1703 - 1791

John Wesley - 20th century portrait
by Frank O. Salisbury

John Wesley was one of the greatest evangelists in the history of the Christian Church. A preacher of great power and an organiser of genius, he founded Methodism in the face of intense opposition and laid the foundations of future world-wide expansion.

The following images have been selected from the extensive Wesley collection of manuscripts contained within the Methodist Archives at the John Rylands University Library of Manchester.
 
 

WESLEYAN REFORMATION

In the 17th century God raised another man to revive the fire of missionary zeal and devotion. John Wesley was led to restore the Biblical doctrine of holiness to the Christian world. But not only that he helped define this teaching theologically, he was enabled by God to preach it powerfully and effectively. During the rise of the Methodist movement (structured and overseed by Wesley) thousands of people were brought into salvation and have experienced the consecutive blessing of entire sanctification in which God purified their hearts from sin by the mighty infusion of the Holy Spirit. Truth of salvation and holiness later streamed into the so-called Holiness movement that has flown from the Wesleyan Revival.

 This nineteenth-century engraving shows one of the most dramatic incidents in the childhood of John Wesley, when at the age of six he was rescued by a neighbour from a burning room in his father's rectory at Epworth. This narrow escape left such a deep impression on Wesley that he often referred to himself in later life as a 'brand plucked from the burning'.

In the bottom left-hand corner of the illustration can be seen Wesley's parents and younger sisters.

This was the first collection of hymns compiled by John Wesley and has the additional distinction of being the first American hymnbook - previous American publications had contained only metrical psalms. Very few copies were printed and only two survive today, of which the only complete copy is in the Methodist Archives in Manchester.
 
 

JOHN WESLEY :

KEY DATES

1703 John Wesley born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, England
1709 Fire at Epworth Rectory - John Wesley rescued. See picture left
1714 Admitted to Charterhouse School, London
1720 Undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford
1725 Ordained deacon
1726 Elected Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford
1735 Missionary in Georgia, returning 1737
1738 Aldersgate experience: "I felt my heart strangely warmed."
1739 Commences outdoor preaching

From the 1730s until his death, it is calculated that John Wesley travelled some many thousands of miles around Britain, on horseback and by carriage; preached several times each day and wrote or edited some 400 publications. He left behind a movement of about 70,000 members.

1744 First Methodist Conference
1751 Marriage to Mrs Mary Vazeille (separated 1755)
1791 Died on 3 March at City Road, London.