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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
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
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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
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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
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10. Ibid., 266–274; quotes from pp. 270–271.
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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
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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.
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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.
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31. Tyerman, , Life and Times, 3:191.Google Scholar When pressed again, Wesley took fifty pounds from the privy purse for charitable purposes.
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35. Wesley to Dartmouth, 24 December 1775, Letters, 6:197–198.Google Scholar
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37. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 17 October 1775, Letters, 6:179–180.Google Scholar
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40. [Toplady, ], An Old Fox Tarr'd, pp. 4–5.Google Scholar
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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.
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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
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50. Journal, 6:83.Google Scholar He intended to publish it. Wesley to Charles Wesley, 3 November 1775, Letters, 6:186–187.Google Scholar
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52. Wesley to Christopher Hopper, 26 December 1775, Letters, 6: 199.Google Scholar
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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
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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
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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
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