At the Roots of Methodism: Wesley's wisdom lives in sayings
7/11/2001 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.
NOTE: This is a regular feature on Methodist history by John Singleton prepared especially for distribution by United Methodist News Service. An artist's rendering of John Wesley is available.
A UMNS Feature By John Singleton*
Among the millions of Methodists worldwide who are linked to the name of John Wesley, probably very few have either read the whole of his collected works or are likely to do so. This is understandable, as it would be a daunting exercise for most of us to wade through Wesley's journal, letters and other sundry writings. The scholars and historians who do this task and present the results in a readable format deserve the gratitude of Christians of all churches.
But anyone who goes carefully through the writings will be surprised to find how practical -- in the sense of being usable or quotable - Wesley's wisdom is. I recently discovered this when I turned up an article in a 1903 edition of the Methodist Recorder in which the author, the Rev. John T. Waddy, had meticulously highlighted some of Wesley's sayings.
Three of Wesley's great mottos are well known. That of his outward life: "I look upon all the world as my parish." That of his inner experience: "Let me be a man of one Book." And the word of triumph uttered the day before his death: "The best of all is God is with us." These are frequently quoted and have become well-established Methodist proverbs, but many other sayings deserve similar recognition.
On the economy of time and the right use of the present hour, Wesley expressed himself frequently and forcibly. "A Christian abhors sloth as much as drunkenness," is perhaps his strongest statement on this subject, but the following are further variations on the same theme: "It is a great thing to seize and improve the very now," "You cannot live on what God did yesterday" and "The more labor the more blessing."
On the supremacy of love among the graces of the Christian character, here are some of the briefer gems: "An ounce of love is worth a pound of knowledge," "How far is love, even with many wrong opinions, to be preferred before truth itself without love" and "O for heat and light united."
His hatred of bigotry was one of the most striking features of Wesley's character: "Think and let think," he once said. "Fervor for opinions is not Christian zeal," "If we cannot think alike, at least we may love alike" and "Can anything but love beget love?"
Wesley's knowledge of human nature and his discernment of types of character form another of his outstanding features. The following sayings give us a glimpse of his insight in this respect: "Men are generally inclined to think well of one that talks well," "O what mischief may be done by one that means well!" and "Be not prejudiced against Christianity by those who know nothing at all of it."
The works of Wesley are said to abound in "liberal and kindly maxims," which show him to have possessed a fairly sane and well-balanced mind, unaffected by fanaticism. The following are refreshing examples: "God can do his work by pleasure as well as by pain," "Aim at the cheerfulness of faith," "Continually telling people they are dead is the ready way to make them so," "No man living is without some preventing grace, and every degree of grace is a degree of life," "I love truth wherever I find it," "What is as clear to me as the sun at noonday is not so clear to every one" and "I have often repented of judging too severely, but very seldom of being too merciful."
No survey of this kind would be complete without Wesley's unquestioning trust in divine providence: "God's time is always the best time" and "Whatever God calls us to He will fit us for."
Wesley's biographers have pointed out that while he traveled around for more than 50 years, stirring up excitement and interest wherever he went, he himself always seemed to exude calmness. His advice and experience on this point are embodied in the following: "Be exact in everything," "Give everything the last touch," "Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry" and "Duty is all I consider -- trouble and reproach I value not."
Only a few days before his death, he wrote to British Methodist leader Adam Clarke: "Do a little at a time that you may do the more."
Sayings and quotes that indicate the devoutness of Wesley's mind and the practical quality of his religious experience include the following: "Ease bought by sin is a dear purchase," "Whatever religion can be concealed is not Christianity," "When the Holy Ghost teaches, there is no delay in learning," "Use the world and enjoy God" and "What is the real value of a thing but the price it will bear in eternity?"
And here are some quotations that I suppose illustrate Wesley's strong common sense: "There are many truths it is not worthwhile to know," "Take nothing ill that is well meant," "Always take advice or reproof as a favor," "If there were no hearers there would be no speakers of evil" and "Be not afraid to know yourself."
Wesley's voice, like that of other great leaders, grows fainter as the age in which he lived recedes into the past, but to Methodists it is a voice that is still distinct, pointing as it does to the God whom he served -- the one who is timeless. "The Gospel is in truth but one great promise from the beginning of it to the end," Wesley once said. "Our business now is to love and obey -- knowledge is reserved for eternity," "They that bring most holiness to heaven will find most happiness there" and "Let love fill your heart, and it is enough."
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*Singleton is assistant editor of the weekly Methodist Recorder newspaper in London. He can by contacted by e-mail at John.S@methodistrecorder.co.uk.
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