This essay, a sequel to Susanna Wesley’s exposition of the Creed, exists only as an incomplete rough draft.1 Although it had been planned as part of the extended catechetical project that took on new urgency after the rectory fire of 1709, and although she promised her daughter Suky that it would quickly follow the explication of the Creed, it appears to have been no farther along than we see it here by spring 1711. A journal entry in late May of that year, seemingly designed to help strenthen her resolve to get on with her work, implies that the piece was still unfinished. In it she urges herself, “Go through your brief exposition on the Ten Commandments.”2 There is no evidence that it was ever sent to Suky, or indeed that it exists in any other form, and it has never been published.3
As it stands, the exposition actually focuses on what seventeenth-century commentators referred to as “the First Table of the law.” Although her essay provides a general introduction to the entire Decalogue, its actual commandment-bycommandment exposition stops abruptly after the first four, those that recount humanity’s duties to God and that traditionally were thought to have been inscribed on the first of two stone tablets delivered to Moses. However, the advertised sweep of her work turns out to be even more limited: Susanna Wesley’s Sabbatarianism and, thus, her discussion of the Fourth Commandment dominate. “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy” takes up nearly IS notebook pages, compared to nine devoted to the first three commandments together.4
Interestingly and probably by default (it does not seem to have been her original intention to give extensive treatment only to the First Table—she apparently just ran out of steam), Susanna Wesley’s explication draws more on her Puritan heritage than on the Anglican approach she converted to as a young woman. As J. Sears McGee has pointed out with reference to the pre-Restoration period, a stress on the First Table’s duties toward God characterized (and implied) a Puritan worldview, and an emphasis on the Second Table’s duties toward one’s neighbor similarly represented an Anglican one.5 This development of “moralism” within the Church of England has been decried by C. F. Allison as a way station in the decline of Anglicanism, somewhere between its “classical” (or “orthodox”) expression in the early seventeenth century and the Socinianism and Deism of the eighteenth century, which in turn led to the secularism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.6 John Spurr, a more recent student of the Restoration church, attests to the same feature of the era, though with a more nuanced sense of theology and context. While acknowledging the emphasis on “charity, diligence, duties to self and neighbour, social virtues and public piety” he refuses to grant that the Restoration church was “peddling a merely utilitarian system of ethics, and promoting it through an appeal to self-interst and prudence.” 7
Whether an exposition of the First Table or, had she completed the job, First and Second Table commandments, it was this practical, yet pious, view that drew Susanna Wesley to the Decalogue for her second examination of a document central to Christian catechesis. To focus on the Ten Commandments is to acknowledge the continuing claims of “holy living” on the Christian, but it is not to capitulate to an arid moralism. Rather, like many another practical theologian of her age, Susanna Wesley was attempting to instill in the rising generation the importance of both faith and obedience. If she was only partially successful in this instance, her son’s maintenance of that tension in the evangelical revival proves that in a broader sense she realized her goal.
A draft of the essay, in Susanna Wesley’s hand, is found in the same 3½-by-6-inch Headingley MS C notebook as the rough draft of the Creed exposition.8 It is undated but probably written after 14 January 1709/10 (the date of her letter on the Creed) and before 24 May 1711 (the date of the journal entry in which she was pushing herself to get her writing and teaching back on track).
Letter 2nd To Suky
Dear Suky,
I suppose by this time you may have read my last letter wherein I mentioned the covenant God made with our First Parents, the condition of which on man’s part was perfect obedience to God’s laws. And I told you that man, having by temptation of Satan broke this covenant and thereby forfeited God’s favour [and] eternal happiness, and brought himself and all his posterity into a state of mortality here and damnation hereafter, how it pleased the eternal Goodness to suspend the penalty of his disobedience and once more admit mankind into a state of probation. And that through Jesus the mediator he hath declared his love and goodwill toward his rebellious creatures, hath renewed his covenant on milder terms than the former, that “as in Adam all died, so in Christ all should be made alive.”9
What shall become of unbaptized infants, idiots, and such as never heard of a saviour ’tis not my present business to inquire; they are left to God’s uncovenanted mercies. ’Tis sufficient that we are assured [that] all which are baptized are certainly admitted into the covenant of grace, baptism being the seal of the new covenant under the gospel10 as circumcision was the seal of the same covenant under the law, and by it is this general covenant applied and confirmed to particular persons, who are by this mean initiated into the mystical body of Christ, the holy catholic church, and as members of this body have a right to the means of grace [and] the favour and promises of God, provided they are careful to perform the conditions on which they are to be received, namely faith in Christ and11 a sincere though imperfect obedience to God’s laws. I have already discoursed on the first;12 and before I proceed to the second it may be convenient to premise somewhat concerning laws in general.13
A law is a rule of action.14 And as all beings (the Supreme [Being] as well as natural and rational agents) work for some presupposed end, so ’tis necessary they should have some rule to work by. The eternal fountain of being “who is God over all, blessed for ever,”15 is said to act according to “the counsel of his own will,”16 his infinite perfections giving law to the operations of his almighty power.17 And though we cannot fathom the depths of infinite wisdom, cannot assign the reasons and causes which move the divine intellect,18 yet we are assured that his actions are in number, weight, and measure most perfect, which they could never be unless they were designed for some end, were directed by some rule. But though we believe that the divine mind doth in all things act agreeably to the law of its nature, yet this doth not imply any necessity, impulse or dependence on anything but itself, for he always must necessarily enjoy the highest liberty,19 there being no other cause equal or superior to him that can any way persuade, impel, excite, or animate him to do anything but what seemeth best to himself, but in all his productions he acteth according to the idea and rule which he hath conceived in his own eternal, most perfect mind, and he did in the creation of the world propose an end, answerable to the dignity and perfection of his nature, viz. his own glory, which is the ultimate end of all his actions.
Now since the glory of God was the chief end of all the works of his creation,20 and since21 wisdom, power and goodness are perfections inseparable from the Supreme Being, it necessarily follows—that God must give law to his creatures; otherwise they could not answer the end for which they were created. And this law or rule is distinguished by several names according as it relates to various subjects, viz., divine [law], the law of nature, moral law, positive law, etc.22
Divine law, or the law of angels, we do not well understand, nor is it necessary that we should at present;23 only this we know, that their laws are so constantly and exactly obeyed by them that their obedience is proposed as a pattern for ours, and we are directed to pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is by those blessed spirits in heaven.24
The law of nature is that fixed, steady rule which God hath given to all the inanimate and brute creation. And this rule is constantly25 obeyed by natural agents who, though unwittingly, yet with admirably regularity, pursue the law of their Creator. He made a decree for the rain and gave law to the sea, that the waves thereof should not pass his commandment. And hence arises the beauty and harmony which appears in what we call the works of nature. In the position of the elements,26 the motions and usefullness of the heavenly bodies, the vicissitudes of night and day, the fertility of the earth, the various seasons of the year, the wonderful production of trees, herbs, flowers, etc., all of which have their proper uses and virtues. The curious fabric and instincts of beasts, birds, fishes and other animals together with their mutual relations, dependencies and subserviency of one thing to another. All which doth clearly demonstrate unto us not only the almighty power, but also the infinite wisdom of the divine Architect, in that he hath so admirably contrived, adapted, and disposed all these things to obey the law of their creation as may most effectually tend to the use of man, for whose service they were created.27
Moral law, or the law of reason, is that law which is founded on and results from the unalterable nature of persons and things.28 And this law is fixed, unalterable, eternal, of equal and perpetual obligation to all persons of what degree soever at all times in all places and circumstances of life. Thus from the absolute perfections of the divine nature and from the rationality and freedom of man’s nature arises most of our duties towards God and the greater part of our duties towards ourselves and our neighbour. This law was designed for man and is properly the law of his nature by which he should have always walked, had he not lost his innocence. His conformity to this rule in thought, word, and deed29 is the perfection of moral virtue, and any deviation from this law in any of these instances is moral evil.30
Positive law is a certain temporary alterable rule given upon some particular occasions under some certain emergencies which is determined or vacated when the reason, occasion and circumstances on which it was founded ceases or is taken away.
Of these laws there are various kinds; some are so immediately grafted on the moral law that, though in their own nature they are temporary and alterable, as being only calculated for the meridian31 of this life, yet are they of longer continuance and more universal obligation than others. Of this kind are all the precepts and rules of Christianity, the whole system of revealed religion, which had never been instituted if man had not fallen. Such as faith in Christ, repentance, and all those duties32 which naturally tend to cleansing, exalting and restoring the soul to its original purity and perfection. And these laws oblige all that ever did or (if it had not been their own fault) might hear of them.
Other of these laws were enacted for a shorter time as a trial or exercise of some particular virtues of some particular persons under some certain circumstances in some rare and exempt cases.33 Such were the feasts of charity among the primitive Christians, their kiss of peace, etc., and that command of our Saviour’s to the young man mentioned in the gospel,34 who inquired of him what he might do to inherit eternal life. Our Lord questioned him about several commandments, to which he answered, “All these things have I kept from my youth.” Yet one thing was wanting to his perfection, namely a mind disengaged from the love of this world, and therefore our Saviour commands that he should sell all he had and give to the poor and in that poverty follow after Jesus. “But he went away sorrowful.” From whence we may observe that if we could live free from all scandalous vices, if we could say as he did, “All the commands of God” as far as they relate to ourselves and neighbours, “we have kept from our youth up,” yet if we bear an immoderate love to the things of this world, if riches, honours, friends or any sensual enjoyments be esteemed or valued more than God, or if the possession of them or desires after them prevail so far as to make us unmindful of the “one thing necessary,”35 it will as infallibly exclude us from the Kingdom of Heaven as the practice of the most black and scandalous vices. But to return.
The Ten Commandments have been generally esteemed a summary of the moral law, yet they are not all strictly speaking moral, but the most of them are positive precepts founded on the moral law. The two first are purely moral, for to acknowledge only one God and “to love him with all the heart, with all the mind,” etc.,36 and to “worship him in spirit”37 or with the spirit without making any image or representation of him who is a pure spiritual substance, and not to pay any worship or divine honour to any idol is unquestionably a great part of the law of our nature. The third is partly moral and partly positive: the prohibition is positive, that we should not forswear ourselves, which is the thing chiefly intended in the command, but then reverencing the Supreme Being and paying our due homage of adoration, honour, esteem to his person, name, etc. is moral and of perpetual obligation.
The fourth is also a positive rule founded on the moral. That we should devote some part of our time to that God from whom we received our being and all that we have38 is highly reasonable and seems naturally to spring from the first great branch of the moral law, namely love to God, but what part, how much39 ought to be and is determined by the God of sabbaths. As the manner how this time should be employed is to be learnt from the general practice of the catholic church ever since the time of our Saviour. The fifth, which teacheth the duty of persons to parents and superiors, is founded on God’s most wise and holy providence, that for the sake of order and harmony in the world hath appointed a superiority among40 the relation men hold to each other, since ’tis plain without such inequality there could be no such thing as discipline in the world, no last appeal in any disputable case, which would soon introduce the wildest anarchy and confusion.
The other five are all positive commands arising from the other branch of moral law, viz. the love of our neighbour.
The sixth is to secure our neighbour’s person, the seventh to secure his property in his wife and must necessarily be determined41 when we arrive to that state wherein we shall never marry nor be given in marriage,42 as the two following are to secure his goods and his reputation. And the last is guard of all the rest relating to our neighbour. If we are truly humble, if through pride and a too high opinion of our own merit we are not inclined to covet the esteem of men, are not covetous of the honour and reputation of worldly grandeur, we shall not find any reluctance in paying obedience to our natural or civil parents, we shall not affect rule or dominion over others, but with all cheerfulness shall render honour to whom it is due and shall in all things43 obey the order of divine providence without ever aspiring above that rank in which God hath thought fit to place us.44
Again, if we have “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,”45 and are never guilty of immoderate anger nor are urged by too keen a resentment of an injury to covet and desire revenge on our neighbour’s person nor do ever covet ought that he possesses, we shall never be tempted to commit any murder, nor shall he that is strictly careful to guard his mind against every impure or wanton thought and shuns all occasions of stirring up in his soul a guilty imagination by avoiding all46 lewd discourses or looking on any persons or pictures, etc. that might raise a loose desire, in fine, whoever is never guilty of an irregular desire shall never actually defile his neighbour[’s] wife, any more than he that, being contented with his own lot and that does not indulge himself in coveting the goods of his neighbour, will be guilty of any fraudulent practices towards him. He will be so far from stealing47 and oppression and such gross acts of injustice that he will not so much as overreach48 any in bargaining, nor will he overrate his own goods or undervalue those of his neighbour, nor take advantage of the necessities or weakness of his poor brother to gain the greatest temporal advantage.
And49 if we do but sincerely and heartily love our neighbour and desire the prosperity of his person, goods, and reputation as truly as we do our own and are not covetous or desirous to raise our own reputation by the ruin of his, we shall be so far from all detraction and evil speaking, lying and slandering, that we shall be sure to discountenance all idle stories, uncharitable censures, or defamatory discourses of our neighbour, much less shall we be wrought upon by either interest, passion, thirst of revenge, etc. to bear any false witness against him in a judiciary way. But I proceed to a brief exposition on the commands themselves, which will more fully show you your duty towards God and your neighbour.
A Brief Exposition on the Ten Commandments
First, Thou shalt have no other Gods but me.50
Positive duties arising from this command.51
1st. A firm rational assent to the being of a God, a pure, simple, uncreated spirit, acknowledging him to be the fountain spring and origin of all being. Necessary, because self-existent, receiving nothing from not having any dependence on anything without himself, but containing in his own most perfect nature all perfection and blessedness.
2nd. An explicit belief of his most glorious perfections. Acknowledging that he is eternal, immutable, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, infinite [?]in wisdom, holiness, goodness,52 justice, truth. And these perfections we must ascribe to him by way of eminence, so as to admit of no equal or comparison between him and any other being.
3rd.53 A practical subjection to him of all the powers and faculties of the soul and body, an entire devotedness and resignation to that great God to be by him governed and disposed as shall seem best to his infinite wisdom. And this founded on an acknowledgment of our dependence on him and on his undoubted right to give law unto his creatures and enforcing those laws by rewards and punishments of infinite weight and duration. That he carefully adverts to the actions of each individual with an intention to reward or punish according to their works.
And54 as we acknowledge his right and fitness to govern the whole system of created beings, so we must with great humility of mind and application and sincerity of heart set ourselves to the study of those laws he hath given us. We must prefer, choose, and delight in his service above all things; in a word, we must “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength,”55 with the full vigour and energy of the soul. And56 this love57 is the spring or origin of all the genuine acts of piety toward God, without which no service, no outward expression of [?]desire, no, not the giving the body to be burned58 shall be accepted, though only giving a cup of cold water to our neighbour out of a principle of love to God shall not only be accepted but rewarded with everlasting happiness.59
Love to God naturally inspires us with a desire to please him, and because we know that his most perfect nature is absolutely separated60 and averse from all moral evil, it therefore makes us also hate sin and puts us upon endeavouring to be conformable to him, makes us rejoice in his glorious perfections, inspires us with a desire of being holy, just, true, good, etc., to be partakers of some small degree of his immutability, that we may constantly and vigourously serve him and do all that is in our power to advance his honour and interest in the world.
Love hath generally been distinguished into two kinds: a love of benevolence and a love of desire.61 The first is supposed to be a wishing well to or bearing good will towards62 anyone; the second, a complacency63 in or desire of union with the person beloved. But this is a mistake arising from want of duly considering the true nature of love. For nothing can be plainer than that love is a simple act of the soul, a pleasing motion towards union with the64 person beloved.65 And whether we shall wish well to or have a complacence in and press toward a union with what we love is wholly to be determined by the nature and circumstances of the object. Towards man, which is a weak dependent compound being, that is encompassed on all sides with dangers and temptations, who wants abundance of ingredients to make up the composition of his happiness, we may and ought to express our love by wishing well to him and by contributing all we may to his ease and convenience here and to his eternal welfare in another life.
But the most great and holy God doth in his own divine nature fully comprehend whatever is necessary to his own happiness, and so far is he from receiving or wanting any accession of blessedness from such weak imperfect creatures as we are, that we entirely depend on him for all we are, have, or hope to enjoy. Therefore, since his infinite perfections and essential happiness supersedes all our wishes and desires of that kind, our love to him is determined in a high estimation of him, in adoration, praise, profound reverence, perfect resignation of ourselves to him, complacency in and desire of union and communion with him, zeal for his glory, delight in thinking or speaking of him, love of his name, day, word, sacraments, works, in fine of all his ordinances and all his creatures in which we perceive the smallest faintest ray of his divinity.
Second Commandment
Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, etc.66
As we must acknowledge only one God and must not make any image or visible representation of him or form any corporeal idea of him in our mind67 whom we must acknowledge a pure spirit without body parts, etc., so we must worship him in spirit, or with spirit, and in truth and sincerity,68 with a spiritual worship internally with our minds. The understanding must contemplate him in the perfections of his nature, in all the operations of his power, wisdom, goodness, etc. visible in the works of creation and providence. The judgment must most highly esteem him and submit to all his determinations. The will must conform to his and acquiesce in the order of his providence. The affections must be fixed upon and terminate69 in him. Not that we70 are forbid absolutely to exercise them on anything but God, as has been wildly imagined by some fanciful men of late,71 but we must principally love, treasure, etc. God above all things, so as not to suffer any creature to come into competition with him. And as the mind must thus be devoted to God, so there must be in our approaches to him a certain reverend, awful prostration of the soul before him, a most profound self-abasement, a kind of self-annihilation, a humble contraction of ourselves into a point, a nothing, before the great, awful and adorable Majesty of earth and heaven. Who is “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity”!72 “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out the heavens with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance”!73 “Behold the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold he taketh up the isles as a very little thing”!74 For they are all “before him as nothing, and they are counted to him less than nothing and vanity.”75 “It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants therefore are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in”!76 “To whom then shall we liken God? Or what likeness shall we compare unto him?” 77
2nd. As we must worship God internally, with or in the spirit, so we must express our inward reverence and devotion by a suitable gesture or posture of body. We must “fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker.” 78 And in all our external actions we must observe a due composure and decency as becomes those that take upon themselves the honour to approach near and speak unto so great a majesty.
Third Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord [thy God in vain] etc.79
As we must assent to the being, unity, [and] perfections of God and must worship him in a manner agreeable to his nature “in spirit and in truth,” 80 so we must likewise honour his name. And since an oath is a solemn appeal to the God of truth for the confirmation of the truth of what we assert, promise, vow, etc., we must be always very careful (especially if we are called before a lawful judicature to bear testimony in any dubious matter) to speak nothing but the truth out of a high esteem and veneration for that name by which it hath pleased the most high God to make himself known to the children of men. And in all places at all times, whenever we have occasion to make use of that sacred name, we must do it with an awful regard to his presence, with great humility, and the profoundest reverence, especially when we speak to the great and glorious God.
The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy etc.81
Since it hath pleased Almighty God, whose we are and to whom we are indebted for all the time we enjoy, to appropriate a seventh part thereof to his more immediate service, thereby indulging us rest and leisure after six days labour to attend upon his public ordinances, that we may be somewhat refreshed by the contemplation of himself in the wondrous works of his creation and providence, it is our duty to remember this most happy day before it comes, that we may prevent as much as possibly we can being encumbered or diverted on that day by any unnecessary business, impertinent visits, or whatever else may rob us of any of those sacred moments which ought to be all devoted to God, and therefore ’tis a kind of sacrilege to alienate them from his service.
And as we must remember the day before it comes, so must we be especially careful to sanctify it when present by a conscientious performance of the duties of the day. By remembering the end, the reason of its institution, mentioned in the command, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.” 82 Wherefore in imitation of our great Creator, we also must rest from all worldly ,83 that we may adore and praise his infinite power, wisdom, goodness, etc. that is displayed in this beauteous fabric of the world in the noble system of all created beings.
We must praise him for our own “creation, preservation, and all the blessings” 84 which we partake of in common with the rest of his creatures, more particularly for all special or peculiar favours, such as health, friends, a comfortable and convenient habitation, for any extraordinary deliverances from, or supports under, troubles, and for any mercies which upon reflection we can perceive that we enjoy, which perhaps others better than we are may want.
But since our blessed Saviour by his resurrection on the first day of the week, by his sending the Holy Ghost on that day, by his own example, and by his spirit in the apostles and primitive church hath changed the observation of the seventh to the first day of the week, the business of the day is enlarged, and we must now not only bless God for all his works of creation and providence, but we must humbly offer to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost our highest praises for the redemption of the world by the Holy Jesus.85 And this we must do publicly in the assembly of the saints, for the more public our devotions are on that day, provided they are hearty and sincere, the more do we honour God, because we thereby excite others to worship him also, and we show unto the world that we are not ashamed of professing our selves the disciples of a crucified Jesus.
In the morning of the Sabbath ’twill be convenient to rise a little sooner than ordinary (if health permit), that we may have leisure to add to our stated devotions somewhat proper for the day. Let the day be begun with “Glory be to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” 86 Then it may not be amiss to repeat the Fourth Command, which I have known some do a great while with very good success, nor is anything more proper to impress a sense of the holiness of the day upon the mind. Proceed to implore the divine assistance to enable you to spend every moment of that most precious time as becomes those that have devoted themselves to God. Let us beg of him to turn our minds from all vain and worldly thoughts, to compose and regulate our affections, and to elevate our souls to such a devout and holy temper, that we may know by experience what it is to be in the spirit on the Lord’s Day. That we may know by experience that religion is more than a vain fancy or illusion. ’Tis somewhat above what the carnal trifling world can apprehend. ’Tis a noble vital principle, the perfection and happiness of the soul, which raises it above the trifling pleasures of this life and inspires it with a constant regular tendency towards the divine Origin of being and blessedness, where it rests as on its centre, esteeming itself infinitely more happy in the least degree of his favour than it could be in the possession of all the wealth, honour, or whatever else the whole world contains that foolish mistaken men so much desire and so earnestly seek after. Tis that which steers the soul innocently and safely through this tempestuous world and calms and supports it under all the calamities of human life. Peace was the legacy of our dying Lord, and as the world cannot give it, so neither can it take it away.87 And though the corruption of our natures too often gives advantage to our spiritual enemies to disturb and discompose our minds, yet those persons who are truly devoted to God have habitually such an inward peace and serenity of soul as none else can possible conceive or enjoy, especially on the sabbath, that blessed day of God, which he hath in his abundant infinite goodness given to the sons of men as a type and foretaste of that eternal rest that he hath promised with himself in glory. And indeed I have often admired88 the stupendous folly and blindness of those bad Christians that account it a task and burden to be one day in seven suspended from the business of this world, when surely, if we have reason to bless the divine Goodness for feeding and clothing us, for so liberally indulging us so many mercies in our passage through this world, much more reason have we to praise, to magnify, to adore his boundless love and goodness to mankind in permitting us to enjoy such an inestimable blessing as a sabbath after six days labour. For surely it would be very sad (I dare not say hard) to command89 us to spend so much time in making provision for these perishing bodies, which must not withstanding all our care after a little while be resolved into their first principles, must return to their native clay and lie rotting in the dust, if our souls, our nobler and better part had not at least one day in the week to rest and refresh itself, wherein it may have leisure to abstract from all corporeal objects and retire from the world to enjoy those satisfactions that are more proper for its spiritual and celestial nature.
Let us then rejoice when this day approaches and in our morning retirement endeavour to prepare our minds for the solemn happy employment of it.
Then ’tis we may90 bid adieu to the world for a season, to all our friends and acquaintance [s], to all secular concerns and worldly regards. Farewell the world and all that it contains, I must take my leave of you for a while; tarry ye here at the foot of the mount, I must ascend to converse with God. I have not leisure now to attend or talk with you, nor must you molest or interrupt my soul on this day which my bounteous Lord hath given me for the rest and refreshment of my mind. I do not much affect you at any time and am often weary and apt to say with David, “O that I had wings as a dove that I might fly away from you and be at rest.”91 And though by the order of providence I am determined to spend the greater part of my time here below in business and employments relating to this life, yet now I have not only God’s permission but command to abstain from all unnecessary care and labour, ’tis my duty as well as happiness to separate from the world as ’tis man’s and retire into it as ’tis God’s. And though some persons have taken a great deal of pains to prove that the sabbath is for diversion as well as devotion, and have employed the utmost efforts of their trifling wit to show the difference between the Jewish and Christian sabbath, and to argue themselves out of the benefits their souls might enjoy by a strict observation of the day, yet as I can by no means be of their opinion,92 so, till they can prove93 that the deliverance of the Jews out of Egypt under Moses was greater and more worthy of remembrance than94 our deliverance from sin and misery by Jesus Christ, and that we have no reason to praise God for our being, because none of his creatures and not having95 any share in the works of creation and providence, and that we are under no obligation of loving God with all the heart, mind, etc.96, and therefore cannot be obliged by this command which is founded so plainly on that first branch of the moral law, they shall not, I hope, ever prevail against my fixed resolution of devoting this day to the great and holy God. Nay though it were granted that our Saviour did remit somewhat of the strictness required of the Jews on the Sabbath,97 and if this98 my purpose should not appear to fall under a positive command, yet if it may but be accepted as a free will offering, I am content. And oh that it would please Almighty God to grant me this one petition, that instead of making my children remarkable99 for beauty, wit, riches or honour, the love of this day might be engraven on their minds in such indelible characters, that they might by their deportment on the Lord’s Day be distinguished from the rest of the world, when I am dust wherever it shall please the divine providence to cast their lot. Amen, Amen.
’Tis needless to inform you how a100 great part of this day must be employed, since you already know that ’tis our duty to attend upon the public worship of God and that we ought to behave ourselves101 with great gravity and reverence102 when we come into his holy temple where we are in the presence and under the more immediate inspection of the great God, where we hold communion with all saints, with all the celestial hierarchy, with angels and archangels, with all the company of the heavenly host103 we join in worshiping, in praising and adoring our great Creator, our blessed Redeemer and that Holy Spirit by whom we “are sealed unto the day of redemption.”104 I am very sure if we did but actually advert to the awful presence we are then in and did but seriously attend to the business we come about, it would restrain our thoughts and eyes from wandering, nor should we find leisure to observe any about us or desire to be taken notice of ourselves, much less should we stand upon ceremony and compliment, which are at best but trifles in any place, but are scandalous and abominable in the house of God. And if we105 would but spend more time and care in adorning our106 minds with such virtues as become those that profess godliness, we should not be so solicitous about these perishing bodies to have them appear well-dressed and amiable to the beholders, which often times proves a snare to ourselves as well as others; not that I disapprove a decency in the habit; on the contrary I like it very well where ’tis an indication of a clean well-ordered mind, but all excessive curiosity and nice observation of every new fashion I think argues too much vanity and delight in sensuality and therefore it ought to be very carefully avoided. I think indeed it would be very commendable if we did forbear putting on anything of apparel that is new, and was never worn before, on the Lord’s Day, for ’tis almost incredible how much novelty affects the mind, insomuch that unless we are very careful, we shall be apt to be too much affected with, and take too much notice of, any new thing till custom has made it107 familiar to us.108
There are so many excellent discourses extant of practical divinity, and we are so often109 and excellently instructed in the particulars of our duty, that ’tis altogether needless for me to enlarge on those subjects; I shall therefore only endeavour to show you how you may fill up the intermediate spaces of time between the public worship, and how you may employ yourself in your morning and evening retirement.
God is a boundless inexhaustible subject for thought! And though we should spend an eternity in contemplation of any one of his divine perfections, we could never attain to an adequate conception thereof. I say not this to discourage, but to inspire your soul with rigor and attention, and to show you that110 if the mind be but effectually touched with the love of God, it is almost impossible any of that sacred time should lie dead upon our hands, or that such a soul should be idle or not fully employed which hath a strong and clear perception of that most blessed Spirit. But oh what purity! What separation from the world and all material objects, what intenseness of thought and actual advertence to the presence of the great and holy God is necessary when we apply ourselves to the contemplation of his111 most glorious perfections!
But that we may be able readily and easily to abstract from all corporeal———112 on this day, we must endeavour to get a habitual sense of God in the mind, for it is impossible for any creature that is sensual, that is immersed in matter and only (or for the most part)113 conversant with sensual objects, readily to abstract from them and easily attain such a temper of mind as is requisite for having any clear perception of God. The mind will savour most and be most strongly affected with what it thinks most upon, and if we suffer our thoughts to dwell chiefly on the things of the life, our soul will be earthly, sensual, nay devilish, because by so doing it will contract an enmity against God and a[n] habitual averseness from all spiritual things. Therefore let us with great humility beseech him to purify our minds from the affections of sensuality and to guide us by his Holy Spirit into true and proper notions of himself, that we may love and adore, though we cannot comprehend.114
1. The main title does not appear on the draft MS, which begins with the scrawled “Lre: 2d To Suky,” but S. W used it at the end of her Creed essay, alluding to this next part of her project. She does insert a title at the end of her introductory section before getting into the exposition proper; I have used that, with the parenthetical addition indicating incompleteness, as the subtitle.
2. See my introductory remarks in chapter 25. The last paragraphs of the Creed exposition advertise and prepare the reader for the coming installment on the Ten Commandments. See also journal entry 52, for May 24, 1711—one of the rare dated entries.
3. Adam Clarke would have done so but had no knowledge of the MS that has since come to light (p. 256).
4. Her general introduction takes up an additional 12 pages. In S. W’s defense it should be noted that much of the discourse on sabbath keeping broadens to more general considerations of worship, contemplation, devotion, and the like—issues pertinent, but not exclusive, to the Lord’s Day. She also devoted four of her surviving journal entries, written at about the same period (1709–1710), to similar Sabbatarian discussions. See 165–168 in part II of this volume. For background on sabbath observance see James T. Dennison Jr., The Market Day of the Soul: The Puritan Doctrine of the Sabbath in England, 1532–1700 (Lanham, N. Y., and London: University Press of America, 1983). Though Dennison is primarily occupied with documenting the Sabbath-keeping controversy between Puritans and the “prelatic party” before the middle of the seventeenth century, lie docs devote a final chapter to practice after the Restoration. Following Christopher Hill, he argues (p. 119) that much of Puritan social doctrine had been brought into the restored church and particularly that “the practice of Sabbath rest had become a national custom.” This is certainly borne out in the turn-of-the-century Societies for the Reformation of Manners, which could compete with the strictest congregation of Puritan Sabbatarians. See Gordon Rupp, Religion in England, 1688–1791 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986), pp. 295–298. S. W’s individual recapitulation of the nation’s ecclesiastical change seems to have brought a similar dose of Puritan Sabbatarianism into her new Anglican context, but it was enhanced by her husband, Samuel’s, early support of the similarly motivated religious societies. For a more restrained Anglican view of the Lord’s Day, see Henry Hammond, A Practical Catechism, 11th ed. (London: Richard Davis, 1677), pp. 194–197; Bishop Robert Sanderson’s 1636 essay (also republished after the Restoration), “The Case of the Sabbath,” in The Works of Robert Sanderson, 6 vols., ed. William Jacobson (Oxford: At the University Press, 18S4), 5:5–16; and Robert Nelson, A Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England … (London: Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge; New York: Pott, Young, n.d.), pp. 13–21; original ed. 1703.
5. J. Sears McGee, The Godly Man in Stuart England: Anglicans, Puritans, and the Two Tables, 1620–1670 (New Haven, Conn, and London: Yale University Press, 1976), p. 70 and passim.
6. C. F. Allison, The Rise of Moralism: The Proclamation of the Gospel from Hooker to Baxter (New York: Seabury, 1966), pp. x-xi, 192. The “holy living” tradition that Allison feels distorts the doctrine of justification in the second half of the seventeenth century includes not only Anglicans like Jeremy Taylor but also such Puritans as Richard Baxter.
7. John Spurr, The Restoration Church of England, 1646–1689 (New Haven, Conn., and London: Yale University Press, 1991), p. 307. For the longer term, cf. Rupp, Religion in England, pp. 278–285, 289–322.
8. Headingley MS C, pp. 61–98.
9. Close paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 15:22; quotation marks added. From the reference to “our first parents” to the concluding remarks on a second covenant, this paragraph could be seen as a quick summary of the opening section of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. See particularly, questions 12, 13, 15, and 20. See also similar language in several of the more detailed questions of the Westminster Larger Catechism, particularly 20, 21, 30–32, and 36. Milton also uses “first parents” in Paradise Lost, 3:65 and 4:6.
10. See the Shorter Catechism, Q. 94, where baptism “seals our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking of the benefits of the covenant of grace.”
11. Followed by the crossed-out “obedience to.”
12. A reference to the preceding exposition on the Apostles’ Creed.
13. Cf. the Larger Catechism, Q. 32, where faith is the condition of salvation and obedience is the “evidence of the truth of … faith.”
14. This is the gist of the Aristotelian definition as filtered through Aquinas and the Spanish Jesuit Francisco Suarez into mid-seventeenth century England. See Nathaniel Culverwel, An Elegant and Learned Discourse of the Light of Nature, with Several Other Treatises … , ed. Robert A. Green and Hugh MacCallum (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971), pp. 28–29; original ed. (London: John Roth well, 1652).
15. Slightly garbled version of Romans 9:5; quotation marks added.
16. Ephesians 1:11; quotation marks added. This verse is also used by the Shorter Catechism, Q. 7, the famous issue of God’s decrees, by which “He has foreordained whatever comes to pass.” S. W. employs the verse but lets the Calvinism lie.
17. Cf. Culverwel, Light of Nature, pp. 29–30: “all rectitude has a being, and flows from the fountain of being.”
18. I 8. Perhaps an Arminian gloss on the Larger Catechism’s phrase “the unsearchable counsel of His own will.” See Q. 13.
19. Followed by the crossed-out “must always.”
20. S. W originally wrote, “the chief end of man’s creation,” then crossed out “man’s” and entered above it “all the works of his.” Note the strong echoes of the Shorter Catechism, Q. 1: “What is the chief end of man? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.”
21. Replaces the crossed-out “seeing.”
22. S. W reworked these examples as she wrote, writing and then crossing out “moral” after “divine” and “&c” after “law of nature.”
23. Cf. Culverwel’s discussion of the “eternal law” (Light of Nature, p. 36): “So then, that there is such a prime and supreme Law is clear, and unquestionable; but who is worthy to unseal and open this Law? and who can sufficiently display the glory of it?”
24. A paragraph on moral law is crossed out here and then reinserted in a slightly rewritten form below; see note 30. S. W had obviously gotten this out of the previously announced order (divine, natural, and moral and positive) and sought to set it right.
25. Added but crossed out “and regularly.”
26. The beginning of this sentence orginally read, “Hence arises the position of the elements,” but S. W crossed out the first two words and inserted “In” to recast the sentence.
27. S. W. ignores (or is unaware of) the debate about whether natural law can ever be applied to nonrational creatures. Culverwel, Light of Nature, p. 40, takes the more restrictive view, charging that opposing lawyers “mean to bring beast, birds and fishes into their Courts, and have some fees out of them.”
28. Cf. ibid., p. 55: “Natures Law is frequently call’d the Moral Law.”
29. Cf. the General Confession in the Holy Communion, BCP: “our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed.” Also the Shorter Catechism, Q. 82 (and Larger Catechism, Q. 149), where it is acknowledged that everyone daily breaks God’s commandments “in thought, word, and deed.”
30. Cf. the first draft of this paragraph, crossed out above, just before the paragraph on natural law: “Moral Law, or the law of reason, is that law which is founded on and results from the unalterable natures of persons and things; thus from the absolute perfections of the divine nature and the rationality and freedom of man’s nature arises all our duties towards God and the greater part of our duties towards ourselves and our neighbour. And this law is fixed, unalterable, eternal, of equal and perpetual obligation to all persons of what degree soever at all times in all places and circumstances of life. This law or rule obliges no creature in the world but man, who alone is capable of understanding it, having a principle of reason, and who alone is capable of practicing the precepts thereof, since no creature beside hath a principle of liberty; and therefore his conformity to this law is called moral goodness. And any deviation from this law is moral evil.”
31. Context, milieu.
32. Replaces the crossed-out “virtues or graces.”
33. Cf. Culverwel, Light of Nature, p. 59: “Now, though the formality of humane Lawes do flow immediately from the power of some particular men; yet the strength and sinew of these Lawes is founded in the Law of Nature … and whilest they are in their force and vigour, it does oblige and command them not to break or violate them.”
34. Matthew 19:16–22, Mark 10:17–22, Luke 18:18–23; quotation marks added.
35. An echo of Luke 10:42; in AV: “needful.” Quotation marks added.
36. BCP: “A Catechism,” part of the answer (cast there in the first person singular) to the question “What is thy duty towards God?” Quotation marks added. See Matthew 23:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27.
37. See John 4:24; quotation marks added.
38. Originally followed by “seems,” which was subsequently crossed out and replaced by “is.”
39. Followed by a line and a half, crossed out: “and in what manner this time is to be employed is to be” (subsequently replaced by “ought to be and is”).
40. Replaces the crossed-out “in.”
41. Terminated, ended.
42. Close paraphrase of Matthew 22:30. A crossed-out “The” follows.
43. Followed by the crossed-out “with great cheerfulness.”
44. Cf. the concluding clause of the church catechism’s answer to the question “What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?”: “to do my duty in that state of life, unto which it shall please God to call me.”
45. 1 Peter 3:4; quotation marks added.
46. “Avoiding all” replaces the crossed-out “hearing.”
47. Followed by the crossed-out “that he will.”
48. Outwit; get the better of by cunning or artifice.
49. Replaces the crossed-out “Nor.”
50. BCP, catechism: “Thou shalt have none other gods but me”; cf. AV, Exodus 20:3: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” S. W. writes the commandment, and the subsequent ones she treats, in a somewhat larger hand, indicated here by bold face type.
51. Cf. the patterned explication of the commandments in both Westminster catechisms. After the commandment is repeated the child is asked (in the Larger Catechism), “What are the duties required in the [first, etc.] commandment?” and then “What are the sins forbidden in the [first, etc.] commandment?” followed by a third question getting at an important appropriate detail. S. W seems here to be adopting the first of these approaches.
52. Followed by the crossed-out “patience.”
53. This paragraph appears in the MS just above the one numbered “2nd.” That S. W wanted to move it is indicated by her numbering it “3rd” and by the asterisk that links it with the next paragraph, beginning “And as we acknowledge.” This order makes better sense, following these initial thoughts on human resignation to God’s governing power.
54. Preceded by an asterisk showing the place S. W wanted the “3rd” paragraph moved. See note 53.
55. Nearly exact quotation of AV, Mark 12:30; cf. BCP catechism; quotation marks added.
56. Originally followed by “from,” since crossed out.
57. Followed by “of,” crossed out.
58. 1 Corinthians 13:3.
59. See Matthew 10:42.
60. Followed by “from,” subsequently crossed out.
61. Note the remarkably similar passage in her letter to Samuel Wesley Jr., 11 March 1704. See also the much later letters to John Wesley, 7 December 1725 and 30 March 1726, indicating her reading of the philosopher John Norris on this subject. Indeed, here S. W seems to be expanding on the distinction made by Norris in “A Discourse concerning the Excellency of Praise and Thanksgiving,” in [Practical] Discourses upon Several Divine Subjects, 3rd ed., 4 vols. (London: Samuel Manship, 1697), 2:92–93.
62. Followed by “that,” crossed out.
63. In its now more obscure meaning, “pleasure, delight, enjoyment” rather than in its more usual, modern sense of self-satisfaction.
64. Originally followed by “beloved obje,” which she deleted in mid-word.
65. Cf. John Norris, The Theory and Regulation of Love …, 2nd cd. (London: S. Manship, 1694), p. 25, defining “Love in general” as “a Motion of the Soul towards God” and “the Love of Concupiscence or Desire” as “a simple Tendency of the Soul to Good.”
66. A seeming conflation of the BCP catechism and AV, Exodus 20:4.
67. This thoroughgoing iconophobia may derive from a youthful exposure to the Larger Catechism’s Q. 109, which forbids representations of God “either inwardly in our mind or outwardly in any kind of image.”
68. Loose paraphrase of John 4:24 with echoes of 1 Corinthians 5:8.
69. Replaces the crossed-out (?)“derar.”
70. Followed by the crossed-out “may not.”
71. She may be referring to the wildly charismatic sect of Huguenot refugees, known as the French Prophets, which had recently sought refuge in England. See Rupp, Religion in England, pp. 216–217.
72. Isaiah 57:15; quotation marks added.
73. Nearly exact quotation of Isaiah 40:12; quotation marks added.
74. Isaiah 40:15; quotation marks added.
75. Isaiah 40:17; quotation marks added.
76. Isaiah 40:22; quotation marks added.
77. Nearly exact quotation of Isaiah 40:18; quotation marks added.
78. From BCP, Morning Prayer, the Venite (Psalm 95), verse 6: “O Come, let us worship and fall down, and kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Quotation marks added.
79. BCP, catechism, and AV, Exodus 20:7.
80. John 4:24; quotation marks added.
81. AV, Exodus 20:8, rather than BCP, catechism.
82. BCP and Ay Exodus 20:11, agree. Quotation marks added, but the boldfacing of “wherefore” represents S. W’s emphasis, in the MS a slightly larger script.
83. Space for the noun is left blank in the MS. The “wherefore” beginning the sentence is also written in a slightly larger hand than the surrounding material; I have represented that emphasis with boldfacing.
84. BCP, Prayers and Thanksgivings, Upon Certain Occasions, a General Thanksgiving. Quotation marks added.
85. Paraphrase from General Thanksgiving.
86. Cf BCP. The Gloria Patri is sung or said after the Psalms and canticles in morning and evening prayer.
87. See BCP, Evening Prayer, the Second Collect; John 14:27.
88. Wondered at.
89. I have corrected the MS’s erroneous “commands.”
90. Replaces the crossed-out (?) “might.”
91. Close paraphrase of Psalm 55:6; quotation marks added.
92. S. W. has crossed out the following words here: “since I am sure we Christians have as much, nay more reason to praise god for the mercies of the Lord’s Day as the Jews had. And.”
93. Crossed out: “that ‘tis a sin to spend the day in the exercises of religion, though it and.”
94. Crossed out: “that [?]of the Christian.”
95. Syntax has run away with her once again; continuing the list of what she regards as obvious untruths, perhaps S. W. means “because none of his creatures have any share in the works of creation.”
96. See Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27.
97. Followed by the crossed out “yet.”
98. Replacing the crossed-out “it.”
99. Followed by the crossed-out “by their.”
100. Replaces the crossed-out “the.”
101. Originally “you ought to behave yourself.” S. W immediately went back and corrected the pronouns to conform with the previous clause.
102. Followed by the now crossed-out “in the performance of so g.”
103. Echoes of the BCP, Holy Communion, preface to the Sanctus.
104. Ephesians 4:30; quotation marks added.
105. Replaces a two- or three-word crossed-out phrase, beginning “our”; the second word (or two words) is intriguingly not just crossed out but also scribbled over so that it is completely illegible. This not being S. W’s usual editorial custom, it seems likely that she was not just rephrasing for better effect but also nervous about her initial impulse being seen.
106. Originally “their,” now crossed out.
107. Replaces the crossed-out “them.”
108. S. W’s negative thoughts about women’s fashions are not unusual for religious commentators of her day. For a collection of influential contemporary writings emphasizing the importance of modesty in women see Angeline Goreau, The Whole Duty of a Woman: Female Writers in Seventeenth Century England (Garden City, N.Y.: Dial, 1985), pp. 35–64. For another Anglican woman’s feelings on the subject, see Elizabeth Burnet, A Method of Devotion: Or, Rules for Holy & Devout Living … (London: For Joseph Downing, 1709), pp. 99–102. Second wife of the redoubtable Whig bishop Gilbert Burnet, she uses the same language of “Cleanness and Decency” as the appropriate end of dress (p. 101) and inveighs similarly against the “Snares for themselves as well as others” that dressing to attract admiration creates (p. 102).
109. Crossed out: “told what we ought.”
110. Crossed out: “‘tis impossible for your soul which hath.”
111. Originally followed by “divine,” now crossed out.
112. Space left blank for noun; S. W probably intended “objects,” easily supplied from the usage later in the same sentence (!) and from the identical phrase she used earlier in this exposition of the Fourth Commandment. See above, p. 417.
113. Followed by two indecipherable words, crossed out.
114. Exposition ends here; the same page contains the final entry in a section of her devotional journal, which she began at the other end of the notebook.