A History
the Methodist Church
Excerpts
from:
Methodist History",
1952
Social Conditions
in Eighteenth-Century England
Methodism arose as a revolt
against nearly every aspect of English life,
including religion and the Church.
British historians have described
the low state of morals, culture, and human relations,
and
the artist Hogarth lashed out
in numerous paintings
which give a terrible picture of English society.
One of a series
["Industry and Idleness"],
[...] shows the climax of idleness
as a condemned man and his coffin
are taken to the place of execution.
[In this picture]
Silas Todd,
a Methodist preacher,
reads the Scriptures
to the culprit.
Two hundred offenses
were punishable by death,
and a popular pastime
was that
of watching public hangings and whippings.
on "Be not righteous over-much!"
Although Christian piety prevailed
in many places,
religion shared
in the general degradation of the times
and was publicly ridiculed.
Clergymen confined in prisons
were allowed to marry couples,
and one such
performed 6,000 of these "ruinous marriages"
in one year.
Even the agnostic Voltaire
was shocked
at the morals of the clergy,
and
Montesquieu declared,
"There is
no religion
in England …
In France
I am thought to have
too little religion,
but
in England
to have too much."
[...]
as the most drunken nation in the world.
"Drunk for a penny;
dead drunk for two-pence;
clean straw for nothing",
was
a common sign in London.
Liquor
was deliberately made cheap
and
its use encouraged.
In 1740
there were
twice as many burials as baptisms,
and in 1750 the death rate
was one in twenty.
+
The new Epworth Rectory
was "haunted"
by a ghost.
The Wesleys
seemingly believed in the Poltergeist
and named him "Old Jeffrey".
[The lines above were selected from page 27.]
+
Writing in later years,
[John] Wesley indicated
that he did not grow in grace at the Charterhouse:
"What I now hoped to be saved by
was
(1) not being as bad as other people;
(2) having still a kindness for religion;
and
(3) reading the Bible,
going to Church,
and saying my prayers."
[The lines above were selected from page 29.]
+
John Wesley
entered
Christ Church College at Oxford
in 1720, remaining for five years.
Though he later wrote that at Oxford he
"had not so much as a notion of inward holiness"
and
"cannot well tell what I hoped to be saved by",
he became deeply interested in religion
in 1725
and
resolved to become a clergyman.
[The lines above were selected from page 30.]
+
The Holy Club at Oxford
In 1729, under the leadership of Charles Wesley,
a group was organized at Oxford
for Christian living and service,
and when John Wesley returned from Wroot
he became its leader.
Because of their systematic routine
in devotions and good works
the members in derision
were called
Bible Bigots,
Bible Moths,
the Holy Club,
the Godly Club,
and Methodists.
The last name,
which had been applied
to other religious enthusiasts,
stuck to
and
was appropriated by
the group,
and Wesley's later followers
became
"The People Called Methodists".
[The lines above were selected from page 33.]
+
The Mission to Georgia
On October 14, 1735,
both John and Charles Wesley sailed on the ship "Simmonds"
for General James Oglethorpe's colony in Georgia,
Charles as the General's secretary
and John as chaplain and missionary.
With them sailed
Benjamin Ingham of the Holy Club
and Charles Delamotte.
John Wesley
thus stated his reason
for the journey:
"My chief motive
is the hope
of saving my own soul.
I hope to learn the true sense
of the gospel of Christ
by preaching it to the heathen"
[…]
The Wesleys landed at Savannah,
a town of forty houses, on February 5, 1736.
John Wesley consulted August Spangenberg,
the Moravian pastor, about his work.
"Do you know Jesus Christ?"
inquired the Moravian.
"I know He is the Savior of the world",
replied Wesley.
"But do you know He has saved you?"
persisted Spangenberg.
"I do",
was the reply,
but
in his Journal
Wesley wrote,
"I fear
they
were vain words."
[The lines above were selected from page 37 - 39.]
+
John Wesley
desired to do missionary work
among the Indians,
and he had a long conference
with their chief, Tomo Chachi.
"They are
as little children",
he wrote,
"humble,
willing to learn, and do
the will of God".
He soon
changed his mind about them,
however,
and denounced them
as pagans and criminals,
for
he was unable to make any headway
in his efforts to evangelize them.
He concentrated on his work
as the spiritual overseer of the white colonists.
[The lines above were selected from page 41.]
+
In his Journal
written at Savannah,
[John] Wesley refers
to Miss Sophy Hopkey,
with whom
he had a love affair
which
led to his departure from Georgia.
Wesley was indicted
for excluding her
from the Holy Communion
after she married
another man.
Aldersgate
The Wesleyan Revival issued directly
from the notable religious experiences
of John and Charles Wesley
at Whitsuntide in 1738.
To the end of his life
John Wesley traced the genesis
of his experience, doctrines, and power
back to 1738,
Wesley's awakening
involved several steps:
1. Wesley returned from Georgia in deep spiritual dejection.
In his writings
he reproached himself over and over again
as a sinner, saying that he was
"carnal, sold under sin",
in a "vile, abject state of bondage to sin",
"altogether corrupt and abominable",
and "a child of wrath and an heir of hell".
2. On February 7, 1738,
he met a Moravian, Peter Bohler,
who told him that salvation
was by faith alone.
Wesley had sought salvation
by "works" also.
3. Wesley demanded proof of the doctrine
from scripture and living witnesses.
These were supplied,
and Wesley wrote,
"I was now clearly convinced of unbelief."
4. Wesley's first impulse
was to cease preaching.
"How can you
preach to others,
who have no faith
yourself?" he wrote.
The Moravian said,
"Preach faith till you have it;
then because you have it,
you will preach faith."
5. On March 6, 1738,
John Wesley began preaching
salvation by faith in Christ alone.
Great success attended his ministry,
and more than a quarter of a century later
he wrote,
"Then God
began to work by my ministry,
as he had never done before."
6. On April 21 Peter Bohler told Wesley
that saving faith
could be secured
by an instantaneous work of grace.
Wesley
"could not comprehend what he spoke of",
but again
the Moravian proved it
by scripture and living witnesses.
"Here ended my dispute",
wrote Wesley.
"I could only cry out,
'Lord, help thou my unbelief!' "
7. Charles Wesley
at first
strongly opposed
these doctrines
but on May 3
he had a conference
with Peter Bohler
and accepted them.
A few days later
he was sick
in the home
of one Mr. Bray,
"a poor mechanic,
who knows
nothing but Christ",
in Little Britain,
near Aldersgate Street,
London.
Here William Holland
read Luther's remarks
on
the second chapter of Galatians,
and the words,
"He loved me
and
gave himself for me",
went to Charles Wesley's heart.
On May 21
he "found a deeper rest for his soul",
and on May 23,
to use his own words,
"I waked under the protection of Christ
and gave myself up, soul and body, to Him".
He at once wrote a hymn,
probably,
"Where shall my wondering soul begin?"
8. In a religious meeting
at Aldersgate Street,
at 8:45 P.M., May 24, 1738,
while one was reading
Luther's preface
to Romans
and describing
salvation by faith,
John Wesley felt his heart
"strangely warmed".
This was
the famous
Aldersgate Awakening.
Wesley felt an assurance of salvation;
he began
to pray for his enemies,
and
he testified to those present
that he had received the experience.
9. John Wesley
went
"with a troop of friends"
to Charles Wesley's bedside
in the Bray home.
"I believe!"
cried John.
Then the company sang the hymn
which Charles
had written the day before.
Called
the "Birth Song of Methodism",
it remains in the hymnbook
of the British church
and is greatly treasured,
although
it no longer appears
in the American hymnal.
Wesley's experience at Aldersgate.
"In the evening I went
very unwillingly
to a society
in Aldersgate Street,
where one was reading
Luther's preface
to the Epistle to the Romans.
About a quarter before nine,
while he was describing
the change
which God works in the heart
through faith
in Christ,
I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt
I did trust in Christ,
Christ alone
for salvation:
and
an assurance was given me,
that he
had taken away my sins,
even mine,
and saved me
from the law of sin and death.
I began to pray
with all my might
for those who had
in a more especial manner
despitefully used me
and persecuted me.
I then testified openly
to all there
what I now
first felt in my heart."
-- John Wesley's
Journal,
May 24, 1738
+
The "Birth Song"
of
the Methodist Revival
written
by
Charles Wesley:
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
a brand plucked from eternal fire,
how shall I equal triumphs raise,
or sing my great Deliverer's praise?
O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
blest with this antepast of heaven?
And shall I slight my Father's love?
Or basely fear His gifts to own?
Unmindful of his favors prove?
Shall I, the hallowed cross to shun,
refuse His righteousness to impart,
by hiding it within my heart?
Outcasts of men, to you I call,
harlots, and publicans and thieves!
He spreads Hi arms to embrace you all;
sinners alone His grace receives:
no need of Him the righteous have;
He came the lost to seek and save.
Come, O my guilty brethren, come,
groaning beneath your load of sin!
His bleeding heart shall make you room,
His open side shall take you in;
He calls you now, invites you home:
come, O my guilty brethren, come!
[The lines above were selected from pages 45 to 48.]
+
Field Preaching
When John Wesley,
prior to
his Aldersgate experience,
began preaching
the doctrines
of justification by faith alone,
instantaneous conversion,
and
the witness of the Spirit,
one by one
the churches
were closed against him.
"Sir,
you must preach here
no more",
[they told him.]
Anglicanism
sought to silence him,
but in reality
it made
the Methodist revival possible,
for
it eventually forced Wesley
to the fields,
where the multitudes
could be reached,
and
set the evangelical message blazing
all over England.
[The lines above were selected from page 52.]
+
Persecution
Wesley
was often assaulted and persecuted,
and frequently
the clergy and magistrates
instigated and participated
in the attacks.
In 1741
he was stoned in London,
and
two years later
there was a riot at Wednesbury.
Struck in the face with a missile,
he wiped away the blood
and continued preaching,
but carried the scar to his grave.
[The lines above were selected from page 63.]
+
There were assaults upon Wesley
and the Methodists in Ireland,
where drums, bells, and horns
were used
to drown out their services,
and cattle
were turned into their open-air meetings.
[The lines above were selected from page 65.]
+
Beginning of Lay Preaching
Thomas Maxfield,
the first Methodist
lay preacher,
began preaching
at the Foundry in London
late in 1740 or early in 1741
while [John] Wesley was absent
at Bristol.
Wesley was outraged
and rushed to London
for the purpose
of silencing him.
In
a famous interview
Susanna Wesley
[Wesley's mother]
admonished her son
to hear the young man
and expressed the opinion
that he was
as truly
called of God to preach
as was
Wesley himself.
On hearing Maxfield,
Wesley was convinced
and withdrew his objections.
Thus began
lay preaching
as
an accepted Methodist policy.
[The lines above were selected from page 74.]
+
The Methodist Society
To counteract
the spiritual decay of the times,
"Religious Societies"
sprang up in many places,
often
under Moravian auspices.
It was
in such a society
that
John Wesley was converted
at Aldersgate.
John Wesley
adopted the idea,
and
his congregations
or groups of members
became Societies.
The first
was organized in Fetter Lane
two or three weeks before
the Wesleys
experienced
their spiritual awakening in 1738.
[The lines above were selected from page 77.]
+
Wesley's Last Days
The last letter written
by John Wesley
was addressed
to William Wilberforce,
the great reformer
who
was waging a fight
against the slave trade.
Wesley
denounced the traffic
as
"the sum of all villanies"
and urged Wilberforce
to continue his campaign
against it.
[The lines above were selected from page 103.]
+
John Wesley
had two love affairs,
the first
with Sophy Hopkey in Georgia
and
the second
with Grace Murray.
In each case
the romance
was broken up.
In 1751
Wesley married
Mrs. Vazielle.
The union
was unhappy,
owing to
the lady's jealousy.
In 1771
Wesley wrote
in in his Journal:
"I was informed
that
my wife
has left me.
I did not send her away.
I shall not bring her back."
On October 12, 1781,
he wrote,
"I was informed
that my wife
died on Monday.
This evening
she was buried,
though
I was not informed of it
till a day or two after."
[The lines above were selected from page 117.]
+
Africa
British Methodism
entered Sierra Leone
as early as 1795
and
in later years
spread to
South Africa,
Gambia,
the Gold Coast,
the Ivory Coast,
Nigeria,
Dahomey
and
Togoland,
Kenya,
Fernando Po,
and
Rhodesia.
[The lines above were selected from page 131.]
+
Texas
Methodist preachers
were early in Texas,
but
the first Methodist Society
was formed
by Henry Stephenson in 1833.
Three missionaries
were sent in 1837:
Martin Ruter,
Littleton Fowler,
and Robert Alexander.
Fowler
became superintendent in 1838,
and
in 1842 he became financial agent
and
one of the founders
of Rutersville College,
now Southwestern University.
[The lines above were selected from page 218.]
+
American Indians
Shortly after
the Civil War,
Reverend J. J. Methvin
began
his long and notable
missionary career
among the Kiowas
and other "wild tribes"
or "blanket Indians".
Among his converts were
the Custer scouts,
Kicking Bird,
Hunting Horse,
and Andele.
The last
was stolen in babyhood
by raiding Indians
and reared
as a Kiowa.
Recognized
in young manhood
and
restored to his family,
he could not endure
the white man's life,
and
he returned to
the Kiowas.
He later became
a Methodist preacher
under the name
of Andres Martinez.
[The lines above were selected from page 237.]
+
American Negro Methodism
There are
17,000 Negro Methodist
churches
and
2,000,000 members
in the United States
[in 1952].
The Central Jurisdiction
of The Methodist Church
has around
3,000 churches
and
340,000 members.
All the other
Negro Methodists
are in nine
independent
Negro denominations.
These are:
African Methodist Episcopal Church --- 1,065,000 members
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church --- 525,000 members
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church --- 385,000 members
African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church --- 2,500 members
Colored Methodist Protestant Church --- 200 members
Independent African Methodist Episcopal Church --- 1,500 members
Reformed Zion Union Apostolic Church --- 20,000 members
Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church --- 1,500 members
Union American Methodist Episcopal Church --- 10,000 members
Negro members
withdrew
from
a Methodist church in Philadelphia,
and
in 1799 Bishop Asbury
ordained
Richard Allen to serve them.
In 1816
Allen led in the formation
of the independent
African Methodist Episcopal Church
and
became its first bishop.
The
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church,
formed in 1800,
grew out of
Zion Church in New York.
[The lines above were selected from page 243.]
+
American Methodist Missions
American Methodism
is represented
in fifty foreign lands [in 1952],
where
it has around 5,000 churches
and
nearly 1,000,000 members,
with
many notable institutions.
As in the case
of British Methodism,
which
was carried abroad
by emigrants from England,
American Methodist missions
resulted from
the evangelistic passion
of converts
and
not from
deliberate administrative planning.
The beginnings
constitute a romantic story
of
the interrelations of evangelism
at home
and
the spread of the gospel
"unto
the outermost parts of the world".
A converted
drunk Negro,
John Stewart,
preached
to the Indians in Ohio,
and
this led to the organization
of the Methodist Missionary Society
and
the launching of missions
in many lands.
[The lines above were selected from page 246.]
+
John Stewart
and
the Organization
of the Missionary Society
In 1815
John Stewart, a Negro,
was converted
while drunk
and started preaching
to
the Wyandot Indians
in Ohio.
[The lines above were selected from page 247.]
+
In 1840
a schism led by
Orange Scott,
Jotham Horton,
L. R. Sunderland,
L. C. Matlack,
and others
drew twenty-two preachers
and 6,000 members
out of
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The dissidents
opposed slaveholding
in a paper called
the True Wesleyan.
They formed
the Wesleyan Methodist Connection,
which still survives.
In 1860
a group of holiness advocates,
in protest against
what they regarded as
a decline in piety
and
the growth of worldly practices
in the church,
withdrew
and formed
the present
Free Methodist Church.
[The lines above were selected from page 308.]
+
The Great Division
The
anti-slavery controversy
became the occasion,
if not the cause,
of the division
of American Methodism
by
the General Conference of 1844
[held in
Green Street Methodist Church,
New York].
Bishop Andrew,
of Georgia,
had inherited some slaves,
and
under the laws of Georgia
he could not free them,
though
he offered to do so.
The law of the church
forbade the holding of slaves
except in states
which did not permit them
to be liberated.
The General Conference
in 1844
adopted a resolution
requesting Bishop Andrew
to cease exercising
his episcopal functions
so long as
"the impedient remains."
The Southern Delegates
took the ground
that
Bishop Andrew
had been deposed
without a trial
and
without violating
any law of the church;
the action made impossible
Methodist work in the South
and among the slaves;
and
the General Conference
passed
on the constitutionality
of its own action.
The Northern delegates
contended
that
to permit a slaveholder
to exercise the functions
of a bishop
would be
an endorsement of slavery.
Sentiment in many Northern conferences
made it impossible
for a slaveholding bishop to preside.
The Plan of Separation
The General Conference
adopted the famous
Plan of Separation.
It provided that:
"All
the societies, stations, and Conferences
adhering to
the Church in the South,
by
a vote of the majority
of said
societies, stations, and Conferences,
shall remain
under the unmolested pastoral care
of the Southern Church;
and
the ministers
of
the Methodist Episcopal Church
shall in no wise attempt …
to exercise
any pastoral oversight
therein;
it being understood
that
the ministry of the South
reciprocally observe
the same rule
in relation to
stations, societies, and Conferences
adhering
by vote of a majority,
to
the Methodist Episcopal Church;
provided also,
that this rule shall apply
only
to societies, stations, and Conferences
bordering on
the line of division,
and
not to
interior charges,
which shall
in all cases
be left to the care
of that church
within whose territory
they are situated."
The plan
also provided for
the equitable division
of
Book Concern property
and
all superannuate
and
other general funds.
Acting under
the Plan of Separation,
the Southern Conferences
elected delegates
to a Convention,
which met in
Fourth Street Church
[in Louisville, Kentucky]
and
decided to organize
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The first General Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
met
in Petersburg, Virginia, in May, 1846.
Its business sessions
were held
in a Negro church,
for the Union Street Church
was turned over to its Negro members
in 1842.
[The new church
retained the same law
on slavery
which existed in
the Methodist Episcopal Church.]
[…]
After 1844
a change of sentiment
occurred in the North.
The Northern Annual Conferences
voted against changing
the Restrictive Rule
to permit the division of
the Book Concern
and funds
as provided
in the Plan of Separation.
The Plan of Separation
was,
however, upheld
by
the United States Supreme Court.
In 1876
the Cape May Commission
appointed by
the two churches
unanimously declared
that
both were legitimate branches
of Episcopal Methodism
[organized in 1784].
Unification
Efforts
to reunite the branches
of American Methodists
were
crowned with success
in 1939,
when
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
and
the Methodist Protestant Church
united to form
The Methodist Church,
the largest Protestant body
in the United States [as of 1952].
[The lines above were selected from pages 311 to 321.]
the Methodist Church
from:
"An Album
ofMethodist History",
by
Elmer T. Clark,Abingdon-Cokesbury Press,
New York,1952
Social Conditions
in Eighteenth-Century England
Methodism arose as a revolt
against nearly every aspect of English life,
including religion and the Church.
British historians have described
the low state of morals, culture, and human relations,
and
the artist Hogarth lashed out
in numerous paintings
which give a terrible picture of English society.
One of a series
["Industry and Idleness"],
[...] shows the climax of idleness
as a condemned man and his coffin
are taken to the place of execution.
[In this picture]
Silas Todd,
a Methodist preacher,
reads the Scriptures
to the culprit.
Two hundred offenses
were punishable by death,
and a popular pastime
was that
of watching public hangings and whippings.
Deism existed in the Church,
and sermons were preachedon "Be not righteous over-much!"
Although Christian piety prevailed
in many places,
religion shared
in the general degradation of the times
and was publicly ridiculed.
Clergymen confined in prisons
were allowed to marry couples,
and one such
performed 6,000 of these "ruinous marriages"
in one year.
Even the agnostic Voltaire
was shocked
at the morals of the clergy,
and
Montesquieu declared,
"There is
no religion
in England …
If one speaks of religion,
everybody begins to laugh …I am thought to have
too little religion,
but
in England
to have too much."
[...]
Every sixth house in London was a saloon,
and England qualifiedas the most drunken nation in the world.
"Drunk for a penny;
dead drunk for two-pence;
clean straw for nothing",
was
a common sign in London.
Liquor
was deliberately made cheap
and
its use encouraged.
In 1740
there were
twice as many burials as baptisms,
and in 1750 the death rate
was one in twenty.
[The lines above were selected from pages 15 to 18.]
was "haunted"
by a ghost.
seemingly believed in the Poltergeist
and named him "Old Jeffrey".
[The lines above were selected from page 27.]
+
Writing in later years,
[John] Wesley indicated
that he did not grow in grace at the Charterhouse:
"What I now hoped to be saved by
was
(1) not being as bad as other people;
(2) having still a kindness for religion;
and
(3) reading the Bible,
going to Church,
and saying my prayers."
[The lines above were selected from page 29.]
entered
Christ Church College at Oxford
in 1720, remaining for five years.
Though he later wrote that at Oxford he
"had not so much as a notion of inward holiness"
and
"cannot well tell what I hoped to be saved by",
he became deeply interested in religion
in 1725
and
resolved to become a clergyman.
[The lines above were selected from page 30.]
+
The Holy Club at Oxford
In 1729, under the leadership of Charles Wesley,
a group was organized at Oxford
for Christian living and service,
and when John Wesley returned from Wroot
he became its leader.
Because of their systematic routine
in devotions and good works
the members in derision
were called
Bible Bigots,
Bible Moths,
the Holy Club,
the Godly Club,
and Methodists.
The last name,
which had been applied
to other religious enthusiasts,
stuck to
and
was appropriated by
the group,
and Wesley's later followers
became
"The People Called Methodists".
[The lines above were selected from page 33.]
+
The Mission to Georgia
On October 14, 1735,
both John and Charles Wesley sailed on the ship "Simmonds"
for General James Oglethorpe's colony in Georgia,
Charles as the General's secretary
and John as chaplain and missionary.
With them sailed
Benjamin Ingham of the Holy Club
and Charles Delamotte.
John Wesley
thus stated his reason
for the journey:
"My chief motive
is the hope
of saving my own soul.
I hope to learn the true sense
of the gospel of Christ
by preaching it to the heathen"
[…]
The Wesleys landed at Savannah,
a town of forty houses, on February 5, 1736.
John Wesley consulted August Spangenberg,
the Moravian pastor, about his work.
"Do you know Jesus Christ?"
inquired the Moravian.
"I know He is the Savior of the world",
replied Wesley.
"But do you know He has saved you?"
persisted Spangenberg.
"I do",
was the reply,
but
in his Journal
Wesley wrote,
"I fear
they
were vain words."
[The lines above were selected from page 37 - 39.]
+
John Wesley
desired to do missionary work
among the Indians,
and he had a long conference
with their chief, Tomo Chachi.
"They are
as little children",
he wrote,
"humble,
willing to learn, and do
the will of God".
He soon
changed his mind about them,
however,
and denounced them
as pagans and criminals,
for
he was unable to make any headway
in his efforts to evangelize them.
He concentrated on his work
as the spiritual overseer of the white colonists.
[The lines above were selected from page 41.]
+
In his Journal
written at Savannah,
[John] Wesley refers
to Miss Sophy Hopkey,
with whom
he had a love affair
which
led to his departure from Georgia.
Wesley was indicted
for excluding her
from the Holy Communion
after she married
another man.
Aldersgate
The Wesleyan Revival issued directly
from the notable religious experiences
of John and Charles Wesley
at Whitsuntide in 1738.
To the end of his life
John Wesley traced the genesis
of his experience, doctrines, and power
back to 1738,
Wesley's awakening
involved several steps:
1. Wesley returned from Georgia in deep spiritual dejection.
In his writings
he reproached himself over and over again
as a sinner, saying that he was
"carnal, sold under sin",
in a "vile, abject state of bondage to sin",
"altogether corrupt and abominable",
and "a child of wrath and an heir of hell".
2. On February 7, 1738,
he met a Moravian, Peter Bohler,
who told him that salvation
was by faith alone.
Wesley had sought salvation
by "works" also.
3. Wesley demanded proof of the doctrine
from scripture and living witnesses.
These were supplied,
and Wesley wrote,
"I was now clearly convinced of unbelief."
4. Wesley's first impulse
was to cease preaching.
"How can you
preach to others,
who have no faith
yourself?" he wrote.
The Moravian said,
"Preach faith till you have it;
then because you have it,
you will preach faith."
5. On March 6, 1738,
John Wesley began preaching
salvation by faith in Christ alone.
Great success attended his ministry,
and more than a quarter of a century later
he wrote,
"Then God
began to work by my ministry,
as he had never done before."
6. On April 21 Peter Bohler told Wesley
that saving faith
could be secured
by an instantaneous work of grace.
Wesley
"could not comprehend what he spoke of",
but again
the Moravian proved it
by scripture and living witnesses.
"Here ended my dispute",
wrote Wesley.
"I could only cry out,
'Lord, help thou my unbelief!' "
7. Charles Wesley
at first
strongly opposed
these doctrines
but on May 3
he had a conference
with Peter Bohler
and accepted them.
A few days later
he was sick
in the home
of one Mr. Bray,
"a poor mechanic,
who knows
nothing but Christ",
in Little Britain,
near Aldersgate Street,
London.
Here William Holland
read Luther's remarks
on
the second chapter of Galatians,
and the words,
"He loved me
and
gave himself for me",
went to Charles Wesley's heart.
On May 21
he "found a deeper rest for his soul",
and on May 23,
to use his own words,
"I waked under the protection of Christ
and gave myself up, soul and body, to Him".
He at once wrote a hymn,
probably,
"Where shall my wondering soul begin?"
8. In a religious meeting
at Aldersgate Street,
at 8:45 P.M., May 24, 1738,
while one was reading
Luther's preface
to Romans
and describing
salvation by faith,
John Wesley felt his heart
"strangely warmed".
This was
the famous
Aldersgate Awakening.
Wesley felt an assurance of salvation;
he began
to pray for his enemies,
and
he testified to those present
that he had received the experience.
9. John Wesley
went
"with a troop of friends"
to Charles Wesley's bedside
in the Bray home.
"I believe!"
cried John.
Then the company sang the hymn
which Charles
had written the day before.
Called
the "Birth Song of Methodism",
it remains in the hymnbook
of the British church
and is greatly treasured,
although
it no longer appears
in the American hymnal.
Wesley's experience at Aldersgate.
"In the evening I went
very unwillingly
to a society
in Aldersgate Street,
where one was reading
Luther's preface
to the Epistle to the Romans.
About a quarter before nine,
while he was describing
the change
which God works in the heart
through faith
in Christ,
I felt my heart strangely warmed.
I felt
I did trust in Christ,
Christ alone
for salvation:
and
an assurance was given me,
that he
had taken away my sins,
even mine,
and saved me
from the law of sin and death.
I began to pray
with all my might
for those who had
in a more especial manner
despitefully used me
and persecuted me.
I then testified openly
to all there
what I now
first felt in my heart."
-- John Wesley's
Journal,
May 24, 1738
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The "Birth Song"
of
the Methodist Revival
written
by
Charles Wesley:
Where shall my wondering soul begin?
How shall I all to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin,
a brand plucked from eternal fire,
how shall I equal triumphs raise,
or sing my great Deliverer's praise?
O how shall I the goodness tell,
Father, which Thou to me hast showed?
That I, a child of wrath and hell,
I should be called a child of God,
should know, should feel my sins forgiven,
blest with this antepast of heaven?
And shall I slight my Father's love?
Or basely fear His gifts to own?
Unmindful of his favors prove?
Shall I, the hallowed cross to shun,
refuse His righteousness to impart,
by hiding it within my heart?
Outcasts of men, to you I call,
harlots, and publicans and thieves!
He spreads Hi arms to embrace you all;
sinners alone His grace receives:
no need of Him the righteous have;
He came the lost to seek and save.
Come, O my guilty brethren, come,
groaning beneath your load of sin!
His bleeding heart shall make you room,
His open side shall take you in;
He calls you now, invites you home:
come, O my guilty brethren, come!
[The lines above were selected from pages 45 to 48.]
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Field Preaching
When John Wesley,
prior to
his Aldersgate experience,
began preaching
the doctrines
of justification by faith alone,
instantaneous conversion,
and
the witness of the Spirit,
one by one
the churches
were closed against him.
"Sir,
you must preach here
no more",
[they told him.]
Anglicanism
sought to silence him,
but in reality
it made
the Methodist revival possible,
for
it eventually forced Wesley
to the fields,
where the multitudes
could be reached,
and
set the evangelical message blazing
all over England.
[The lines above were selected from page 52.]
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Persecution
Wesley
was often assaulted and persecuted,
and frequently
the clergy and magistrates
instigated and participated
in the attacks.
In 1741
he was stoned in London,
and
two years later
there was a riot at Wednesbury.
Struck in the face with a missile,
he wiped away the blood
and continued preaching,
but carried the scar to his grave.
[The lines above were selected from page 63.]
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There were assaults upon Wesley
and the Methodists in Ireland,
where drums, bells, and horns
were used
to drown out their services,
and cattle
were turned into their open-air meetings.
[The lines above were selected from page 65.]
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Beginning of Lay Preaching
Thomas Maxfield,
the first Methodist
lay preacher,
began preaching
at the Foundry in London
late in 1740 or early in 1741
while [John] Wesley was absent
at Bristol.
Wesley was outraged
and rushed to London
for the purpose
of silencing him.
In
a famous interview
Susanna Wesley
[Wesley's mother]
admonished her son
to hear the young man
and expressed the opinion
that he was
as truly
called of God to preach
as was
Wesley himself.
On hearing Maxfield,
Wesley was convinced
and withdrew his objections.
Thus began
lay preaching
as
an accepted Methodist policy.
[The lines above were selected from page 74.]
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The Methodist Society
To counteract
the spiritual decay of the times,
"Religious Societies"
sprang up in many places,
often
under Moravian auspices.
It was
in such a society
that
John Wesley was converted
at Aldersgate.
John Wesley
adopted the idea,
and
his congregations
or groups of members
became Societies.
The first
was organized in Fetter Lane
two or three weeks before
the Wesleys
experienced
their spiritual awakening in 1738.
[The lines above were selected from page 77.]
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Wesley's Last Days
The last letter written
by John Wesley
was addressed
to William Wilberforce,
the great reformer
who
was waging a fight
against the slave trade.
Wesley
denounced the traffic
as
"the sum of all villanies"
and urged Wilberforce
to continue his campaign
against it.
[The lines above were selected from page 103.]
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John Wesley
had two love affairs,
the first
with Sophy Hopkey in Georgia
and
the second
with Grace Murray.
In each case
the romance
was broken up.
In 1751
Wesley married
Mrs. Vazielle.
The union
was unhappy,
owing to
the lady's jealousy.
In 1771
Wesley wrote
in in his Journal:
"I was informed
that
my wife
has left me.
I did not send her away.
I shall not bring her back."
On October 12, 1781,
he wrote,
"I was informed
that my wife
died on Monday.
This evening
she was buried,
though
I was not informed of it
till a day or two after."
[The lines above were selected from page 117.]
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Africa
British Methodism
entered Sierra Leone
as early as 1795
and
in later years
spread to
South Africa,
Gambia,
the Gold Coast,
the Ivory Coast,
Nigeria,
Dahomey
and
Togoland,
Kenya,
Fernando Po,
and
Rhodesia.
[The lines above were selected from page 131.]
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Texas
Methodist preachers
were early in Texas,
but
the first Methodist Society
was formed
by Henry Stephenson in 1833.
Three missionaries
were sent in 1837:
Martin Ruter,
Littleton Fowler,
and Robert Alexander.
Fowler
became superintendent in 1838,
and
in 1842 he became financial agent
and
one of the founders
of Rutersville College,
now Southwestern University.
[The lines above were selected from page 218.]
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American Indians
Shortly after
the Civil War,
Reverend J. J. Methvin
began
his long and notable
missionary career
among the Kiowas
and other "wild tribes"
or "blanket Indians".
Among his converts were
the Custer scouts,
Kicking Bird,
Hunting Horse,
and Andele.
The last
was stolen in babyhood
by raiding Indians
and reared
as a Kiowa.
Recognized
in young manhood
and
restored to his family,
he could not endure
the white man's life,
and
he returned to
the Kiowas.
He later became
a Methodist preacher
under the name
of Andres Martinez.
[The lines above were selected from page 237.]
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American Negro Methodism
There are
17,000 Negro Methodist
churches
and
2,000,000 members
in the United States
[in 1952].
The Central Jurisdiction
of The Methodist Church
has around
3,000 churches
and
340,000 members.
All the other
Negro Methodists
are in nine
independent
Negro denominations.
These are:
African Methodist Episcopal Church --- 1,065,000 members
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church --- 525,000 members
Colored Methodist Episcopal Church --- 385,000 members
African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church --- 2,500 members
Colored Methodist Protestant Church --- 200 members
Independent African Methodist Episcopal Church --- 1,500 members
Reformed Zion Union Apostolic Church --- 20,000 members
Reformed Methodist Union Episcopal Church --- 1,500 members
Union American Methodist Episcopal Church --- 10,000 members
Negro members
withdrew
from
a Methodist church in Philadelphia,
and
in 1799 Bishop Asbury
ordained
Richard Allen to serve them.
In 1816
Allen led in the formation
of the independent
African Methodist Episcopal Church
and
became its first bishop.
The
African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church,
formed in 1800,
grew out of
Zion Church in New York.
[The lines above were selected from page 243.]
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American Methodist Missions
American Methodism
is represented
in fifty foreign lands [in 1952],
where
it has around 5,000 churches
and
nearly 1,000,000 members,
with
many notable institutions.
As in the case
of British Methodism,
which
was carried abroad
by emigrants from England,
American Methodist missions
resulted from
the evangelistic passion
of converts
and
not from
deliberate administrative planning.
The beginnings
constitute a romantic story
of
the interrelations of evangelism
at home
and
the spread of the gospel
"unto
the outermost parts of the world".
A converted
drunk Negro,
John Stewart,
preached
to the Indians in Ohio,
and
this led to the organization
of the Methodist Missionary Society
and
the launching of missions
in many lands.
[The lines above were selected from page 246.]
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John Stewart
and
the Organization
of the Missionary Society
In 1815
John Stewart, a Negro,
was converted
while drunk
and started preaching
to
the Wyandot Indians
in Ohio.
[The lines above were selected from page 247.]
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In 1840
a schism led by
Orange Scott,
Jotham Horton,
L. R. Sunderland,
L. C. Matlack,
and others
drew twenty-two preachers
and 6,000 members
out of
the Methodist Episcopal Church.
The dissidents
opposed slaveholding
in a paper called
the True Wesleyan.
They formed
the Wesleyan Methodist Connection,
which still survives.
In 1860
a group of holiness advocates,
in protest against
what they regarded as
a decline in piety
and
the growth of worldly practices
in the church,
withdrew
and formed
the present
Free Methodist Church.
[The lines above were selected from page 308.]
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The Great Division
The
anti-slavery controversy
became the occasion,
if not the cause,
of the division
of American Methodism
by
the General Conference of 1844
[held in
Green Street Methodist Church,
New York].
Bishop Andrew,
of Georgia,
had inherited some slaves,
and
under the laws of Georgia
he could not free them,
though
he offered to do so.
The law of the church
forbade the holding of slaves
except in states
which did not permit them
to be liberated.
The General Conference
in 1844
adopted a resolution
requesting Bishop Andrew
to cease exercising
his episcopal functions
so long as
"the impedient remains."
The Southern Delegates
took the ground
that
Bishop Andrew
had been deposed
without a trial
and
without violating
any law of the church;
the action made impossible
Methodist work in the South
and among the slaves;
and
the General Conference
passed
on the constitutionality
of its own action.
The Northern delegates
contended
that
to permit a slaveholder
to exercise the functions
of a bishop
would be
an endorsement of slavery.
Sentiment in many Northern conferences
made it impossible
for a slaveholding bishop to preside.
The Plan of Separation
The General Conference
adopted the famous
Plan of Separation.
It provided that:
"All
the societies, stations, and Conferences
adhering to
the Church in the South,
by
a vote of the majority
of said
societies, stations, and Conferences,
shall remain
under the unmolested pastoral care
of the Southern Church;
and
the ministers
of
the Methodist Episcopal Church
shall in no wise attempt …
to exercise
any pastoral oversight
therein;
it being understood
that
the ministry of the South
reciprocally observe
the same rule
in relation to
stations, societies, and Conferences
adhering
by vote of a majority,
to
the Methodist Episcopal Church;
provided also,
that this rule shall apply
only
to societies, stations, and Conferences
bordering on
the line of division,
and
not to
interior charges,
which shall
in all cases
be left to the care
of that church
within whose territory
they are situated."
The plan
also provided for
the equitable division
of
Book Concern property
and
all superannuate
and
other general funds.
Acting under
the Plan of Separation,
the Southern Conferences
elected delegates
to a Convention,
which met in
Fourth Street Church
[in Louisville, Kentucky]
and
decided to organize
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Methodist Episcopal Church, South
The first General Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
met
in Petersburg, Virginia, in May, 1846.
were held
in a Negro church,
for the Union Street Church
was turned over to its Negro members
in 1842.
[The new church
retained the same law
on slavery
which existed in
the Methodist Episcopal Church.]
[…]
After 1844
a change of sentiment
occurred in the North.
voted against changing
the Restrictive Rule
to permit the division of
the Book Concern
and funds
as provided
in the Plan of Separation.
The Plan of Separation
was,
however, upheld
by
the United States Supreme Court.
In 1876
the Cape May Commission
appointed by
the two churches
unanimously declared
that
both were legitimate branches
of Episcopal Methodism
[organized in 1784].
Unification
Efforts
to reunite the branches
of American Methodists
were
crowned with success
in 1939,
when
the Methodist Episcopal Church, South,
and
the Methodist Protestant Church
united to form
The Methodist Church,
the largest Protestant body
in the United States [as of 1952].
[The lines above were selected from pages 311 to 321.]
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