For this particular lecture we’ll cover
the rest of the highlights, namely, lay preachers, number six, the Wesleyan conference, and number
seven, ministry to the poor. So we’re just trying to present here highlights
that would give us a good sense of the shape of early Methodism in England. And so going to the lay preachers we need
to understand that by 1741, one innovation that would emerge within Methodism in England
would be the emergence of lay preachers. This innovation came really as more of an
accident as a result of a necessity, most particularly at the Foundry. And at the middle of this beginning was Thomas
Maxfield who was one of the first converts to Methodism in Bristol in April 1739. If you may recall what had happened on April
1739, this was the beginning of John Wesley’s field preaching when he decided
to be “more vile” that same month. Thomas Maxfield was one of those who had a
violent conversion during this revival, during these meetings in Bristol. And so later on he became a very helpful personal
worker at the Foundry. But on one occasion most likely according
to most scholarly accounts, most likely in 1740, with the absence of John Wesley, Maxfield
found a necessity to preach to the congregants who attended the meeting at the Foundry. And so when Wesley found about this, he was
quite displeased and he was reported to have replied, “Thomas Maxfield has turned preacher!” But as he complained about this, his mother
Susannah who was there when Thomas preached, said: Fortunately for Maxfield, Susannah was there. And so with this advice to her son, Wesley
went and heard Maxfield preach on one occasion and after hearing him preach, he was satisfied
and he said: In other words, “Who am I to stand against
what God is doing here.” This basically
was the beginning of lay preachers in Methodism and Thomas Maxfield was the first male preacher
and the one that was first authorized by John Wesley to do so. And so given this beginning this was not,
however, welcomed by the established church, meaning the Anglican Church, most particularly,
the clergy in the Church of England. And so it was not uncommon for John Wesley
and his societies to hear criticisms from the established church regarding their usage
of lay preachers. And often, these preachers were accused of
being so-called “unlettered,” meaning unschooled, meaning, uneducated. In one occasion Wesley replied to this accusation,
most particularly in his writing, A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion So these are very strong words of defense
from John Wesley. And so, Thomas Maxfield was just the beginning
of this long line of persons who would find themselves preaching later on or found themselves
engaging in this work as a result of their work in the classes and in
other discipleship structures of the societies. Other well-known preachers during this period
would include, for example, John Cennick who was appointed by Wesley to take care of the
school at Kingswood near Bristol but later he would find himself also expounding and
preaching to those assembled coal miners there at Kingswood. But later Cennick left the Methodists and
went with the Moravians. Another example was John Nelson. John Nelson was converted to John Wesley’s
preaching at the Moorfields in London at the height of the revival and later he would become
a preacher. And one of the highlights of his career in
Methodism was he accompanied Wesley in his preaching tours in Cornwall. Again, another obvious example was Silas Told,
the same guy we mentioned in the previous lecture when we were talking about Free Grace. Silas Told acted like a chaplain to those
who were condemned at Newgate Prison. He was a permanent fixture there but before
that, he used to work as a crew in the slave trade (slave ship) just like John Newton. Remember John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace? But later Silas told was converted through
the preaching of John Wesley in Bristol and then quickly became a preacher afterwards. There are so many examples that we can cite
here, of men who were converted powerfully in the revivals and later on finding themselves
preaching the gospel to the masses. But this enterprise of lay preaching was not
a monopoly of men s it was a natural progression within the movement. As the example of Thomas Maxfield, we find
the same case happening among the women leaders in the Movement. As you may recall from the chart that I showed
in the previous lecture you’ve seen there like these different discipleship structures
within Methodism and some of these would include class meetings, band meetings and these meetings
were sometimes segregated. And so, it was not uncommon to see women who
were leading these meetings to go to the next level, take their leadership roles to the
next level. First, they would just lead in the study of
scriptures but then later on they would find themselves exhorting. Then afterwards they would find themselves
preaching to much bigger crowds in the societies due to circumstances which they would always
say beyond their control. It was because there was a necessity, there
was a need for someone to preach on those occasions. And so, a very good example of a woman leader
who would go to that progression was Mary Bosanquet. Mary, by the way, was later married to John
Fletcher, an Anglican clergy and also known as the theologian for the Methodist movement. But Mary was a class leader but later on in
what she would call an extraordinary situation or extraordinary case which led her to preach
on one occasion. And so, she was troubled by what happened
to her and so she wrote John Wesley and inquired regarding that situation. Let’s read this letter that John wrote Mary
on June 13, 1771. You need to understand this was later in the
movement but this
is just an example by the way. John wrote: So as you
can see here, Wesley found their progression into preaching as a
result of an “extraordinary call” and, by the way, that terminology “extraordinary”
came from Mary herself. Wesley just echoed that in this letter. Wesley realized that the movement that Methodism
was an extraordinary dispensation anyhow and so it would not surprise him to find these
extraordinary situations and circumstances happening within the movement. Another example was Sarah Crosby who also
was a class leader, who began exhorting, and then later preaching in the society. Another much later one was Sarah Mallet who
Wesley authorized to become a preacher. Actually, Wesley wrote a note endorsing Sarah
Mallet, a young woman, extending the right hand of fellowship in the Methodist Connection. And so, I wish if you have more time you look
this name up and find out more about the stories behind these women preachers in Methodism. Another highlight was the emergence of the
Wesleyan conference. We need to understand that as early as June
1740 Wesley decided to unite all the different forces within the evangelical revival. By this time in 1740 there were already two
groups in existence, namely the Moravians and the Wesleyan Methodist. Wesley tried to consolidate these two different
groups by calling for a conference but then no one came from the Moravian side in what
could have been a uniting conference. But later on, as you may recall, in 1741,
a year later, Wesley would have this split with George Whitefield and so others who were
of the Calvinistic in vent within the movement joined George as part of this Calvinistic
wing of the revival, thereby continuing to split the revival into three: from the Wesleyans,
the Moravians, and the Calvinistic Methodists under the leadership of George Whitefield. But in 1744, Wesley was able to organize a
conference. However, the two other factions did not join
in this conference. And so, this first conference was held at
the Foundry in London with Charles Wesley, four other Anglican clergy, and four prominent
lay preachers. As you can see on the slide, you see this
engraving portraying Wesley leading this conference. But what is interesting and let me just show
you the next slide, out of this meeting came ‘The Minutes of Some Late Conversations
between the Reverend Mr. Wesley and Others.’ As a result of this meeting, this first conference,
came the minutes. Today, we still continue this practice in
the United Methodist Church and in Methodism in general with the use of the annual conference
journal. But this was effectively the first annual
conference journal. And so, if you look at the first page of this
minutes, it says Monday 25th of June 1744, so that’s when they did this conference. And it says here: So, before we go to what was the agenda of
the meeting, let me just backtrack a little bit on those names that were mentioned. You need to understand that Methodism was
not just a network led by Wesley and a number of lay preachers. With this movement were also Anglican clergy
who were supportive of the movement. Actually, it was the Anglican clergy, like
for example, John and Charles, they were Anglican clergy—they were the ones who helped John
keep order at the circuits in the absence of John. They were the ones who would help bring order
in some of the societies and conduct quarterly meetings. And since the lay preachers were not allowed
to do the ordinances or the sacraments, they need the help of these network of Anglican
clergy to provide the sacraments to the members of the societies. And so now, going to the actual agenda of
this first meeting, well it was divided into three. First, what was the agenda? What to teach? Second, How to teach? And third, What to do? How to regulate our doctrine discipline and
practice. So basically, the conference, this first conference
dealt with the issue of what? Doctrine, discipline, and practice. Okay? If you look at number one, what to teach,
that talks about doctrine. If you look at number two, how to teach? That talks about discipline. And third, what to do? It talks about practice. And so, just looking at the background behind
what to teach, okay, we will not look at all the three, but just looking at number one,
what to teach? They dealt with the question of doctrine. First, it is not hard to understand because
this was in light of the different doctrinal differences that were emerging during the
revival. This was essentially the first attempt by
Wesley and the others to make a concerted effort to really draw doctrinal lines, to
define what do we really believe as a movement? The evangelical revival begun five years earlier
had already broken up into different doctrinal stances or differences. Again, there was this controversy with the
Moravians and second, this controversy with Whitfield in 1741. And so, on its first page, you see right away
the answer to number one. It says say we began considering the doctrine
of justification. The questions relating to the substance of
the answers given there were as follows: What is to be justified? Answer. to be pardoned and receive into God’s
favor into such a state that if we continue therein, we shall be finally saved. Here, the first question was justification
but later on they would also talk about regeneration. They would also talk about sanctification. If we’re going to summarize what emerged
from this conversation regarding that first question we can summarize into five major
themes. That is, one, the fall, meaning the problem
of sin. Second, repentance. Third, justification as we
mentioned a while ago. Fourth, regeneration. And five, sanctification. So what can you get from these five major
themes? Well, this brings to light Wesley’s understanding
of salvation. Going back to that chart I showed in the previous
lectures, this same chart, Wesley’s basic understanding of salvation, they were trying
to define the Wesleyan understanding of soteriology—how one is saved. So, what can we deduce from this five major
themes? It is basically the way of salvation, God’s
saving grace. This is what was central to the practice of
early Methodists. The movement was highly soteriological. Everything they did revolve around this theme
and as I’ve shown you a number of times in the previous lectures. And so, aside from the emergence of the Wesleyan
Conference, another highlight to the development of Methodism in England, and I think it’s
one of the important things that we should note, was its preferential option for the
poor or ministry to the poor. This was part of their identity and it blossomed
in the societies from the 1740s up to the 1780s. In fact, it is in the societies where works
of mercy was thought as a means of grace. We always say that means of grace most often
refers to spirituality. It has something to do with the ordinances. But also for John, it is also a means of grace. For example, in John’s sermon, “On Zeal”: So this
is one of the examples where Wesley makes a case
for the importance of works of mercy or ministry to the poor in the societies and you’ll
find a lot of this in other writings of Wesley. Another way that this has blossomed and taught
in the societies was that they also encouraged the sacrifice of goods among the members of
the societies, and this is captured most specifically in the hymns of Charles Wesley. Charles supplied the societies with hymns
for them to sing and in this hymns were attached theology or understanding about the Christian
faith. A good example was his collection of hymns
titled, ‘Hymns on the Lord’s Supper.’ Let me just cite two examples from this collection
of hymns: Methodists during this period have a good
grasp of the concept of stewardship and that ministry to the poor, helping the poor, giving
to the poor is a form of sacrifice. Another way this has blossomed was through
deed-based evangelism. Methodists were not simply to wait unto the
poor until the poor came to them but they were also encouraged to seek them out. Wesley longed for a church that exhibited
charity in all its forms. So, he leads his friends and his flock to
beg for funds, provide soup kitchens, collect clothing and blankets, gather stocks of coal
for fires, set up medical clinics, form literacy classes, open lending libraries, visit prisoners
and their families, including prisoners of war, tutor children, organized Sunday schools,
set up employment services, provide loan funds, and establish homes for orphans, unwed mothers,
and the aged. You know, they have all this long list of
different ministries geared toward helping those who cannot help themselves. Although most Methodists work in jobs when
they had jobs, where the pay was below the poverty line. Nevertheless, they bring their penny a week,
okay, not just for the maintenance of the buildings, the preaching house, but also so
that this will be used to help the poor to assist those who are in even more desperate
straits than themselves. So, in other words, we find the poor ministering
to the poor. The society were not societies were the middle
class gathered, it’s mostly poor people. Another interesting thing that blossomed in
the societies was that they were centers for providing health care to the communities where
they are located. So Wesley address the health care crisis in
his time, so just like in our time today, when the rich have good medical care and the
poor have none. Well, Wesley tried his best to address that
problem, like for example, here we find a engraving of Wesley opening up a dispensary
at the Foundry in London. So, the Foundry was not only a preaching house,
it was also a clinic. Actually, it was the first free public medical
dispensary in London whereby the poor are given access to free medicine. Wesley also later opened similar health care
clinics at Newcastle and Bristol. Sadly, all closed within a decade for lack
of donations to keep up with the demand. Another example was in 1747 when Wesley compiles
the most popular family medical manual of the 18th century in England, and this popular
manual was ‘Primitive Physic or An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases.’ About two dozen editions were published during
his lifetime. This just shows us how popular this book was. In other words, Wesley was trying to make
health care accessible to the poor. Inside this Primitive Physic you will find
some of the advice Wesley gives for certain ailments which would fall in the category
of folk remedies. Let’s just look at this number 76. Burning eyes. apply a thick apple pairing lying down in
bed. Number 78 is a good one, I think. Blindness is often cured by cold bathing or
by electrifying and then he puts there the word, “tried,” meaning, he already experimented
on this. This has cured even Gutta Serena. So, he had a patient. And then I’ll show this later, Wesley had
an electric convulsive machine at the Foundry and experimented on electricity to heal different
ailments. Number 218, for example. To prevent the tooth ache. Wash them out with cold water every morning. Tried. Or rub the teeth with tobacco ashes. Or number 219. To cure the tooth ache. Be electrified through the tooth. Tried. Or rub the cheek a quarter of an hour. Or put a clove of garlic into the ear. Or parsley much bruised with a little bay
salt. And so, talking about electricity, Wesley
wrote a book anonymously titled, ‘The Desideratum or Electricity Made Plain and useful by a
Lover of Mankind and of Common Sense, referring to himself of course! And Wesley had this electroconvulsive machine
in London and he would have patients basically hold these two levers one if you see, the
one with the ball, and other one attached to a battery, and Wesley would crank it, as
you see, there’s a crank here to generate electricity and this was most likely acquired
in 1747. And so a quite interesting, I think, way of
Wesley to be able to make health care accessible to the poor. Aside from the society’s being a center
that provided health care, in the societies were also organized what you would call ‘visitors
of the sick’ and “stewards.” So these visitors of the sick, they were tasked
to dispense medicine and offer prayer to those who are sick in the community. Not only that, the stewards, on the other
hand, would also go from house to house, and they would disperse financial help to those
who would be in need of help. A good example of a visitor to the sick is
found in a letter written by Abraham Jones on December 12, 1742. Abraham Jones, by the way, was a visitor to
the sick at the Foundry Chapel in London. He had been appointed in the first of 23 districts
which were Wesley divided for visitation. So, this is what Jones writes in his letter to Wesley: So, here’s an amazing example of someone
who was engaged in visiting the sick. Another way, it is found in the design of
the Methodist chapels this emphasis on ministering to the poor, it’s also ingrained in the
architecture of those chapels. When Wesley has a chapel built, he directs
it to be plain and simple and with free seats. During this time pew rents or pew rentals
became a standard way to raise funds to support the building of a church but Methodists resisted
that at least during that period. As we know later on, even in this country,
in the United States in the 19th century, some Methodist churches would also capitulate
to that practice of pew rentals. But during the time of Wesley seats were for
free. There were no pew rentals. The intent was not to make the poor feel oppressed
or disjointed by the opulence of the wealthy. And so that’s why if you look at Methodist
chapels during that time, a good example, is on the slide. This one is the New Room in Bristol and you
see how plain it is and I was told when I was there that even these columns were not
there when they built this chapel or at least they were not adorned as they’re adorned
now. But they were kept very simple. And that is to be able to free up resources
to help the poor. So this is a common pattern if you look at
other early Methodist preaching houses or chapels during that time.