steele, “Heart Religion ” in the Methodist Tradition and Related
Movements. 2001.
13. Dianě Leclerc, Singleness of Heart. 2001.
14. Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., The Global Impact of the Wesleyan
Traditions and Their Related Movements. 2002.
15. Laurence W. Wood, The Meaning of Pentecost in Early Methodism:
Rediscovering John Fletcher as John Wesley 's Vindicator and Designated
Successor. 2002.
16. Floyd T. Cunningham, Holiness Abroad: Nazarene Missions in Asia. 2002.

The Meaning of Pentecost in
Early Methodism
Rediscovering John Fletcher
as John Wesley ’s Vindicator
and Designated Successor
Laurence W. Wood
Pietist and Wesleyan Studies #15
The Scarecrow Press, lne.
Lanham, Maryland, and Oxford
2002
SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, lne.
A Member of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
12 Hiďs Copse Road
Cumnor Hill, Oxford 0X2 9JJ, England
Copyright © 2002 by Laurence W. Wood
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval systém, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wood, Laurence W., 1941-
The meaning of Pentecost in early Methodism : rediscovering John
Fletcher as Wesley’s vindicator and designated successor / Laurence W.
Wood.
p. cm. -- (Pietist and Wesleyan studies ; no. 15)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8108-4525-3 (pbk.: allc. páper)
1. Fletcher, John, 1729-1785. 2. Pentecostalism—Methodist
Church—History— 18th century. 3. Methodist
Church--Doctrines-History-18th century. I. Title. II. Series.
BX8349.P46 W66 2002
287’.092—dc21
2002010302
Editor’s Preface
One of the most influential figures in the history of Methodism, John Retcher,
has been the subject of benign neglect in recent years, despite the fact that his theol­
ogy was determinative not only for early Methodism in England and America, but
also for the later holiness and Pentecostal movements. This study by Laurence
Wood, based on a reading of the primary sources in Retcher and Wesley, moves to
fill this gap by looking afresh at Fletchers pneumatological and dispensational
themes. in addition, it examines, in depth, Retchers relationship with John Wesley
and other significant molders of early Methodism, in England and America, to deter-
mine the extent to which the later Wesley and his colaborers identified with these
themes in their own right. Eience, the study breaks new ground in arguing against
any significant theological cleavage between Wesley and Fletcher, and showing
instead that they stand in solidarity with reference to understanding sanctification in
light of the language of Pentecost. As Professor William Abraham has written, "If
Wooďs centrál arguments hold, we will háve to look again at the whole shape of
the transitions from Wesley into the nineteenth century communities inspired by
him and then on to the developments in Pentecostalism."
Wood also delineates Retchers contribution to recovering the pneumatological
element in baptism, which recovers apostolic features of sacramental theology over-
looked by the Protestant Reformation and contributes an important dimension to
the contemporary movement for liturgical renewal.
Finally, in developing Retchers—and Wesley's—reliance upon these motifs, his
study may lead us to juxtapose the theology of early Methodism with the heils-
geschichtlich, or "federalist" schod of Reformed Pietists, as found in Cocceius and his
successors (including Vitringa, Lampě, Bengel, and others) on the European conti-
nent in the latě seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Together they represent a
common voice, speaking with different theological accents, to enunciate the hope
for "better times for the church on earth," understood in terms of the mission of
world evangelization. This reading of early Methodism has the advantage of inter-
preting it in less parochial ways and of enhancing the conversation which we seek to
promote in this series, between Pietist and Wesleyan studies.
). Steven 0'Malley
Co-editor
The Pietist and Wesleyan Studies Series

Table of Contents
Abbreviations..........................................................................................................viii
Foreword..................................................................................................................ix
Preface....................................................................................................................xiii
Acknowledcments....................................................................................... .xxi
Chafter 1: Introducing |ohn Fletcher
AND THE FORGOTTEN, LaTER WESLEY .......................................................
Chapter 2: Rediscovering Pentecost in Early Methodism................ ...17
Chapter 3: Misunderstanding and Reconciliation
OVER THE MEAN1NG OF PENTECOST .......................................................... ...33
Chapter 4: Tensions over Fletcher's Interpretation of Wesley........... ...57
Chapter 5: W esley's Authorized Interpreter and
Designated Successor............................................................................ ...75
Chapter 6: The Theologian of Methodism........................................... 101
Chapter 7: The Doctrine of Dispensations........................................... 1 13
Chapter 8: An Ecclesiastical Dilemma and
THE PENTECOSTAL SOIUION..................................................................... 145
Chapter 9: The Pentecostal Wesley And Fíis Later Sermons............. 163
Chapter 10: The Arminian Magazíne and
Pentecostal Perfection......................................................................... 209
Chapter 1 1: The Pentecostalism of Mary (Bosanquet) Fletcher........ 223
Chapter 12: Some Early Methodist Preachers and
the Motif of Pentecost......................................................................... 247
Chapter 13: Fletcher's Legacy in American Methodism...................... 293
Chapter 14: Fletcher's Legacy Disputed as the Meaning
of Pentecost was Debated in Latě Nineteenth-Century
American Methodism ............................................................................ 313
Chapter 15: W esley and Fletcher on the Anclican Rite
of Confirmation .................................................................................... 337
Chapter 16: The Ecumenical Relevance of Fletcher's Pneumatology
FOR THE LlTURGICAL RENEWAL MOVEMENT .............................................. 357
A Selected Bibliography............................................................................. 387
Index.............................................................................................................. 395
ABOUT THE AUTHOR....................................................................................... 401
Vil
A bbreviations
CRAGG, APPEALS )ohn Wesley, The Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion and
Certain Related Open Letters, ed. Gerald R. Cragg, vol. 1 1 in Works.
DAVIES, SOCIETIES john Wesley, The Methodist Societies: History, Nátuře, and
Design, ed. Rupert E. Davies, vol. 9 in Wesley, Works.
FLETCHER, NEW BIRTH John Fletcher, "The Doctrine of the New Birth, as it is
stated in these sheets, is directly or indirectly maintained by the most spirituál
divines, especially in their sacred poems." An unpublished essay written in
latě 1775 or early 1776 by John Fletcher in his own handwriting, circulated
among Fletcher's friends (especially Mary Bosanquet and Thomas Coke), and
overlooked by subsequent historians (including Luke Tyerman and J. F.
Hurst), which 1 located, March 1997, in a box of miscellaneous materials writ­
ten by Fletcher. This essay is contained in the Fletcher-Tooth Archival
Collection as part of the Methodist Archives in the John Rylands Fibrary of
Manchester University, England, and it is now published in The Asbury
TheologicalJournal. 50.1 (Spring, 1998F35-56.
FFETCHER, WORKS The Works of the Reverend John Fletcher (New York: W.
Waugh and T. Mason, 1833); four volumes.
WESFEY, WORKS (Jackson) The Works of John Wesley, ed. Thomas Jackson, 14
vols. (Fondon: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1872; reprinted Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1978).
OUTFER, SERMONS John Wesley, Sermons, ed. Albert C. Outler, vols. 1 -4 in
Works.
TELFORD, LETTERS The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., ed. John Telford,
8 vols. (Fondon: Epworth Press, 1931).
WARD & HEITZENRATER, JOURNAL AND DIARIES John Wesley, Journal
and Diaries, ed. W. Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzenrater, vols. 18-24 in
Works.
WESLEY, WORKS (OxfordXBicentennial Edition). The Works of John Wesley,
begun as "The Oxford Edition of The Works of John Wesley" (Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1975-1983); continued as "The Bicentennial Edition of The
Works of John Wesley" (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1984); 14 of 35 vols. pub­
lished to dáte.
vin
Foreword
Some theologians think that their academie research has nothing to do with their
personál spirituality. They clearly distinguish between intellectual disciplině and sanc-
tification. John William Fletcher disagreed with this. His personál thirst for sanctifica-
tion combined with his intellectual rigor lead him to the discovery of "the baptism of
the Holý Spirit." The term meant for him an "experience of entire sanctification."
Fletcher's discovery of entire sanctification caused a minor scandal at that time. Up
to now this is rejected as heretical almost by all Protestants, at least, on the European
continent. For them, this "discovery" is nothing else but a retům to pre-Reformation
catholicism, although it is clearly authorized by Scripture. The Bible does not only con-
tain the Protestant version of the Gospel. It is an ecumenical book and includes at
least part of Catholic spirituality and theology. It is well known that Wesley leamed his
perfectionist theology from Catholic devotional books. He translated them for his lay
preachers and Fletcher knew this. But this is no reason for alarm. James Dunn, Ernst
Kasemann, Paul Avis and others háve demonstrated that each denomination selects
from Scripture those passages which confirm its convictions.
In the United States, early Methodism promoted Fletchers theology of holiness.
When mainline Methodists gave it up, Wesleyans, Holiness people, and later
Pentecostals adopted it. Most of the Pentecostals took up Fletchers language of the
baptism with the Holý Spirit but the majority of them changed its content. For this
majority, baptism with the Holý Spirit is a kind of empowerment for Service and,
therefore, mainly connected to the gifts of the Spirit.
One of the most distinguished representative of that minority within
Pentecostalism who followed the Fletcherian understanding of Spirit Baptism is the
founder of German Pentecostalism, Jonathan Paul. He wrote his dissertation on the
Holý Spirit in Latin at the University of Greifswald. He explicitly based himself on
Wesley, although, as a Lutheran, he was taught that this was a grave heresy. He
publicly witnessed several baptisms with the Holý Spirit, one of them when he was
baptising an infant. These experiences háve deeply marked his spirituality and the­
ology. He gave up smoking in order to give the money thus saved to mission, but
he did not expect his fellow Pentecostals to do the same. He stated that the doc-
trine of "verbal inspiration" was an unchristian doctrine. He rejected the "initial sign"
(i.e., the belief that speaking in tongues is the first and compulsory mark of Spirit
Baptism) and he practiced infant baptism all his life. All the people who knew him,
and also his theological adversaries, testified to his Christian spirit. The same was
said of Fletcher.
IX