John Wesley and the Shaping of Liturgical Time
by John Drury
The
English revival led by John Wesley is often perceived as a reaction to the dry
liturgical religion of a national church.
He was a defiant extemporaneous preacher and itinerant minister. Yet it is this very evangelist who proclaimed
even late in his career, “I believe there is no liturgy in the world, either in
ancient or modern language, which breaths more a solid, scriptural, rational
piety, than the Common Prayer of the Church of England.”[i] John Wesley may be more “high church” than
expected.
The
Anglican liturgy left an indelible mark on Wesley’s ministry. An investigation into the impact of
liturgical time on the content of his sermons illumines this mark. The following paper is the result of a
comparative analysis of John Wesley’s sermons and the 1662 edition of the Book
of Common Prayer, which was in use during his whole lifetime. His journal entries on particular days of
interest have also been examined, as well as other writings which address the
pious shaping of time. Further confirmation of his attitudes toward the liturgy are found
in his edition of the Book of Common Prayer sent to the North American
Methodists.
This
comparative analysis is presented in two movements. The first examines the influence on John
Wesley’s preaching by the liturgical yearly cycle in the strict sense. The second is an account of Wesley’s attitude
toward other time structures. “High
church” motifs in Wesley’s writing in regards to
weekly services, communion, and fast days are evident. These comparative studies are offered in
support of the thesis that John Wesley had a relatively high appreciation for
Anglican liturgical structure of time.
The
study of Wesley and the liturgical year would be incomplete, however, if
comparison where not coupled with contrast.
Wesley’s practice and teaching was not only shaped by the liturgy, but
he in turn shaped time in the worship life of the Methodist movement. Although I do not intend to present a
complete history of the Methodist worship, I would like to point out the
special emphases and innovations in Wesley’s ordering of time. His sermons, journals, and worship
instructions provide ample evidence in support of this complementary
thesis. These two theses present a
picture of Wesley who was both in continuity with his Anglican heritage and breaking
free from it.
I.
John Wesley and the Anglican Church Year
John
Wesley was raised and educated under the ethos of the Anglican liturgy. The primary source for his own pattern of
pious time was outlined for him in the Book of Common Prayer. His early preaching was especially guided by
it. Yet even as Wesley began preaching
extemporaneously and outside the confines of church walls and schedules, he
retained a deep affection for the Anglican forms. These forms continued to shape the content of
his preaching.
Our primary task is to walk through the church
year, stopping at points along the way to exhibit the liturgical yearly cycle’s
influence on John Wesley’s sermons.
Correlation as well as special emphasis will be noted. As the liturgical year commences with the
season of advent, so shall I.
Advent
and Christmas
Unfortunately
there are no published sermons on Wesley’s preached during the Advent season or
even addressing the Christmas message.
However, his perpetuation of the traditional Anglican celebration of
Christmas is evidenced in his instructions to the North American Methodists. The edition of the Book of Common Prayer he
sent to them is designed for use on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays. However, he retains Christmas as one of three
holy days which do not necessarily fall on a Sunday. The prescribed lessons (Isa.
9:1-8; 7:10-17; Lk. 2:1-15; Tit. 3:4-9) and psalms
(19, 45, 85, 89) are modeled after those found in the 1662 edition of the Book
of Common Prayer.[ii]
New
Year’s Day
The
liturgical year has often been understood as the church’s attempt to live out
the life of Christ. The story of Jesus’
life begins with his birth, celebrated on December 25. As the Gospel of Luke records the
circumcision of Jesus on the eighth day according to Jewish law, so too the
liturgical calendar has included the commemoration of Our Lord’s Circumcision
eight days after Christmas on January first.
The
1662 Book of Common Prayer designates Romans 2 as the epistle reading for
evening prayer services (“mattens”) on January first.[iii] On this day in 1733, while teaching at
Oxford, John Wesley expounded on Romans 2:29: “Circumcision is that of the
heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter.”[iv] He preached a beautiful sermon on the four
inward virtues implied by the spiritual circumcision of the heart: humility,
faith, hope, and charity. This was the
first of his writings to be published.[v] His choice of theme clearly originates from
liturgical celebration, and his reference was given to him by the
lectionary.
Furthermore,
not only was the form of his sermon shaped by liturgical time, his content sprang forth from the pious organization of space. One might note his odd pairing of the three
theological virtues with humility. The reason for this association comes to light in the architecture of
Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, for there, chiseled into the stone of the
floor, are found nine virtues.
The virtues lead like stepping stones from the four cardinal virtues to
the three theological ones. Mercy and
humility form the bridge between these traditional sets. So resting before the eyes of any Oxford
student was the unlikely foursome of humility, faith, hope, and charity. Wesley, at least in his earliest days, was
under significant influence of the liturgical ordering of time and space.
Soon
after involving himself in the revival ministry, John Wesley and his Methodist
societies began practicing a Watch-night service. Although the first services of this nature
occurred spontaneously and on a near monthly basis,[vi]
the Watch-night service became a New Year’s Vigil. The Methodists would gather on December 31 to
sing and pray throughout the night.[vii] Although this time scheme was carried over
from the Moravians, Wesley was convinced it was in line with the Anglican
tradition. In a 1750 letter to Mr. Baily, Wesley proclaims, “Sir, did you never see the word Vigil
in your Common-Prayer Book?... it was customary with the ancient Christians to
spend whole nights in prayer ... we have not only the authority of our own
national Church, but of the universal Church, in the earliest ages.”[viii] So, although Wesley borrowed an arguably
primitive church liturgical act from the Moravians, his defense includes an
appeal to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
On
New Year’s Day itself, the Methodists would make or renew a covenant with
God. Wesley repeatedly recalls the
blessings of this solemn service.[ix] Unlike the Watch-night service, this communal
confirmation of personal commitment finds no precedent in the Anglican
liturgy. The driving principle of a
covenant has obvious associations with the Puritan Free Church movement. However, it had a liturgical form, for which
Wesley published an order of service in 1780,[x]
and the Lord’s Supper was a central aspect of it. Its association with January first has little
liturgical precedence. The practice
could simply be a pragmatic one, for the societies would already be gathered
from the Watch-night service the night before.
However, the folk connotations of New Year’s Day with
future commitments (“resolutions”) makes some sense of covenanting on
the first of the year.
Lent
The
church of England did and still does observe
Lent. John Wesley was quite familiar
with the practices and messages of this season of mourning and
preparation. Although he does not
mention Lent directly, he preached quite a few sermons during this season. He also addresses the issue of fasting.
“On Worldly Folly,”[xi]
and “On the Wedding Garment”[xii]
were both preached during Lent without correlation to the lectionary or the
content of the season. Two additional
sermons do contain some correlation, albeit in a peculiar manner. While in Georgia on February 20 of 1736,
Wesley preached “On Love,” expounding on 1 Corinthians 13:3, a passage
designated to be read February 1st.[xiii] He also preached “The Rich Man and Lazarus”
on March 25, 1738 at Birmingham on Luke 16:31,[xiv]
a passage which was to be read twenty days earlier on March 5th.[xv] Although it may be a coincidence, it is
rather odd that both of these sermons were preached approximately twenty days
late. This same pattern of “lectionary
delay” appears in a few of Wesley’s sermons during ordinary time.[xvi] Perhaps there was some change was in effect
of which we have no record. Whatever the
cause, these strange alignments exhibit the plausibility of greater attention
to the lectionary by Wesley than the surface information indicates.
A
far clearer correlation can be found between the Book of Common Prayer and John
Wesley’s sermon “The Great Assize.”[xvii] On Friday March 10, 1758 at St. Paul’s,
Bedford, nine days before Palm Sunday, he preached this sermon about the last
judgment. Although Romans 14:10 is
listed as his text, he moves topically throughout the canon, which was his
usual style. Twice he refers to and
expounds upon the eschatological discourse of Luke 21,[xviii]
which was the reading for morning prayer that day.[xix] Therefore, even at the height of his
evangelical ministry, Wesley still turned to the prayer book for guidance and
inspiration.
Although
he may have followed the lectionary during Lent, there is some indication that
Wesley saw Lent as potentially harmful.
For instance, he removed it entirely from his edition of the Book of
Common Prayer sent to the North American Methodists.[xx] While addressing the matter of fasting in the
Scriptures, he dubs the case of Daniel and his friends “abstaining from
pleasant food” (Daniel 1:8ff) as the “lowest kind of fasting... Perhaps from a
mistaken imitation of this might spring the very ancient custom of abstaining
from flesh and wine during such time as were set apart for fasting and
abstinence.”[xxi] Here he appears to criticize the common
observance of the Lenten fast.
Nevertheless,
Wesley is quite supportive of fasting.
He retains Friday as the day of fasting in his instructions to North
American Methodists.[xxii] He rather comfortably and with approval lists
Lent among the fast days of the Church.[xxiii] He considers it “deplorable” that many
Methodists are neglecting fasts,[xxiv]
and his journals are full of his own commitment to fasting. Therefore, despite his reservations about set
fasts, John Wesley smiled upon the practice of regular fasting.
Good
Friday and Easter
Out
of all his voluminous works, not a single one of John Wesley’s sermons was
designated for preaching on Good Friday or Easter. His journals do indicate that he did preach
and administer sacraments on these days.[xxv] Also, Good Friday is the second of the only
three holy weekdays in the year set aside in his edition of the Prayer Book for
the North American Methodists.[xxvi] It also worthy of note that
his brother Charles wrote special songs to be sung on these days as well.[xxvii] The lack of special homiletical
attention to Good Friday and Easter do not imply a lack of appreciation for
these segments of the liturgical year.
Rather they exhibit his confirmation and perpetuation of the temporal
rhythm of his beloved church.
Ascension
Day and Whitsunday
The
third of the weekdays set apart by Wesley in his edition of the Prayer Book is
Ascension Day.[xxviii] The coming (Christmas), death (Good Friday),
and ascension of Christ were far too important to leave out of the church year
simply because they do not always fall on a Sunday. Charles designated songs for all these days
and many more.[xxix] John does not have a sermon on the matter of
the Ascension, but his liturgical instructions indicate his wish to continue in
the Anglican tradition.
Whitsunday,
or Pentecost Sunday, recalls the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles. For this particular day we do have a sermon
of John’s to coincide with Charles’ hymns.[xxx] John Wesley preaches “On the Holy Spirit” at
St. Mary’s, Oxford on Whitsunday 1736.[xxxi] The lectionary readings would have been Acts
2 and John 14-15.[xxxii] However, he primarily expounds 2 Corinthians
3:17. He explains by saying, “I shall pass by
the particular extraordinary gifts vouchsafed to the first ages for the
edification of the Church; and only consider what the Holy Spirit is to every
believer, for his personal sanctification and salvation.”[xxxiii] Such a turning away from Pentecostal language
in favor of the Pauline was typical for Wesley, although his followers from
John Fletcher onward have not followed suit.
Despite this dodging of the lectionary, Wesley’s theme sprouts directly
out of the soil of the Book of Common Prayer.
Ordinary
Time
The
ordinary cycle of the liturgical year begins on Trinity Sunday, one week after
Whitsunday. Soon after Trinity Sunday in
1775, Wesley preached “On the Trinity” at Cork.[xxxiv] He expounded I John
5:7, “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost: And these three are one.”
Wesley’s doctrine of the Trinity appears to stand heartily on church
tradition, as he quotes the Athanasius and the creeds
liberally.[xxxv] He asks for assent which is willful
and dedicated to the substance of the doctrine, even if one cannot fully
comprehend it.[xxxvi] Once again Wesley’s choice of topic and
theological attitude coincide comfortably with the teaching rhythms of the
church year.
Four
more instances of the aforementioned “lectionary delay” in Wesley’s sermons
occur during ordinary time. The June 17,
1790 sermon “The Heavenly Treasure in Earthen Vessels” comments on 2
Corinthians 4:7,[xxxvii] the
reading for June 6th -- eleven days earlier.[xxxviii] The July 6, 1790 sermon “On Living Without God” preaches out of Ephesians 2:12,[xxxix]
also assigned eleven days earlier on June 25.[xl] The August 12, 1788 sermon “On the
Omnipresence of God” explains Jeremiah 23:24,[xli] which should have been read two weeks before
on July 29th.[xlii] The August 24, 1744 sermon “Scriptural
Christianity” expounds Ezekiel 33:4,[xliii]
yet that chapter was assigned six days earlier for August 18th.[xliv] Whatever can be made of this strange
evidence, there is some kind of correlation at work between John Wesley’s
sermons and the Anglican lectionary.
Ordinary
time, along with the rest of the Anglican church year,
contains many Saints’ Days. Reformed
forces in England had not entirely wiped out these Medieval
traditions. By his removal of any
mention of saints in his instructions to North American Methodists, John Wesley
seems to have not cared much for the veneration of particular saints. However, Saints’ days are not removed from
his Devotions for Every Day of the Week and the Great Festivals. He includes an intercessory prayer for the
saints[xlv]
and an office for the saints’ festivals.[xlvi]
Furthermore,
Wesley focused particularly on All Saints’ Day.
Although he offers little by way of direct reasoning for this emphasis,
his journals reveal his devotion. On
November 1, 1748, he writes, “Being All-Saints’ day, we had a solemn assembly
at the chapel; as I cannot but observe, we have had on
this very day, for several years. Surely,
“right dear in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints!”[xlvii] On All Saints’ Day 1765, Wesley criticized
those who are against remembering the saints, exclaiming, “How superstitious
are they who scruple giving God solemn thanks for the lives and deaths of his
saints.”[xlviii] He celebrates the cloud of witness who makes
up the heavenly component of the church on All Saints’ Day:[xlix]
“On this day in particular, I commonly find the truth
of these words:
The Church
triumphant in his love,
Their might joys we know;
They praise
the Lamb in hymns above,
And we in hymns below.”
He notes with appreciation the
“admirable propriety with which the Collect, Epistle, and Gospel for the day
are suited to each other.”[l] John Wesley loved his Church, the saints upon
which it was built, and the liturgy it practiced.
II.
Other Anglican Services
The
Anglican shape of liturgical time impacted Wesley’s own practices beyond that
of the church year. In a few particular
sermons and other writings, he encouraged the perpetuation of traditional
temporal piety.
In
response to feelings of dissension among his Methodist followers, Wesley urged
them to continue attending the Anglican church. In his sermon “On Attending the Church
Service,”[li] he asks
whether separating from the church of England is
justified in light of the presence of unholy priests. He affirms a rather “high church” view on the
matter by claiming, “If God never did bless it, we ought to separate from the
Church; at least where we have reason to believe that the Minister is an unholy
man: If he ever did bless it, and does so still, then we ought to continue
therein.”[lii] Wesley goes on to prove that throughout
scripture God can work through the ministry of unholy persons.[liii] He says the same is true of the history of
the church.[liv] Having affirmed that God can work through
unholy ministers, he contends that “this charge does not concern the whole body
of the Clergy.”[lv] He concludes that “the word of the Lord is
not bound, though uttered by an unholy Minister; and the sacraments are not dry
breasts, whether he that administers be holy or
unholy.”[lvi] By restating this ancient argument, Wesley
aligns himself with the Anglo-Catholic tradition over against the separatists.
John
Wesley sought to perpetuate regular church attendance not only so the word
would be heard by also that the sacrament would be received. In his discourse “The Duty of Constant
Communion,”[lvii]
Wesley proclaims “that it is the duty of every Christian to receive the Lord’
Supper as often as he [sic] can.”[lviii] He offers four reasons why this is the case:
(1) “it is a plain command of Christ,”[lix]
(2) it confers the benefits of forgiveness and refreshing, (3) it confirms the
pardon of our sins, and (4) it has been the practice of the church since the
beginning.[lx] Therefore, as a command of God and as a mercy
to humans, the Christian should receive communion constantly.[lxi]
Wesley
argues against any excuse to avoid its regular observance. Feeling unworthy is no excuse, for the fear
of damnation is even greater for those who ignore the command of God.[lxii] Wesley cites the Anglican instructions that
one should not commune unless he or she has repented, and comments that this
surely does not mean to avoid the Lord’s Supper but rather urges us to repent
and receive.[lxiii] Some claim there is not enough time to
prepare, but Wesley responds that, although self-examination and private prayer
are good, to obey is even better.[lxiv] Others object that constant communion reduces
reverence for the sacrament. Wesley
retorts that reverence may come by the newness of a thing or by faith, and it
is the latter from which comes the reverence for the Lord’s Supper.[lxv] Still others might complain that they do not
feel blessed by it, yet Wesley reaffirms that it is a command of Christ despite
one’s feelings.[lxvi] Finally, many avoid constant communion
because it is only required three times a year by the church. Wesley explains the church leaders by saying,[lxvii]
The plain sense of them is,
that he who does not receive thrice at least, shall be cast out of the Church:
But they by no means excuse him who communicates no oftener. This never was the judgment of our Church: In
the contrary, she takes all possible care that the sacrament be duly
administered, wherever the Common Prayer is read, every Sunday and holiday in
the year.
By this argument, Wesley emerges as a
commentator on Anglican church law. This entire discourse, the opinions of which
he claimed to have not altered even as late as 1788,[lxviii]
serves as a confirmation of Wesley’s “high church” attitude toward Christian
piety. His sense of the timing of
communion unswervingly supports the pattern put forth by the Anglican church.
The
evidence exhibits John Wesley’s affirmation of Anglican regular worship
services, especially those serving the Lord’s Supper. But what did he have to say about
Baptism? In 1756, Wesley wrote “A Treatise
On Baptism.”[lxix] He addresses what it is, the benefits received
by it, whether Christ intended it to be practiced, and who are the proper
subjects of it. Just as he approved the
Anglican timing of the Lord’s Supper, so too does he approve of the Anglican
timing of Baptism. He responds to those
who object to infant baptism by agreeing that repentance and faith must precede
baptism for adults yet the same is not true for infants.[lxx] They too have sin which needs forgiveness and
are capable of entering into the covenant of the Church.[lxxi] He further defends infant baptism by
appealing to the practice of the universal church,[lxxii]
a move indicating his affirmative attitude toward institutional tradition. John Wesley’s opinions about the meaning and
timing of baptism are born strait out of Anglican piety.
In
addition to the services of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, Wesley perpetuated
the Friday fast days inherited from the Anglican church. The Friday fast dates back to the earliest
centuries of Christianity, and John Wesley had no intention of ending it. He naturally supports its continuation as a
fast day of the Church.[lxxiii] The Friday fast remains in his instructions
to North American Methodists.[lxxiv] So Sundays services and the Friday fast of
the Anglican church influenced him throughout his
ministry.
No
aspect of Wesley’s rendering of pious time was left untouched by the Book of
Common Prayer. He published Devotions
for Every Day in the Week in order to guide and encourage daily prayer among
his readers. The daily offices stray very little from the Anglican daily
prayers, with its Psalms, collects, and hymns.[lxxv] The language is nearly identical to the Book
of Common Prayer.
Wesley
consciously appropriated the yearly cycle as well as other services of the
Anglican liturgical tradition. Although
he emphasized some more than others, the influence the Book of Common Prayer
held on his preaching and practice is unquestionable. Wesley was a man shaped by liturgical time.
III.
John Wesley’s Innovations in Liturgical Time
The
evidence of Wesley’s affirmation and perpetuation of Anglican liturgical time
is plentiful. The goal of his ministry
was certainly not an attack on Anglican piety.
However, John Wesley freely adapted the tradition of his mother
church. He borrowed services from other
traditions and structured time anew, forming a peculiar time-sense among his
followers. He also encouraged changes
akin to that of the Free Church tradition.
Although his affirmations far outweigh his innovations, as the above
evidence suggests, Wesley did manage to leave a unique legacy on pious time.
Wesley’s
edition of the Prayer Book sent to the North American Methodists abridged the
liturgical year drastically. For
instance, while the 1662 Book of Common Prayer retains many Saints’ Days,
Wesley removes them entirely.[lxxvi] He feels justified in this omission because
he sees “at present answering no valuable end.”[lxxvii] Lent is also removed, as well as epiphany and
nearly every holiday which does not fall on a Sunday.[lxxviii]
Although Wesley observed many of these days as the evidence above exhibits, he
did not seem to regard them as fundamentals.
One might say his edition of the prayer book would have satisfied the
Puritans and separatists of the previous century. His “high church” ideals distinguish him from
them, but his evangelical aims often yielded similar results.
After
his so-called “evangelical conversion” in 1738, John Wesley was recruited by
George Whitefield to do field preaching in Bristol. He preached the justification of sinners to
the miners and revival broke. By 1740,
the newly formed Methodist societies gathered in meeting houses, where there
was extemporaneous prayer and preaching.
Although always intended as a supplement to Anglican liturgy,[lxxix]
these free form services became the mark of the Methodist revival.
Wesley
began to put down his manuscripts and prayer books. The sermons were often engineered to fit
occasions, rather than following the lectionary. This was certainly not true of all his
preaching, as shown above, but it was frequent enough to attract dissenters and
separatists among the ranks of the Methodists.
As the movement grew, Wesley commissioned lay preachers, which only
furthered his free form reputation.
Those
who were loyal to the Anglican church would criticize
Wesley. One man argued that one cannot
think and prayer at the same time.
Wesley retorted that, if such a principle were true, then one could not
read and pray at the same time either.[lxxx] Although he did not wish to rid believers of
the beautiful written prayers of the Book of Common Prayer, Wesley nevertheless
wanted souls to have the freedom to engage in free worship too. Apparently Wesley hoped his movement to enjoy
the advantages of both read and extemporaneous prayer. This dream did not come to fruition, however,
especially in North America were “the general pattern of Puritan [free] worship
had so influenced American Christianity that it became the norm for all.”[lxxxi]
Wesley’s
loosening of the sanctorale cycle and livening up of
preaching and prayer were not his only innovations. He also popularized three services new to the
English landscape. The first, the
Love-feast, was borrowed from the Moravians.
As a missionary in Georgia in 1737, he witnessed the German Moravians
gather for a Love-feast and was blessed by it.[lxxxii] After returning to England, John and Charles
joined one in Fetter-Lane on New Year’s Day, 1739.[lxxxiii] Amazed by the work of God there, Wesley
spread the service among the Methodist societies. He directed men and women to come together
once a quarter to eat a “little plain cake and water.”[lxxxiv] This warm service introduces both familial
and primitive church elements into the liturgical rhythm. Although not directly opposed to anything in
the Book of Common Prayer, it is certainly exterior to it.
The
Watch-night service was also learned from the Moravians.[lxxxv] He defends it as coinciding with the Vigil of
the Book of Common Prayer. Although this
is evidence of Wesley’s personal sense of continuity with his roots, its form
was foreign to Anglican worship. The
Methodists were known for their boisterous celebration of God’s work in their
lives. Although it may have had
precedence in the primitive and Anglican churches, the Watch-night services
became a forum for innovative, free worship.
The
third service -- the Covenant service -- did not come from the Moravians, but
from the Puritans. John Bishop notes
that Wesley would have learn the importance of making a covenant with God from
his puritan mother, Susanna.[lxxxvi] Though its inspiration springs from the Free
Church movement, it has an incredibly high and solemn liturgy.[lxxxvii] Yet, along with Watch-night service,
liturgical elements did not keep it from becoming distinct from Anglican
piety. This simultaneously communal and
personal service calls for renewal of one’s commitment to God. For traditional Anglicans, such a renewal
would take place on the anniversary of one’s baptism, which usually falls on
Easter. So Wesley’s Covenant service,
albeit unintentionally, supplants a former service with a new one.
Introducing
new services into the liturgical rhythm of the pious life would sufficiently
alter the time-sense of the Methodists.
Yet these acts were not only practiced as needed, but found their own
home in the yearly cycle. If there is
any holiday John Wesley added to the liturgical calendar, it would be New
Year’s Day. The 1662 Book of Common
Prayer designates January 1st only as Circumcision Day.[lxxxviii] Wesley lists it and Christmas as “the Feasts
of our Saviour.”[lxxxix] This could certainly be said of January 1st before
Wesley’s day, but the measure of emphasis he put on it is remarkable. The Watch-night on New Year’s Eve and the
Covenant Service on New Year’s Day became annual gatherings of the Methodist
societies. His starting point may have
been the Book of Common Prayer, but the arms of Wesley’s liturgical legacy
spread far wider.
Conclusion:
The Two Sides of John Wesley
Two
streams of thought flow through Wesley.
Two strands of practice run through his ministry. There are two sides of John Wesley. One is traditional, “high church” Anglican,
while the other is free form evangelical.
One wishes to perpetuate and renew the liturgy of the Book of Common
Prayer. One wishes to introduce
innovative means of liturgical time.
Although
both of these sides are the true Wesley, the evidence indicates that one is
subordinate to the other. He was first
of all a man of the Church. The world
may have been his parish, but the Anglican church was
still his church and the Book of Common Prayer still his liturgy. These traditional structures grounded his
extemporaneous ministry. His goal was
not dissension, but a renewed life in the church. As long as the liturgy of the church of England did not impede renewal, his mission was in
continuity with it. And his estimation
is that the church never did stand in the way, but was rather a deep well of
resources for pious living.[xc]
Wesley
loved the Anglican liturgy. His
innovations must be noted and praised.
Those in the tradition which follow him have every right and reason to
focus on these. Yet it would be a shame
to ignore this other -- perhaps primary -- side of Wesley. I hope this study on his appropriation of the
church year is a reminder of this “high church” side. This side tempered the excesses of free
worship in the same way that the other side enlivened the dryness of tradition.
Winter
2001
[i] From the Wesley’s preface to John Wesley’s Prayer Book: The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America (James F. White, ed.; Cleveland, OH: OSL Publications, 1991).
[iii] Book of Common Prayer 1662 ed. (1891 facsimile; London: Eyre and Spottiswoode - C.J. Clay, 1891) 26.
[iv] John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1978) V:202-212.
[vi] The first Watch-night service, according to John Bishop, was probably on Friday, March 12, 1742; Methodist Worship in Relation to Free Church Worship (Scholars Studies Press, 1975) 93. Watch-nights were practiced more spontaneously at first, then became associated with New Year’s Eve.
[xxvii] Charles Wesley, Hymns for Our Lord’s Resurrection (London: W. Strahan, 1746); J. Ernest Rattenbury, The Evangelical Doctrines of Charles Wesley’s Hymns (London: Epworth Press, 1941) 163-165.
[xxxiv] Works VI:199-206. He preached this sermon on May 7th and had to finish writing it on May 8th in order to hand it over for printing. He warns the reader of its defects because of his lack of time or books as he committed it to writing (VI:199).
[xlv] John Wesley, Devotions for Every Day of the Week and the Great Festivals (Christian Library of Practical Divinity; London: Methuen & Co., 1908) 186.
[lxxxvii] The sermon for this service is found in John and Charles Wesley: Selected Prayer, Hymns, Journal Notes, Sermons, Letters and Treatises (Frank Whaling, ed.; New York: Paulist Press, 1981) 134-145.
[xc] “I declare once more that I live and die a member of the Church of England,” and other strong words in support of the Anglican Church can be found in Works XIII:272.
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