Last night I preached on predestination from Romans 9, which reminded me again of Charles Wesley’s anti-Calvinist hymn, “The Horrible Decree.” It’s hard to imagine anyone singing all 15 stanzas, even to the tune of Gilligan’s Island, but you can read the entire thing here.
Wesley’s passion for Arminianism seems equal to John Piper’s commitment to Calvinism, and I suspect that the fun of watching them debate might partially answer the question, “What will we do forever on the new earth?” I’m confident that Piper will win, though he may be forced to give up a couple of his seven points of Calvinism.
Here are a few of Wesley’s stanzas, and note how he builds to martyrdom. He will fight his friend Whitefield even if it costs his life.
[1] Ah! Gentle, gracious Dove,
And art thou griev’d in me,
That sinners should restrain thy love,
And say, “It is not free:
It is not free for all:
The most, thou passest by,
And mockest with a fruitless call
Whom thou hast doom’d to die.”
[2] They think thee not sincere
In giving each his day,
“ Thou only draw’st the sinner near
To cast him quite away,
To aggravate his sin,
His sure damnation seal:
Thou shew’st him heaven, and say’st, go in
And thrusts him into hell.”
[6] Sinners, abhor the fiend:
His other gospel hear—
“The God of truth did not intend
The thing his words declare,
He offers grace to all,
Which most cannot embrace,
Mock’d with an ineffectual call
And insufficient grace.
[7] “The righteous God consign’d
Them over to their doom,
And sent the Saviour of mankind
To damn them from the womb;
To damn for falling short,
“Of what they could not do,
For not believing the report
Of that which was not true.
[14] My life I here present,
My heart’s last drop of blood,
O let it all be freely spent
In proof that thou art good,
Art good to all that breathe,
Who all may pardon have:
Thou willest not the sinner’s death,
But all the world wouldst save.
[15] O take me at my word,
But arm me with thy power,
Then call me forth to suffer, Lord,
To meet the fiery hour:
In death will I proclaim
That all may hear thy call,
And clap my hands amidst the flame,
And shout,—HE DIED FOR ALL.
Mike Wittmer 
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