wfn.org | At the Roots of Methodism: Wesley remained active to the end

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March 12, 2002   News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71BP{100}

NOTE: This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton
prepared especially for distribution by United Methodist News Service. An
artist's rendering of John Wesley is available.

A UMNS Feature
By John Singleton*

As life spans lengthen in the developed countries, the contribution of
elders to church and society is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the
21st century. In fact, compared to the lives of ordinary people in the times
of John and Charles Wesley, average life expectancy in Britain and America
today has almost doubled. Sadly, this is not the case in much of the
developing world, where it remains appallingly and shamefully low.

By the time he died in March 1792 at the age of 88, John Wesley had lived a
long and eventful life. His attitude toward encroaching old age was to
ignore it for as long as possible and always to keep his mind active. And it
could be said that, as he grew older, Wesley's life was the very antithesis
of ageism (discrimination on grounds of age). 

As an octogenarian, Wesley seems to have spent his last years very much in a
series of triumphal tours. Commonly, as the veteran evangelist passed
through towns and villages, the streets would be lined with excited crowds. 

While in his 80s, he still rose regularly at 4 a.m. and generally preached
at 5 a.m. During his lifetime, Wesley was estimated to have preached more
than 45,000 sermons and to have traveled (mostly on horseback) a distance
equivalent to nine times round the world. He wrote 233 books and pamphlets
and helped with the writing of up to 100 more. All of this must have
stimulated his mind, to say the least.

"It is true, I am not so agile as I was in times past," Wesley reflected at
the age of 85. "I do not run or walk so fast as I did; my sight is a little
decayed. ... I find likewise some decay in my memory with regard to names
and things lately past; but not at all with regard to what I have read or
heard 20, 40 or 60 years ago. Neither do I find any decay in my hearing,
smell, taste or appetite ... nor do I feel any such thing as weariness,
either in traveling or preaching. And I am not conscious of any decay in
writing sermons; which I do as readily, and I believe as correctly, as
ever." 

The fact that Wesley's famous letter of support to the great anti-slavery
campaigner, William Wilberforce, was written at the age of 88, in the last
week of his life, exemplifies his clarity of mind to the last. 

If the face of the younger Wesley, as depicted in portraits, was rather wane
and ascetic, then the face of the very old Wesley was said by one historian
to be "mellow, gracious and beatific." His wavy, white and silken locks of
hair, expansive brow, aquiline nose and firm jaw, together with "his clear,
ruddy complexion, his penetrating, kindly eyes and his radiant, permeating
cheerfulness" all combined to give him the appearance of an old, saintly
man. It was while in his 80s that Wesley once walked the streets of London
for several days, collecting money for the poor.

By this time, the fury of the anti-Wesley mobs was no more. Indeed, many who
once had cursed him were now praying for him. And not a few establishment
clergymen who had long thundered against him from their pulpits were
imploring him to preach from those same pulpits. Clergymen turned out
everywhere to hear him preach, and even Church of England bishops were said
to be in Wesley's open-air congregations at this time. The tide had indeed
turned.

It is interesting that, even in death, Wesley's conviction and faith shone
through. His funeral instructions included the request that his body be
buried in nothing more costly than wool. His last will and testament
stipulated that whatever remained in his bureau or pockets should be divided
equally among four poor itinerants, whom he named. To each of the traveling
preachers within the connection, he bequeathed copies of the eight volumes
of his sermons. And ordering that neither hearse nor coach take part in his
funeral, Wesley requested that six poor men, in need of employment, should
be paid a pound each to carry his body to the grave. 

For several days, Wesley's body lay in state in his City Road chapel, where
thousands of people filed silently past. In order to avoid any large-scale
disturbance, the actual hour of his interment was kept secret from the
public. The funeral was conducted by torchlight and concluded before dawn.
All of Wesley's burial instructions were observed punctiliously. His
faithful medical adviser and loyal disciple, Dr. John Whitehead, delivered
the funeral address, and an itinerant preacher performed the last rites. 

Millions of Methodists from around the world have since visited Wesley's
Chapel in London, England, where the founder of the Methodist movement is
buried.  
# # #
*Singleton is former assistant editor of the Methodist Recorder newspaper in
London, England, and currently full-time administrator for the Methodist
churches and social projects in the Tower Hamlets area of East London. He
can be contacted by e-mail at john@towerhamlets.org.

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