John Wesley (1703 – 1791)
Anglican priest, street preacher, and founder of the Methodist Church.
He preached over 40,000 sermons, sometimes to crowds of thousands; he wrote over 200 books, and edited hundreds more; and on horseback he rode over 250,000 miles for the Gospel. His life changed his country. When he began proclaiming Christ in 1739, England was notorious for gambling, prostitution, and drunkenness. And the Anglican Church, led by a lazy upper class, had no zeal to restrain the sewerage of sin corrupting the land. When he died in 1791, the influence of his evangelical faith was felt from the humblest factory worker’s cottage, to the mansions of the aristocracy. His followers became known as the Methodist Church, which now numbers 70 million around the world. John Wesley, the son of an ordinary English village priest, lived an extraordinary life. For many Christians he is like a climber of Everest, someone to admire, but not someone we can follow. It is true that few will reach Wesley’s heights, but we are all called to climb, and his life has important lessons to help us. Here we look at just five.
FAILURE – THE BACKDOOR TO SUCCESS
Wesley studied at Oxford University where he was first appointed a tutor, before becoming an Anglican priest in 1728. Though he and his friends were teased at Oxford for taking their religion too seriously, his ministry was not marked by success. In fact his brief time as a missionary in Georgia (1736-38) was an embarrassing failure. The settlers could not stand Wesley’s strictness and he had a disastrous relationship with a young female admirer. But there was a more serious problem. Wesley had not yet trusted Jesus for his salvation. On the way over to America, he and his brother Charles, who later wrote many famous hymns, become friends with some German Protestant Christians, known as Moravians.
The Wesleys were particularly impressed by their calm faith during a terrible storm. When he returned to England, Wesley kept on preaching, but feeling a failure he was willing to listen to Peter Boehler, a young Moravian missionary. Boehler was certain the Wesley brothers did not have saving faith. He wrote to his leader, Count Zinzendorf:
‘Of faith in Jesus they have no other idea than the generality of people. They justify themselves, and therefore they always take it for granted that they believe already, and try to prove their faith by their works, and thus are at heart very miserable.’
Boehler told the brothers that having faith in Christ was a supernatural experience given in a moment of time which resulted in ‘dominion over sin and constant peace, arising from a sense of forgiveness.’ John Wesley was amazed and ‘looked upon it as a new gospel’. But when he studied the Bible and heard Boehler and others talk about their experiences he became more and more convinced that he had to stand on faith alone. But there had to be an experience. It happened on Wednesday May 24th 1738.
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
This experience was to make Wesley one of the most successful preachers the world has known. But here is the lesson for us all: the experience that led to success happened because of failure. If Wesley had been a successful minister in America, he would never have sought out Peter Boehler on his return. So while there has never risen in Christendom another John Wesley, yet all of us can remember that in Christian ministry, failure is often the back door to success.
THE PRIORITY OF PREACHING
John Wesley seemed to be always preaching. Again and again we read in his journal entries such as this on Saturday 22nd, 1745:
‘We reached St Ives about two in the morning, at five (i.e. three hours later) I preached on ‘Love your enemies’ and in the evening at Gwenap on ‘All that live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution’
The next day, Sunday, Wesley is of course busier:
‘I preached at Gwenap at five (in the morning) and at St Stithinas at eight, to a large and quiet congregation. Thence we went to Wendon Church.’Here Wesley preached at two, and at five. And guess what he was doing at five o’clock in the morning on Monday 24th June?
‘I preached at five on ‘Watch and pray…’
The reason why he preached at five o’clock in the morning was so the labourers could have spiritual food before starting their day’s work.
Vast crowds turned out to hear John Wesley. His entry for Sunday 28th April 1739 when he was in the Bristol area of England shows he preached early in the morning:
‘…to about four thousand people...I then went to Clifton where about three thousand were present…After dinner we went to Clifton again….(Here Wesley attends a burial). From Clifton we went to Rose-Green where there were (by computation) near seven thousand’
After preaching to so many, Wesley’s day was still not over, for he then went on to Gloucester to take part in Holy Communion, where he would have spoken. That means in one day he spoke to over fourteen thousand souls. Probably the largest crowd he ever preached to was at Blackheath, in South East London. Twelve to fourteen thousand gathered to hear him and the other famous evangelist, George Whitefield.
As well as the natural beauty of his voice, and his gentlemanly educated manner there were two other characteristics of Wesley’s preaching which attracted the crowds. One was the content, his emphasis on God’s grace for all sinners; that He wants all to be saved. If Wesley had a favourite text it was possibly, Hosea 14.4, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.’ The other is the anointing. In some meetings there were supernatural signs. So on Saturday April 21st 1739 we read:
‘At Weaver’s Hall a young man was suddenly seized with violent trembling all over and in a few minutes…he sunk to the ground…but we ceased not praying for him till he raised him full of peace and joy.’
Or the next month on May 21 we read of Wesley preaching before two or three thousand when:
‘One, and another, and another was struck to the earth; exceedingly trembling at the presence of his power.’
John Wesley was an orderly man, so after one meeting where a good number had fallen, he went round interviewing them all and concluded it was not habitual religious theatre, but a genuine intervention. As well as these demonstrations of divine power, Wesley also saw successful exorcisms, so on Thursday 13th 1743, we have this vivid record from his pen about a possessed woman he visited:
However, I prayed…her whole body moving at once, without bending one joint or limb, just as if it were one piece of stone. Immediately after it was writhed into all kinds of postures; the same horrid yell continuing still. But we left her not till all the symptoms ceased, and she was (for the present at least) rejoicing and praising God.
And he saw healings, so on Wednesday 31st March, 1742, we read:
‘In the evening I called upon Ann Calcut. She had been speechless for sometime; but almost as soon as we began to pray, God restored her speech.’
While Wesley was careful to record these shakings, exorcism, and healings, it is his work as a preacher of the Gospel that dominates his journal. This is something he never forgets, even when away from the crowds. So he would share the Gospel with fellow travellers, and he was ready to challenge complete strangers about God, as this entry for Monday 15th March, 1745 shows. Wesley is in the equivalent of what today would be a motorway cafeteria.
At length we got into a little inn where, some were cursing and swearing much. Before we went away, I stepped to them, and asked, “Do you think yourselves that this kind of talking is right?" One of them warmly replied, “Sir, we have said nothing which we have need to be ashamed of." I said, “Have you not need to be ashamed of disobliging your best friend? And is not God the best friend you have?" They stared first at me, and then at one another; but no man answered a word.
Whether to vast crowds, church congregations, small groups, or one to one, preaching was Wesley’s life work. One of the many prices he paid for this was that his marriage broke down. He married a widow when he was forty eight, but kept on preaching as before. Mrs Wesley was not a happy wife. Ministers should be warned and be sensitive to the balance between service and family, but at the same time they should be inspired by Wesley’s preaching that changed a nation and say in this internet age, whatever we do, we are going to preach.
COURAGE WHEN OPPOSED
Wesley preached the Gospel, and met opposition, especially at the beginning of his itinerant ministry. Many in the upper classes and the established clergy were alarmed at an Oxford don, as Wesley was, preaching to the poor masses, and some feared that this might cause unrest. Others, of all classes, simply despised any enthusiasm in religion. Christianity should be kept as a quiet boring affair for Sundays only. On no account should it affect one’s personal life, especially pleasures. At some meetings there was merely heckling, so on Tuesday 7th June, 1939 Wesley recorded:
‘In the midst of the sermon after the prayer two men (hired, as we afterwards understood for that purpose) began singing a ballad. After a few mild words…we all began singing a psalm which put them to utter silence.’
Wesley had a soft heart for the hired hecklers, writing that:
‘Many more, who came in among us as lions, in a short space became as lambs; the tears trickling apace down their cheeks, who at first most loudly contradicted and blasphemed.’
Often Wesley and his followers faced more than heckling. In his journal there are references to stones and mud being thrown, and crowds of thugs demanding his life. Here is how Wesley describes one such incident:
The noise on every side was like the roaring of the sea; so they dragged me along till we came to the town, where seeing the door of a large house open, I attempted to go in ; but a man, catching me by the hair, pulled me back into the middle of the mob. I stood at the door, and asked, " Are you willing to hear me: speak?" Many cried out, “No, no! Knock his brains out; down with him, kill him!’
As well as facing the wrath of murderous mobs, Wesley also had to deal with much slander. England in the middle of the 18th C. still seethed with prejudice against Roman Catholicism. An easy way to create enmity for someone was to accuse them of being a Papist, which Wesley’s enemies did. ‘The report now current in Bristol, Wesley wrote, ‘is that I am a Papist, if not a Jesuit ’. This all got worse in 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie, from the house of Stuart, which was closely associated with Roman Catholicism, staged an invasion to seize the throne. He nearly got to London, so the country went into panic, and Wesley’s enemies put out that he supported the Stuarts. It was nonsense, but it increased popular opposition to Wesley’s preaching which in 1745 was still drawing large crowds.
In the midst of all this opposition, verbal and physical, what stands out is Wesley’s courage. It was rooted in his faith that God was with Him and would protect him. He records many examples of this protection in his journal, including this one -
‘….a lusty man, just behind, struck at me several times with a large oaken stick, with which, if he had struck me once on the back part of my head, it would have saved him all farther trouble; but every time he blow was turned aside I know not how…’
Wesley also believed God would judge his enemies, so after a disturbance in Bristol, Wesley noted that a week or so later one of the ringleaders committed suicide.
Wesley had to deal with hired hecklers, violence, and cheap lies that he was working for the country’s political enemies. Some of this opposition is the same for Iranian Christians today. And the answer is the same: raw courage rooted in a deep faith that God will protect and ultimately have the last word. Today the names of Wesley’s enemies are forgotten. However because of Wesley’s courage his church is now 70 million strong, his name revered.
THE POOR, SICK, AND DYING
No reader of Wesley’s journal can fail to notice his many references to the poor, sick, and dying. While bishops and priests barely deigned to make contact with the lower classes, Wesley made a point of taking the Gospel to the poorest of the poor. In Bristol and Newcastle Wesley held some of his largest meetings with the coal miners; in Cornwall, with the tin miners; and in London in the slum area of Spitalfields where he was much loved. Usually they gave him a warm reception, so for Sunday 30th May, 1742 we read:
At seven, I walked down to Sand-Gate, the poorest and most contemptible part of the town…..After preaching, the poor people were ready to tread me under foot, out of pure love and kindness’
His journal is also peppered with references to visiting the sick, a duty he urged his followers to take seriously. So on Monday September 7th we read –
I visited a young man in St Thomas's Hospital, who, in strong pain, was praising God continually. At the desire of many of the patients, I spent a short time with them, in exhortation and prayer. O what a harvest might there be, if any lover of souls, who has time upon his hands, would constantly attend these places of distress…’
And if he heard that someone he knew was dying he would sometimes change his plans to be by their bedside. In the 18th C in England the death sentence was common and Wesley from the early days of his ministry would preach to the condemned. He was much loved in prison. For example on September 3rd, 1742 we read about his visit to a murderer –
I exhorted the sick malefactor to cry unto Cod with all his might for grace to repent and believe the Gospel. It was not long before the rest of the felons flocked round, to whom I spoke strong words concerning the Friend of sinners, which they received with as great signs of amazement as if it had been a voice from heaven.
Wesley’s life again has a lesson for us all: we should get out and show love to the poor, the sick, the dying. The slums, the hospitals, the prisons, these are the places where Wesley was in his day. We need to be there in ours.
CHURCH DISCIPLINE
On Thursday 28th, 1742 Wesley wrote in his journal –
‘My chief business now, was to thoroughly examine the Society in Kingswood (where many had come to faith). This found me full employment for several days.’
When Wesley preached in an area he organized them into mid week classes for prayer, Bible study, and encouragement. It was these groups, or Societies, that later became the Methodist Church. By ‘thoroughly examine’ Wesley meant he visited all the members to see if they were living as Christians. This was his practice in all his Societies. And if a member was not living as a devout Christian, they were expelled. So after one Sunday meeting, he wrote -
‘I was constrained this evening to separate from the believers, some who did not show their faith by their works. One of these, Sam. Prig, was deeply displeased, spoke many very bitter words, and went abruptly away.’
When Wesley was ‘examining’ a Society in the north of England he found that over sixty had been expelled, and noted down the reasons, which he agreed with.
Two for cursing and swearing.
Two for habitual Sabbath-breaking.
Seventeen for drunkenness.
Two for retailing spirituous liquors.
Three for quarrelling and brawling.
One for beating his wife.
Three for habitual, wilful lying.
Four for railing and evil-speaking.
One for idleness and laziness. And
Nine-and-twenty for lightness and carelessness.
For Wesley a decision at an evangelistic meeting meant nothing unless it was followed up by a holy life. Hence this emphasis not just on preaching, but on making sure his followers were ‘thoroughly’ examined about their own personal lifestyle. Wesley was successful, certainly as an evangelistic preacher, but also as a spiritual overseer, determined to enforce holy standards on his flock. It is not all evangelists whose societies have 79,000 committed members with them when they die, which then grows to seventy million after two hundred years, but this is what Wesley achieved. This is largely due to his commitment to ensure that those who called themselves Christians lived as Christians. Here is a challenge for our church today: to give time to ‘thoroughly’ examining those in membership.
‘Best of all, God is with us’
John Wesley died on March 2nd, 1791in London when he was eighty seven surrounded by his friends. He preached his last sermon just one week before; and even on his death bed he wanted to preach, He asked his house-keeper to write down his message. Pen ready she asked what he wanted to say. He replied, ‘Nothing, but best of all, God is with us.’
We watch John Wesley climbing high amidst the mountain peaks of Christian ministry and we are inspired to follow – to turn our failures into success, to preach, to show courage, to visit the sick, and confront worldly church goers. And what better words to have in our hearts as we press on upwards, ‘but best of all, God is with us.’
Anglican priest, street preacher, and founder of the Methodist Church.
He preached over 40,000 sermons, sometimes to crowds of thousands; he wrote over 200 books, and edited hundreds more; and on horseback he rode over 250,000 miles for the Gospel. His life changed his country. When he began proclaiming Christ in 1739, England was notorious for gambling, prostitution, and drunkenness. And the Anglican Church, led by a lazy upper class, had no zeal to restrain the sewerage of sin corrupting the land. When he died in 1791, the influence of his evangelical faith was felt from the humblest factory worker’s cottage, to the mansions of the aristocracy. His followers became known as the Methodist Church, which now numbers 70 million around the world. John Wesley, the son of an ordinary English village priest, lived an extraordinary life. For many Christians he is like a climber of Everest, someone to admire, but not someone we can follow. It is true that few will reach Wesley’s heights, but we are all called to climb, and his life has important lessons to help us. Here we look at just five.
FAILURE – THE BACKDOOR TO SUCCESS
Wesley studied at Oxford University where he was first appointed a tutor, before becoming an Anglican priest in 1728. Though he and his friends were teased at Oxford for taking their religion too seriously, his ministry was not marked by success. In fact his brief time as a missionary in Georgia (1736-38) was an embarrassing failure. The settlers could not stand Wesley’s strictness and he had a disastrous relationship with a young female admirer. But there was a more serious problem. Wesley had not yet trusted Jesus for his salvation. On the way over to America, he and his brother Charles, who later wrote many famous hymns, become friends with some German Protestant Christians, known as Moravians.
The Wesleys were particularly impressed by their calm faith during a terrible storm. When he returned to England, Wesley kept on preaching, but feeling a failure he was willing to listen to Peter Boehler, a young Moravian missionary. Boehler was certain the Wesley brothers did not have saving faith. He wrote to his leader, Count Zinzendorf:
‘Of faith in Jesus they have no other idea than the generality of people. They justify themselves, and therefore they always take it for granted that they believe already, and try to prove their faith by their works, and thus are at heart very miserable.’
Boehler told the brothers that having faith in Christ was a supernatural experience given in a moment of time which resulted in ‘dominion over sin and constant peace, arising from a sense of forgiveness.’ John Wesley was amazed and ‘looked upon it as a new gospel’. But when he studied the Bible and heard Boehler and others talk about their experiences he became more and more convinced that he had to stand on faith alone. But there had to be an experience. It happened on Wednesday May 24th 1738.
In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
This experience was to make Wesley one of the most successful preachers the world has known. But here is the lesson for us all: the experience that led to success happened because of failure. If Wesley had been a successful minister in America, he would never have sought out Peter Boehler on his return. So while there has never risen in Christendom another John Wesley, yet all of us can remember that in Christian ministry, failure is often the back door to success.
THE PRIORITY OF PREACHING
John Wesley seemed to be always preaching. Again and again we read in his journal entries such as this on Saturday 22nd, 1745:
‘We reached St Ives about two in the morning, at five (i.e. three hours later) I preached on ‘Love your enemies’ and in the evening at Gwenap on ‘All that live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution’
The next day, Sunday, Wesley is of course busier:
‘I preached at Gwenap at five (in the morning) and at St Stithinas at eight, to a large and quiet congregation. Thence we went to Wendon Church.’Here Wesley preached at two, and at five. And guess what he was doing at five o’clock in the morning on Monday 24th June?
‘I preached at five on ‘Watch and pray…’
The reason why he preached at five o’clock in the morning was so the labourers could have spiritual food before starting their day’s work.
Vast crowds turned out to hear John Wesley. His entry for Sunday 28th April 1739 when he was in the Bristol area of England shows he preached early in the morning:
‘…to about four thousand people...I then went to Clifton where about three thousand were present…After dinner we went to Clifton again….(Here Wesley attends a burial). From Clifton we went to Rose-Green where there were (by computation) near seven thousand’
After preaching to so many, Wesley’s day was still not over, for he then went on to Gloucester to take part in Holy Communion, where he would have spoken. That means in one day he spoke to over fourteen thousand souls. Probably the largest crowd he ever preached to was at Blackheath, in South East London. Twelve to fourteen thousand gathered to hear him and the other famous evangelist, George Whitefield.
As well as the natural beauty of his voice, and his gentlemanly educated manner there were two other characteristics of Wesley’s preaching which attracted the crowds. One was the content, his emphasis on God’s grace for all sinners; that He wants all to be saved. If Wesley had a favourite text it was possibly, Hosea 14.4, ‘I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.’ The other is the anointing. In some meetings there were supernatural signs. So on Saturday April 21st 1739 we read:
‘At Weaver’s Hall a young man was suddenly seized with violent trembling all over and in a few minutes…he sunk to the ground…but we ceased not praying for him till he raised him full of peace and joy.’
Or the next month on May 21 we read of Wesley preaching before two or three thousand when:
‘One, and another, and another was struck to the earth; exceedingly trembling at the presence of his power.’
John Wesley was an orderly man, so after one meeting where a good number had fallen, he went round interviewing them all and concluded it was not habitual religious theatre, but a genuine intervention. As well as these demonstrations of divine power, Wesley also saw successful exorcisms, so on Thursday 13th 1743, we have this vivid record from his pen about a possessed woman he visited:
However, I prayed…her whole body moving at once, without bending one joint or limb, just as if it were one piece of stone. Immediately after it was writhed into all kinds of postures; the same horrid yell continuing still. But we left her not till all the symptoms ceased, and she was (for the present at least) rejoicing and praising God.
And he saw healings, so on Wednesday 31st March, 1742, we read:
‘In the evening I called upon Ann Calcut. She had been speechless for sometime; but almost as soon as we began to pray, God restored her speech.’
While Wesley was careful to record these shakings, exorcism, and healings, it is his work as a preacher of the Gospel that dominates his journal. This is something he never forgets, even when away from the crowds. So he would share the Gospel with fellow travellers, and he was ready to challenge complete strangers about God, as this entry for Monday 15th March, 1745 shows. Wesley is in the equivalent of what today would be a motorway cafeteria.
At length we got into a little inn where, some were cursing and swearing much. Before we went away, I stepped to them, and asked, “Do you think yourselves that this kind of talking is right?" One of them warmly replied, “Sir, we have said nothing which we have need to be ashamed of." I said, “Have you not need to be ashamed of disobliging your best friend? And is not God the best friend you have?" They stared first at me, and then at one another; but no man answered a word.
Whether to vast crowds, church congregations, small groups, or one to one, preaching was Wesley’s life work. One of the many prices he paid for this was that his marriage broke down. He married a widow when he was forty eight, but kept on preaching as before. Mrs Wesley was not a happy wife. Ministers should be warned and be sensitive to the balance between service and family, but at the same time they should be inspired by Wesley’s preaching that changed a nation and say in this internet age, whatever we do, we are going to preach.
COURAGE WHEN OPPOSED
Wesley preached the Gospel, and met opposition, especially at the beginning of his itinerant ministry. Many in the upper classes and the established clergy were alarmed at an Oxford don, as Wesley was, preaching to the poor masses, and some feared that this might cause unrest. Others, of all classes, simply despised any enthusiasm in religion. Christianity should be kept as a quiet boring affair for Sundays only. On no account should it affect one’s personal life, especially pleasures. At some meetings there was merely heckling, so on Tuesday 7th June, 1939 Wesley recorded:
‘In the midst of the sermon after the prayer two men (hired, as we afterwards understood for that purpose) began singing a ballad. After a few mild words…we all began singing a psalm which put them to utter silence.’
Wesley had a soft heart for the hired hecklers, writing that:
‘Many more, who came in among us as lions, in a short space became as lambs; the tears trickling apace down their cheeks, who at first most loudly contradicted and blasphemed.’
Often Wesley and his followers faced more than heckling. In his journal there are references to stones and mud being thrown, and crowds of thugs demanding his life. Here is how Wesley describes one such incident:
The noise on every side was like the roaring of the sea; so they dragged me along till we came to the town, where seeing the door of a large house open, I attempted to go in ; but a man, catching me by the hair, pulled me back into the middle of the mob. I stood at the door, and asked, " Are you willing to hear me: speak?" Many cried out, “No, no! Knock his brains out; down with him, kill him!’
As well as facing the wrath of murderous mobs, Wesley also had to deal with much slander. England in the middle of the 18th C. still seethed with prejudice against Roman Catholicism. An easy way to create enmity for someone was to accuse them of being a Papist, which Wesley’s enemies did. ‘The report now current in Bristol, Wesley wrote, ‘is that I am a Papist, if not a Jesuit ’. This all got worse in 1745 when Bonnie Prince Charlie, from the house of Stuart, which was closely associated with Roman Catholicism, staged an invasion to seize the throne. He nearly got to London, so the country went into panic, and Wesley’s enemies put out that he supported the Stuarts. It was nonsense, but it increased popular opposition to Wesley’s preaching which in 1745 was still drawing large crowds.
In the midst of all this opposition, verbal and physical, what stands out is Wesley’s courage. It was rooted in his faith that God was with Him and would protect him. He records many examples of this protection in his journal, including this one -
‘….a lusty man, just behind, struck at me several times with a large oaken stick, with which, if he had struck me once on the back part of my head, it would have saved him all farther trouble; but every time he blow was turned aside I know not how…’
Wesley also believed God would judge his enemies, so after a disturbance in Bristol, Wesley noted that a week or so later one of the ringleaders committed suicide.
Wesley had to deal with hired hecklers, violence, and cheap lies that he was working for the country’s political enemies. Some of this opposition is the same for Iranian Christians today. And the answer is the same: raw courage rooted in a deep faith that God will protect and ultimately have the last word. Today the names of Wesley’s enemies are forgotten. However because of Wesley’s courage his church is now 70 million strong, his name revered.
THE POOR, SICK, AND DYING
No reader of Wesley’s journal can fail to notice his many references to the poor, sick, and dying. While bishops and priests barely deigned to make contact with the lower classes, Wesley made a point of taking the Gospel to the poorest of the poor. In Bristol and Newcastle Wesley held some of his largest meetings with the coal miners; in Cornwall, with the tin miners; and in London in the slum area of Spitalfields where he was much loved. Usually they gave him a warm reception, so for Sunday 30th May, 1742 we read:
At seven, I walked down to Sand-Gate, the poorest and most contemptible part of the town…..After preaching, the poor people were ready to tread me under foot, out of pure love and kindness’
His journal is also peppered with references to visiting the sick, a duty he urged his followers to take seriously. So on Monday September 7th we read –
I visited a young man in St Thomas's Hospital, who, in strong pain, was praising God continually. At the desire of many of the patients, I spent a short time with them, in exhortation and prayer. O what a harvest might there be, if any lover of souls, who has time upon his hands, would constantly attend these places of distress…’
And if he heard that someone he knew was dying he would sometimes change his plans to be by their bedside. In the 18th C in England the death sentence was common and Wesley from the early days of his ministry would preach to the condemned. He was much loved in prison. For example on September 3rd, 1742 we read about his visit to a murderer –
I exhorted the sick malefactor to cry unto Cod with all his might for grace to repent and believe the Gospel. It was not long before the rest of the felons flocked round, to whom I spoke strong words concerning the Friend of sinners, which they received with as great signs of amazement as if it had been a voice from heaven.
Wesley’s life again has a lesson for us all: we should get out and show love to the poor, the sick, the dying. The slums, the hospitals, the prisons, these are the places where Wesley was in his day. We need to be there in ours.
CHURCH DISCIPLINE
On Thursday 28th, 1742 Wesley wrote in his journal –
‘My chief business now, was to thoroughly examine the Society in Kingswood (where many had come to faith). This found me full employment for several days.’
When Wesley preached in an area he organized them into mid week classes for prayer, Bible study, and encouragement. It was these groups, or Societies, that later became the Methodist Church. By ‘thoroughly examine’ Wesley meant he visited all the members to see if they were living as Christians. This was his practice in all his Societies. And if a member was not living as a devout Christian, they were expelled. So after one Sunday meeting, he wrote -
‘I was constrained this evening to separate from the believers, some who did not show their faith by their works. One of these, Sam. Prig, was deeply displeased, spoke many very bitter words, and went abruptly away.’
When Wesley was ‘examining’ a Society in the north of England he found that over sixty had been expelled, and noted down the reasons, which he agreed with.
Two for cursing and swearing.
Two for habitual Sabbath-breaking.
Seventeen for drunkenness.
Two for retailing spirituous liquors.
Three for quarrelling and brawling.
One for beating his wife.
Three for habitual, wilful lying.
Four for railing and evil-speaking.
One for idleness and laziness. And
Nine-and-twenty for lightness and carelessness.
For Wesley a decision at an evangelistic meeting meant nothing unless it was followed up by a holy life. Hence this emphasis not just on preaching, but on making sure his followers were ‘thoroughly’ examined about their own personal lifestyle. Wesley was successful, certainly as an evangelistic preacher, but also as a spiritual overseer, determined to enforce holy standards on his flock. It is not all evangelists whose societies have 79,000 committed members with them when they die, which then grows to seventy million after two hundred years, but this is what Wesley achieved. This is largely due to his commitment to ensure that those who called themselves Christians lived as Christians. Here is a challenge for our church today: to give time to ‘thoroughly’ examining those in membership.
‘Best of all, God is with us’
John Wesley died on March 2nd, 1791in London when he was eighty seven surrounded by his friends. He preached his last sermon just one week before; and even on his death bed he wanted to preach, He asked his house-keeper to write down his message. Pen ready she asked what he wanted to say. He replied, ‘Nothing, but best of all, God is with us.’
We watch John Wesley climbing high amidst the mountain peaks of Christian ministry and we are inspired to follow – to turn our failures into success, to preach, to show courage, to visit the sick, and confront worldly church goers. And what better words to have in our hearts as we press on upwards, ‘but best of all, God is with us.’
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