John Wesley's Name in Vain?

 Sometimes I amaze myself.... 

Ok, that's kind of a joke, because. like most us, I mostly call myself names, but I actually do have very good instincts when it comes to B.S. My bullsh*t detector is pretty solid. 

Case in point, I was mildly bothered by some suppositions in a sermon a few weeks ago as the new pastors are pretty lefty and I'm clearly not, and even though I like them both quite a bit, I do a fair amount of eye-rolling (invisibly, I hope) during church. This particular offense was the use of this supposed possible "manifesto" of John Wesley, one of the founder of our Methodist denomination: 

Now, our pastor knew enough to explain that Wesley didn't create this, that it was an amalgam of things from many of his writings, but the graphic he used was similar to this one, in that it removed the question mark at the end of the originator's version, asking if it was a 'manifesto for today?' rather that stating it was one from the past.

My B.S. detector went off immediately: of course he was for many of these things, but this was clearly a cherry-picked list of statements supporting a modern sensibility and I wagered in my head that an intrepid reader could probably come up with a VASTLY different, supportable list of positions from John Wesley's writings....

Of course, a quick Google today showed me that my instincts remain intact. Indeed the very source of the list provides citations that show that it is (and I'm being generous here) quite a stretch: I'll leave it here for you to make up your own minds, but I feel pretty confident in my stance... I daresay that the author wrote his list and then found quotes that kinda sorta fit what he stated. I mean, seriously, #9 is anti-slavery, and from a treatise actually called Thoughts On Slavery, that was the best you could come up with? Jeesh.

JOHN WESLEY: A POLITICAL MANIFESTO FOR TODAY? 

1.Reduce the gap between rich and poor 

2.Seek to ensure full employment 

3. Introduce measures to help the poorest, including a living wage 

4.Offer the best possible education  

5.Empower individuals to feel they can make a difference 

6.Promote tolerance 

7.Promote equal treatment for women 

8.Create a society based on values and not on profits and consumerism   

9.End all forms of enslavement 

10.Avoid engaging in wars 

11.Avoid narrow self-interest and promote a world view 

12.Care for the environment 

Who said this?  JOHN WESLEY in the 18th century:  

 

1. Be ye ready to distribute to every one, according to his necessity. (Sermon 28: Eighth Discourse on the Sermon on the Mount, 1747/8) 

2.Wickedly, devilishly false is that common objection, ‘They are poor only because they are idle…. Find thems work…. They will then earn and eat their own bread.’ (First sentence: 8 Feb 1753 Journal; second sentence is from Thoughts on the Present Scarcity of Provisions 1773) 

3. How many are there in this Christian country that toil, and labour, and sweat… but struggle with weariness and hunger together? Is it not worse for one, after a hard days labour, to come back to a poor, cold, dirty, uncomfortable lodging, and to find there not even the food which is needful to repair his wasted strength? (Sermon 47: Heaviness Through Temptation 1754/1760) 

4. Beware of that common, but accursed, way of making children parrots …. Regard not how much, but how well, to what good purpose, they read…. The end of education….[is to] help us discover every false judgement of our minds, and to subdue every wrong passion in our hearts… [and] to understand as much as we are able .’ (Lessons for Children 1746) 

5. ‘Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as you ever can.’ (Attributed to Wesley but source unknown.  Possibly written after his death as a summary of his teaching). 

6. Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike? May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion? (Sermon 39: On a Catholic Spirit 1749/50) 

7. May not women as well as men bear an honourable part….…..yield not to the vile bondage any longer. You, as well as men, are rational creatures. You, like them, were made in the image of God.’ (Sermon 98: On Visiting the Sick 1786) 

8. In seeking happiness from riches, you are only striving to drink out of empty cups. And let them be painted and gilded ever so finely, they are empty still’ (Sermon 126: Danger of Increasing Riches 1790) 

9. Let  none serve you but by his own act and deed, by his own voluntary action.  Away with all whips, all chains, all compulsion!…. Do with everyone else as you would he should do to you.. (Thoughts on Slavery 1774) 

10.War: What farther proof of do we need of the utter degeneracy of all nations from the plainest principles of reason and virtue? Of the absolute want, both of common sense and common humanity, which runs through the whole race of mankind? (The Doctrine of Original Sin according to Scripture, Reason and Experience 1757) 

11.I look upon the whole world as my parish (Letter written to John Clayton March 1739) 

12.Lead us beyond an exclusive concern for the well-being of other human beings to the broader concern for the well-being of the birds in our backyards, the fish in our rivers, and every living creature on the face of the earth. (Sermon 60: The General Deliverance 1781) 

© Gary Best, The New Room Bristol – please use this credit if you wish to share this list offline or online

In Googling, it's amazing how many folks take this on it's misrepresented face and don't engage in any kind of critical thinking...more proof that Confirmation Bias is the most powerful force on the earth.