Sermons on Several Occasions

It is the collection of sermons John Wesley chose as the doctrinal standard of Methodism — the teaching its preachers were bound to hold and proclaim. Covering salvation by faith, the witness of the Spirit, the 'almost Christian,' the use of money, and much more, they set out the working theology of the Methodist movement in Wesley's own plain and practical preaching.

John Wesley was the eighteenth-century founder of Methodism, an Anglican clergyman whose tireless preaching and organizing helped spark a great revival in Britain. He selected these sermons as the standard of Methodist doctrine, so that they define, in his own words, the theology he meant his movement to teach and live by.

Because Wesley designated them, together with his Notes on the New Testament, as the norm his preachers were bound to teach — the touchstone of Methodist doctrine. They were not casual addresses but a deliberate summary of the essential truths Wesley wanted proclaimed, so that Methodism could be held to a settled body of teaching drawn from his own preaching.

The great practical doctrines of the Christian life: salvation by faith, justification, the new birth, the witness of the Spirit, Christian perfection, the dangers of being 'almost' a Christian, the right use of money, and the marks of real religion. Wesley's concern throughout is not abstract theology but the truths that shape a genuinely converted and holy life.

It is one of Wesley's most famous sermons, distinguishing the 'almost Christian' — who has the form of religion, outward morality, and even sincerity of a kind — from the 'altogether Christian,' who has living faith and the love of God in the heart. Wesley presses his hearers not to rest in a respectable, partial religion but to seek the real, inward change.

Both, held together in Wesley's characteristic way. He grounds his preaching in doctrine but always drives it toward the heart and life, pressing his hearers to examine themselves and to seek real faith, assurance, and holiness. The theology is never abstract; it is aimed at producing a genuinely converted and transformed people.

Anyone wanting to understand Methodism and Wesley's theology at their source, and any Christian interested in clear, practical preaching on the essentials of salvation and holy living. Because Wesley made these sermons the standard of Methodist teaching, they are essential for grasping the movement, and rewarding for any reader seeking heart-searching gospel preaching.

With whichever sermon draws them — each is complete in itself — though 'Salvation by Faith' (Wesley's programmatic first sermon) and 'The Almost Christian' are natural and searching places to start. Read a few at a time and reflectively, they were meant to convert and to edify, and they still press their questions home to the reader.