wfn.org | At the Roots of Methodism . . . with John Singleton

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CONTACT: 	Tim Tanton
(10-71BP){137}
         	Nashville, Tenn. (615) 742-5473		  March 9, 1998

NOTE:  	This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton
for distribution by United Methodist News Service. A head-and-shoulders
photograph of Singleton and a feature photo of Wesley's House are
available with this story.

At the Roots of Methodism . . .  with John Singleton*

				A United Methodist News Service feature

	There is a desirable Georgian residence on London's City Road,
with vacant possession. But it's not for sale -- even though nearly
10,000 visitors from around the world view it each year. Its most famous
resident was John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, who spent the last
11 years and four months of his life there and died in the house in
March 1791.
	It was in 1779 that Wesley spent his first night in the new
house he had built to the front of his chapel on the busy City Road.
After his death, the chapel became known as Wesley's Chapel -- the
"mother church of World Methodism" and a focus for thousands of pilgrims
seeking out their Methodist roots.
	The house -- now a protected, grade one "listed" building -- was
built to John Wesley's specifications. But he toned down the splendor of
architect George Dance's original design because he preferred the house
to be, like his chapel, "perfectly neat, but not fine."
	Today, the house still contains much of Wesley's original
furniture and artifacts, including his personal library of some 400
books -- many with his own signature, notes and annotations -- his
traveling writing case, reading spectacles and "electrifying machine"
(he was an early advocate for the curative properties of electricity).
	The bureau in Wesley's study was the place where he wrote his
letters and worked on his books. Not only is it a beautiful piece of
furniture, complete with secret compartments, but it also played a part
in the demise of Wesley's marriage. For it was at this bureau that his
wife, Mary Vazeille, discovered and read some letters to his "Dear
Sisters," misunderstanding and misconstruing his often florid and
affectionate language.
	The long-case clock (or grandfather clock) so fascinated Wesley
as a child that he later inherited it. The clock has been keeping time
since 1693, and Wesley listened to the same steady tick and chimes that
we can hear today. If only the clock could tell its story now!
	Some idea of the regime that Wesley expected to find when he was
living at home -- and not traveling some of the 250,000 miles he
completed on horseback or by chaise during his lifetime -- can be found
in one of his journal entries in 1787:
	"I went down at half past five (in the morning), but found no
preacher in the chapel, though we had three or four in the house; so I
preached myself. Afterwards, inquiring why none of my family attended
the morning preaching, they said it was because they sat up too late. I
resolved to put a stop to this; and therefore ordered that (1) everyone
under my roof should go to bed at nine; and that (2) everyone might
attend morning preaching."
	Whether this regime remained quite so strict during his
prolonged absences from the house is a matter of speculation.
	For more than a century after Wesley's death, the house
continued to serve as a manse for the superintendent ministers of
Wesley's Chapel and their families. But as the number of people visiting
the chapel and the house increased, it gradually became impossible to
live in the house without taking on the role of a curator or guide.
Steps were therefore taken to create the first Methodist museum to meet
the rising demand of pilgrims.
	This sanctified change of role was crystallized in 1898, when
the house was dedicated as a museum during three days of celebration and
commemoration -- which also encompassed the anniversary of Wesley's
death. In the years that followed, World Methodism -- and particularly
American Methodists -- played a crucial role in helping preserve both
Wesley's Chapel and Wesley's House as a world heritage site.
	I was reminded of all this during recent celebrations at
Wesley's Chapel to mark the centenary of the house becoming a museum --
and not just any old museum, but an integral part of a living church
that has a local, national and international witness. 
	The curator of the house, Noorah Al-Gailani, says Wesley's
Chapel intends, with the help of God, to continue to preserve and
interpret the history of a Christian denomination through the story of
its founder.
	"John Wesley's House is not only an historic house, it is a
community house that has witnessed the story of Methodism evolve," she
says. "The history we present is a tool being used to shape our present
and future."
				# # #
*Singleton is news editor of the Methodist Recorder, the weekly
London-based newspaper of British Methodism, for almost 30 years. A lay
preacher, he is an active member of an inner-city Methodist church in a
multiracial East London neighborhood. He can be reached by e-mail at
editorial@methodistrecorder.co.uk

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