Story of the Wesley brothers illustrates faith, humanity

From South Carolina-

The man was a giant, standing 20 feet tall. Glazed in gold, he clutched a Bible in his right hand and extended his left, open palmed, an invitation to come closer.

This is the image of the Rev. John Wesley that greets those who enter the Arthur J. Moore Methodist Museum and Library at Epworth by the Sea on St. Simons Island. The founder of Methodism looms large on the very ground that he walked upon more than 280 years ago.

While the depiction is an impressive one, it’s not a true representation of the man. In actuality, Wesley was small framed, 5 foot, 3 inches tall, weighing in at 122 pounds. Like the statue compared to the reality of his stature, Wesley’s real life seems to oppose his untarnished legacy. In reality, Wesley was filled with a contradictions and shortcomings that plagued the pious yet all too human man.

More here-

https://thebrunswicknews.com/life/story-of-the-wesley-brothers-illustrates-faith-humanity/article_25b26437-51fc-52b1-ad12-b10ffdfa81f6.html

‘Mad’ preacher made his mark in Haworth

From The U.K.-

Visitors flock in their thousands to the parsonage museum every year to learn more about the lives of the famous literary siblings. 

But some 70 years before their father Patrick became curate in the village, another colourful character held the post and was making his own impression on parishioners. 

William Grimshaw was a fiery man renowned for some strange behaviour, yet was also a hugely popular preacher who packed out churches. 

A glimpse into his fascinating life is provided in a new, illustrated book,
William Grimshaw: The Perpetual Curate of Haworth. 

More here-

https://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/17643813.mad-preacher-made-his-mark-in-haworth/

JOHN WESLEY, CATHOLIC FORERUNNER?

From The Living Church-

In 1840, John Henry Newman reviewed The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon for the British Critic (W.E. Painter, 1839), the quarterly journal he edited. Regarding the life of one of the great leaders of the 18th-century evangelical revival, Newman praised Selina Hastings’s devotion and that of her fellow Methodists, amid the “imbecile policy of the Establishment of the day.” Newman claimed that he would much rather say, “Sit anima mea cum Westleio” (“My soul is with Wesley”), than “cum Luthero” or “cum Calvino” or many other possible clever Latin tags. As for the Establishment, Newman wrote elsewhere,

Who would not rather be found even with Whitfield and Wesley, than with ecclesiastics whose life is literary ease at the best, whose highest flights attain but to Downing Street or the levee?

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2017/05/24/john-wesley-a-catholic-forerunner/?platform=hootsuite

Methodism’s founder spent some time in Georgia

From Georgia-

Wesley and his brother, Charles, came to the state when the British were establishing the colony. At the time, the Wesley brothers’ sojourn was seen in a less than positive light by many.

John Wesley was an Anglican cleric. He was not always popular with his parishioners. He courted a young woman, Sophia Hopkey. After she broke off their courtship and married someone else, Wesley refused to allow her to take communion.

Charles Wesley, who came to Georgia as secretary to James Edward Oglethorpe, the colony's founder, also served as chaplain at Ft. Frederica on St. Simons. His overly strict religious views brought him into conflict with colonists, and he remained in Georgia only about a year.

More here-

http://times-herald.com/news/2016/06/methodisms-founder-spent-some-time-in-georgia

Hark The Herald - Charles Wesley Letters Outline Early Methodism And Religious Radicalism

From Science 2.0 (believe it or not)

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” is the beginning to one of the world's most popular hymns, yet while millions of people can oddly identify Nicki Minaj, almost no one knows the name of Charles Wesley or his Hymns and Sacred Poems. “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” became regarded as one of the Great Four Anglican Hymns and was published as number 403 in "The Church Hymn Book". It has been recorded by everyone from Frank Sinatra to the kids on "Charlie Brown"(1) and now the private letters of the composer have been edited by Dr. Gareth Lloyd of The University of Manchester’s John Rylands Library and Professor Kenneth Newport of Liverpool Hope University and published by Oxford University Press. They provide a rare glimpse into both the man and the birth of Methodism.

The early Methodists were viewed by their opponents as dangerous extremists: they had visions, fell into trances and some even developed a reputation for possessing supernatural power. Likely for that reason, some of the letters were written in a complex 18th century shorthand developed by John Byrom, sometimes inter-mixed with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

More here-

http://www.science20.com/news_articles/hark_herald_charles_wesley_letters_outline_early_methodism_and_religious_radicalism-110493

John Wesley a great evangelist and stalwart Anglican

From Country Live-

The month of May, and the day of May 24th, are important on the Christian calendar for many things, but one remarkable item which needs to be noted and remembered is the outstanding contributions of the Rev. John Wesley, not only to the life of the Church of England and the Methodist movement, but to the whole of society – in the United Kingdom and the around world. May 24, 1738 was day of John Wesley’s conversion, while reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans.

In 1738, John Wesley, a graduate with a Masters degree from Oxford University, was a priest in the Church of England, and a missionary to the English colony of Georgia, in America. Wesley was returning home to England, sad and totally defeated because his work had not been successful. On board Wesley’s ship was a group of German Moravian Christians. A terrific Atlantic storm battered the ship and Wesley was terrifed that it would flounder and sink. In the midst of his gripping fear he noted that the Moravians exhibited no fear or trepidation and in fact were calm; even their children! Wesley was amazed! He began to reflect on his feelings of despair and to search his soul. His thinking may have been, “Why am I, a priest and scholar and missionary, overwhelmed with fear but these Christians fearless? What do they possess that I do not?

On returning home to London Wesley sadly observed, “I went to America to convert the Indians, but who, O who, will convert me?”

As he took up his duties in London Wesley was troubled, and could not find peace. He believed and could recite the creeds, and scripture, but they were words on a page and he found no satisfaction nor freedom from dismay. He was a troubled man.

More here-

All the world can still be John Wesley’s parish

From the London Times a story about the possible renewal of Methodism in England.

The latest biography of Donald Soper, the great preacher, pacifist socialist, and one of the best-known Methodists since John Wesley himself, has the eye-catching and thought-provoking title The Last Wesleyan.

Are we to infer from this provocative title that Methodism itself is in terminal decline? The answer depends slightly on the questioner’s standpoint. For example, in the 1880s Hugh Price Hughes, a leading Methodist and one of Soper’s predecessors at the West London Mission, asked the Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, why there was no portrait of Wesley alongside other famous former students. Wesley, Hughes said, had founded a movement with 25 million members worldwide, surely an achievement worth noting. The Rector was surprised: “Surely you mean 25,000?”

The incident illustrates one of the challenges facing Methodists in Britain: many outside the Church know nothing about them. For nearly 250 years Methodism has been a significant religious movement in Britain. With its distinctive mix of evangelical preaching, powerful hymnody and emotionally engaging spirituality, it revolutionised English and Welsh Christianity in the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 19th century Methodist chapels gave a sense of community in many expanding city districts. In mining areas in Cornwall, Wales and Co Durham it did its job so well that it became for all practical purposes the people’s Church.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5253443.ece