wfn.org | At the roots of Methodism: Wesley intensely interested in social

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Dec. 14, 1998	Contact: Thomas S. McAnally((615)742-5470(Nashville,
Tenn.    {734}

NOTE:  This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton
prepared especially for distribution by United Methodist News Service.
A photograph is available with this column. 

By John Singleton*

Our strong tradition of social witness in Methodism, as rooted in the
Gospel, was upheld by John Wesley himself, who was intensely interested
in social questions. 

 Amongst his prolific output of writing - much of it penned during his
thousands of miles of travels each year - were pamphlets advocating
quite drastic reforms for dealing with some of the social ills of his
day.

In his "Thoughts on the Present Scarcity of Provisions" for example,
published in 1773, he vividly described the misery of the mass of
ordinary people and condemned the waste and luxury which he believed
were among the fundamental causes of scarcity. Given the opportunity,
Wesley would have prohibited all distilling of liquor, repressed luxury
by law, raised taxation on the rich and abolished all "useless
pensions".

In his pamphlet of 1776 on "The Unhappy Contest between us and our
American Brethren", he condemned the wickedness and insanity of deciding
international questions by war.

And on the subject of  acquiring riches through "unhealthy" occupations
such as gaming, dishonesty, overcharging and unfair competition, the
founder of Methodism declared: "None can gain by swallowing up his
neighbor's substance without gaining the damnation of hell."

Wesley anticipated most of the forms of social work later carried on in
the town and city missions of Methodism. Labor homes, schemes of work
for the unemployed, prison visiting, poor man's loan offices and banks,
medical dispensaries and schools were included in his schemes. Stations
for the use of the newly discovered electrical apparatus - which a
fascinated Wesley believed was beneficial to people's health - were
included in his schemes (but never caught on!).

The story of his personal charity would be a complete thesis in itself.
We are told that Wesley distributed the equivalent of more than $50,000
to people in need during his lifetime, most of it derived from the
profits on his books.

He practiced all he preached in his sermon on "The Use of Money" - the
best summary of his Christian economics. One commentator has said that
if he was not a "theoretical socialist", he was a "self-denying,
practical philanthropist" who gave a new and abiding impulse to social
reform. According to the "New History of Methodism", published in 1909,
there might have been a reflection of "primitive Christian communism" in
his financial arrangements for his preachers and in his view of wealth.
No later Christian socialist ever illustrated the principle of having
"all things in common" with his people in a more practical way than
Wesley himself, it
said.

Many people believe that the abolition of slavery was hastened by the
Methodist revival. Certainly the doctrine of salvation and the doctrine
of the equality of all people before the Deity were emphasized by
Wesley, who was clear and forthright in his opposition to "that
execrable sum of all villainies".  He co-operated with the national
abolition committee in England and one of his last letters was one of
support to Wilberforce, the great campaigner against slavery.

Wesley's hands-on enthusiasm for popular education made him a pioneer
publisher of cheap literature. He filled his preacher's saddle bags with
cheap books for them to distribute. "Having a desire to furnish poor
people with cheaper, shorter and plainer books than any I have seen, I
wrote many small tracts, generally a penny a piece and afterwards
several larger," he wrote in his Journal.

Wesley's more than 400 publications constituted a working library for
his schools, his preachers and growing  congregations.  Then there was
the Journal itself, published in 21 parts from 1739 to 1791 and
described by one commentator as "the most amazing record of human
exertion ever penned by man".  But he had no desire for literary
distinction;  preferring instead - in both speech and writing - that the
ordinary  people of his day should be able to understand him.
#  #  #
* Singleton is news editor of the weekly Methodist Recorder in London,
England. He can be contacted by e-mail on
<editorial@methodistrecorder.co.uk>

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
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