Mitch Lewis

Article 17 of the Methodist Articles of Religion states:

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference whereby Christians are distinguished from others that are not baptized; but it is also a sign of regeneration or the new birth. The Baptism of young children is to be retained in the Church.

Wesley adopted this from the Church of England’s Article 27. The key words Wesley omitted are highlighted below.

Baptism is not only a sign of profession and mark of difference by which Christian men are discerned from other that be not christened, but is also a sign of regeneration or new birth, whereby, as by an instrument, they that receive baptism rightly are grafted into the Church; the promises of the forgiveness of sin, and of our adoption to be the sons of God, by the Holy Spirit are visibly signed and sealed; faith is confirmed, and grace increased by virtue of prayer unto God. The baptism of young children is in any wise to be retained in the Church as most agreeable with the institution of Christ.

I think Wesley’s version is poorer for omitting baptism’s role in incorporating us into the Body of Christ. Wesley's A Treatise on Baptism, however, is much broader in its affirmations:

By baptism we enter into covenant with God . . . .

By baptism we are admitted into the Church . . . .

By baptism, we who were “by nature children of wrath” are made the children of God ...
being “grafted into the body of Christ’s Church, we are made the children of God by adoption and grace.”

For more on the contemporary United Methodist understanding of baptism, see By Water and the Spirit.

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Who said this about love and perfection?

Moreover, this holiness of life is comprehended under the two heads above mentioned. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.” First, our mind must be completely filled with love to God, and then this love must forthwith flow out toward our neighbour. This the Apostle shows when he says, “The end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned,” (1 Tim. 1:5). . . . For complete perfection, nothing more can be required than is expressed in these passages of Moses and Paul.

John Wesley said there was but a hair's breadth difference between him and John Calvin in many things. Is this Wesley, or Calvin?