The Legacy of John Wesley
Near the River Trent in Lincolnshire, England, is the small village of Epworth. It was there 300 years ago that the Reformer John Wesley was born, on July 17, 1703. His achievements, viewed from anyone’s perspective, are quite remarkable.
At the beginning of the 18th century his father, Samuel, was rector of the Epworth Anglican church. With his wife, Susanna, the family lived in the manse nearby. But when just six years old, John almost died in a fire in the manse, set by angry parishioners. He was passed out of a window and saved—“a brand plucked from the burning,” according to his mother.
John Wesley’s life and his strong Puritan practices were greatly influenced by his father, but more so by his mother. Susanna was mother of 18 children (eight died in infancy), and spent significant time each week with each child. Part of this time was spent in attending to their spiritual development. When just 10, John left home to attend the Charterhouse School in London. With his brother Charles, he would walk the 225 kilometres from Epworth to school each term, then home again for holidays. As they walked, John read so as not to waste time.
He studied at Oxford, where he became a leader of the “Holy Club,” which his brother Charles had begun. Its activities included fasting each Wednesday and Friday, and visiting the sick and needful. Its members constantly reviewed their lives to ensure they were following Jesus’ example and instruction. The club never had more than 25 members at any one time. Later John would recognise in this club the roots of Methodism.
Although always a leader, John had no intention of commencing a new denomination, but his action in ordaining “preachers” to serve in the New World caused a schism within the establishment church and the eventual break. When visiting his Epworth home many years later, he was banned from preaching in its Anglican church. His response was to climb onto his father’s tomb in the adjacent cemetery and preach from there.
One of the main reasons the senior Wesley’s parishioners had torched the Epworth rectory many years before was because of their perception that the Anglican Church and its local representative served only the interests of the wealthy and elite, ignoring the plight of commoners. John Wesley, in his ministry, did a huge amount to assist the working classes, and it was from among them that the ranks of Methodism came. He founded an orphanage, a dispensary and several schools for poor children.
Wesley is known as the “circuit-riding preacher,” for in his lifetime he rode an estimated 375,000 kilometres around England. Estimates of the number of sermons he preached range up to an amazing 40,000! While early in his ministry he’d shied away from outdoor preaching, but, encouraged to do so by his friend George Whitefield, he tried it, and from that time on he preached to hundreds and thousands of people.
John and his brother, Charles, made a powerful team. Charles followed John’s lead and began composing poems and hymns—some 6500 over the course of their lives. Like Martin Luther, who had introduced singing into worship, the Wesleys used hymns as a way of encouraging their flocks and assisting them in understanding the gospel. Charles Wesley’s original organ resides in the Methodist Church’s City Road Chapel, London today.
John Wesley organised his adherents into thousands of small groups, wrote their lessons and rostered preachers to present them. (The 18th- century lists are in the Methodist Museum at the City Road Wesley Chapel also.) It was his “methodical” approach to teaching the Scriptures and how to live the Christian life that brought the title of “Methodist” to the fledgling denomination.
He used print media extensively, writing tracts, booklets and sermons as he travelled on horseback. These were constantly being printed—more than any other preacher of his century—so not surprisingly, with 400 books to his name, he’s been called “the father of the religious paperback.”
At one point, differences between John Wesley and George Whitefield became apparent. Wesley organised his converts and inducted them into churches and church groups, but Whitefield’s followers were not organised and so were not “churched.” Whitefield was also seen as a strong Calvanist.
Although some tension and estrangement existed, the two remained friends throughout their lives. However, with the help of a mutual friend, reconciliation came about and on his deathbed, Whitefield requested John to preside at his funeral.
John Wesley lived his message. And as a Reformer, a revivalist preacher and, above all, a superb organiser, his words had weight and impact. Because of his revivalist preaching and attention to social reforms, he is even credited by some as preventing a French Revolution-style revolt in Britain.
Around the world today there are scores of millions of Methodists, among the more prominent being Nelson Mandela, who is credited with bringing about the transition to majority rule in South Africa.
As a Reformer, in his time John Wesley was without peer, the living medium of his own message, which is contained in his motto:
“Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
In all the places you can
At all the times you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can.”
If such an attitude to life and people were to be followed today, our world would be a much happier and more peaceful place.
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