John Wesley on Natural / general revelation
Objectively clear and sufficient to leave everyone without excuse; the failure is moral suppression, not insufficient evidence — though it cannot itself save
"Some great truths, as the being and attributes of God, and the difference between moral good and evil, were known, in some measure, to the heathen world... this is not natural: It is more properly termed preventing grace. Every man has a greater or less measure of this, which waiteth not for the call of man."
THE POSITION
Real but not, properly speaking, natural: general knowledge of God and morality is genuinely available to all people and leaves them without excuse, but Wesley refuses to call this a leftover natural faculty — it is already the universal, Christ-merited operation of prevenient grace reaching everyone ahead of and apart from their choice. It is usually stifled rather than followed, and cannot itself save.
14 Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 So they show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts either accusing or defending them
8 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Anglican priest and founder of the Methodist movement. His Standard Sermons and Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament are Methodism's own doctrinal standards. The map's first researched Arminian figure, set against an otherwise Reformed-heavy list — his signature move is prevenient grace: total depravity by nature, but no one actually left in that bare state, because grace merited for everyone reaches everyone first.
Cite this page
"John Wesley on Natural / general revelation", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/wesley/natural-revelation (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/wesley/natural-revelation).