E Owen's Reviews > The Journal of John Wesley: A Selection

** spoiler alert ** Not being a Methodist, I wasn't sure what to expect by reading this as my knowledge of John Welsey is fragmentary. Methodism's strength in Wales, Cornwall and the south-west of England is self-evident with chapels on almost every high street so I wanted to find out about who started it and how it was started. It is easily one of the most recognisable non-conformist Protestant denominations and if you are not a Methodist, the odds are you probably may know one.

I've read other journals of non-conformist figures (such as The Journal by George Fox) and this conforms to a similar combination of recorded day-to-day activities and religious testimony. What did strike me with Wesley is that unlike many of the non-conformists of the 17th century, he did not set out to found a new "religion" or even "denomination". The "Holy Club" as he founded in Oxford University was meant to be a religious society within the Church of England. Throughout the Journal Wesley stresses his fidelity to the Anglican Church as an ordained Vicar and right up until his final entries in his 80s maintains that the Arminian Methodists were to be a force within the state church. The schism which led to the split only occurred after Wesley's death through one of his final acts: ordaining ministers as a presbyter to practice in the newly independent United States.

The book gave me a good idea of how Methodism diverges from Anglicanism (and Calvinistic Methodism for that matter) through Wesley's teaching and preaching. As with many denominations, "Methodism" was an insulting term applied to their movement by detractors which accidentally stuck and one that Wesley came to embrace. As you would expect, the book is heavily descriptive of the towns and villages he visits and the reactions of his words. There is something terribly evocative of him standing on top of his father's tomb in the graveyard St. Andrew's Church in Epworth to preach to the people. It is interspersed by his observations of people and places and stories he has received of those embracing Methodism. Events sometimes touch on his almost-singular mission in amusing and interesting ways such as the panic of the '45 Jacobites whilst he is in Newcastle, or encountering Dr Johnson in London. As a man of God, he is capable of making glib remarks that stand wonderfully timeless:

"Tuesday, January 25 1785. I spent two or three hours in the House of Lords. I had frequently heard that this was the most venerable assembly in England. But how was I disappointed! What is a Lord, but a sinner, born to die!..."

It's hard not to admire someone who from their 30s criss-crossed Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands and America with zeal and energy until their mid-80s with the same delight and joy. As you would expect, forming a base in Bristol and Kingswood meant his message was well received in the West Country, but struggled in the early days. He had little money and received hostility, most people don't like to be told that everything they believe in is wrong. His frequent trips to Ireland seem to be fruitful, but admits himself his message was primarily received by the Protestant Ascendancy. Rural Gaelic Ireland didn't seem that interested. He makes some incursions to Scotland and gives a wonderful description of Edinburgh at that time. I'm glad to report that the beauty he describes remains and the universities in Scotland have improved, as all of Scotland's four universities at that time apparently only admitted about 200 students between them! Unlike later preachers, he shows a willing to communicate with other groups, attending Catholic and Presbyterian churches, befriending Moravians and engaging with other Anglican vicars who disagree with his direction.

What I struggle to gauge is the man himself and his personality. He wakes up at 4 and preaches at 5 every morning, "electrocutes" people using his machine to cure them and rides and reads (frequently simultaneously) and prays all day. He is (as you'd guessed) methodical in his faith and gives little book reviews but is guarded in his personal and any romantic life. The only clue in the main journal is when he records that his "wife has died" which I find bizarrely laconic (his actual marriage to Mary Vazielle is never expanded upon). Appendices to the text give a record of Sophia Hopkey, a woman he fell in love with during his time in America. He seems self-antagonised by the prospect of romance and marriage as he needs to dedicate himself to God and decides not to talk to her after drawing lots (as you do). I cannot tell if this is the impact of religious zeal, the concept that he is an instrument of God who cannot be preoccupied with a partner, or if he was perhaps asexual or had little desire in romantic company. Either-way it's a useful inclusion after the perplexing omission of his wife.

One of my personal frustrations is that the book is light on entrances in Wales. The country embraced Methodism and I wanted to find out how Welsh-speaking Wales received this Latin-speaking Oxonian from Lincolnshire. The entries are scarce and only pertain to his travelling to Holyhead (then the only way to reach Ireland). Quaker George Fox toured the country with the assistance of the first Welsh Quaker John ap John for translation but apart from mentioning an unnamed interpretor, there are no hints of attention paid to Wales (apart from a bit of Pembrokeshire) in this version of Wesley's journal.

I must offer a caveat in that as the name of the book suggests, this is a selection. There's long periods of Wesley pottering around in Ireland which has been omitted, and the dates jump around a lot (one day he's in northern England, the next day he's in London!). It's also a bit frustrating in that it doesn't go into any depth about his abolitionism. The fact that he wrote a diary for something like 60 years means that the unabridged version must be vast and full of minutiae.

Ultimately I found him an agreeable figure with an interesting story. He has undeniably made a big impact on history and theology and his influence is vast. Never included in the Journal, it's hard to disagree with what is attributed to Wesley, to:

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."