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John Wesley

Founder of the Methodist movement (1703-1791) · United Kingdom · Academics · Died at 87

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An 18th-century Anglican priest who took his preaching outdoors when parish doors closed, built a network of small accountability groups across Britain, and died having planted a movement that outlasted the church that nearly expelled him.

Religious FiguresAcademicPhilosophyReligionLiteratureNews BroadcastingEarly Modern Era

A life in dates

1791Died2 March 17911772“In returning I read a very different book, published by an honest Quaker, on that execrable sum of all villanies, commonly called the Slave-trade.”In their words12 February 1772Journal (12 February 1772) after reading Some historical accounts of Guinea by Anthony Benezet

1768“Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.”In their words7 November 1768Letter to Joseph Benson (7 November 1768); published in The Letters of John Wesley (1915) edited by George Eayrs

1763“Lord, let me not live to be useless!”In their words22 December 1763Journal (22 December 1763)

1762“The longer I live, the larger allowances I make for human infirmities. I exact more from myself, and less from others. Go thou and do likewise!”In their words25 January 1762Letter to Reverend Samuel Furley (25 January 1762), Published in The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, M. A., Founder of the

1739“I can by no means approve the scurrility and contempt with which the Romanists have often been treated.”In their words27 August 1739Letter to a Roman Catholic Priest, published in his Journal for 27 August 1739.

1733“I observed, "Love is the fulfilling of the law, the end of the commandment." It is not only "the first and great" command, but all the commandments in one.”In their words1 January 1733Wesley quoting his own sermon on "The Circumcision of the Heart" (1 January 1733) in the work A Plain Account Of Christian Perfection

1703Born17 June 1703

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

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In their own words 10

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John Wesley
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10 statements, newest first

  1. In returning I read a very different book, published by an honest Quaker, on that execrable sum of all villanies, commonly called the Slave-trade.

    Feb 12, 1772, Journal (12 February 1772) after reading Some historical accounts of Guinea by Anthony Benezet, Own words

  2. Passion and prejudice govern the world; only under the name of reason. It is our part, by religion and reason joined, to counteract them all we can.

    Oct 5, 1770, Letter to John Benson (5 October 1770); published in Wesley's Select Letters (1837), p. 207, Own words

  3. Beware you be not swallowed up in books! An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge.

    Nov 7, 1768, Letter to Joseph Benson (7 November 1768); published in The Letters of John Wesley (1915) edited by George Eayrs, Own words

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About this person

Educated at Oxford and ordained in 1728, Wesley led the "Holy Club" before an unsuccessful two-year ministry in Savannah, Georgia sent him back to London. On 24 May 1738, he experienced what he called his evangelical conversion among Moravian Christians, then broke away to start his own work. Barred from many parish pulpits, he began traveling and preaching outdoors, organizing small groups with intensive personal accountability and appointing itinerant evangelists - including women - to lead them. He argued against Calvinism and for Christian perfection: the belief that in this life a believer could reach a state where the love of God "reigned supreme in their hearts." Under his direction, Methodists took up the abolition of slavery and other social causes. By his death in 1791, the man once persecuted was called "the best-loved man in England," and the societies he founded had become the independent Methodist movement.

Country
United Kingdom
Category
Academics
Type
Academic
Status
deceased
Dates
Lived 1703 to 1791 · aged 87

Academics from the United Kingdom 6

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