Thanksgiving After Recovery from the Small-pox

Sally Wesley before she was scarred by smallpox.Sing to the Prince of life and peace
Let every tongue my Saviour bless
So strong to help in danger’s hour, 
So present in His healing power,
And from the margin of the grave
So good a dying worm to save.

Can I forget the solemn day
When grappling with my foe I lay?
O’er my weak flesh from foot to head
The loathsome leprosy was spread,
The foulest plague our race can feel, 
The deadliest fruity of sin and hell.

The poison boil’d in every vein,
The fire broke out in raging pain,
I sunk oppress’d through all my powers,
With bruises, wounds and putrid sores,
My body racked in every part, 
And sick to death my fainting heart.

Jesus beheld my last distress,
And turn’d the current of disease,
He stopp’d my spirit on the wing,
And chased away the grisly king;
His wonder-working arm I own,
And give the praise to God alone.

He in the kind physician came,
(Bow all to Jesus’ balmy name!)
Amidst my weeping friends He stood,
And mix’d the cordial with His blood,
Display’d His head-reviving art,
And pour’d his life into my heart.

Brought from the gates of death, I give
My life to Him by whom I live;
Raised from a restless bed of pain,
I render Him my strength again,
And only wait to prove His grace,
And only breathe to breath His praise.

—Charles Wesley

This hymn was written a few years after Charles Wesley’s wife Sally nearly died of smallpox. (They lost their toddler son to this disease at the same time.) It’s a thanksgiving hymn I’ll never have occasion to sing—and that’s something to be thankful for, too.

Kim Shay’s post quoting Richard Baxter reminded me of Charles and Sally Wesley. In the quote, Baxter advises men not to put too much value on physical beauty when seeking a wife, but to “[b]ear in mind what work the pox or any other withering sickness will make with that silly beauty you so admire.” 

According to Michael Haykin, after she recovered from small pox, Sally Wesley’s face was “deeply marred” by scars, and she “looked twice her age.” If you’re curious about the damage small pox can do to the skin (I’ll admit I was.), here’s a photo.

Charles Wesley, by the way, continued to call his wife beautiful, even with the pox scars.

I recommend Michael Haykin’s lecture on the marriage of Charles and Sally Wesley. (There’s also a transcript, if you prefer reading to listening.)

Theological Term of the Week

Marcionism
The teaching of the second century heretic Marcion, who made a distinction between what he believed was the inferior God of justice, the God of the Old Testament, who was the Creator and the God of the Jews, and the God of the New Testament, the Supreme God of goodness, of whom Christ was the messenger. Accordingly, he rejected the Old Testament; in fact, his canon included only Luke and Paul’s writings, which he edited to remove whatever he disagreed with, especially the quotes from the Old Testament found in them.

• From Marcionism and the New Mood (Kevin DeYoung):

Marcion’s theological errors (and there were many) came from one main root. He refused to believe that the God of the Old Testament was the same as the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Marcion could simply not believe in a God full of wrath and justice. So he threw away the Old Testament and took for his Bible a truncated version of Luke’s Gospel and selectively edited versions of Paul’s epistles. When all the cutting and pasting was finished, Marcion had the Christianity he wanted: a God of goodness and nothing else; a message of inspiring moral uplift; a Bible that does away with the uncomfortable bits about God’s wrath and hell. Marcionism was antinomian, idealistic about human potential, and skittish about dogma and rules.

• From Know Your Heretics: Marcion (Justin Holcomb):

Marcion’s heresy prompted the church to push back and officially recognize the Old Testament as Scripture. Furthermore, his rejection of the humanity of Jesus energized the church to develop a complete defense of it. Tertullian did exactly this in his work Against Marcion in 207-208. Tertullian saw Marcion’s denial of Christ’s humanity as detrimental to Christianity: “The sufferings of Christ will be found not to warrant faith in him. For he suffered nothing [if he] did not truly suffer; and a phantom could not truly suffer. God’s entire work therefore is subverted. Christ’s death, wherein lies the whole weight and fruit of the Christian name, is denied.”

Learn more:

1. Theopedia: Marcionism
2. The Development of the New Testament Canon: Marcion and the Marcionites
3. Justin Holcomb: Know Your Heretics: Marcion
4. Robert I Bradshaw: Marcion: Potrait of a Heretic
5. Kevin DeYoung: Marcionism and the New Mood
6. Tertullian: Against Marcion
7. Kevin DeYoung: Marcionism (audio)

Related terms:

• adoptionism
• Arianism
• docetism
• modalism
• Nestorianism

Filed under Defective Theology

Do you have a term you would like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it, giving you credit for the suggestion and linking back to your blog when I do.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms in alphabetical order.

Linked Together: The Christian and Sin

Who Are We?
Who are we as new people in Christ?

Paul is so keen to refer to believers as “saints” (literally “holy ones”) at the beginning of almost all his letters.  Paul is not naïve about the fact that Christians still sin, and sin in major ways (indeed, his letters are often about their sins!). But, he wants Christians to think of themselves in regard to their new natures, not their old.  They are saints who sometimes sin, not sinners who sometimes do right.

Does this matter? You bet!

If we … view ourselves as “saints,” then we will begin to see our sin in a whole new light.  If we really are “holy ones” then whatever sins we commit are a deeper, more profound, and more serious departure from God’s calling than we ever realized.  Our sin, in a sense, is even more heinous because it is being done by those who now have new natures and a new identity.

Read all of Saint of Sinner: Rethinking Our Christian Identity by Michael Kruger at Canon Fodder.

For Our Good?
David Murray lists twelve “goods” that can result from sin that is repented of and forgiven. 

1. We are humbled.
2. We are sensitized. 
3. We are silenced.
4. We are drawn nearer.
5. We are dependent. 
6. We are careful.
7. We hate sin.
8. We fight the devil. 
9. We are disciplined. 
10. We love Christ. 
11. We are helpful. 
12. We long for heaven.  

Read the whole piece for explanations of each point. (HeadHeartHand Blog).