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John Wesley
John Wesley (1703 - 1791). English Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and co-founder of Methodism, born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, to a rector’s family. Educated at Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1727, he was ordained in 1728 and led the Holy Club with brother Charles, emphasizing disciplined faith. After a failed mission to Georgia (1735-1737), he experienced a transformative conversion in 1738 at Aldersgate, London, feeling his “heart strangely warmed.” Wesley preached over 40,000 sermons, often outdoors, sparking the 18th-century Evangelical Revival, and traveled 250,000 miles on horseback across Britain and Ireland. He authored 400 works, including A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777), and edited The Christian’s Pattern. Founding Methodist societies, he trained 650 preachers and ordained ministers for America, influencing millions. Married to Mary Vazeille in 1751, their childless union strained, but his brother’s hymns enriched worship. A tireless advocate for the poor, he opened dispensaries and schools, and his 1787 sermon against slavery stirred abolitionism. Despite tensions with the Church of England, he never left it, shaping global Protestantism. His maxim, “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 ever you can,” inspired generations to active faith. Wesley’s journals and letters, still widely read, reveal a legacy of practical holiness and social reform
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John Wesley emphasizes the assurance of salvation and security in Christ amidst life's storms, referencing Jesus' parable about the house built on the rock. He warns that Christians are not exempt from trials and temptations, and suffering is a shared experience among both believers and non-believers. The key difference lies in the unshakeable foundation of faith that ensures believers cannot be destroyed, even in the face of adversity. Wesley encourages those enduring hardships to remember their Lord and to support others in their suffering by reminding them of God's presence and protection.
There Is a House That Cannot Fall
“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” Matthew 7:25 These words are spoken by Jesus at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount and are part of a parable, the first time he uses a parable as a means of teaching. If the folk remembered nothing else from the large amount of teaching they have heard (and how much do we remember from each sermon we hear?), they will remember this: there is a house that cannot be destroyed. Wesley warns “do not think that you shall not see war anymore or that you are out of reach of temptation. It still remains for God to prove the grace He has given: you shall be tried as gold in the fire. You shall be tempted not less than they who know not God; perhaps abundantly more. For Satan will not fail to try to the uttermost those whom he is not able to destroy.” Somewhere along the line people get the idea that Christians should not suffer as much as non-Christians do and can cause great pain by implying that there is something wrong with our faith when we are going through “undeserved” suffering. Perhaps you have been hurt in this way, or know someone who has. Jesus teaches here that exactly the same suffering comes to the wise and the foolish. The difference is, and this becomes a sure hope we can cling to, in Christ we will not be, we cannot be destroyed, in this life or the next. Our salvation even from death itself is secure. If you are in the midst of a raging lifestorm, try and remember who your Lord is. If you know someone who is suffering at the moment, consider gentle ways of reminding them who their God is. How happy are the little flock Who safe beneath their guardian rock In all commotion rest! When wars and tumult’s waves run high, Unmoved above the storm they lie, They lodge in Jesu’s breast. (61)
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John Wesley (1703 - 1791). English Anglican clergyman, evangelist, and co-founder of Methodism, born in Epworth, Lincolnshire, to a rector’s family. Educated at Oxford, where he earned an M.A. in 1727, he was ordained in 1728 and led the Holy Club with brother Charles, emphasizing disciplined faith. After a failed mission to Georgia (1735-1737), he experienced a transformative conversion in 1738 at Aldersgate, London, feeling his “heart strangely warmed.” Wesley preached over 40,000 sermons, often outdoors, sparking the 18th-century Evangelical Revival, and traveled 250,000 miles on horseback across Britain and Ireland. He authored 400 works, including A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777), and edited The Christian’s Pattern. Founding Methodist societies, he trained 650 preachers and ordained ministers for America, influencing millions. Married to Mary Vazeille in 1751, their childless union strained, but his brother’s hymns enriched worship. A tireless advocate for the poor, he opened dispensaries and schools, and his 1787 sermon against slavery stirred abolitionism. Despite tensions with the Church of England, he never left it, shaping global Protestantism. His maxim, “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 ever you can,” inspired generations to active faith. Wesley’s journals and letters, still widely read, reveal a legacy of practical holiness and social reform