John Wesley's Eucharist

as a Context for Christian Spiritual Formation

Huh, Do-Hwa

Professor of Liturgics & Homiletics, Keimyung University

Introduction

John Wesley had the advantages of living in a time after the Reformation controversies and the legacy of the Anglican tradition in the eucharistic thought and devotion. The Reformers'--Luther, Zwingli, Calvin and Cranmer's--emphasis on communion rather than enactment as the Sacrament's reason of being and their stress on the communal dynamics of the celebration are their lasting gifts to all sacramental traditions. In terms of the polemic climate of controversy and their own experience of the Eucharist, the Reformers' key theological question which was at stake was simply whether there is a real encounter with the saving reality of Christ in the Eucharist which drives from its specific sacramental character.

It is good to be reminded by the Reformers that the real issue remains the who question (the relation between Christ and the believer) not the how question (the explanation of the body's relation to the bread) of the Eucharist. Nevertheless, the how question, though secondary, is still relevant and may influence our apprehension of the reality (the who question). Thus, we may still ask, how sacramental is the Sacrament to be? In liturgical terms, what profile are the bread and wine to have? Or, in more theological terms, can we point to a specific gift and/or special function to the Eucharist which derives from its sacramental character? In this light, how John Wesley handled the questions and interpreted the answers given by the Reformers need to be considered.

In this work I shall deal with the eucharistic theology and spirituality of John Wesley, considering his thoughts and experience of the Eucharist. Wesley's greatest contribution-his greatest challenge-to the church today owes to his urgent insistence on frequent celebration of the Eucharist as a key ingredient in spiritual renewal. As we deal with more specific points regarding Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist as a means of grace, we recognize that it is expressed as a context for Christian spiritual formation, guidance, and care. To Wesley, the Eucharist as a means of grace has a functional superiority to the other means of grace.

See Albert C. Outler, John Wesley (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964), 333.

That Wesley regarded his use of the Eucharist and the other means of grace as ministry for the cure of souls is plain not only from what he did but also from what he said. He quite accurately assessed the negligence of the eucharistic celebration as a means of grace in his day, because it meant the spiritual and sacramental malaise in the eighteenth-century Protestant church. So important was eucharistic practice to Wesley that he published the sermon on constant communion in 1733 ("The Duty of Constant Communion") and reissued it with the brief note in 1788. He published a collection of 166 eucharistic hymns in 1745. Moreover, he communed at least every four to five days (72 times a year), daily when possible.      We know from Wesley's personal practice and demand constant communion to his flock just how important frequent communing was to form his own and Christian spirituality.

For statistics on Wesley's eucharistic practice, see Thomas H. Barratt, "The Place of the Lord's Supper in Early	Methodism," The London Quarterly Review 140 (1923): 60; John C. Bowmer, The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in Early Methodism (London: Dacre Press, 1951), Ch. 4; and, more detailed, Laurence H. Stookey, Eucharist: Christ's Feast with the Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993), 161.

B. Sources

What is distinctive about Wesley's approach to the eucharist is that his understanding of the eucharist is expressed within the framework of the unique theological vision of the Christian life. Wesley's eucharistic theology emerges from the variety of expressions and influences that had come to bear on his life. This was expressed in few sources where we find Wesley's explicit understandings of the Eucharist.

Ole E. Borgen gives useful notes on primary sources for Wesley's sacramental theology. John Wesley's Letters and Journal give reports more than a thousand and as many as sixteen hundred persons receiving communion at a Methodist service. Another chief group of sources for ascertaining Wesley's eucharistic doctrine are his sermons. But it is common testimony that the best evidence comes from a singular publication of hymns in 1745, Hymns on the Lord's Supper, with a preface called "the Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice." Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist is chiefly expressed in the 166 eucharistic hymns based upon Daniel Brevint's treatise, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice. The eucharistic hymns that John Wesley and his brother wrote are arranged carefully into six groups:

Ole E. Borgen, John Wesley on the Sacraments (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972), 20-36.

For example, "The Duty of Constant Communion," ed. Outler,  John Wesley, 333 ff; "The Means of Grace," ed. E. H. Sugden, Standard Sermons (London: Epworth Press, 1921), vol. 2,	sermon XII. and commentary, Notes upon the New Testament.

Bowmer, The Sacrament, 166; Paul S. Sanders, An Appraisal of Wesley's Sacramentalism in the Evolution of Early American Methodism, Doctoral Dissertation (New York: Union Theological Seminary, 1954), 122, "The Sacraments in Early American Methodism," Church History 26(1957): 358, and "Wesley's Eucharistic Faith and Practice," Anglican Theological Review 148 (1966): 56; Borgen, John Wesley, 15; Stookey, Eucharist, 162.

Daniel Brevint, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, By Way of Discourse, Meditation, and Prayer, Upon the Nature, Parts, and Blessings of the Holy Communion (At the Theater in Oxford, 1673).

1) As it is a Memorial of the Sufferings and Death of Christ (nos. 1-27)

2) As it is a Sign and a Means of Grace (nos. 28-92)

3) The Sacrament as a Pledge of Heaven (nos. 93-115)

4) The Holy Eucharist as it implies a Sacrifice (nos. 116-127)

5) After the Sacrament (nos. 158-166)

J. E. Rattenbury, The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley (London: Epworth, 1948), 195-249.

These hymns went through nine editions in Wesley's lifetime and the abridged tract was issued besides in separate editions. By these headings the Wesleys promulgated a new way of looking at the Eucharist in the liturgy itself, and that is by theological genre. By grouping the hymns in this manner, Wesley provided a unique way of looking at the Eucharist from different angles. He, as not a theologian but a missionary, taught that the Eucharist is a converting as well as confirming sacrament. Indeed, he believed that through the Eucharist the Holy Spirit conveys grace to unbelievers as well as the believers, and he cast his doctrine into the hymnal form "most readily usable by those to whom he addressed the Gospel call." The doctrine set forth there is consistent and clear, and is reinforced by many other references adduced from Wesley's works. In these hymns, we can discern John Wesley's eucharistic doctrine and character in liturgical tradition.

See Stookey, Eucharist, 162.  He observes that Wesley's eucharistic hymns combine the objective sacramental character of the Eucharist with subjective apprehension by praying.

See Sanders, "Wesley's Eucharistic Faith," Anglican Theological Review 48 (1966): 4.

We have several recent researches which can well support our attempt to provide a theological justification for Wesley's eucharistic theology in terms of taking his hymns seriously. Several extensive studies on Wesley's eucharistic texts, started from the middle of the twentieth century, come from J. E. Rattenbury in 1941, J. C. Bowmer in 1951, Paul S. Sanders in 1954, John R. Parris in 1963, and O. E. Borgen in 1972. Most recently, attempted to establish Wesleyan theology of the Eucharist from the four selected hymn texts in The United Methodist Hymnal(1989), Stookey urges the Methodists to take a careful review of Wesley's eucharistic hymns.

Sanders, An Appraisal of Wesley's Sacramentalism in the Evolution of Early American Methodism, Doctoral Dissertation in the Union Theological Seminary (New York, 1954), especially 118-186.

John R. Parris, John Wesley's Doctrine of the Sacraments (London: Epworth Press, 1963), especially 62-93.

On the recent research of Wesley's sacramental theology, see Borgen, John Wesley on the Sacrament, 15-20.

Indeed, there are traces in the hymns of the better parts of medieval eucharistic piety; these must have alarmed some Anglicans in the eighteenth century and would astound Methodists today, if only they would study the 166 poems carefully.

Stookey, Ibid., 88.

C. Methodology

William N. Wade gives an important ground to our methodological approach to Wesley's eucharistic theology. Said he:

The most significant insight is that any innovation upon Wesley's part was not so much in the realm of speculative sacramental theology but, as might be expected, in the practical approach to and appreciation of the place of the Lord's Supper in the worship life of the Church.

William N. Wade, A History of Public Worship in Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from 1784 to 1905, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Notre Dame (1981), 77.

Indeed, John Wesley was not a speculative theologian. He worked out his practical theology with an intense passion for the care and cure of the human soul. His theology was driven not by the pursuit of the truth of God in itself but a yearning for both the love of God and the loving of God in the life of faith. This is seen clearly in his theology of the Eucharist--it is grounded in the dilemmas and didactic of practice. There is evidence in his journals that Wesley administered the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to the sick and to the dying. He was much more interested in the pastoral implications rather than any speculative theories of the Eucharist. Hence, the most appropriate method of entering into his sacramental thinking is not by a simple identification of traditional eucharistic themes-for this would merely give the co-ordinates of his thought, not the collage of his experience-but rather by an examination of the outworking of his teaching in the twin thrust of his theological practice: the presentation of the Gospel and the call of holiness for Christian spiritual formation.

See Bowmer, The Sacrament, 143-146.

In that light, I shall examine John's rather than Charles's eucharistic thought on the grounds that, as John is generally considered to be the theological force in the fraternal combination and as I am seeking to relate Wesleyan thought on the Sacrament to other emphases in the Wesleyan Revival, John would seem to be the obvious choice. Indeed, there is a growing group of scholars who have attributed the primary work of the hymns to Charles on the grounds that John merely systematize them.

Heather M. Elkins, professor of Liturgical Studies, Drew University gives us a good reminder that there should be a careful survey of the sources for ascertaining John's eucharistic theology. Responded to this methodology, she indicates that "John is clearly the systematizer, but further writing in this field should include Charles as someone other than the silent partner." If any evidence, however, it would be seem that their theology of the Eucharist was in essence the same. At this sense, I agree with Sanders on his own logical reasoning that "John would not have lent his name to the hymns had they not satisfactorily expressed his own views, nor would he have supplied the Methodists with the hymns and his extract from Brevint had they not been what he wanted them to have." Therefore, the reference to John throughout this work may be seen as a convenient and conventional way of describing the theology of them both.

Heather M. Elkins, A Response to Do-Hwa Huh's "John Wesley's Eucharistic Theology: A Context for Christian Spiritual Formation," February 16, 1994: 1.

Sanders, "Wesley's Eucharistic Faith," Anglican Theological Review 48 (1966): 156.

Following Bowmer, Bowmer, The Sacrament, 166-167. Borgen      Borgen, John Wesley, 26-28. and Rattenbury, Rattenbury, The Evangelical Doctrine, 188-203 and 215-	234.I shall treat John Wesley's hymns and translations and, more significantly, Charles Wesley's hymns, as valid expressions of John's doctrine. I shall refer in particular to the eucharistic hymns first published in 1745 (Hymns on the Lord's Supper). The issue quoted hereafter is that published in Rattenbury, The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley.

In fact, Wesley's hymns have been the main source of the Anglican Church interpretation of his doctrine of the Eucharist. However, this method has been mildly challenged by J. R. Parris who urged caution in treating the Wesley's hymns as evidence of his beliefs, and R. T. Beckwith has warned against viewing them from the perspective of 19th and 20th century Anglo-Catholic rather than 17th century Anglican theology.        Nevertheless, since scholars already mentioned started their works on the grounds that these eucharistic hymns reveal Wesley's sacramental theology, it would also seem that the method is justified on the following grounds.

See Parris, John Wesley's Doctrine, 70.

Ibid., 70-71.

R. T. Beckwith, Priesthood and Sacraments: A Study of the	Anglican-Methodist Report (Abingdon: MMP, 1964), 61.

Especially, see Sanders, An Appraisal of Wesley's	Sacramentalism, 122-123 and Stookey, Eucharist, 162.

First, John Wesley used the method himself by scattering his sermons and writings, e.g. A Plain Account of Christian Perfection,      In The Works of John Wesley, 14 vols. (Grand Rapids,	Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979), 11:366. with hymnodic material.

Second, John's journals and sermons were originally published with appropriate hymnal appendices.

See The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A., ed. N. Curnock, 2nd edition (London: Robert Culley, 1909-16) vol. II, 500.

Third, despite the doctrinal differences between the brothers,      John always exercised a doctrinal editing function before authorizing and publishing them.

See Parris, John Wesley's Doctrine, 71.

See Rattenbury, The Evangelical Doctrine, 64-66.

Fourth, the preface to the hymn books always strongly commended their use as expressions of 'Scriptural Christianity'.

The Works of John Wesley, vol. IX, 319-345.

Fifth, his commendation of Hymns on the Lord's Supperwas particularly enthusiastic and survived the test of time.

Borgen, John Wesley, 26-29.

Sixth, Wesley published an extract from Daniel Brevint's 'The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice' as a preface to Hymns on the Lord's Supper.  Borgen has established that Wesley adapted Brevint's work at several key points, thus proving that the version of Brevint published with the hymns is expressive of John's own eucharistic thought.  Outler surmises that through Brevint's work Wesley would serve well in providing doctrinal guidance.  With regard to comparing Brevint's original text with Wesley's abridgement, Stookey argues that "Wesley intensified the theology of the eucharistic Presence by altering Brevint's text."

Borgen, ibid., 26-29.

Outler, John Wesley, 332.

Stookey, Eucharist, 187n. 15.

The hymns are divided into sections comparable to those in the treatise and are in many ways poetic renderings of the text.  There is an a priori case for treating the hymns as a primary source for John's thought.  Of course, following Parris, we must recognize that the hymns are in a poetic genre and, therefore, need to be approached in an appropriate way.  To this work, I have, in a similar ways to Parris, treated the hymns as illustrative rather than innovative examples of Wesley's thought.

CHAPTER ONE

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF WESLEY'S EUCHARISTIC THEOLOGY

Compelled by his own deep hunger for spiritual sustenance and guidance, Wesley began early in his ministry carefully to choose spiritual mentors from historic resources as well as from among his more immediate contemporaries.  Each in their own way deepened and extend his sacramental appreciation.

A. Anglican Sacramentalism

The doctrine of the eucharist that Wesley held throughout the course of his life was the doctrine of seventeenth-century Anglicanism.  The Anglicanism clearly emphasized inward holiness of intent applied to practical works in the world, on the assumption that the world is also God's sphere of salvation.  Wesley was influenced at home by Thomas Deacon and in the Holy Club by John Clayton.  He was deeply affected by his personal contact with William Law, and his eucharistic theology is difficult to distinguish from that of Daniel Brevint.  Brevint claimed that the service of holy communion is a means of grace, a pledge of happiness and glory yet to come in its fullness, a sign of the present divine grace sustaining the pilgrim people of God, and a participatory memorial of the suffering and death of Christ.

See The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. ed. Thomas Jackson (1831), 11: 366-367.

See Brevint, The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, passim.

Jeremy Taylor, probably the exemplar of Anglican spirituality, reinforced young Wesley's Oxford experience.  H. Trevor Hughes has demonstrated that Wesley's Aldersgate experience in 1738 was begun with his reading Taylor's Holy Living and Holy Dying in 1725.  Wesley's there learned the importance of pursuing purity and holiness.  From Taylor, Wesley learned at least two things about his sacramental theology.

See H. Trevor Hughes, The Piety of Jeremy Taylor (Macmillan: St. Martin's Press, 1960), 175-177.

See Wesley's sermon, "A Plain Account of Christian Perfection," The Works of John Wesley, 11: 366.

First, through the participation in the continuing life of the visible church, Sacraments, rites, and rituals become both the setting and the means of disciplining the spiritual life.  The church, both locally and universally understood, is the normative context for spiritual formation.  H. R. McAdoo argues that "Taylor never sees the Eucharist out of context, the context for the Christian's life in Christ."  Taylor and Wesley have a same point of view that the Eucharist is always in the context, that of the life of the Christian who in faith and repentance is called to holy living.

See David Lowes Watson, "Methodist Spirituality," Protestant Spiritual Traditions, ed. Frank C. Senn (New York: Paulist Press, 1986), 218.

H. R. McAdoo, The Eucharistic Theology of Jeremy Taylor Today (Norwich: The Canterbury Press, 1988), 59.

Second, there is no disjuncture between the holy and what is experienced in the world, for when one comes to see God at work in the whole of daily existence all of life can become sacramental.  Through the ordinary channels of grace, we are drawn into God's presence in the world.  Expounding the meaning of the Eucharist in the context of discipleship and devotion, Taylor opens one's whole life into participation in divine work in the world.  Thus, holiness is not pursued for its own sake.  At all points, Wesley's spirituality included as its purpose more than the personal formation of believers.  For Wesley, Christian spiritual formation is a process of appropriating the skills, disciplines and capacities ingredient to participating as a disciple in God's redemptive work in the world.

Watson, "Methodist Spirituality," Protestant Spiritual Traditions, 218.

Cf. McAdoo, The Eucharistic Theology, 80.

B. Moravians

Wesley had mainly learned the doctrine of the Eucharist from both the Moravians and traditional Protestant.  Wesley had been profoundly affected by his contact with the Moravians.  From his affiliation with the Moravians, Wesley re-discovered Augustine's teachings on grace.  He appropriated from them a piety focused on learning to discern patterns of God's gracious initiatives in the believer's life.

See Watson, "Methodist Spirituality," Protestant Spiritual Traditions, 220.

Inspired by the Moravians, Wesley began to imbibe the Puritan spiritual authors because of their emphasis on inward assurance of faith.  Through the evangelical tradition Wesley came to appreciate the importance of the inward witness of the Spirit, and this became another important aspect of his view of Eucharist as a means of grace.

Struck by the vibrancy and confidence of their faith and challenged by discussion with Peter Boehler, however, Wesley concluded that his devout 'method', inspired by Kempis, Taylor and Law, was a misplaced attempt to win his salvation by his 'own works or righteousness'.  After a period in which he deliberately sought an experience of saving faith, he received it as a conviction enabling 'a full reliance on the blood of Christ shed for me'.       Nevertheless, within less than fourteen months of his Aldersgate experience he had broken from the Moravian Fetter Lane Society on grounds which, though complex, centered on their neglect, even dismissal, of the Lord's Supper.

Journal, vol. I, 472.

Ibid.

On Wesley's own account of his break with the Moravians, see his Journal, vol. II, 307-500.

Under the influence of Moelther, the Fetter Lane Society combined a radical interpretation of Luther's principle of salvation by faith alone with a Quiet spirituality reminiscent of the Quakers.  They excluded all religious activities and replaced them with a doctrine of stillness.  Their reasoning was that the only human involvement in the work of salvation is to be still and receive the gift of faith, which will come complete and unmistakably-the recipient would become instantly righteous and without sin.  The underlying assumption was that any personal or ecclesial action, whether in terms of devotion or of ministry, implied a co-operation with the work of God and therefore created a salvation by works rather than by grace.  The equation was extended to the traditional Protestant distinction between justification and sanctification.  If sanctification was seen as a process apart from the state of justification, then the principles of grace and faith would be betrayed, and holiness would become, in some way, dependent upon human effort.  Therefore, rather than being two separable movements, they must be seen as the product of one momentous event.

See ibid., 314, 329ff, 488ff; vol. III, 28 Nov. 1750.

CHAPTER TWO

WESLEY'S APPROACH TO THE EUCHARIST AS A CONTEXT

Wesley's response to the distinction between justification and sanctification was on two levels.  He argued, first, that there are degrees of faith, and second, that God has chosen certain methods to create and continue that faith: "By 'means of grace' I understand outward signs, words, or actions, ordained of God, and appointed for this end, to be the ordinary channels whereby he might convey to man, preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace."

"Means of Grace," Sermon XIV, 2:1.

In contrast to the Moravians, he delineated phases of salvation and maintained that the means of grace-principally, prayer, Scripture and the Lord's Supper-were designed to meet the different needs at each stage.  Wesley's understanding of the universality of grace led him to the belief that the grace of God is present in a person before justification, creating-given the right conditions-a faith which seeks God.  If pursued, this seeking faith will lead to repentance and justifying faith which, if authentic, will in turn be accompanied by the distinct but complimentary gift of new birth.  The new birth involves a real change in the believer's moral and spiritual depths which may, at some stage, result in 'a total death to sin, and an entire renewal in the love and image of God'.

See Sermon XII, "On sin in believers"; Sermon XIV, "The repentance of believers"; Sermon LXXXV, "On working out your own salvation"; Sermon V, "Justification by faith"; Sermon XIX, "The great privilege of those that are born again"; Sermon XLV, "The new birth."

A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, 52.

Hence, the Wesleyan understanding of salvation may be seen in terms of an anticipation in the predisposition to justification, an inauguration in the moment of belief and experience of new birth (both of which are sustained in the life of faith) and an eschatological consummation, which is possible now in a provisional form in the 'renewal in love' but is not complete until heaven.

Wesley's defense of the means of grace concentrated on the Lord's Supper.  The controversy had taken the classic Protestant sacramental problem of identifying the real value of the Sacrament over and against that of hearing and receiving the Word, and pushed it one stage further back and , therefore, heightened it into a crisis by the logic, Why the need for the Sacrament-and, indeed, the Word-if Christ, in his death, is received through faith? Wesley's answer to the harder, Moravian, form of the dilemma also met its softer, Protestant, form.  His first appeal was to Scripture and his second to experience:

Why did my dying Lord ordain

This dear memorial of His Love?

Might we not all by faith obtain,

By faith the mountain sin remove,

Enjoy the sense of sins forgiven,

And holiness, the taste of heaven?

It seem'd to my Redeemer good

That faith should here His coming wait.

The prayer, the fast, the word conveys,

When mixed with faith, The life to me;

In all the channels of thy grace

I still have fellowship with Thee:

But chiefly here my soul is fed

With fullness of immortal bread.

Communion closer far I feel,

And deeper drink the' atoning blood.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 54.

His approach was thus neither to 'neglect' the means nor to 'rest' in them.  It was rather to 'wait' in them as appointed places of God's activity.  Wesley knew from his pre-conversion experience that the temptation to formality is real:

Journal, vol. II, 320.

But I of means have made my boast,

Of means an idol made;

The spirit in the letter lost,

The substance in the shade.

Quoted by Rattenbury, The Eucharistic Hymns, 49.

Nevertheless, the solution is not to dispense with the means but to find Christ through them: 'I use, but trust the means no more.'

Quoted by Bowmer, The Sacrament, 47.

For Wesley the Eucharist fitted into this scheme on an equal ontological footing.  The sacramental grace is not bestowed ex opere operato.  As in prayer and preaching, it is always subject to the dynamics of the faith relationship.  Further, as we shall see, there is not a presence of the person or death of Christ in the Eucharist which is different in ontological category from that available through preaching and received  through faith.  But for Wesley such equality worked both ways.  His roots in post-Calvinist Anglican theology allowed him to view the Sacrament independently of the Word as preaching.  Its role was not merely to confirm the Word, for it could actually be the Word.  It could, and quite clearly did, present and convey the kerygma to those with willing hearts and seeing eyes:

See Borgen, "John Wesley: Sacramental Theology No Ends	without the Means," John Wesley: Contemporary Perspectives, ed. John Stacey (London: Epworth Press, 1988), 68.

Come to the Supper come,

Sinners, there still is room;

Every soul may be his guest,

Christ revives his sufferings here,

Still exposes them to view

See the Crucified appear,

Now believe He died for you.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 8.

These are remarkable words when one considers the extraordinary results the Wesleys were seeing from their preaching ministers, but they are overshadowed by the claim that the Eucharist has a functional superiority to the other means of grace, including the Word.  The Eucharist does not itself confer grace, but the Holy Spirit through the sacrament does confer grace.  The Eucharist is the 'grand channel' of his grace, his 'kindest word', indeed, his 'dearest dying word,' where 'chiefly my soul is fed'  and at which we 'never can on earth be higher, or more completely blest'.  Thus, a Christian will not despise the means.

"Sermon on the Mount-IV," Sermon XXVI, 3:11.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 81.

Ibid., 91.

Ibid., 54.

Ibid., 99.

Clearly, Wesley did not fall into the trap to which some Puritans were prone: he did not make the Sacrament a parasite of the sermon.  In contrast with Calvin, Wesley did allow a limited autonomy to the Eucharist.  However, the underlying evangelical concern of Calvin and the Puritans-to tie the Sacrament to the Gospel-was maintained by him.  Participation in the correct liturgical enactment of the sacrament is not a sufficient guarantee of its efficacy.  This depended on the presentation and the response to the reality of the Gospel.  Wesley's passionate belief was that the Eucharist is a context-in fact, a peculiarly appropriate context-in which this could happen:

Sinner, believe, and find Him here;

Believe, and feel He died for you.

Ibid., 73.

CHAPTER THREE

THE EUCHARIST AS A CONTEXT FOR CHRISTIAN SPIRITUAL FORMATION

A. A Dynamic Ecology of Spiritual Formation

Through his ongoing theological synthesis of Anglican and Puritan spirituality, utilizing other diverse resources as well, Wesley worked out a dialectic between divine initiative as the dynamic and spiritual discipline as the form of spirituality.  For Wesley, spiritual formation includes deepening one's discernment and obedience to divine initiative coupled with the struggle to identify and overcome personal and corporate resistances to God's grace.  The process of spiritual formation at all times rests in depending on the grace of God through faith.  Christian spiritual formation is not a static state to be attained, but rather a dynamic relationship with God to be sustained.

Watson, "Methodist Spirituality," Protestant Spiritual Traditions, 222.

Ibid., 225.

As we now turn to more specific points regarding Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist as a means of grace, we must see it as one dimension of a dynamic ecology of spiritual formation, spiritual guidance, and care.  Ecology is an organic notion, not a hierarchical or linear one.  Through the Eucharist celebration as a means of grace, the whole of Wesley's ministry is marked a concern for a dynamic balance with Word of God among the dimensions of the order of worship.  In Wesley, therefore, there is never the slightest glint of an either/or approach to issues in spiritual formation as can be detected in many other spiritual leaders.

His passion always was for tending a spiritual ecology that would nourish human souls toward their salvation.  Thus his ministry was constrained toward providing an ecology of spiritual care and cure to build not only individual believers but the entire church; and not simply the church in itself but as it learns more faithfully to be caught up into God's redemptive word in the world. He wanted to help the church learn how to supply spiritual resources and spiritual guidance.

Thus, his work implies that the church-both locally and universally understood-both does Christian spiritual formation and is by its very nature an ecology of spiritual formation and spiritual guidance.  Spiritual formation depends upon careful initiation of persons into the ongoing work, worship and witness of the community of faith.  Formation depends also upon the believer's ongoing edification through the means of grace.  This includes the lifelong deepening and clarifying of their participation in God's divine nature and work.  Thus, to participate in the Eucharist is to put oneself in a situation whereby one may be affected by divine initiative.  Such ministry requires face-to-face groups animated by the Eucharist.  As implied by Wesley, participation in the worship and witness of the community of faith is a means of grace since the church-as the body of Christ-is the Sacrament of Christ's  presence in the world.  To participate in the church is to participate in an ecology of means of grace; any one single means of grace must be seen in its relation to the whole.  The means of grace are actions which the church does to us, for us, and with us to help us receive God's self-giving in the Eucharist.

James F. White, Sacraments as God's Self Giving: Sacramental Practice and Faith (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983), 52.

We must now move on to consider Wesley's understanding of the inner working of the Eucharist in order to see why and how he believed that the Sacrament operated as an intensified context for Christian spiritual formations such as the initiative of grace and the response of faith in the process of justification, sanctification and even the renewal in love.  On a technical level, Wesley would have dismissed this as an invalid procedure.  The motive for sacramental participation is not to be found in the dissemination of its mechanics but in the obedience to the command and in the verification of experience:

I cannot the way decry,

Need not know the mystery;

Only this know-that I

Was blind, but now I see.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 59.

Nevertheless, on another level, the reality of the experience provoked a theology which was at points quite specific.  Wesley drew consciously and directly from high Anglican sources-most notably from the Nonjuror Dean Brevint-but infused the tradition with the criteria of his Evangelical experience.  Wesley's main concerns seem to have centered on the subjects of eucharistic consecration, sacrifice, and presence, focusing on the spiritual fruits of communion.

B. Consecration: Divine Nutriment of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ

James F. White indicates that the Western churches neglected the function of the Holy Spirit in the divine liturgy for a thousand years, and Wesley made this aspect important in his eucharistic hymns.  From the same point of view with White, Paul S. Sanders emphasizes an explicit recognition of the role of the Holy Spirit in Wesley's eucharistic theology:

White, Sacraments as God's Self Giving, 60.

As symbols the bread and wine re-present the body and blood of	Christ as spiritual nourishment with which the Living Christ feeds	His people now.  The elements are signs; not bare signs, but	efficacious signs of the grace they signify.  The Eucharist does not	itself confer grace, but the Holy Spirit through the sacrament does	confer grace; a Christian will not despise the means.

Sanders, "The Sacraments," Church History 26 (1957): 358.

Central is the Holy Spirit's function as agent bringing God's grace to men in Wesley's thought.  He believed in an objective consecration.  The Pauline description of the cup as 'the cup...which we bless' means 'setting it apart to a sacred use, and solemnly invoking the blessing of God upon it'.       In line with Brevint and the Nonjuriors, he identified the Spirit as the agent of consecration:

Works, VIII, 49.

Notes upon the New Testament (London, 1755), 1 Cor. 10:16; see "A Roman Catechism, on with a Reply Thereto," Works, ed. J. Emory (New York, 1831), 10: 118.

Come, Holy Ghost, Thine influence shed,

And realize the sign;

Thy power into the bread,

Thy power into the wine.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 72.

The result of the Spirit's work in the action of the Church is to 'raise' the 'creatures' of bread and wine so that they may 'convey His grace' and become 'glorious instruments Divine':

Ibid., 59.

Ibid., 28.

The outward sign of inward grace

Ordained by Christ Himself receive:

The sign transmits the Signified

The grace is by the means applied.

Ibid., 71.

There is a 'mystical relation' rather than a substantial identity between the elements and the reality.  However, the relation is such as to allow a real role for them.  The source of the blessing is in the promise of God and its end is in the receiving faith of the participant, but the elements play an objective and effective part in its communication-'Thy blessing in Thy means convey.'

"Roman catechism," 118; see Notes on the New Testament, 1 Cor. 11:24; Matt. 26:26; Mark 14:22; Luke 22:19-20.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 76; Sermon XVI, "The means of grace"; Sermon CIV, "On attending church service"; A Roman Catechism, 113; "Popery calmly considered," Works, vol. X, 149.

In order to determine what Wesley believed to be the content of the blessing we must approach his understanding of the function of the Eucharist, that is, Christian spiritual formation focused on the eucharistic sacrifice and presence of Christ.

C. Sacrifice: Practical Encounter with the Grace and Demand of the Cross

On one level (generally corresponding with his writings), Wesley's doctrine may be stated quite precisely.  However, on another level (generally corresponding with the hymns), the reality of the eucharistic mystery cannot be fully known simply by a spotlight on one or two systematic points; it is too diverse and complex-like a beam refracted through a prism into several colorful rays.  The richness of Wesley's images can be glimpsed by focusing on the role of the Eucharist in the presentation of the Gospel and in the life of holiness.

Wesley saw the essence of conversion as the acknowledgment of the sole sufficiency of Christ's atoning work.  It is faith in Christ crucified that saves.  In the Sacrament 'this sacrifice, once offered, is still represented in remembrance of the remission of sins'.  Hence, the anamnesis creates the possibility of an encounter with the meaning of the Cross:

Notes on the New Testament, 1 Cor. 11:25.

The Lamb as crucified afresh

Is here held out to man.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 126.

As we have seen, this process is not different in category from the activity of preaching, the purpose of which is also to

...show poor souls the dying Lamb

And point them to his blood.

Quoted by Bowmer, The Sacrament, 153.

However, its unique functional force and specific degree of significance is derived not merely from its mandate to 'recall' but its charge to do so in sacramental form.  Since so great benefits flow from the faithful use of the sacrament, Wesley insists, it should be received as often as possible.  Here Wesley combined a subtle blending of the affective and effective emphases.  The bread and wine are real 'tokens' of his body and blood-their value is acquired from the Spirit's activity, not the attitude of the individual-but their role is to affect the faith of the participant so that he is carried back to the historical event of the Cross to stand convinced of its significance.  Therefore, the elements within the liturgical event may create, or at least facilitate, faith and then convey the Gospel gift to faith.  The result is not just a return to a historical event and a theological appreciation of its significance, but an eschatological breakthrough in which the Christ who is substantially in heaven

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 126.

...dost even now [His] banquet crown

To every faithful soul appear

And show [His] real presence here.

Ibid., 116.

Behind the possibility of a converting-faith encounter in the Eucharist lies a complex matrix of relationship between the Cross, the ascended Christ, the Church and the individual.  The sacrifice is past and complete: ''Tis done, the atoning work is done', but despite this, 'His death is ever new', because it 'subsists eternal in the lamb'.  The sacrifice is thus eternal, not through repetition by Christ or, still less, by the Church,      but through the eternal presence of the Victim-Priest before the eyes of the Father.  Thus as once 'He gasp[ed] in death-Forgive',  so, on the basis of his death, he permanently prays:

Ibid., 26.

Ibid., 3.

Ibid., 140.

See A Roman Catechism, 121; Notes on the New Testament, Heb. 10:15.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 126.

'...Forgive them.

All their sins were purged by Me'.

Still our advocate in heaven

Prays the prayer on earth begun,

'Father, show their sins forgiven,

Father glorify Thy Son'.

Ibid., 14.

Wesley emphasized the universal validity and inclusive character of Christ's death:

Would the Savior of mankind

Without His people die?

No, to Him we all are join'd

As more than standers by.

Ibid., 131.

However, he also made clear that the relationship which all people have with the death of Christ in principle must become a practical and personal one.  The process by which this is envisaged is a typically Wesleyan fusion of divine initiative and human activity. The drama of heaven involves the directing of the one sacrifice made for all to its particularization in the life of the individual, so that the blood 'which cancels sin' becomes the 'sprinkled blood' of reconciliation.  And the Church's script is to echo the prayer which the wounds of Christ speak to the Father by its own symbolic performance:

Ibid., 131; see Rattenbury, The Evangelical Doctrine, 190.

Yet may we celebrate below,

And daily thus Thine offering show

exposed before Thy Father's eyes;

In this tremendous mystery

Present thee bleeding on a tree

Our everlasting sacrifice.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 124; see Notes on the New Testament, 1 Cor. 11:26.

D. Presence: Eschatological Experience of Christ's Presence

Wesley's commitment to the means of grace may be seen as way of underlining the facts, first, that grace precedes faith, (that is, it evokes apprehension and is not evoked by apprehension, thus ensuring that the giving is really free and not manipulated), and secondly, that the gift of grace is contextualized in certain ecclesial settings (that is, the content of grace is linked to a form in which it is made available).

Thomas F. Torrance defines the 'eucharistic form' of Christ's presence as the 'particular empirical form in which [Jesus] has promised as the risen and glorified Christ to meet his people in the closest and most intimate way'.  His claim has a great deal of support in the Evangelical tradition.  It was eloquently expressed in the Wesleyan hymn:

T. F. Torrance "The Paschal Mystery of Christ and the	Eucharist: general thesis,"

Liturgical Review (1976), 6: 120.

It seem'd to my Redeemer good

That faith should here His coming wait.

The prayer, the fast, the word conveys,

When mixed with faith, Thy life to me;

In all the channels of Thy grace

I still have fellowship with Thee:

But chiefly here my soul is fed

With fullness of immortal bread.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 54.

However, we must also see that when the anatomy of the encounter has been dissected, certain potentially negative features have at times emerged.  One of them is that the heart of the eucharistic action is often located in the subjective depths of response (faith) rather than the objective heights of gift (grace).  Thus, Wesley holds a view of the real presence of Christ which may properly be called 'dynamic' or 'living presence': where God acts, there he is.

Duty of Receiving, 8; Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 30:5;	see Borgen, John Wesley, 58-69.

Wesley was adamant that conversion is only the beginning of Christian life.  It seems that his expectations of justifying faith were not fully realized in his subsequent experience.  Although holiness had been imputed to his soul, it had not transformed his life.  He was thrown back on his earlier sources of Kempis, Taylor and Law to sustain his visions of a realized holiness, though now his criteria for the quest were more objectively centered.  His method was now the replacement of his mind of flesh with the 'mind which was in Christ', and which, by grace through faith, he possessed in principle already.  It was the translation of status into state rather than the striving for status by imitating the state.

See "Letter to Revd. John Gambold 24 May 1738," and "Letter to Richard Viney 22 Nov. 1738," Works: Letters 1731-39, ed. by F. Baker, 550-551, 583-584; Rattenbury, The Conversion of the Wesleys (London: Epworth, 1938), 168-173.

Plain Account, 29-30; see "The New Birth," Sermon XLV, 2:5.

He believed that the Eucharist provided a vital context for this process primarily because it allows the imputed but relative-essentially juridical-identify with Christ, to become a real-increasingly moral and personal-identify by continually exposing us to the grace of the Cross (the grace which not only justifies but also sanctifies).  The Eucharist thus draws us into an ever deeper communion with Christ:

Savior, Thou didst the mystery give,

That I Thy nature might partake;

Thou bidd'st me outward signs receive,

My body, soul, and spirit to join

Inseparably one with Thine.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 54.

And, by its effective proclamation of the Cross as something done for us, the Eucharist sets the scene for an ever closer union with the Cross as something done in us:

Hallow'd by the streaming blood,

Blood whose virtue all may know,

Shares with the dying God,

And crucified below.

Jesu, Lord whose cross we bear,

Let thy death our sins destroy,

Make us who Thy sorrows share

Partakers of Thy joy.

Ibid., 131.

The life of holiness is, then, 'one inwardly and outwardly devoted to God'.  It involves obedience, offering and consecration, all of which have no independent value and, therefore, must be 'joined' with the one oblation of Christ:

Plain Account, 30.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 123.

Our mean imperfect sacrifice

On Thine is as a burden thrown;

Both in a common flame arise,

And both in God's account are one.

Ibid., 147.

The 'conformity' which the believer seeks with Christ includes a moral as well as a legal identification with his death. Both find a liturgical voice in the eucharistic presence of the historical and eternal work of Christ:

Ibid., 130.

Thou art with all Thy members here,

In this tremendous mystery

We jointly before God appear,

To offer up ourselves with thee.

Ibid., 147.

The result of the dedication to obedience will be a lessening of the propensity to sin, which may culminate in an experience of the 'renewal in love' which he defined as 'pure love, filing the heart, and governing all the words and actions'.

Plain Account, 51.

It may be justifiably argued that in his concept of Christian perfection Wesley upset the balance between the now and the not yet by positing a moral identity with Christ which belongs to the Eschaton alone.  But this criticism highlights the complexity and genius of Wesley's thought.  He refused to limit the hope to heaven.  His expectation of perfection was a statement of a spirituality in eschatological yearning.  We can see, therefore, that there was a very close connection between his doctrine of the Eucharist and his doctrine of Christian perfection.  Just as the renewal in love is a qualified but genuinely eschatological experience, so the Eucharist provides a partial but real experience of the eschatological reality, for 'Ev'n now the marriage feast we share':

Here He gives our souls a taste

Heaven into our heart He pours.

That, that is the fullness;

But this is the taste.

Hymns on the Lord's Supper, 93, 103; Methodist Hymns	Book, quoted by Rattenbury, The Eucharistic Hymns, 407.

In this sense, Wesley's eucharistic hymns revived the real experience of the eschatological reality that had been missing in Western liturgies from earliest centuries.

Sanders, "Wesley's Eucharistic Faith," Anglican Theological Review148 (1966): 161 and "The Sacraments," Church History 26 (1957): 358.

CONCLUSION

There are still elements in Wesley's eucharistic theology which will be reviewed more critically at a later stage, but at this point it is right to conclude with his achievements.

First, unlike the Reformers' controversial climate, Wesley's eucharistic thought was largely devoid of polemic-except that directed to lifeless formality or obvious hypocrisy.  Instead, it was marked by a freedom of expression which preferred to state the joy of experience and to encourage others to share its opportunities than negatively to define its limits.  In so doing, Wesley's discovery of the spirituality of the Eucharist as a means of grace led naturally to an enthusiasm for the Eucharist as an intended setting in which it could be proclaimed, celebrated and experienced in a unique way.

Second, we have seen in this work that Wesley was clear that the Spirit's work in the act of consecration made the elements 'glorious instruments Divine'.  Wesley believed that the Eucharist exposes us to the grace and demand of the Cross with such intensity that it unites us to Christ in a unique degree of intimacy.  He therefore regarded it as the most effective means available not only for maintaining the state of justification but for realizing the fullness of the new life into which we have been born.

From the result of this, I would suggest that the notion of objective consecration enables Wesleyan theology to hold the bread and the body together, because it ensures that in this particular context faith cannot find a way to the content except through the form in which it is being communicated.  In this way the role of the elements is not just to affect the individual's faith, it is to effect a union with him by communicating the gift of Christ's saving presence.  They do not merely help the participant to meditate on the life-giving significance of the Cross, they actually mediate that reality to him.  The bread has everything to do with the body because Christ has promised that in this context, the material of bread and wine will be the form through which he will give himself to his people and unite them with him in ever increasing degree of depth.  Therefore, with Torrance, we may say that 'apart from the specific form commanded and to which the promise has been attached we cannot conceive or receive the reality'.      Torrance, "Toward a doctrine of the Lord's Supper,"  This is not to fetter faith or control grace; it is simply to direct faith to that setting at which grace is being given.

Conflict and Agreement in the Church (London: Lutterworth, 1960), vol. II, 141.

Finally and third, the eucharistic participation which we have in the ascended Christ through the power of the Spirit must be understood from the perspective of the eschatological kingdom which is both present in our midst and also to come in its full manifestation.  The eschatological character of the Eucharist may have been obscured by medieval scholasticism and Reformation dispute but it was revived in the hymnody of the Wesley's ('that, that is the fullness, this is the state', and has received considerable attention in contemporary scholarship as well as in recent liturgical revision.

Methodist Hymnbook, 406, quoted by Rattenbury, The Eucharistic Hymns, 74.

In the discussion of the eschatological character of the Eucharist in Wesley, I would suggest that it should be seen in two dimensions.  The first is the way in which it will bring the fullest revelation of Christ's presence to us and the second is the way in which it will free us to share fully in his new humanity. The fact that the Kingdom which lies in the future is already present amongst us means that there is a continuity both between Christ's presence to us at the Eucharist and his presence at the parousia, As Torrance says, 'the New Testament emphasis upon the future is not so much the future of the reality but the future of its full manifestation'.  In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul shows that we are made to reflect the glory of God in increasing degree by the work of the Spirit as he transforms us more and more into the likeness of Christ.  Hence, the eucharistic experience of a participation in depth with Christ by the power of the Spirit is both a real experience of our eschatological future and a real glimpse of the complete manifestation of God's glory which the visible presence of Christ will bring at the parousia.

Torrance, "Eschatology and the Eucharist," Intercommunion, ed. by D. Ballie and J. Marsh (London: SCM, 1952), 312.

See G. Wainwright's suggestive use of the biblical category of God's glory in Eucharist and Eschatology (London: Epworth, 1971), 102-104.

How shall we relate to Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist as a context, that is, a means of grace for Christian spiritual formation?  How shall we remember and recollect Wesley's eucharistic spirituality for ourselves and for the contemporary church?  James F. White suggests three norms for generating reforms in the practice of sacramental spirituality: pastoral, theological, historical.

White, Sacraments as God's Self Giving, 121.

Indeed, if we were to characterize Wesley's method at all, it would certainly meet these three mentions.  He seemed to place more emphasis than with systematic theology.  But without doubt he was constantly in lively conversation with historical and theological resources.  He approached the Eucharist, including the instituted and prudential means of grace, asking how the church in his day could reform each in order better to serve God and the human soul.  We would do well to adopt the spirit of Wesley's methodology, using White's suggestions as its refinement.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. Works of John Wesley

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament. (London: Epworth, 1954).

Hymns on the Lord's Supper. (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1745).

The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, M.A. Ed. N. Curnock, 8 Vols.,	(London: Robert Culley, 1909-16). 2nd Edition.

The Works of John Wesley. 14 Vols. Thomas Jackson, Ed. (Grand Rapids:	Zondervan, 1958-59).

Wesley's Standard Sermons. 2 Vols. Ed. E. H. Sugden. 5th edition (London:	Epworth Press, 1961).

B. Other Works Cited

Barratt, T. H., "The Place of the Lord's Supper in Early Methodism." The	London Quarterly Review140 (July,	1923): 56-73.

Beckwith, R. T., Priesthood and Sacraments: A Study of the	Anglican-Methodist Report. (Abingdon: The Marcham Manor Press,	1964).

Borgen, O. E., John Wesley on the Sacraments. (Nashville and New York:	Abingdon Press, 1972).

, "John Wesley: Sacramental Theology No Ends without the	Means." John Wesley: Contemporary Perspectives. Ed. John Stacey	(London: Epworth Press, 1988). 67-82.

Bowmer, J. C., The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper in Early Methodism.	(London: Dacre Press, 1951).

Brevint, D. The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice, By Way of Discourse,	Meditation, and Prayer, Upon the Nature,	Parts, and Blessings the	Holy Communion. (At the Theater in Oxford, 1967).

Elkins, H. M. A Response to Do-Hwa Huh's "John Wesley's Eucharistic	Theology: A Context for Christian Spiritual Formation."  February 16,	1994: 1-2.

Hughes, H. T. The Piety of Jeremy Taylor. (Macmillan: St. Martin's Press,	1960).

McAdoo, H. R., The Eucharistic Theology of Jeremy Taylor Today.	(Norwich: The Canterbury Press, 1988).

Outler, A. C., John Wesley. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964).

Parris, J. R., John Wesley's Doctrine of the Sacraments.	(London: Epworth	Press, 1963).

Rattenbury, J. E., The Eucharistic Hymns of John and Charles Wesley.	(London: Epworth Press, 1948).

, The Evangelical Doctrine of Charles Wesley's Hymns.	(London: Epworth Press, 1941).

Sanders, P. S., An Appraisal of Wesley's Sacramentalism in the Evolution of	Early American Methodism. Doctoral Dissertation (New York: Union	Theological Seminary, 1954).

, "The Sacraments in Early American Methodism." Church	History 26 (1957): 355-371.

, "Wesley's Eucharistic Faith and Practice." Anglican	Theological Review 148 (February 1966): 154-174.

Stookey, L. H., Eucharist: Christ's Feast with the Church. (Nashville:	Abingdon Press, 1993).

Torrance, T. F., "The Paschal Mystery of Christ and the	Eucharist: General	Thesis." Liturgical Review6 (1976):	6-12.

, "Eschatology and the Eucharist." Intercommunion. Ed. D. Baillie and J. Marsh (London: SCM, 1952). 303-50.

, "Towards a Doctrine of the Lord's Supper." Conflict and	Agreement in the Church. (London:	Lutterworth, 1960).

Wade, W. N., A History of Public Worship in the Methodist Episcopal Church	and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, from 1784 to 1905.	Doctoral Dissertation, University of Notre Dame. 1981.

Wainwright, G., Eucharist and Eschatology. (London: Epworth, 1971).

Watson, D. L., "Methodist Spirituality." Protestant	Spiritual Traditions. Ed.	Frank C. Senn. (New York:	Paulist Press, 1986).

White, J. F., Sacraments as God's Self Giving: Sacramental Practice and	Faith. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1983).

ABSTRACT

This thesis presents how John Wesley handled the questions of the Eucharist and interpreted the answers to those given by the Reformers.  For the Reformers, the real issue remains the who question (the relations between Christ and the believer) not the how question (the explanation of the body's relation to the bread) of the Eucharist. For Wesley, however, the how question, though secondary, is still relevant and may influence our apprehension of the reality (the who question).

Wesley points to a specific gift and/or special function to the Eucharist which derives from its sacramental character. Wesley's greatest contribution--his greatest challenge--to the church today owes to his urgent insistence on frequent celebration of the Eucharist as a key ingredient in spiritual renewal. As we deal with more specific points regarding Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist as a means of grace, we recognize that it is expressed as a context for Christian spiritual formation, guidance, and care. To Wesley, the Eucharist as a means of grace has a functional superiority to the other means of grace.

Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist is expressed within the framework of the unique theological vision of the Christian life and his eucharistic theology chiefly emerges from the eucharistic hymns written by him and his brother, Charles. Thus, this work treats the hymns as a primary source for Wesley's thought of the Eucharist.

Chapter One discusses Wesley's spiritual mentors from historic resources as well as from among his more immediate contemporaries, Anglican sacramentalism and Moravians. Chapter Two deals with Wesley's unique approach to the Eucharist as a context by contrasting to the approaches by the Moravians and the traditional Protestantism. In the third chapter, this work turns to more specific points regrading Wesley's understanding of the Eucharist as a context for Christian spiritual formation.  Through the Eucharist celebration as a means of grace, Wesley's ministry provides an ecology of spiritual care and cure to build not only individual believers but also the entire church. Wesley's understanding of the function of the Eucharist as a context helps the church learn how to supply spiritual resources and spiritual guidance.