Wesleyan tradition
john Wesley and The Wesleyan Tradition
Wesley Center Online. This page offers collection of historical and scholarly resources about the Wesleyan Tradition.
Collection of Wesleyana at Bridwell Library. This collection features letters, images, and other documents written by or relating to the founders of Methodism, John and Charles Wesley.
John Wesley's Poetry, Hymns, and Verse. A zipped file containing a complete set of the original transcripts of these hymns (.zip file) .Poetry and Hymn Collections: The Bicentennial Edition includes (vol. 7) a critical edition of John Wesley’s magisterial Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodist (1780).
John Wesley Manuscript Prayer Manual. Wesley’s manuscript prayer manual offers an important window into his devotional practices during the early 1730s. The bulk of Wesley’s manuscript notebook is devoted to morning and evening prayers for the seven days of the week.
John Wesley’s A Christian Library. This is a resource page for those who want to read and study John Wesley’s thirty-volume, fifteen-thousand-page series called A Christian Library: Consisting of Extracts from and Abridgments of the Choicest Pieces of Practical Divinity That Have Been Published in the English Tongue (reprinted edition, 1819-1826).
Register of John Wesley’s Preaching Texts. The purpose of this register is to collect every instance of John Wesley’s oral preaching, where we have record of the scripture text on which he based the sermon.
The Journal of John Wesley from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Covenant Renewal Service
In 1775, John Wesley introduced a covenant service as an important part of spiritual life in the Methodist Societies. This renewal service was a time for the Methodists to gather annually in a time of self-examination, reflection, and dedication, wholly giving up themselves and renewing covenant with God. Repentance through confession and commitment was a key focus of the service, demanding humility from those willing to submit themselves to the dynamic words stated within the liturgy.
Early Wesley Resources
When we look into the history of the Methodist movement, we can find important sources which help to track the changes and development of Wesley's desire for for genuine Christian discipleship.Following his struggles in Georgia — including conflicts with colonists, his strict discipline, and his disastrous romantic entanglement — Wesley found himself questioning his faith. After returning to England, he experienced his Aldersgate “heart-warming” conversion in May 1738, and within a year began organizing converts and seekers into the first Methodist society. Wesley edited prayer manuals, though they were not comprehensive Sunday service books:A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every Day in the Week (1733) – Wesley’s private prayer manual, not a public liturgy. A Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1737) – the first hymnbook published in America, but again not a full liturgy.The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (1743) ...Written in 1743, John Wesley’s The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies is the foundational structure and rules of the Methodist “societies”. These were originally printed in London as a short pamphlet, explaining the purpose, structure, and General Rules of Methodist “societies”: doing no harm, doing good, and attending upon the ordinances of God. This defined Methodist identity and discipline. The pamphlet was repeatedly reprinted in England and America, even being incorporated into The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church (from 1785 onward), and became constitutionally protected in 1808. John Wesley and the early Methodist societies were officially a part of the Church of England, which meant they used the 1662 Book Of Common Prayer for sacraments and public worship within parish churches. However, Methodist preaching services (in societies, class meetings, field preaching, etc.) were tended to be non-liturgical and consisted of Scripture reading, preaching, extemporaneous prayer, and hymn singing.
The Methodists in the colonies did not have a separate prayer book of their own, which meant they were dependent on Anglican clergy for baptism, Eucharist, marriage, and burial. To further complicate matters, after the Revolution there was a shortage of clergy in America. This means the American Methodist preachers, who were usually laymen, who did not have access to or the authority to use the Prayer Book’s sacramental rites, needed something to aid them in their task at hand. Convinced that Methodists in America were effectively a church, John Wesley took the extraordinary step of ordaining Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury AND preparing The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America. You can find an off-site 1784 version here. When Wesley prepared the work and sent it to America with Thomas Coke (who had been commissioned by Wesley and sailed to America that year), it was at the Christmas Conference (Lovely Lane, Baltimore), in December of 1784, that the new Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. Wesley’s Sunday Service was adopted as the liturgical provision for the new body. What came out of that gathering was the adoption of a set of rules, identifying Wesley’s Sunday Service (as its liturgy), adopting the Articles of Religion (adapted from the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles), and a small pamphlet in 1785, entitled The Doctrines and Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which served as the first official Discipline in America. Eventually the small pamphlet was bound and published in 1790, yet the contents are essentially the same as the 1787 A Form of Discipline for the Ministers, Preachers, and Members of the METHODIST Episcopal CHURCH in America.
THe Early Books in pdf format:
- The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies(1743)
- John Wesley’s The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America(1788)(1903 Reprint)(1825 Reprint)
- Minutes of Several Conversations Between The Preachers Late In Connection With The Rev. Mr. Wesley(1785)
- A Form of Discipline for the Ministers, Preachers, and Members of the METHODIST Episcopal CHURCH in America(Reprint of the 1787 publication)