A Dynamic Faith: The Story of Early Methodism, Part III
John Wesley preaching in the City Chapel. Engraving by T. Blood, 1822. (Source: WikiCommons)
This is Part III of a three-part series. Click here to read Part I and Part II.
Opposition to Methodism
Opposition to Methodism came swiftly and early. Anti-Methodist sentiment in Oxford and resistance to the early zealotry of the preachers has already been mentioned. But much of the opposition came from bishops concerned about a seemingly untethered movement within the Church that was not directly answerable to its leaders or from small communities who saw the Methodists and their practices as divisive or even dangerous.
It’s easy to see Wesley and his preachers as benevolent figures simply trying to share the good news. And they were definitely that. But in eighteenth-century Britain, most people lived in small towns with very tight – and often historic – connections. So we must imagine how jarring it might have been for an outsider, a lay preacher, itself an oddity, sent to their town by a distant figure (i.e. Wesley), to preach sermons apart from the church that appear to challenge established parish clergy, many of them having served their communities for decades. On top of this, these preachers then set up small groups for members only, requiring a ticket for admittance, making many suspicious of their activities.
Sometimes, local clergy challenged these preachers themselves, often from their pulpits. At other times, the people of a town or village (sometimes encouraged by local authorities) would rise up as a mob and run the Methodist preachers out of town, pelting them with whatever they could throw. They imagined that they were upholding the peace, or even thwarting an invasion. Church bells were rung in some places after mobs sent the Methodist preachers and their followers packing, an act that, according to Henry Rack, “suggested triumph after repelling an invasion – which is probably how it was regarded.”
Some of these mobs become legendary. The most famous is the Wednesbury Mob of 1743, led by the formerly friendly vicar. Wesley recounted the event in detail in his Journal. He is met by one mob that eventually merges with another. But in the midst of it, he’s able to convert the “captain” and having been dragged around by the mob, he escapes and notes in his Journal:
By how gentle degrees does God prepare us for his will! Two years ago a piece of a brick grazed my shoulders. It was a year after that a stone struck me between the eyes. Last month I received one blow, and this evening, two: one before we came into the town, and one after we came into the town, and one after we were gone out. But both were as nothing, for though one man struck me on the breast with all his might, and the other on the mouth with such a force that the blood gushed out immediately, I felt no more pain from either of the blows than if they had touched me with a straw.
Opposition sometimes came from within the movement itself, at times because of misunderstanding. Both the Perfection Controversies of the 1760s and the Calvinist Controversies of the 1770s took place largely within the Evangelical Revival. The Perfectionist Controversies arose when some of Wesley’s own preachers took his doctrine of Christian perfection (holy love driving one’s life, producing freedom from the power of sin) and pushed it to the extremes; some claiming that the perfect (i.e. the whole in Christ) cannot die or that they would become angels.
The Calvinist Controversies arose after Whitefield died even if the lines of debate had existed from the beginning. Friendship between Whitefield and the brothers had created a détente, but with the rise of new leaders on the Reformed side of the Revival the gloves came off. The Reformed believed that the experience of the new birth was so dramatic and unexpected that only God’s unconditional election could explain it while the Wesley brothers held to the Catholic view that God’s grace, still the initiating power, enabled a cooperative response. The two sides would never see the other’s point of view as scriptural.
Writer, Publisher, Preacher, and Poet
It would be difficult to write about the rise of Methodism without acknowledging the massive written output of the Wesley brothers. For John, this includes his Journal, Diary, and Letters – allowing us more insight into his day-to-day activities than any other figure in all of church history. He read and wrote vociferously.
One of his lasting contributions is his Sermons on Several Occasions, a multi-volume set that became a doctrinal foundation for Methodist teaching. It would be easy to imagine that these sermons represent the texts that he used to preach throughout the country, but it’s more likely that his outdoor or Methodist society sermons were more extemporaneous, almost like a stump speech with variations based on his own study and the needs of the people. The printed sermons – and he did preach many of them in more formal settings such as “The Use of Money” at St. Bartholomew the Great, London – were polished works meant to provide a narrative basis to Methodist teaching. In this way, he was simply following Anglican practice as Archbishop Cranmer had done with the Book of Homilies for the Church of England a few centuries earlier.
There are 151 published sermons from Wesley and additional descriptions of sermons that people heard during his ministry. Among this collection are highlights such as “The Circumcision of the Heart,” an early description of the holy life; “Justification by Faith,” an evangelical defense of the truth that we are not pardoned because of our own doing but by placing our faith in the work of Christ; “The New Birth,” a call to be made alive in Christ and enter a life of freedom and wholeness; “The Means of Grace,” a careful description of the many ways that God has appointed to encounter us with his transforming power; and “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” the best overall description of Wesley’s vision of God’s saving work in us. In this sermon, commenting on Ephesians 2:8 he wrote:
The salvation which is here spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness…It is not a blessing which lies on the other side of death...The very words of the text itself put this beyond all question: "Ye are saved." It is not something at a distance: it is a present thing; a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of. Nay, the words may be rendered, and that with equal propriety, "Ye have been saved": so that the salvation which is here spoken of might be extended to the entire work of God, from the first dawning of grace in the soul, till it is consummated in glory.
Many other sermons could be mentioned, including his description of the renewal of the entire creation – humanity, animals, everything – in “The General Deliverance,” or his rousing call to regularly receive Christ in the Eucharist in “The Duty of Constant Communion” (answering questions still heard today), but suffice it to say that Wesley has provided a rich and accessible library of sermons outlining the good news of Jesus Christ.
Additional works include treatises on the reality and impact of original sin – his longest written work – and another on baptism, communicating his firm belief in traditional Christianity where baptism is not simply about our profession but about God's work through the sacrament, giving us the Holy Spirit, and therefore a rite meant for both infants and those of "riper years," as the Prayer Book says. Wesley leaned heavily on his father’s work to prepare this text. He compiled a number of other volumes, often editing the writing of others. In his Christian Library, a set that he designed for the training of his lay preachers, he put together shorter abridgments from across Christian tradition, particularly from Puritan authors, excising any hit of Calvinism from texts he included.
Wesley’s Notes on the New Testament, which included his own translation from the Greek, is another foundational publication, written with the aid of a longer biblical commentary by the pietist scholar Johann Albrecht Bengel. His aim was to make the New Testament more accessible to everyday people. It became a doctrinal standard for Methodism. His words in the introduction speak of his love for Scripture:
In the language of the sacred writings, we may observe the utmost depth, together with the utmost ease. All the elegancies of human composures sink into nothing before it: God speaks not as man, but as God. His thoughts are very deep: and thence his words are of inexhaustible virtue.
For Charles, we have his Sermons and Letters, but the majority of his output is poetic, including the thousands of hymns that seemed to flow out of him, celebrating the saving work of Christ and building up the faithful for their walk with him. He is probably best known for “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” or “Love Divine All Loves Excelling” with its powerful second stanza proclaiming God’s cleansing work:
Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast,
Let us all in thee inherit,
Let us find that second rest:
Take away our power of sinning,
Alpha and Omega be,
End of faith as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
Among many Methodists it’s his “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” or “And Can It Be” that rank among his highest. Probably his most expansive collection is the 1780 “Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists,” which lays out a vision of Wesleyan theology and practice that remains the most enduring of his many published volumes.
Charles published collections of poetic works throughout his life, often in hymnbooks dedicated to certain theological topics or festivals of the church year. He did this in his “Hymns on the Nativity” and “Hymns on the Trinity” but also in his work – done with his brother – “Hymns on the Lord’s Supper,” where he outlines a Wesleyan vision of Holy Communion:
O the depth of love divine,
Th’ unfathomable grace!
Who shall say how bread and wine
God into man conveys?
How the bread his flesh imparts,
How the wine transmits his blood,
Fills his faithful people’s hearts
With all the life of God!
“Ought We to Separate?”
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact point at which most of Methodism left the Church of England. Some Methodists remained no matter what sort of organization emerged, later called “Church Methodists.” They would exist as a part of the larger evangelical movement within Anglicanism that became a stream within the Church and remains to the present day. But tensions within the Wesleyan movement arose much earlier due to the development of a distinctly Methodist ethos, the result of unique practices and communities based on Wesleyan teaching.
The Wesleys adamantly admonished their followers to be faithful participants in their parish church, even banning Methodist meetings that might be held during “church hours.” But this practice was not always followed as many felt that they were being fed in Methodist services and through their small groups and didn’t need to attend the local church. Throughout the later half of the eighteenth century and while the Wesley brothers lived, this tension between renewal movement and separate church was held in check. But the tension was real.
When the division begins to set in not all Methodists will move away from the Church. Some will move away from an increasingly distinct Methodism. Charles Wesley begins to pull away from the Wesleyan connection starting in the 1750s. Some later Methodist interpreters have blamed this on his getting married and the subsequent duties of husband and father. But that simply doesn’t account for the full picture.
It should be noted that Charles and Sally Wesley had a loving and supportive marriage. Their lives were not always easy – they lost many children to early death – but their home was a happy one often filled with music played by their children, both in Bristol and later in London. Their children would lead holy and productive lives, some becoming leading composers within the Church. But married life alone does not explain Charles’ desire to stand aloof from the developing connection.
Instead, Charles held to the original vision of Methodism – “to reform the nation, particularly the Church [of England], and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.” By the 1750s, however, there are calls from some leading lay preachers to separate from the Established Church and enter nonconformity. At the 1755 conference, Charles led a passionate defense for the original vision, at times with greater passion than kindness. They wouldn’t separate, but the seeds were planted.
Later Years
As the Wesley brothers moved into their later years, their lives would continue to be driven by the Revival but in different ways. For both of them, the biggest change would be the general attitude of the English people toward Methodism. Rather than a dangerous movement that could upend the church and society, it was now seen as a benevolent evangelical ministry, even if one that continued to inch away from the established Church. Revolutionary movements on Continental Europe would cause some concern about groups seen to be on the fringes of English society, but the mobs of the 1740s would never return.
In the years that Wesley worked more intentionally with clergy in the Church of England, he appointed a few of them to be his successor after he and his brother had died. Both John Fletcher, who would be a staunch defender of the Wesleyan view against the Calvinists, and William Grimshaw, leader of much of the Methodist work in the north of England, were appointed as successor but the Wesley brothers outlived them. Finally, Wesley created structures to continue the work through the Methodist Conference.
The American Revolution, however, created a unique crisis for Methodists outside of the United Kingdom. The new independence of the colonies left the colonists without the episcopal oversight of the Church of England. Thus both the Methodists and the Anglicans in the colonies were in a bind. With no bishops, there can be no ordinations. Many within the colonial churches that derived from English Christianity sought creative solutions. And Wesley – unlike those who would eventually find more traditional routes – not only sought a creative solution but he actually carried it out.
Wesley believed himself to be “a New Testament bishop,” meaning one who had oversight over numerous Christian communities. He also adopted the view that bishops are presbyters acting with oversight (and therefore not of different “orders”). Wesley decided to ordain three men for the Methodist work in America in September of 1784 driven by the “extraordinary” nature of the moment. One of these men, an Anglican priest named Thomas Coke, was set apart by Wesley as a “superintendent.” Together with Coke, and another priest named James Creighton, Wesley ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as elders. All three went to America to help set up the Methodist Episcopal Church at the Christmas Conference that same year, ordaining Francis Asbury. Coke would not last long in America. He later died en route to India as a missionary. Whatcoat would become the third bishop of the MEC. Vasey would be ordained in the Episcopal Church, returning to England where he worked within Methodism as a priest in Anglican orders.
Charles Wesley was furious. In fact, the relationship between the brothers would never be the same again. He blamed Coke for the irregularity as a power-hungry deceiver of an old man. What John had done was seen as a great departure from the historic patterns of the universal church. And, of course, he had helped to create an independent Methodism in the United States. As was usual for Charles, he turned to poetry to vent his anguish, praying for his brother:
Convinc’d his foot hath slipt, uphold,
And bring him back into the Fold,
The Shepherd and the Sheep;
And safe within thy arms of Love
One with thy Family above
Our Church for ever keep.
Charles Wesley died in 1788 at the age of 80 having written over 7000 hymns. He was buried in the graveyard of his parish church in London’s Marylebone, eventually the resting place of many of his family members. His wife Sarah wrote of him that his greatest gift was that of friendship. The friendship between the brothers was evident when John burst into tears shortly after the death when hearing his brother’s words, “my company before is gone, and I am left alone with Thee.”
John would live another three years, continuing to preach until months before his death, even when it required his preachers to hold him up. In fact, it is estimated that he preached over 50,000 sermons during his lifetime, traveling over 250,000 miles to do so. In his final days, he had the strength to encourage William Wilberforce in his drive to end the slave trade, penning his last letter to the abolitionist with the encouraging word, "O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish before it."
When he died on March 2, 1791 there were over 70,000 Methodists in Great Britain and nearly 60,000 in the United States. He died very much the patriarch of an extended family. His final days were spent in his bedroom in his London home adjacent to the New Chapel on City Road. It was there that many would visit him and where he would pray, encourage, and sing with those who had come to see him. Just off of the bedroom was his prayer room, a large closet where for decades he spent hours of the day in prayer, a place later known as “the powerhouse of Methodism.” His final word was “farewell.” But in his last moments he not only attempted to sing “I’ll Praise My Maker While I’ve Breath” but also uttered the famous words, “The best of all is, God is with us.”
Lasting Impact
Methodism was always larger than the Wesley brothers and yet it can also be said that their impact is larger than Methodism. The heirs of the Wesleys can be found today in their own Church of England and around the world in Anglican churches of various stripes, both evangelical and high church. In Britain, as much of Methodism gradually separated from the Church of England it would eventually become one of the largest denominations in the country even as it split into numerous groups, including the Salvation Army. The Methodist Church of Great Britain would take form in the 20th century, bringing most of British Methodism together again. Denominations founded by the Wesleys’ heirs include the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States and the many denominations that stem from it, including its direct descendants, the United Methodist Church and the Global Methodist Church.
Black Methodism emerged in nineteenth-century America as a response to discrimination and racism in mainstream Methodism, providing a home for Black Methodists to live out their faith in churches such as the African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches.
Also in the nineteenth century the Holiness Movement emerged within the Wesleyan family, producing churches such as the Church of the Nazarene, the Free Methodist Church, and the Wesleyan Church. Out of the Holiness Movement, Pentecostalism would emerge in the twentieth century, producing the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ, and the Church of God, Cleveland, TN among others. Today, the heirs of the Wesley brothers can be found on every continent, from the Uniting Church of Australia to the Methodist Church in Kenya to the Evangelical Methodist Church of Costa Rica.
Whether movement or church, the message of Methodism has endured. And the voice of the Wesley brothers continues to ring true. The ancient, scriptural, and grace-empowered proclamation that Christ died for all that all might be saved to the uttermost, even in this life, is still heard. The fire that ignited so many hearts in eighteenth-century Britain and spread around the world is still with us. And those who are touched by that fire continue to proclaim the message of freedom, holiness, and holy love that leaves all who encounter it transformed. In the words of Charles Wesley they are able to testify themselves of God’s work:
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
Ryan Danker is the director of the John Wesley Institute, publisher of Good News magazine, and associate lead editor of Firebrand.