Category Archives: Wesley

Wesley

How to Structure the Wesley Small Group Study?

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I’m committed to writing this small group study, maybe titling it “Essential John Wesley”. But how to structure it? For previous studies I’ve written, for each lesson I made up a simple sheet, two-sided, a mixture of text and graphics, but not a lot of reading. This seemed to work well. The class had no homework, not much to read. These several were all Bible studies, so relied heavily on the scripture.

Not so with the Wesley study. Obviously the Bible will be a big part, but so will Wesley’s writings. My goal is to help the class know Wesley and appreciate how he impacted England for 60 years and the world since then, and how he is important to our religious heritage. So in addition to the Bible, I need to work in some of his writings. But how?

At present, I’m thinking of doing this pretty much like I’m writing Documenting America, but with a twist. For each chapter, maybe 15 to 20 in all, I think I’ll have the following.

  1. A short intro (a paragraph) of what the issue at hand is, and what Wesley’s contribution was to it.
  2. An excerpt of some one of Wesley’s writing. I’ll shoot for a mixture of letters, journal, sermons, books, tracts, magazine articles (as I can find them). Typically this will be 400-500 words (longer than for Documenting America), but I would not be opposed to a 1000 word excerpt if that’s what it takes to get the point across.
  3. A discussion of the passage, and how that relates to the issue raised in the chapter intro. I may also try to tie this to the Christian life in the 21st century.
  4. Not in Documenting America, I think I will have a series of discussion questions here. For any print version, I’ll include space to write answers. For any e-versions, spaces won’t be possible, I don’t believe, without knowing html and maybe not even then.

That’s the plan. I’d like to have the total word count somewhere around 25,000 to 35,000, which doesn’t seem too far off some of the small group study books I’ve seen. That would be 1250 to 2500 words per chapter. I’m not sure all will be equal.

Anyhow, that’s what my thinking is right now. I’m in the midst of my research of Wesley’s writings, and may change my mind as I go along.

Wesley

Publications of John Wesley

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As research for my Essential John Wesley small group study (and, by the way, that’s not a firm title; not sure what I’ll call it), I went searching for a bibliography of his works. Through the wonder of Google books and its advanced book search function, I found several. One I looked at today and printed is The Works of John and Charles Wesley: A Bibliography, by Rev. Richard Green, 1896. It includes 291 printed pages, including index, excluding front matter. It is a listing only of works by these two men, not about them.

This is the only Wesley bibliography I’ve looked at so far. I’ve looked at a lot of titles, and most of them indicate they are bibliographies of works by and about John and/or Charles. I’ll want to look at one or more of those, but for now the Green Bibliography will suffice. It lists 417 printed works. As I haven’t been all the way through it, I’m not sure if this includes compilations or issues of the Arminian Magazine by individual numbers. I saw that it had at least one year of those listed as a bound compilation. How much of that was written by Wesley and how much was by others I still have to research.

This is a great reference. For each work it gives: the full title page (the words thereon, not a facsimile), the name of the publisher, the date of issue, and all known editions in the 18th century. For many various annotations are included. Sometimes it’s what a biographer said of the publication. Sometimes it’s something Wesley said in his journal or an outgoing letter. Sometimes it’s the editor’s commentary, such as when he had a hard time identifying date, edition, printer, or whether the work is truly accredited to Wesley.

Some of that is for the work of the scholar, of course, which I’m not holding myself out to be. I love reading Wesley’s works and reading about him, but I seriously doubt I would ever have the time needed to become a Wesley/Wesleyan scholar. I will be satisfied if I can really pull of this small group study. My pastor thinks it’s a good idea. Between him, our youth pastor, my son-in-law, and on-line references, I have plenty of material, maybe too much. The trick will be to quickly digest all of this into a reasonable series of lessons, and then to write whatever I’m going to, and figure out how to disseminate it.

For sure the adult life group I co-teach Sunday mornings will become the trial group for this. I don’t know how well they will take to it, or even if they will agree to doing it. Still, that’s my plan. Stay tuned for more information.

book reviews, Wesley

Book Review: Winchester’s "The Life of John Wesley"

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It might not make much sense to review a book that’s over 100 years old. It’s not as if my words will send people flocking to Barnes & Noble to buy it. Nor is anyone likely to be clamoring for it. But if it’s a book I’ve read, I feel as if I should review it.

The book is The Life of John Wesley by C.T. Winchester. My copy was published by The MacMillan Company in New York in 1906. I believe, from the copyright page, that it is a first edition, second printing book. I’m not sure where I got this book. Possibly at a thrift store or garage sale. Or maybe it was in some books given me for my son-in-law by a retired preacher. I let Richard take what he wanted the culled through the others, keeping some, adding some others to the garage sale pile. Either way, I love books, especially old books, and especially books by or about people like John Wesley.

At the time of the writing Wesley had been dead 114 years. His influence in the world had waned quite a bit. Methodism was still growing, but they weren’t exactly practicing it the way Wesley recommended. Already a number of biographies had been written, maybe five or six. Why another one? Well, aside from Emerson’s theory that each generation has to write for the next, adding to and somewhat replacing those of prior generations, Winchester said in his preference that early biographies were almost all done by Methodists, and so could be seen as biased. So Winchester wrote his.
It’s not a long book; 293 pages, decent size font and not large pages. In fact, it’s fairly short as a biography of a major religious reformer. I have not read the prior Wesley biographies, by the likes of Clarke, Watson, Moore, Southey, Stevens, Lelievre, Overton, and Telford (I guess that’s eight, not five or six). I’ve read one or two written much later, in the 1960s or 70s. So I don’t really know how Winchester’s treatment differs from those who went before or came behind him.
I just know this was a good read. It’s late enough in world history that the language is modern, the scholarship seems good, and Wesley’s place in history was well established. Winchester spends time discussing Wesley’s time, to demonstrate the impact he had: how awful social conditions were in Great Britain and Ireland when Wesley began his work, and how they changed as a result of it. I have heard it said that the impact Wesley had on English society—not just among the people called Methodists but on the Established Church and elsewhere—may well have saved England from a French style bloody revolution. I don’t know if that’s true, but it is true that Wesley changed England.

He wasn’t the preacher-evangelist Whitefiled was. He wasn’t the philosopher Johnson was. He wasn’t as deep a theologian as Calvin was. But he had a combination of abilities (I believe “skill set” is the new buzz word) that embraced all of these and more, that allowed him to build a religious movement. Winchester clearly demonstrates this.
I anticipate that, as I write my small group study on the life and works of John Wesley, that I’ll read more of those biographies. Anything before 1923 should be available on Google books, and I’ve got another one in hand I can read (or maybe re-read). Winchester’s will stand out, however, as the first one I read as research for my book.
Mark Twain, Wesley, Writing

The Storm Is Here

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We’ve been hearing about it since Sunday. We were in a winter weather advisory on Monday, a winter storm watch on Tuesday, and a winter storm warning on Wednesday to begin Thursday 6 AM. About 3:30 PM it started. It’s rain right now. It should switch over to something frozen–sleet, freezing rain, or ice–within another hour or so. It should change over to snow by Friday morning and snow all day. They’re saying 2 to 3 inches of accumulation, but just forty miles north of us it will be 6 to 7 inches. So if that storm tracks just a little bit south….

I’m not going home tonight. I packed a bag and brought it with me today. I’ll stay with my mother-in-law at her apartment in Bentonville tonight and probably Friday night as well. I set the thermostat at 58 degrees this morning, but in reality we are likely to lose power if it doesn’t change to snow real quick.

I’ve got Mark Twain’s short stories. I’ve got a Writers Digest magazine. I’ve got a Wesleyan Theological Journal issue. I’ve got a few pages from Emerson’s letters to use to write an article. I won’t have a computer, but paper and ink still work. Esther’s apartment is only three miles from the office. If I need to I could walk back to the office in the morning. Or I could stay there, keeping each other company, resting up so this cold will finally leave me alone, and write and read much.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

letters, Wesley
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Once again, in my morning read of John Wesley’s letters, I came across something that struck me. This is the closing paragraph to a letter.

And now, the advice I would give upon the whole is this: First, pray earnestly to God for clear light; for a full, piercing, and steady conviction that this is the more excellent way. Pray for a spirit of universal self-denial, of cheerful temperance, of wise frugality; for bowels of mercies; for a kind, compassionate spirit, tenderly sensible of the various wants of your brethren; and for firmness of mind, for a mild, even courage, without fear, anger, or shame. Then you will once more, with all readiness of heart, make this little (or great) sacrifice to God; and withal present your soul and body a living sacrifice, acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ.

Well, very inspiring words! What, you ask, was the little (or great) sacrifice being asked of someone that inspired Wesley to write as he did? What great spiritual adventure was one of his correspondents about to embark on? In fact, it was nothing more than weather or not to drink strong green tea.

Yes, that’s it. Wesley, through twenty or more years of practice, had learned that tea disagreed with his body. When he drank tea, he was a nervous wreck; his hands shook. When he quit drinking tea, his nervous system was fine. His correspondent (who is not named) in this December 10, 1748 letter, had apparently questioned Wesley’s motive for not only quitting tea but encouraging others to do so as well. Wesley laid out in 4,500-word detail his reasons for himself and anyone else to do this: health and frugality. He anticipated and answered objections that could be raised.

Such a discussion today would involve different substances, but might be just as relevant. Wesley said cutting out tea and drinking cheaper liquids–water and milk–allowed for greater administration of Christian charity. Even when dining at another’s house, requesting water instead of tea allowed the host to have more money to support the poor. Whether that host did or not was not the concern of the person who had to make the choice to drink the tea as offered. Much of the discussion concerned giving offense. Would the Christian, laying off tea for reasons of health and frugality possibly offend his host? Wesley described how to follow conscious and not give offense.

So what today is affecting my health and my ability to give more to charity? I could name a number of items. But I prefer to just dwell on Wesley’s words, and realize that this sacred message was really about the most secular of activities. Wesley sure tied the two together, reminding me that those who say we can compartmentalize our lives (the sacred now, the secular later, etc.) are probably wrong. The secular things we do affect our spiritual life, and the the sacred things carry through to the secular.

That’s not an earth-shattering revelation. Such is part of the baby’s milk for the Christian. Yet, being reminded of it is a good thing, and Wesley said it so well. “Pray for a spirit of universal self-denial, of cheerful temperance, of wise frugality; for bowels of mercies; for a kind, compassionate spirit, tenderly sensible of the various wants of your brethren; and for firmness of mind, for a mild, even courage, without fear, anger, or shame.”

Going to do so.

Genealogy, reading, research, Wesley

The Joys of the Day

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This morning, before work, after reading for a few enjoyable minutes in John Wesley’s letters, I had some additional time to do some genealogy work. So I went to the digital library of Brigham Young University (which I discovered only yesterday) and did some more experimentation on how to use the site. I searched for John Cheney, Lynda’s immigrant ancestor on her paternal line, going back to Newbury Massachusetts in 1636 and in Lawford and Mistley, Essexshire, England before that. The search in the “family history collection” returned 33 hits, which I began going through. Some I recognized. Oh, and I admit to taking some work time on this, not starting my business day right at straight up 8 AM. I shall have to make up some time.

One of the hits was a 100 page (approx.) typed manuscript dealing with Cheney families in England. It turned out it was mainly concerned with John Cheney’s English origins. While it did not have the full source citations it needs to have to be fully credible, it’s about the best document on the subject I’ve seen, and worthy of further study. So genealogy was a joy today.

Work was pretty good too. I spent two hours (in two different sessions) with a department head in our office who has a very difficult construction project. I’ve spent much time with him already on this project, but he had two new issues come up that he wanted to get my input on. Such a discussion is good, and enjoyable. I think we worked out the best possible response for him to make. Then it was off to Centerton to deal with the flood study that has plagued me for so long, and resolving one nagging question on the site topography. I’ve dreaded getting back on it, but cannot wait any longer. I finished writing a difficult specification today (another joy), and so I have non-distracted time I can put into this project and get it done. That would be a joy. Oh, wait, I have another one for the City I’ll have to do when I finish this one. At least it is a much simpler flood study. I did the complicated one first.

I left work more or less on time (I’ll make up my time another day) and went to the Bentonville library. Time in a library is always a joy. To be around thousands of books and a hundred different magazines, people studying, librarians working–that’s where I love to be. The hour passed all too quickly, but I found a magazine I might be able to pitch an article to.

Church was enjoyable, a Bible study in Daniel chapter 8.

Now here at home, I read twenty pages in the book I’m working on. Less than 60 pages to go, and it has been an enjoyable read. Now I’m in the Dungeon, on the computer. I worked 30 minutes on the current genealogy project, then this.

How much much joy can a day contain? If it weren’t for having robbed my employer of some time. That was the only blot on the day. Well, buying some chips too. But all in all, I wish all my days were like this.

commuting, trials, Wesley

Spiritual Guidance From John Wesley

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As I continue to spend a few minutes most workday mornings in the letters of John Wesley, I find them a curious mixture. Some of them are for business, about houses rented for chapels and where preachers should be assigned. Some of them are for doctrine and church practices. These tend to be very long and difficult to unravel. Often they take the form of: “You wrote ‘this’, to which I replied ‘this’; then you wrote ‘this’, and I now say this. You would have to have the letters of the other correspondent to truly understand.

But letters of spiritual guidance have, thus far in my reading, been mostly lacking. Until yesterday, when I read a letter Wesley wrote to John Haime, who was either in the army or recently discharged and was a Methodist lay preacher. Here’s what Wesley wrote on June 21, 1748.

Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which God hath seen good to try you with. Indeed, the chastisement for the present is not joyous, but grievous; nevertheless it will by-and-by bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness. It is good for you to be in the fiery furnace; though the flesh be weary to bear it, you shall be purified therein, but not consumed; for there is one with you whose form is as the Son of God. O look up! Take knowledge of Him who spreads underneath you His everlasting arms! Lean upon Him with the whole weight of your soul. He is yours; lay hold upon Him.

No one likes to undergo trials, certainly not trials of enough severity they can be called “fiery”. But fire purifies, so if one approaches the trial with the right attitude and fortitude, the result will be beneficial.

I suppose this also applies to the trials that cannot be described as fiery, the everyday trials that seem bad for a moment but which really aren’t. Such as the driver of the black Kia in front of me, like me poised to turn right at the red light, but who was so timid he/she didn’t take advantage of three or four good gaps to pull out onto Walton Boulevard. Thus my commute was 20 or 30 seconds longer this morning. I called that driver a couple of names (fairly mild; nothing I couldn’t say in front of the wife). It made me feel good for a moment, but bad afterward.

I missed a refining moment this morning. Perhaps it will return today. O look up! Take knowledge of Him who spreads underneath me His everlasting arms! Lean upon Him with the whole weight of my soul. He is mine; lay hold upon Him.

Christianity, Wesley

Praise God with one heart

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I continue to gain, in these busy days, much enjoyment from reading the letters of John Wesley. I take about twenty minutes in them in the morning at my desk at work, after I have finished devotions and poured a cup of coffee. I’m currently reading in Volume 2, in the letters from the year 1745. I found this jewel a couple of days ago.

It is evidently one work with what we have seen here. Why should we not all praise God with one heart?

Whoever agrees with us in that account of practical religion…I regard not what his other opinions are, the same is my brother and sister and mother. I am more assured that love is of God than that any opinion whatsoever is so. Herein may we increase more and more.

In reading Wesley’s letters, I’ve found out what a combative fellow he was at this point of his ministry. Of course, since he was calling men to live by faith, and to put that faith into practice through subsequent works, he spoke contrary to the State church, which practiced, regardless of what their printed doctrine might say, that salvation was by attention to the means of grace administered by the church. So for Wesley to say that salvation had nothing to do with the church rubbed a bunch of clergymen the wrong way.

But the common man responded to him, and he preached to thousands in churches and tens of thousands in fields after the churches were closed to him. Was it to some extent jealousy that caused the clergy to oppose Wesley so vigorously? Their own parishioners wouldn’t sit in their churches, but would stand outside for an hour and drink in what Wesley said.

In this letter, Wesley writes to Lord Grange, thanking him for a copy of a letter, which apparently “shows a truly Christian spirit.” This all had something to do with the work being done in other places possibly including in America by Jonathan Edwards and Gilbert Tennent. The letter was apparently a breath of fresh air for Wesley, who had seen mostly opposition.

In Wesley’s reply, I find my own breath of fresh air. Today the church seems more divided than ever, not just by denominations but also by worship practices, end times beliefs, and politics. We spend way too much time focusing on our differences and not enough on what binds us together. Wesley was able to see that, regardless of his doctrinal disagreements with George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, et. al., they were all engaged in “one work”, so “why should we not all praise God with one heart?”

Wesley goes on to note that “love is of God”, but opinions may not be. And he says, concerning love, “Herein may we increase more and more.” May it always be so.

Engineering, Wesley

New Name for Blog?

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Well, my conference is finished. My presentation went well yesterday, with several in the room coming to see me afterwards, and a few stopping me in the exhibit hall even later. Heading home tomorrow, back to the real world. Or maybe this is the real world for me, the world of scholarly engineering with a Christian worldview as a foundation, not the world or authorship and novels, non-fiction, etc.

I’m thinking about changing the name of this blog. When I first created it last December, Todd Blog was just a place holder as I thought about what to name it. I’ve taken my time, and thought about it much. I’m thinking about re-naming it “An Arrow Through the Air”, after the passage in the John Wesley letter I blogged about in April 2008, over several posts. I love what Wesley said:

“I am afraid of nothing more than of growing old too soon, of having my body worn out before my soul is past childhood. Would it not be terrible to have the wheels of life stand still, when we had scarce started for the goal; before the work of the day was half done, to have the night come, wherein no one can work? I shiver at the thought of losing my strength before I have found [it]; to have my senses fail ere I have a stock of rational pleasures, my blood cold ere my heart is warmed with virtue! Strange, to look back on a train of years that have passed, ‘as an arrow through the air,’ without leaving any mark behind them, without our being able to trace them in our improvement!”

What better way to describe my current life situation? While I’m much older than Wesley when he wrote this, and am more than half-way done with my life, and thus maturity issues are not a factor. But I feel in my own life the urgency of accomplishment that Wesley so eloquently expressed. I find myself riding a sinusoidal wave between Wesley’s arrow and Emerson’s “time-enough-for-all-that-i-must-do.”

Anyone have any thoughts about the blog name change?

letters, Wesley

When friends fall out

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In my continuing (and slow) reading of John Wesley’s letters, I came today to his April 27, 1741 letter to George Whitefield. Whitefield was in Georgia, America, and has written Wesley on December 24, 1740, a letter that appears to have been critical of a number of things Wesley was doing: handling money, deeds for properties, ‘adornment’ of sanctuaries. Most important, however, seems to have been the growing rift between the two over doctrinal issues. Wesley was an Arminian and Whitefield a Calvinist concerning the issue of the permanency of salvation.

This difference must have been under the surface, or seemed unimportant, as the two began the great work of the revival. Certainly, it is hard to imagine Whitefield begging Wesley to come to Bristol to substitute for him in a revival that was breaking out there (Whitefield having to be elsewhere) if he thought Wesley to be in error in his doctrine. I just now found Whitefield’s letter on line, but have not yet read it. It contains five main points spread out over twelve pages of twelve point font, so it looks like I have lots of interesting reading in the days ahead. I will likely add this to the Wesley letters book, so that I have the full impact for when I read these again, perhaps in a decade or two. Apparently, Whitefield had the letter published in London, with a wide distribution.

Whatever their differences, and whoever was at fault, I’m saddened to see these two giants of the faith have a falling out. Somehow we have to make room in our hearts for those who interpret the gospel differently than we do. For Whitefield to have said Wesley preached a different gospel, and so they could have no fellowship together, seems extreme.

When Paul and Barnabas had their famous falling out, the result was the work was multiplied: two missionary teams went out, with more workers, than would have happened had they stayed together. Later in life, these two giants of the apostolic church were reconciled in friendship. Their dispute was over administrative issues, not doctrine, but still, could not Whitefield and Wesley have looked to their example? Well, maybe they did, sort of, for they divided their efforts.

I have much more to read on this, and possibly will come back and modify this post or make another.