My Longkang

JOHN WESLEY (1703–1791)
English evangelist; theologian; cofounder of Methodism

John Wesley, the father of the doctrinal and practical system of Methodism, was born at Epworth June 28, 1703, and died in London Mar. 2, 1791. The Wesleys were of ancient Saxon lineage, the family history being traced backward to the time of Athelstan the Saxon, when Guy Wesley, or Wellesley, was created a thane or member of parliament.

An incident of his childhood was his rescue, at the age of six, from the burning rectory. The manner of his escape made a deep impression on his mind; and he spoke of himself as a ” brand plucked from the burning,” and as a child of Providence.

The early education of all the children was given by Mrs. Wesley, a woman of remarkable intelligence and deep piety, apt in teaching, and wise and firm in governing. In 1713 John was admitted to the Charterhouse School, London, where he lived the studious, methodical, and (for a while) religious life in which he had been trained at home.

In 1720 he entered Christ Church College, Oxford (M.A., 1727), was ordained deacon in 1725 and elected fellow of Lincoln College in the following year. He served his father as curate two years, and then returned to Oxford to fulfill his functions as fellow.

The year of his return to Oxford (1729) marks the beginning of the rise of Methodism. The famous “holy club” was formed; and its members, including John and Charles Wesley, were derisively called “Methodists,” because of their methodical habits. John had enjoyed during his early years a deep religious experience.

He went, says one of his best biographers, Tyerman, to Charterhouse a saint; but he became negligent of his religious duties, and left a sinner. In the year of his ordination he read Thomas & Kempis and Jeremy Taylor, and began to grope after those religious truths which underlay the great revival of the eighteenth century.

The reading of Law’s Christian Perfection and Serious Call gave him, he said, a sublimer view of the law of God; and he resolved to keep it, inwardly and outwardly, as sacredly as possible, believing that in this obedience he should find salvation. He pursued a rigidly methodical and abstemious life; studied the Scriptures, and performed his religious duties with great diligence; deprived himself that, he might have alms to give; and gave his heart, mind, and soul to the effort to live a godly life.

When, in 1735, a clergyman “inured to contempt of the ornaments and conveniences of life, to bodily austerities, and to serious thoughts,” was wanted by Governor Oglethorpe to go to Georgia, Wesley responded, and remained in the colony two years, returning to England in 1738, feeling that his mission, which was to convert the Indians and deepen and regulate the religious life of the colonists, had been a failure.

His High-church notions, his strict enforcement of the regulations of the church, especially concerning the administration of the holy communion, were not agreeable to the colonists; and he left Georgia with several indictments pending against him (largely due to malice) for alleged violation of church law.

Reproduced from tlogical.net

I googled and found the above. This morning I had visited

and saw this name John Wesley

I went there to leave some items for recycling.

John Wesley left his mark on the world. What will we leave behind?