Wesley Corpus

I read nothing of either of these purgations in the Bible. But it appears to me, from the whole tenor of his writings, that the Chevalier's notions are about one quarter scriptural, one quarter Popish, and two quarters Mystic. Page 360: ‘God dissipated the chaos introduced into the solar system by the fall of angels.’ Does sacred Writ affirm this Where is it written, except in Jacob Behmen Page 366: ‘Physical evil is the only means of curing moral evil.’ This is absolutely contrary both to Scripture, experience, and his own words (page 353). And ‘this great principle,’ as he terms it, is one of those fundamental mistakes which run through the whole Mystic divinity. Almost all that is asserted in the following pages may likewise be confuted by simply denying it. Page 373: ‘Hence we see the necessity of sufferings and expiatory pains in order to purify lapsed beings, the intrinsic efficacy of physical to cure moral evil.’ ‘Expiatory pains’ is pure, unmixed Popery; but they can have no place in the Mystic scheme. This only asserts ‘the intrinsic efficacy of physical to cure moral evil and the absolute necessity of sufferings to purify lapsed beings’: nether of which I can find in the Bible; though I really believe there is as much of the efficacy in sufferings as in spiritual lethargy. Page 374: ‘If beasts have any souls, they are either material or immaterial, to be annihilated after death; or degraded intelligences.’ No; they may be immaterial, and yet not to be annihilated. If you ask, ‘But how are they to subsist after death’ I answer, He that made them knows. The sixth book, I fear, is more dangerously wrong than any of the preceding, as it effectually undermines the whole scriptural account of God’s reconciling the world unto Himself and turns the whole redemption of man by the blood of Christ into a mere metaphor. I doubt whether Jacob Behmen does not do the same. I am sure he does, if Mr. Law understands him right. I have not time to specify all the exceptionable passages; if I did, I must transcribe part of almost every page.