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CONSIDER WESLEY

Visitors to John Wesley’s house on City Road, London, are sometimes surprised to see his “electrical machine.” This was a device that produced a static charge, and John Wesley used it in medical experiments (he speculated that electric shock would help cure headaches). Like his American counterpart, Benjamin Franklin, Wesley was interested in technological developments in his age, including the use of electricity. The “electric machine” signals another aspect of Wesley’s studies: his interest in contemporary science, technology, and culture more broadly. 

Although John Wesley claimed at one point to be homo unius libri, “a one-Book man,” records of his reading show how diverse his sources were. He quoted Shakespeare (“our heathen poet”), poets John Milton and George Herbert, and the English playwright Thomas Otway. He referred to works in science (Isaac Newton), philosophy (John Locke), natural history (John Ray), and geography. He quoted classical Latin and Greek authors, often in Latin or Greek. His published Journal, moreover, is filled with references to his reading, study, and knowledge of contemporary events, politics, culture, and science. 

Moreover, Wesley insisted that Anglican priests and Methodist preachers should read widely. His “Address to the Clergy” (1756) suggests that Anglican priests should be familiar with the following branches of knowledge: the Christian scriptures (in “the original tongues”), profane history, logic, metaphysics, natural philosophy, geometry, and the writings of early Christian theologians (Works, 10:482-484). In addressing the Methodist preachers in the “Large Minutes,” Wesley advised that they should spend their mornings (or at least, five hours out of every day) in study. He anticipated the objection that they might have “no taste for reading,” and to this he replied sharply, “Contract a taste for it by use, or return to your trade” (Works, 8:315). 

I suggested before that Wesley’s deep knowledge of the Bible and his broad understanding of Christian history provided a rich background for his ministry. Here we may see the richness of the “foreground” of his ministry: his awareness of and engagement with the contemporary world. John Wesley was an interesting person because he was an interested person. Reading and study were not just requirements for him; he took to them with great interest, and they enlivened the discourse he carried on with women and men in eighteenth-century Britain. 

As you prepare for a career in ministry, consider Wesley’s habits of reading and study. Part of the “charge” we have “to keep” is “to serve the present age.” To serve our age, we have to know it. And here is a quick test of your knowledge of “the present age”: Which current U.S. Presidential candidate has written a book with words from a Charles Wesley hymn as its title?

Ted A. Campbell, Wesley Theological Seminary.