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“I fear God and honour the King”: John Wesley and the American Revolution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Allan Raymond
Allan Raymond
Affiliation:
Mr. Raymond is assistant professor of history in the Ohio State University, Mansfield, Ohio.
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Extract

John Wesley, leader of the Methodist movement in England, was a significant figure to the unenfranchised lower class of English society. His movement roused popular spiritual and religious fervor among groups not reached by the bulk of the Anglican clergy, and he was in a position to observe and communicate with the English people in a way few others were. Many Anglicans had initially feared the Methodists as secret Jesuits or supporters of a Stuart restoration, but much of the violent opposition had declined by the 1760s. Still, little would be needed to revive action opposition to Methodist activities. It is in this connection that Wesley's activities in the era of the American Revolution should be viewed1

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 45 , Issue 3 , September 1976 , pp. 316 - 328
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1976

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References

1. Holland, Lynwood M., “John Wesley and the American Revolution” A Journal of Church and State 5 (1963): 199–213,CrossRefGoogle Scholar is a recent treatment. Holland misdates some documents and confuses others, and should be used with great caution.

1. Holland, Lynwood M., “John Wesley and the American Revolution” A Journal of Church and State 5 (1963): 199–213,CrossRefGoogle Scholar is a recent treatment. Holland misdates some documents and confuses others, and should be used with great caution.

2. Wesley to the Mayor of Cork, 27 May 1750, The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, A. M. (hereafter Letters), ed. John Telford, 8 vols. (London, 1931), 3:38.Google Scholar

3. Wesley's feeling that George III supported Methodism appears in Wesley to Mary Bosanquet, 9 February 1774, Letters, 6:72.Google Scholar

4. Wesley's professions occur in The Present State of Public Affairs, (London, 1768),Google Scholar printed in Letters, 5:370–388;Google Scholar quotes from p. 370. This was republished in enlarged form in 1770.

5. Wesley to Ebenezer Blackwell, 4 March 1756, Letters, 3:165–166.Google Scholar

6. Wesley, , The Present State of Public Affairs, Letters, 5:370–388Google Scholar; quotes from pp. 371, 376, 379, 381, 383, 388.

7. Holland, , “Wesley and the American Revolution,” p. 202,Google Scholar misdates the latter, placing it in 1775.

8. Hampson, John, Memoirs of the Late Rev. John Wesley, A. M.: With a Review of his Life and Writings and a History of Methodism, 3 vols. (Sunderland, 1791), 3:160,Google Scholar cited in Tyerman, L., The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, M. A., 3 vols. (New York, 1872), 3:145.Google Scholar

9. Welch, Herbert, ed., Selections From the Writings of the Rev. John Wesley, M. A. (New York, 1901), pp. 250–265Google Scholar; quotes from pp. 259, 261, 262, 263.

10. Ibid., 266–274; quotes from pp. 270–271.

11. Wesley, John, The Journal of the Rev. John Wesley, A. M. (hereafter Journal), ed. Curnock, Nehemiah, 8 vols. (1909–1916; London, 1938), 6:55.Google Scholar

12. Wesley to Rankin, 1 March 1775, Letters, 6:142.Google Scholar Ahithophel was one of King David's most trusted advisors, and his defection in Absalom's revolt was a serious blow. The relationship to Pitt seems obvious. The letter also reflected Wesley's hope war could still be avoided.

13. Wesley to all the preachers in North America, 1 March 1775, ibid., 6:142–143. Wesley to James Dempster, 9 May 1775, ibid., 6:149–150. He urged Dempster, a preacher in the colonies, to “by prayer, by exhortation, and by every possible means to oppose a party spirit.” There may be an unconscious bias here against the American radicals.

14. Wesley to Rankin, 1 March 1775, Letters, 6:143.Google Scholar

15. Wesley to Rankin, 21 April 1775, ibid., 6:174–178.

16. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 2 June 1775, ibid., 6:152–153.

17. Wesley to Rankin, 13 August 1775, ibid., 6:173.

18. Wesley to Dartmouth, 23 August 1775, ibid., 6:175–176.

19. Journal, 6:77–78Google Scholar; 7 September 1775. See also ibid., 6:81, on a “strong exhortation” In Newbury.

20. Wesley to Thomas Rankin, 13 June 1775, Letters, 6:154–155.Google Scholar

21. Wesley to the Earl of Dartmouth, 14 June 1775, ibid., 6:155–160; Wesley to Lord North, 15 June 1775, ibid., 6:160–164.

22. Wesley to James Brewster, 22 February 1750, ibid., 3:32–33. For another statement stressing the need to actively defend the king and ministry from criticism see Wesley, John, The Works of John Wesley (hereafter Works) (1872; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), 9:154–155.Google Scholar

23. Holland, , “Wesley and the American Revolution,” p. 203,Google Scholar where he quotes from the preface to the second edition as though it were part of the original work.

24. [Augustus Montague Toplady], An Old Fox Tarr'd and Feather'd, (London, 1775), pp. 8–18,Google Scholar has thirty-one examples of Wesley's borrowing in parallel columns with Johnson's original prose.

25. Wesley, John, A Calm Address to Our American Colonies, Works, 11:80–90.Google Scholar This is the second edition, but a careful reading of Wesley's Journal and letters enables one to determine most of the additions.

26. Lyles, Albert M., “The Hostile Reaction to the American Views of Johnson and Wesley,” The Journal of the Rutgers University Library 24 (12 1960): 1–13.Google Scholar Lyles identified over twenty-nine replies to the two pamphlets, exclusive of reviews. Green, Richard, Anti-Methodist Publications Issued During the Eighteenth Century (London, 1902), pp. 125–132,Google Scholar lists several of the more influential replies, often with brief excerpts and commentary.

27. Boswell, James, The Life of Samuel Johnson, L. L. D. (New York, Modern Library, n.d.), pp. 505–507, 519.Google Scholar Boswell was certain the pamphlet was written on governmental request; he cited examples of governmental editing of Johnson's first draft.

28. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 28 October 1775, Letters, 6: 183–184.Google Scholar

29. Samuel Johnson to Wesley, 6 1776, Journal, 6:67,Google Scholar a. 3. For a defense of Wesley see Holland, , “Wesley and the American Revolution,” p. 204.Google Scholar

30. Lee, Umphrey, The Lord's Horseman (Nashville, 1957), p. 191.Google Scholar

31. Tyerman, , Life and Times, 3:191.Google Scholar When pressed again, Wesley took fifty pounds from the privy purse for charitable purposes.

32. Wesley to Thomas Rankin, 20 October 1775, Letters, 6:181–182.Google Scholar

33. Wesley, John, A Calm Address to the Inhabitants of England, (London, 1775), p. 3.Google Scholar

34. Tyerman, , Life and Times, 3:191.Google Scholar

35. Wesley to Dartmouth, 24 December 1775, Letters, 6:197–198.Google Scholar

36. [Evans, Caleb], A Letter to the Rev. Mr. John Wesley Occasioned by his Calm Address to the American Colonies (London, 1775); quotes from pp. 11, 22–23.Google Scholar

37. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 17 October 1775, Letters, 6:179–180.Google Scholar

38. Wesley, , Works, 11:81–82.Google Scholar

39. Wesley to James Rouquet, 8 November 1775, Letters., 6:188.Google Scholar Wesley to Rouquet, 12 November 1775, ibid., 6:188–189. Wesley now remembered reading the pamphlet In 1774: “and I then thought the arguments conclusive.” Wesley to William Pine, 14 November 1775, ibid., 6:189. Pine wrote to remind Wesley that he had advised Pine to print the pamphlet in his newspaper in September, 1774. Wesley to Caleb Evans, 9 december 1775, ibid., 6:194–195.

40. [Toplady, ], An Old Fox Tarr'd, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

41. Gentleman's Magazine 45 (12 1775): 564.Google Scholar

42. Wesley, , Works, 11:80–82.Google Scholar

43. Wesley, to the editor of Lloyd', Evening Post, 29 11 1775,Google Scholar Letters, 6:192–193.Google Scholar Again Wesley talked of extinguishing the flames. “Ought not every true patriot to do the same? If hireling writers on either side judge of me by themselves, that I cannot help.” Journal, 6:32–33.Google Scholar

44. Wesley to Thomas Rankin, 20 October 1775, Letters, 6:181–182.Google Scholar

45. Wesley, to the editor of Lloyd's Evening Post, 29 11 1775,Google Scholar ibid., 6:192–193.

46. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 31 July 1775, Letters, 6:170.Google Scholar Wesley's defense of the king was extended to the entire government.

47. Wesley, , A Calm Address (London, 1771), p. 3.Google Scholar

48. Southy, Robert, The Life of Wesley and the Rise and Progress of Methodism, ed. Fitzgerald, Maurice, 2 vols. (London, 1925), 2:244.Google Scholar

49. Asbury, Francis, The Journal and Letters of Francis Asbury, ed. Clark, Elmer T., 3 vols. (Nashville, 1958), 1:181Google Scholar; entry for 19 March 1776. Holland, , “Wesley and the American Revolution,” p. 205,Google Scholar misdates it 19 February.

50. Journal, 6:83.Google Scholar He intended to publish it. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 3 November 1775, Letters, 6:186–187.Google Scholar

51. Tyerman, , Life and Times, 3:193.Google Scholar

52. Wesley to Christopher Hopper, 26 December 1775, Letters, 6: 199.Google Scholar

53. Cone, Carl B., Torchbearer of Freedom: The Influence of Richard Price on EighteenthCentury Thought (Lexington, Kentucky, 1952), pp. 76–82.Google Scholar

54. Wesley, John, Some Observations on Liberty Occasioned by a late Tract (London, 1776)Google Scholar; quotes from pp. 3, 5, 6, 7, 25, 35.

55. Journal, 6:100.Google Scholar

56. Wesley, John, A Seasonable Address to the More Serious Part of the Inhabitants of Great Britain, Respecting the Unhappy Contest Between Us and Our American Brethren, Works, 11:119–128.Google Scholar

57. Wesley to Joseph Benson, 11 January 1777, Letters, 6:249.Google Scholar

58. Journal, 6:138.Google Scholar

59. A Calm Address (London, 1777), p. 4.Google Scholar

60. A Calm Address (1777); quotes from pp. 6, 10–11, 14, 15, 19.Google Scholar

61. Journal, 6:139–140.Google Scholar See also ibid., 6:265–266, for his account of the escape of a Maryland loyalist from rebels portrayed as little better than murderers.

62. Ibid., 6:143.

63. Ibid., 6:167.

64. Journal, 6:180.Google Scholar The pamphlet was A Serious Address to the People of England, With Regard to the State of the Nations. See Works, 11: 140–143.Google Scholar

65. Works, 11:149–154.Google Scholar

66. Journal, 6:181, 1–4Google Scholar March 1778. See also 21 March in Manchester: “I found it needful here also to guard honest Englishmen against the vast terror which had spread fax and wide.” Ibid., 6:182.

67. Wesley to the Printer of the Public Advertiser, 12 January 1780, Letters, 6:370–373Google Scholar; Wesley to the editors of the Freeman's Journal, 23 March 1780, ibid., 7:3–8; Wesley to the editors of the Freeman's Journal, 31 March 1780. ibid., 7:9–16.

68. Wesley to the Methodist Societies, 24 October 1779, Ibid., 6:360. For a prior plan of similar nature, Wesley to James West, 1 March 1756, ibid., 3:165. The offer was declined with thanks. Wesley to Joseph Benson, 3 August 1782, ibid., 7:131. It was revived briefly in 1782, with Wesley more reluctant to participate. Wesley to Captain Webb, 25 May 1782, ibid., 7:123–124; Wesley to Ann Loxdale, 24 July 1782, ibid., 7:130–131.

69. Journal, 6:261–262Google Scholar; 13 November 1779.

70. Wesley, John, An Account of the Conduct of the War in the Middle Colonies. Extracted from a Late Author (1780)Google Scholar; idem., An Extract from a Reply to the Observations of Lieut. Gen. Sir William Howe, on a Pamphlet entitled, Letters to a Nobleman (1781); idem., An Extract of a Letter to the Right Honourable Lord Viscount H—e on his Naval Conduct in the American War (1781).

71. Journal, 6:283,Google Scholar 6 June 1780. Wesley denied he was receiving a large pension for his defense of the king. His failure to comment on the rest may be an indication of its truth. The offending paragraph from the London Courant is printed in ibid., 6:283, n. 1.

72. Wesley to a Friend, 25 January 1781. Letters, 7:47–48.Google Scholar The earlier statement is in Wesley to Charles Wesley, 18 October 1777, ibid., 6:283.

73. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 8 June 1780, ibid., 7:21–22.

74. Wesley to Christopher Hopper, 25 October 1780. ibid., 7:36–37.

75. Wesley, John, “How Far is it the Duty of a Christian Minister to Preach Politics?,” 9 01 1782, Works 11:154–155.Google Scholar

76. Ibid., 11:156–164.

77. Wesley to Thomas Taylor, 12 April 1782, Letters, 7:121.Google Scholar

78. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 4 April 1783, ibid., 7:173–174.

79. Works, 11:155.Google Scholar

80. Wesley to Brian Bury Collins, 11 March 1784, Letters, 7:214.Google Scholar