Wesley communion quote

This excerpt is posted as an example of theology of John Wesley and the Methodists. J. R. Graves referred to it in The Great Carrollton Debate with Jacob Ditzler in order to prove they believe that the Lord’s Supper is a sacrament that confers grace and is even offered to the unregenerate to secure that grace.

John Wesley presented his view in the midst of his conflict with the Moravians at Fetter Lane in 1740. In his journal he summarized his teachings of the occasion:

I showed at large, (1) that the Lord’s Supper was ordained by God to be a means of conveying to men either preventing or justifying, or sanctifying grace, according to their several necessities; (2) that the persons for whom it was ordained are all those who know and feel that they want the grace of God, either to restrain them from sin, or to show their sins forgiven, or to renew their souls in the image of God; (3) that inasmuch as we come to his table, not to give him anything but to receive whatsoever he sees best for us, there is no previous preparation indispensably necessary, but a desire to receive whatsoever he pleases to give; and (4) that no fitness is required at the time of communicating but a sense of our state, of our utter sinfulness and helplessness; every one who knows he is fit for hell being just fit to come to Christ, in this as well as all other ways of his appointment.

The Works of John Wesley, Bicentennial Edition, Richard P. Heitzenrater, editor, Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1984, Volume 19: Journal and Diaries II (1738-1743), p. 159