John Wesley's Notes on the Whole Bible: Old Testament, Ezra-Malachi
(Due to overwhelming popular demand John Wesley prepared t...)
Due to overwhelming popular demand John Wesley prepared these notes towards the end of his life. He intended them for the devout Christian, not the scholar. This is the second in a three volumes set: Genesis--Chronicles II (978-1-84902-634-5), Ezra-Malachi (978-1-84902-633-8), and The New Testament (978-1-84902-635-2).
(John Wesley's Complete Bible Commentary is made up of the...)
John Wesley's Complete Bible Commentary is made up of the Explanatory Notes Upon The Old Testament and Upon The New.
John Wesley's explanatory notes on the Old Testament were written several years after his notes on the New Testament, and are based on the earlier works of Matthew Henry's 'Exposition of the Old and New Testaments', and Matthew Poole's 'English Annotations on the Holy Bible'. Extracts from both of these works are paraphrased and abridged by Wesley for the Explanatory Notes on the Old Testament, unlike the Explanatory Notes on the New Testament, which were entirely of his own composition.
The Notes Upon The New Testament is considered to be one of John Wesley's principal works, and its readability, influence and popularity has remained since the time of its publication until today.
First printed in 1755 by William Bowyer, John Wesley's Notes Upon The New Testament were entirely his own work, written during a period of illness which forced him to abandon his usual routine of travel and preaching. He would write from 5 am - 9 pm every day, unless he was riding, eating, or taking his personal devotion time (5 - 6 pm each evening). Charles Wesley assisted in some ways, including his translations of the gospels and in other unspecified ways. Wesley cites his influences for the New Testament Notes as the Gnomon Novi Testamenti of Bengel, the Paraphrase of Dr Guyse, the Theological Lectures of Dr Heylin and the Family Expositor of Dr Doddridge. The fourth and fifth editions of the Notes contained corrections by John & Charles Wesley and others.
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John Wesley: A Plain Account of Christian Perfection
(In this book John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church...)
In this book John Wesley, founder of the Methodist Church, discusses the Christian doctrine in a manner that is accessible, with characteristic wisdom and clarity.
The doctrine of perfect love, as it translates into the life and being of the believer, is the principle topic at hand. Christian Perfection is the name which Wesley gives to the achievement of greater closeness with God and his teachings; this gradual advancement of belief, itself entailing the deepening of one's relationship with the divine, is something which both fascinated and enveloped Wesley.
This book has some autobiographical overtones, since Wesley advances through the years of his life and identifies major turning points or landmarks on his own spiritual journey. By stages, he embraced the doctrine of advancing his faith, to the point where he felt obliged to offer his journey as an example to other Christians also seeking greater spiritual growth.
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection is a fine foundation to the study of the Christian theology and the Bible. Wesley is careful to quote scripture to support certain views - such as those involving the love of oneself, others and the Lord - and in keeping with his style intersperses his own poetry with the explanations.
A distinguished author, preacher and cleric in 18th century England, John Wesley created a deep and abiding body of work which remains emblematic of Christian thought of his era. He is most remembered today for his role in founding Methodism, and his scholarship which continues to hold an influential place in theological study.
John Wesley was Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and founder, with his brother Charles, of the Methodist movement in the Church of England.
Background
John Wesley was born on 17 June 1703 in Epworth, Lincolnshire. He was the second son of Samuel, a former Nonconformist (dissenter from the Church of England) and rector at Epworth, and Susanna Wesley.
His mother's training laid the foundation of his character, and under her instruction the children made remarkable progress.
Education
Wesley entered Charterhouse School and was for six years a pupil there, and in 1720 he became a student at Christ Church, Oxford.
He loved riding and walking, was an expert swimmer and enjoyed a game at tennis. Receiving his bachelor of arts degree in 1724, he was ordained a deacon in the Church of England in 1725 and was elected a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1726. Its members engaged in prayer, attended church services, visited prisoners, and gave donations to the needy. He preached frequently in the churches near Oxford in the months succeeding his ordination, and in April 1726 he obtained leave from his college to act as his father's curate.
He read plays, attended the village fairs, shot plovers in the fenland, and enjoyed a dance with his sisters. He gained considerable reputation in the disputation for his master's degree in February 1727.
Wesley was now free to follow his own course of studies and began to lose his love for company, unless it were with those who were drawn like himself to religion. During those two years he paid three visits to the university.
Career
In October 1729 John joined his brother Charles, Robert Kirkham, and William Morgan in a religious study group that was derisively called the “Methodists” because of their emphasis on methodical study and devotion. Taking over the leadership of the group from Charles, John helped the group to grow in numbers. The “Methodists, ” also called the Holy Club, were known for their frequent communion services and for fasting two days a week. From 1730 on, the group added social services to their activities, visiting Oxford prisoners, teaching them to read, paying their debts, and attempting to find employment for them. The Methodists also extended their activities to workhouses and poor people, distributing food, clothes, medicine, and books and also running a school. When the Wesleys left the Holy Club in 1735, the group disintegrated.
Following his father’s death in April 1735, John was persuaded by an Oxford friend, John Burton, and Col. James Oglethorpe, governor of the colony of Georgia in North America, to oversee the spiritual lives of the colonists and to missionize the Indians as an agent for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Accompanied by Charles, who was ordained for this mission, John was introduced to some Moravian emigrants who appeared to him to possess the spiritual peace for which he had been searching. The mission to the Indians proved abortive, nor did Wesley succeed with most of his flock. He served them faithfully, but his stiff high churchmanship antagonized them. He had a naive attachment to Sophia Hopkey, niece of the chief magistrate of Savannah, who married another man, and Wesley unwisely courted criticism by repelling her from Holy Communion. In December 1737 he fled from Georgia; misunderstandings and persecution stemming from the Sophia Hopkey episode forced him to go back to England.
In London John met a Moravian, Peter Böhler, who convinced him that what he needed was simply faith, and he also discovered Martin Luther’s commentary on the Letter of Paul to the Galatians, which emphasized the scriptural doctrine of justification by grace through faith alone. On May 24, 1738, in Aldersgate Street, London, during a meeting composed largely of Moravians under the auspices of the Church of England, Wesley’s intellectual conviction was transformed into a personal experience while Luther’s preface to the commentary to the Letter of Paul to the Romans was being read.
From this point onward, at the age of 35, Wesley viewed his mission in life as one of proclaiming the good news of salvation by faith, which he did whenever a pulpit was offered him. The congregations of the Church of England, however, soon closed their doors to him because of his enthusiasm. He then went to religious societies, trying to inject new spiritual vigour into them, particularly by introducing “bands” similar to those of the Moravians - i. e. , small groups within each society that were confined to members of the same sex and marital status who were prepared to share intimate secrets with each other and to receive mutual rebukes. For such groups Wesley drew up Rules of the Band Societies in December 1738.
For a year he worked through existing church societies, but resistance to his methods increased. In 1739 George Whitefield persuaded Wesley to go to the unchurched masses. Wesley gathered converts into societies for continuing fellowship and spiritual growth, and he was asked by a London group to become their leader. Soon other such groups were formed in London, Bristol, and elsewhere. To avoid the scandal of unworthy members, Wesley published, in 1743, Rules for the Methodist societies. To promote new societies he became a widely travelled itinerant preacher. Because most ordained clergymen did not favour his approach, Wesley was compelled to seek the services of dedicated laymen, who also became itinerant preachers and helped administer the Methodist societies.
Toward the end of his life, Wesley became an honoured figure in the British Isles.
Wesley he was deeply influenced by Moravian missionaries, whose sense of spiritual confidence and commitment to practical piety impressed him. He also always maintained that he personally adhered to the Church of England. Organization of Methodism From the beginning Wesley viewed his movement as one within the Church of England and not in opposition to it.
He took a continual and rather authoritarian part in the life of these societies, visiting them periodically, settling disputes, and expelling the recalcitrant.
Yearly conferences of the whole movement presented him with the opportunity to establish policy.
Yet the continual opposition of the Anglican bishops, coupled with their refusal to ordain Methodist clergy, forced Wesley to move closer to actual separation toward the end of his life.
Politics
Wesley was politically conservative, a critic of democracy, and a foe of both the American and French revolutions.
Views
Quotations:
"From the year 1725 to 1729, I preached much, but saw no fruit to my labour.
From the year 1729 to 1734, laying a deeper foundation of repentance, I saw a little fruit.
But it was only a little; and no wonder: for I did not preach faith in the blood cf the covenant. From 1734 to 1738, speaking more of faith in Christ, I saw more fruit of my preaching".
Personality
A small man (he was 5 feet 6 inches in height and weighed about 120 pounds), Wesley always had to perch on a chair or platform when he preached.
A contemporary described him as "the last word . .. in neatness and dress" and "his eye was 'the brightest and most piercing that can be conceived". A friend describes Wesley at this time as "a young fellow of the finest classical taste, and the most liberal and manly sentiments. "
He was gay and sprightly, with a turn for wit and humour.
Connections
Wesley married very unhappily at the age of 48 to a widow, Mary Vazeille. The couple had no children. Vazeille left him 15 years later. John Singleton writes: "By 1758 she had left him – unable to cope, it is said, with the competition for his time and devotion presented by the ever-burgeoning Methodist movement. Molly, as she was known, was to return and leave him again on several occasions before their final separation. " Wesley wryly reported in his journal, "I did not forsake her, I did not dismiss her, I will not recall her. "