John Wesley is an 18th century English clergyman and preacher, theologian and missionary, leader and founder of the movement within the Church of England, known as Methodism, aimed at raising the morale of the church, and not at its reformation.
Biography
The future preacher was born in 1703 in Evport, near Lincoln. In total, nineteen children were born in the family of Samuel and Suzanne Wesley, of whom nine died in infancy. Suzanne was the 25th daughter of a Puritan pastor and minister, Samuel Annesley, and her husband, a graduate of the famous Oxford, was a poet and clergyman.
John, like other children, was taught to read from early childhood, taught Greek and Latin, inspired good manners. The family lived in strict accordance with church orders. At the age of five, Wesley's son survived in a terrible fire, and his mother convinced him that the boy was saved for a special purpose in life.
At age 11, John was sent to an orthodox boarding school in London, and then he was educated at Oxford, where he entered in 1720. John Wesley was a real ascetic, practiced strict abstinence, studied the Holy Scriptures and diligently carried out all religious duties, right up to giving alms when he himself had nothing to eat. In September 1725, he became a deacon - at that time in England the church rank was necessary for scientific work at the university. The ordination took place in the cathedral of the Oxford diocese.
Career
In the spring of 1726, Wesley was unanimously elected representative of Lincoln County in Oxford, which gave him the right to a separate room and a small salary. A year later, John returned home with a master’s degree and served as a trustee in a local parish, and two years later he settled in Oxford as a junior researcher and teacher.
Together with some students, he organized a kind of club for in-depth study of the Bible. Wesley and his supporters were called "Methodists" - for the pedantic implementation of all church rules, regular reading of the Bible and the steady, systematic assistance to shelters for the homeless, prisons and orphanages.
John Wesley dreamed of missionary work - it was always an honorable deed for the clergyman and raised his reputation to an unattainable height. In 1735, John and one of his brothers went to America, where they spent three unsuccessful years, and then returned home. It was during this period that John became acquainted with the teachings of the so-called Moravian brothers and, returning to England, began to study their Christian concept.
In 1739, John began his preaching work, and was, apparently, the first priest who addressed people directly in the fields, squares, in a word, in work and public places, and not in the church. He drove almost 400 thousand miles in the saddle, talking about God wherever people agreed to listen to him, regardless of the weather and other conditions.
Wesley wrote about 200 books, traveled to England, Ireland and Scotland. John's goal was to revitalize the church, its proximity to the people. He paid special attention to social work, creating communities aimed at charity, helping the poor and the poor, and the fight against slavery. Wesley’s sermons were even allowed to attend women, as well as take part in the work of Methodist groups.
