From the WSJ Opinion Archives
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Salvation on Horseback
How John Wesley helped create the modern world.
John Wesley, born 300 years ago, on June 17, 1703, was the leader of what may be called the Second Reformation. With Methodism, he did not espouse a new theology. It was built on the ancient precept that God had sent his only begotten son to save the world, although it claimed, contrary to Calvin's notion of predestination, that salvation was available to every man and woman of true faith. And his idea of the "whole Christian"--struggling, after the moment of personal Pentecost, to "imitate Christ"--was acquired, second-hand, from more original thinkers. Wesley did not change Protestant belief. He revolutionized the way in which the Protestant church behaved.
All the defining characteristics of Methodism--"field preaching" to the multitudes on village greens and in town squares, all-night "love feasts" during which the Holy Spirit descended on the congregation, and "lay preachers" who knew no Latin but who were resolute in their belief in salvation--were anathema to the Church of England. But Wesley had no doubt that the clergy had to take the word of God to the people, not wait for the people to come and search for it during the occasional Sunday service.
Wesley intended to do no more than reinvigorate the Church of England. Indeed, he kept his promise to "live and die an ordained priest in the Established Church." But the Methodist Connexion, as it was then called, became a world-wide movement that had a special appeal to the landless poor of the nascent Industrial Revolution. Wesley did not regard himself as a social reformer, and he was profoundly opposed to power passing beyond the privileged and propertied class. But the industrial workers of the new cities were "sheep without shepherds" who were drawn to his straightforward message and evangelical style.
During a ministry that lasted almost 70 years, John Wesley traveled on horseback almost 300,000 miles, stopping along the way to preach three or four sermons each day. His whole life was devoted to spreading the good news of salvation--by word of mouth or by organizing the work of God among his followers. Comfort and companionship were sacrificed as unnecessary self-indulgence. As a result, he endured a desperately unhappy marriage and had a troubling relationship with women that orthodox Methodist biographies have chosen to overlook.
Perhaps Wesley's hopes of happiness were destroyed by the influence of his mother--a strong and determined woman whose character often made him wonder, "Will I ever find one such as she?" Whatever the cause, he developed the habit of encouraging women to believe that he had marriage in mind and then, at the last moment, announcing that his only commitment was to God. Because of his dalliance with one Sophy Hopkey, he returned to England in ignominy, in 1738, after his brief and inglorious spell as a missionary in Georgia. The pattern of encouragement and rejection was reproduced time after time.
That was not the only example of what a contemporary called "the serpent in John's Garden of Eden." Wesley's diaries--written in code and later published in expurgated form as publicity for the Methodist Connexion--record incidents that, in modern society, might result in prosecution for sexual harassment and assault. He once fell in genuine love. But his brother Charles, the great hymn writer, believed that a union with a woman who had been a domestic servant was beneath the dignity of the Great Revival's leader. So Grace Murray, who might have become the future Mrs. Wesley, was abducted, taken to the north of England and persuaded that marriage to a Methodist lay preacher was God's will. Perhaps, without Charles's intervention, John Wesley would have lived happily ever after, and many of his 50,000 sermons would never have been preached.
In a way, we ought to rejoice that fate denied him the contentment of a happy family. His teaching--which emphasized the importance of piety, probity and respectability--influenced the character of the British working classes throughout the 19th century and contributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution, which thrived on the hard work of an industrious working class. It also inspired the popular evangelicals of contemporary America. For too long Methodists have treated John Wesley as their exclusive property. He belongs to the modern world that he helped to create.
Mr. Hattersley's latest book, "A Brand From the Burning: The Life of John Wesley," will be published by Doubleday later this month.
