John Wesley

John Wesley
(/ˈwɛsli/;[1] 28 June [O.S. 17 June] 1703 – 2 March 1791) was a

British cleric, theologian, and evangelist, who was a leader of a revival movement
within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies he founded
became the dominant form of the independent Methodist movement that continues to
this day.
Educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford, Wesley was elected
a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1726 and ordained as an Anglican priest two
years later. At Oxford, he led the "Holy Club", a society formed for the purpose of the
study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life; it had been founded by his
brother Charles and counted George Whitefield among its members. After an
unsuccessful ministry of two years, serving at Christ Church, in the Georgia
colony of Savannah, he returned to London and joined a religious society led
by Moravian Christians. On 24 May 1738, he experienced what has come to be
called his evangelical conversion, when he felt his "heart strangely warmed". He
subsequently left the Moravians and began his own ministry.
A key step in the development of Wesley's ministry was, like Whitefield, to travel
and preach outdoors. In contrast to Whitefield's Calvinism, Wesley
embraced Arminian doctrines. Moving across Great Britain and Ireland, he helped
form and organise small Christian groups (societies) that developed intensive and
personal accountability, discipleship, and religious instruction. He appointed itinerant,
unordained evangelists – both women and men – to care for these groups of people.
Under Wesley's direction, Methodists became leaders in many social issues of the
day, including the abolition of slavery and prison reform.
Although he was not a systematic theologian, Wesley argued for the notion
of Christian perfection and against Calvinism—and, in particular, against its doctrine
of predestination. His evangelicalism, firmly grounded in sacramental theology,
maintained that means of grace sometimes had a role in sanctification of the
believer; however, he taught that it was by faith a believer was transformed into the
likeness of Christ. He held that, in this life, Christians could achieve a state where
the love of God "reigned supreme in their hearts", giving them not only outward but
inward holiness. Wesley's teachings, collectively known as Wesleyan theology,
continue to inform the doctrine of Methodist churches.
Throughout his life, Wesley remained within the established Church of England,
insisting that the Methodist movement lay well within its tradition.[2] In his early
ministry years, Wesley was barred from preaching in many parish churches and the
Methodists were persecuted; he later became widely respected, and by the end of
his life, was described as "the best-loved man in England".[3]
Contents
 1Early life
 2Education
o 2.1Holy Club
 3Journey to Savannah, Georgia
 4Wesley's "Aldersgate experience"
 5After Aldersgate: Working with the Moravians
 6Persecutions and lay preaching
 7Chapels and organisations
 8Ordination of ministers
 9Doctrines, theology and advocacy
o 9.1Advocacy of Arminianism
o 9.2Support for abolitionism
o 9.3Support for women preachers
 10Personality and activities
 11Death
 12Literary work
 13Commemoration and legacy
o 13.1In film
o 13.2In musical theatre
 14Works
 15See also
 16Notes and references
o 16.1Citations
o 16.2Sources
o 16.3Further reading
o 16.4Historiography
 17External links
Early life[edit]
Samuel Wesley
Susanna Wesley
John Wesley was born in 1703 in Epworth, 23 miles (37 km) north-west of Lincoln, as
the fifteenth child of Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna Wesley (née Annesley).
[4]
Samuel Wesley was a graduate of the University of Oxford and a poet who, from
1696, was rector of Epworth. He married Susanna, the twenty-fifth child of Samuel
Annesley, a dissentingminister, in 1689. Ultimately, she bore nineteen children, of
which nine lived beyond infancy. She and Samuel Wesley had become members of
the Church of England as young adults.[5]
As in many families at the time, Wesley's parents gave their children their early
education. Each child, including the girls, was taught to read as soon as they could
walk and talk. They were expected to become proficient in Latin and Greek and to
have learned major portions of the New Testament by heart. Susanna Wesley
examined each child before the midday meal and before evening prayers. The
children were not allowed to eat between meals and were interviewed singly by their
mother one evening each week for the purpose of intensive spiritual instruction. In
1714, at age 11, Wesley was sent to the Charterhouse School in London (under the
mastership of John King from 1715), where he lived the studious, methodical and, for
a while, religious life in which he had been trained at home.[6]
The rescue of the young John Wesley from the burning rectory. Mezzotint by Samuel William
Reynolds.
Apart from his disciplined upbringing, a rectory fire which occurred on 9 February
1709, when Wesley was five years old, left an indelible impression. Some time after
11:00 pm, the rectory roof caught on fire. Sparks falling on the children's beds and
cries of "fire" from the street roused the Wesleys who managed to shepherd all their
children out of the house except for John who was left stranded on an upper floor.
[7]
With stairs aflame and the roof about to collapse, Wesley was lifted out of a window
by a parishioner standing on another man's shoulders. Wesley later used the phrase,
"a brand plucked out of the fire", quoting Zechariah 3:2, to describe the incident.
[7]
This childhood deliverance subsequently became part of the Wesley legend,
attesting to his special destiny and extraordinary work. Wesley was also influenced
by the reported haunting of Epworth Rectory between 1716 and 1717. The Wesley
family reported frequently hearing noises and occasionally seeing apparitions which
they believed were caused by a ghost called 'Old Jeffery'.[8]
Education[edit]
Christ Church, cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford, Wesley's college chapel and place of
ordination
In June 1720, Wesley entered Christ Church, Oxford. After graduating in 1724,
Wesley stayed on at Christ Church to study for his master's degree.[9]
He was ordained a deacon on 25 September 1725—holy orders being a necessary
step toward becoming a fellow and tutor at the university.[10] On 17 March 1726,
Wesley was unanimously elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford. This carried
with it the right to a room at the college and regular salary.[11] While continuing his
studies, he taught Greek and philosophy, lectured on the New Testament and
moderated daily disputations at the university.[11] However, a call to ministry intruded
upon his academic career. In August 1727, after completing his master's degree,
Wesley returned to Epworth. His father had requested his assistance in serving the
neighbouring cure of Wroot. Ordained a priest on 22 September 1728,[10] Wesley
served as a parish curate for two years.[12]
In the year of his ordination he read Thomas à Kempis and Jeremy Taylor, showed
his interest in mysticism,[13]and began to seek the religious truths which underlay the
great revival of the 18th century. The reading of William Law's Christian
Perfection and A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life gave him, he said, a more
sublime view of the law of God; and he resolved to keep it, inwardly and outwardly,
as sacredly as possible, believing that in obedience he would find salvation.[14] He
pursued a rigidly methodical and abstemious life, studied Scripture, and performed
his religious duties diligently, depriving himself so that he would have alms to give.
He began to seek after holiness of heart and life.[14]
Wesley returned to Oxford in November 1729 at the request of the Rector of Lincoln
College and to maintain his status as junior fellow.[15]
Holy Club[edit]
Further information: Holy Club
During Wesley's absence, his younger brother Charles (1707–88) matriculated at
Christ Church. Along with two fellow students, he formed a small club for the purpose
of study and the pursuit of a devout Christian life.[15] On Wesley's return, he became
the leader of the group which increased somewhat in number and greatly in
commitment. The group met daily from six until nine for prayer, psalms, and reading
of the Greek New Testament. They prayed every waking hour for several minutes
and each day for a special virtue. While the church's prescribed attendance was only
three times a year, they took Communion every Sunday. They fastedon Wednesdays
and Fridays until nones (3:00 pm) as was commonly observed in the ancient church.
[16]
In 1730, the group began the practice of visiting prisoners in gaol. They preached,
educated, and relieved gaoled debtors whenever possible, and cared for the sick.[17]
Given the low ebb of spirituality in Oxford at that time, it was not surprising that
Wesley's group provoked a negative reaction. They were considered to be religious
"enthusiasts", which in the context of the time meant religious fanatics. University wits
styled them the "Holy Club", a title of derision. Currents of opposition became a
furore following the mental breakdown and death of a group member, William
Morgan.[18] In response to the charge that "rigorous fasting" had hastened his death,
Wesley noted that Morgan had left off fasting a year and a half since. In the same
letter, which was widely circulated, Wesley referred to the name "Methodist" with
which "some of our neighbors are pleased to compliment us."[19] That name was used
by an anonymous author in a published pamphlet (1732) describing Wesley and his
group, "The Oxford Methodists".[20] This ministry, however, was not without
controversy. The Holy Club ministered and maintained support for Thomas Blair who
in 1732 was found guilty for sodomy.[21] Blair was notorious among the townspeople
and his fellow prisoners, and Wesley continued to support him.[22]
For all of his outward piety, Wesley sought to cultivate his inner holiness or at least
his sincerity as evidence of being a true Christian. A list of "General Questions" which
he developed in 1730 evolved into an elaborate grid by 1734 in which he recorded
his daily activities hour-by-hour, resolutions he had broken or kept, and ranked his
hourly "temper of devotion" on a scale of 1 to 9. Wesley also regarded the contempt
with which he and his group were held to be a mark of a true Christian. As he put it in
a letter to his father, "Till he be thus contemned, no man is in a state of salvation."[23]

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John Wesley

(/ˈwɛsli/;[1] 28 June [O.S. 17 June] 1703 – 2 March 1791) was a

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