December 17, 2003
A UMNS Feature
By John Singleton

Given the high profile accorded to John Wesley throughout this tercentenary year of his birth, it is hardly surprising that a number of myths about the founder of Methodism continue to surface.

British Methodist historian John Vickers has noted that a few misconceptions can be traced back to Wesley himself. For instance, it has often been stated that he was baptized "John Benjamin" in memory of two of his brothers who had died soon after birth. Wesley himself apparently told one of his preachers that he was told this by his father, Samuel Wesley.

Writing in a recent edition of the British Methodist Recorder, Vickers says that a former editor of the paper in the early 20th century, Nehemiah Curnock (also a noted Wesley scholar), had confirmed it from the certificate Samuel Wesley supplied to the bishop of Oxford at the time of John's ordinations in 1725 and 1728.

"Despite this, the fact is that Samuel Wesley had got it wrong, and he in turn was misleading others," Vickers says. "We have more accurate and reliable evidence of the facts than even Samuel's memory."

The Epworth parish registers were destroyed in the rectory fire in 1709, but some years ago, American Methodist historian Frank Baker was able to demonstrate that the bishop's transcripts of those records in Lincoln showed that John was given one name - and that one only - at his baptism. "Curnock was a leading scholar and editor in his day, but none of us is beyond being proved wrong by fresh evidence," Vickers says.

A second myth is exemplified by a plaque on the pulpit of the parish church of South Leigh, near Oxford, which recalls - again in Wesley's own words - that he "preached his first sermon" there. This "fact" had been repeated frequently and seemed irrefutable, coming from Wesley's own journal. But according to Vickers, it was another American Methodist historian's "trailblazing work" in deciphering Wesley's diaries that revealed a different story.

The Rev. Richard Heitzenrater established that on the first Sunday after Wesley's ordination as deacon, Wesley did not preach at all, but a week later read prayers and preached (from Job 3:17) not once but twice: at Fleet Marston and at Upper Winchendon, two villages west of Aylesbury and within easy reach of Oxford.

"What, then, of Wesley's statement more than 40 years later?" Vickers asks. "It was perfectly true, but contained a misleading ambiguity: His 'first sermon' was preached at South Leigh, but not until Feb. 12, 1727, nearly five months later, by which time he had already preached it eight times in various other places."

Coming forward to the 20th century, Vickers says a myth was perpetrated in 1926 when American Methodists generously funded the restoration of what were believed to be the rooms occupied by Wesley as a fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford - rooms that are still shown to visitors.

"But more recent research ... has shown that Wesley actually lived on the west side of the Chapel Quadrangle," he says. "In this case, the error has been traced to the 19th century politician and writer, John Morley, who claimed that as a student he occupied the same rooms as Wesley had done." This was not so.

One of the most curious myths has its origins in 1784 when, as everyone knows, Wesley dispatched Thomas Coke and two itinerant preachers to reorganize American Methodism following the war of independence. "In order to mark the 200th anniversary of this significant event, a picture was painted with the title 'Offer them Christ'," Vickers says.

"In it, Wesley is depicted bidding farewell to the three as they embarked at Pill, near Bristol. The artist went to some lengths to ensure detailed authenticity and claimed to have consulted a number of leading British Methodists.

"The resulting painting has much to commend it. But its one failure is crucial: we can be sure, merely from reading Wesley's published journal, that the event never actually happened!" Vickers says. Wesley's priorities were very different from those the artist supposed, and he was busy on a preaching tour elsewhere at the time.

None of these "myths" detracts from what has been a remarkable year of celebration and remembrance. In fact, the myths add to it, for around every great historical person there develops an aura in which fact and fiction sometimes become intermingled.

The most important fact is that John Wesley was born 300 years ago and became the driving force behind the Methodist movement. The fact that this movement is now worldwide would surely have amazed Wesley, who simply saw himself as a servant of the Lord.

United Methodist News Service
John Singleton is a consultant editor with the weekly Methodist Recorder newspaper in London. He can be contacted by e-mail at john@towerhamlets.org.