John Wesley

John Wesley, the founder of Wesleyan Methodism, was born at Epworth, Lincolnshire (his father being rector of the parish),June 17, 1703, and educated at the Charterhouse, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He took his degree of BA. in 1724, was ordained deacon in 1725, became a fellow of Lincoln College, and lecturer and moderator in classics in 1726; and took priest's orders in 1728.

He now gathered together a number of pupils and companions who met regularly for religious purposes, among these companions were Hervey, Whitefield, and Law, the author of the Serious Call to the Unconverted.

Methodists, a sect of Christians founded by John Wesley, so called from the fact that the name was applied to Wesley and his companions by their fellow-students at Oxford, on account of the exact regularity of their lives, and the strictness of their observance of religious duties. The religious movement which resulted in the foundation of this sect began at Oxford in 1729, the chief leaders besides John Wesley being his brother Charles and George Whitefield. In 1735 Wesley accepted an invitation from General Oglethorpe to go out to America to preach to the colonists of Georgia. After a stay of two years he returned to England (Feb. 1738), and in the following May an important event took place in his inner religious life, namely, his conversion. In June he paid a visit to Herrnhut, the Moravian settlement, returning to England in September. Early in the following year (1739) he began open-air preaching, in which he was closely associated with Whitefleld, from whom, however, he soon separated, but without a permanent personal breach.

Having now the sole control of the religious body which adhered to him, he devoted his entire life without intermission to the work of its organization, in which he showed much practical skill and admirable method.

His labours as a preacher were incessant. He would ride from 40 to 60 miles in a day. He read or wrote during his journeys, and frequently preached four or five times a day. He married in 1750 Mrs. Vizelle, a widow with four children, but the union was unfortunate, and they finally separated. He died 2nd March, 1791. He held strongly to the principle of Episcopacy, and never formally separated from the Church of England. His collected works were published after his death in thirty-two vols. 8 vo. He contributed to the collection of hymns, the greater part of which were written by his brother Charles. The first general conference of the Methodists was held in 1744, and the Methodists were constituted a legally corporate body in 1784. Their doctrines are substantially those of the Church of England. The appointment of a minister of the body to any place is always for three years. There are in addition to the ordained ministers lay preachers, leaders, trustees, and stewards.

The body is governed by an annual conference, having at its head a president and secretary, whose term of office lasts but for a year. In each district the ministers hold half-yearly meetings, the several chairmen being appointed by the conference. There are also quarterly circuit meetings of ministers and lay officers. The supreme legislative and judicial power is vested in the conference, to which the half-yearly and quarterly district and circuit meetings are subordinated.

The number of members at Wesley's death was 76,968; but the denomination increased with such rapidity, that were said to be above 28,000,000 adherents in different parts of the world by the end of 19th century.

Various secessions have from time to time taken place from the original body, which, though differing as to points of church government, generally agree as to doctrine.

The chief of these bodies are the Calvinistic Methodists, which originated in a difference between Wesley and Whitefleld regarding the Calvinistic doctrines; they have been organized into three denominations, Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, the Whitefield Methodists, and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists; the Methodist New Connexion, founded in 1797-98 by Alexander Kilham; Primitive Methodists, founded by two lay preachers, Hugh Bourne and William Clowes (1808-10); Bible Christians, founded by a Cornish local preacher named O'Bryan; the Wesleyan Reform Union, and the United Methodist Free Churches, originating in the Wesleyan Methodist Association of 1836, with the subsequent additions of the Protestant Methodists of 1828, and the seceders from the parent connection in 1850-52.

The Methodists are especially numerous in North America, forming numerically the leading denomination in the United States. The Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest and leading Methodist body in America Since 1845 It has been divided into two branches, the Methodists of the Southern States forming what is called the Methodist Episcopal Church South.