Mr. Wesley as well as Mr. Fletcher opposed this doctrine. They declared with all the force of scriptural authority that "if the righteous turn away from his righteousness and commit iniquity, his righteousness shall no longer be remembered, but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die for it." They insisted that if "every branch in Christ that did not bear fruit was to be cut off and cast into the fire and burned," the apostasy of a believer may be final. They insisted that "if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation," etc.; that we might so far backslide as that another "might take our crown." They went everywhere declaring that the only safeguard against final apostasy was to be "faithful unto death." VII. ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION OR CHRISTIAN PERFECTION. Mr. Wesley declared that this was "the grand depositum which God had lodged with the people called Methodists, and for the sake of propagating this chiefly he appears to have raised them up." His opponents charged him with preaching perfection. They said, derisively, "This is Mr. Wesley's doctrine! He preaches perfection!" "He does," responds Wesley, "yet this is not _his_ doctrine any more than it is yours, or anyone's else that is a minister of Christ. For it is his doctrine, peculiarly, emphatically his; it is the doctrine of Jesus Christ. These are his words, not mine: 'Ye shall therefore be perfect, as your Father who is in heaven is perfect.' And who says ye shall not; or, at least, not till your soul is separated from your body?" It is true Wesley used the term "perfection," but it was not the only word he used to set forth this truth, but such terms as "perfect love," "full salvation," "full sanctification," "the whole image of God," "second change," "clean heart," "pure heart," "loving God with all the heart," etc. He says: "I have no particular fondness for the term perfection. It seldom occurs in my preaching or writing. It is my opponents who thrust it upon me continually, and ask what I mean by it. I do not build any doctrine thereupon, nor undertake critically to explain it." "What is the meaning of perfection? is another question. That it is a scriptural term is undeniable; therefore none ought to object to the term, whatever they may as to this or that explication of it." "But I still think that perfection is only another term for holiness, or the image of God in man. 'God made man perfect,' I think, is just the same as 'He made him holy,' or 'in his own image.'"