Fatal Retraction

Sometime ago I was discussing with a friend of mine, immediately following our a worship service, how reformed some of Charles and John Wesley's hymns read. Unfortunately, I can not recall the hymn we had just sang. However, our Trinity Hymnal, published by Great Commission Publications, Inc., contains no less than twenty-four (24) of their works. Frankly, it just didn't make much sense given their theology.

I ran across this quote recently from John Wesley's work A Plain Account of Christian Perfection that may help to explain some of these seemingly inconsistencies:

"By perfection I mean the humble, gentle, patient love of God, and our neighbour, ruling our tempers, words, and actions. I do not include an impossibility of falling from it, either in part or in whole. Therefore, I retract several expressions in our Hymns, which partly express, partly imply, such an impossibility. And I do not contend for the term sinless, though I do not object against it."