Wesley
Wesley names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Wesley an English family of talented clergymen and poets
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
an English family of talented clergymen and poets. The father, Samuel Wesley, and his three sons, Samuel, John, and Charles, merit notice. SAMUEL WESLEY, the father, was a graduate of Exeter College, Oxford. He was for many years rector of the parish of Epworth in Lincolnshire. He wrote a number of religious works, including a Life of Christ, and one or two popular hymns, including Behold the Saviour of Mankind. He had three sons, all of whom were educated at Christ Church, Oxford. SAMUEL WESLEY, the oldest son, lived 1691-1739. He took orders in the Church of England and adhered to that denomination through life. He was head master of a grammar school at Tiverton. He wrote a number of well known hymns. JOHN WESLEY, the second son, the founder of Methodism, was born at Epworth June 28, 1703. He died in London March 2, 1791. He was graduated in 1724, and was appointed a fellow in Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1729 he acted as his father's curate at Epworth. On returning to Oxford to a lecture, he became a member of a coterie of young men of a serious turn of mind who met Sunday evenings to study the Scriptures. The members were nicknamed Bible Moths. The little society fasted twice a week and took communion frequently. They interested themselves in charities, visiting the prisons and the sick. Charles Wesley, Harvey, and Whitefield were members of this society. In 1735, at the invitation of General Oglethorpe, John, with his brother Charles, went to preach to the colonists of Georgia. Here he remained three years. He became intimately acquainted with a Miss Hopkey, a niece of the Governor of Savannah. He expected to marry her, but did not do so. On her marriage to a Mr. Williamson, he refused to admit her to the Lord's Table. This created a disturbance, on which Wesley "shook the dust from his feet" and returned to England. He became associated with Whitefield in the management of open air meetings. In London he established himself in an old building, known as the foundry, formerly used by the government in casting brass cannon. This structure was his headquarters for some time. Although Wesley never formally left the Church of England, being a strong believer in Episcopacy, he founded an association known as the United Society for Week Day Meetings. His efforts were directed toward a revival of piety within the Church of England, but the organization of the society mentioned is regarded usually as the beginning of Methodism. He was a man of great energy. He was capable of riding fifty miles a day and of addressing several outdoor meetings. He wrote a number of miscellaneous books, including a grammar, a Dictionary of the English Grammar, several biographies and lectures on logic and medicine, as well as several manuals of history. The copyright brought him in a comfortable living and rendered him independent of church livings and collections. CHARLES WESLEY, the third son, was born at Epworth. He lived 1708-1788. He was a member of the coterie mentioned above at Oxford. He says of himself that he began "to observe the method of study prescribed by the university. This gained me the harmless nickname of methodist," a name subsequently transferred to the little society of which he was a leading member. He accompanied his brother John to Georgia, but he was not successful in that colony. He returned to England and became an active itinerant preacher aiming to do good among the lowly. He wrote, it is said, over 6,000 hymns, some 500 of which still find place in the Methodist hymnals. See Methodist; Epworth League , etc.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN, an English clergyman; founder of Methodism; born in Epworth, England, June 17, 1703, son of the rector of Epworth; educated at the Charter House, and at Christ Church, Oxford. He took his degree of B. A. in 1724, was ordained deacon in 1725, became a fellow of Lincoln College, and lecturer and moderator in classics in 1726; and took priest's orders in 1728. He now gathered together a number of pupils and companions who met regularly for religious purposes, and by so doing acquired the name of Methodists. Among these companions were Hervey, Whitefield, and Law. In 1735 Wesley accepted an invitation from General Oglethorpe to go to America to preach to the colonists of Georgia. After a stay of two years he returned to England (February, 1738), and in the following May ace in his an important event took place inner religious life, namely, his conversion. In June he paid a visit to Herrnhut, the Moravian settlement, returning to England in September. Early in the following year (1739) he began open-air preaching, in which he was for a time associated with Whitefield. His first chapel was built in Bristol in 1739. JOHN WESLEY Having now the sole control of the religious body which adhered to him, he devoted his entire life without intermission to the work of its organization, in which he showed much practical skill and admirable method. His labors as an itinerant preacher were incessant. He would ride from 40 to 60 miles in a day. He read or wrote during his journeys, and frequently preached four or five times a day. He held strongly to the principle of Episcopacy, and never formally separated from the Church of England. His collected works were published after his death in 32 volumes 8vo. He contributed to the collection of hymns, the greater part of which were written by his brother Charles. He died in London, March 2, 1791.
Wesley SAMUEL, SR., an English clergyman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SAMUEL, SR., an English clergyman; born in Winterborne-Whitchurch, England, in 1662. He was the father of CHARLES, JOHN, and SAMUEL, JR. He wrote "Life of Christ: An Heroic Poem," Eupolis' Hymn to the Creator," etc. He is best known by the two hymns to be found in Methodist hymn books, "Behold the Saviour of Mankind," and "O Thou who when I did Complain." He died in Epworth, April 25, 1735. WESLEYAN the METHODISM, largest and most important British Methodist denomination, and the parent of some smaller religious bodies now independent of its government.
Wesley CHARLES, an English hymnist
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES, an English hymnist; born in Epworth, England, Dec. 18, 1707; younger brother of John Wesley; educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He accompanied his brother to Georgia as an ordained clergyman, but after his return to England he became, in 1738, a preacher in the Methodist connection, and materially assisted the success of the movement by his numerous hymns, large collections from which have been frequently published. Two of his sons, CHARLES and SAMUEL, were celebrated for musical genius. He died in London. March 29, 1788.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The biographical outline in Aiton's (1910) and Collier's (1921) still holds, down to the detail that John Wesley "never formally left the Church of England" — the two dates given for his birth, June 28 and June 17, 1703, are simply the New and Old Style versions of the same day. What has changed is the church he left behind. The bodies descended from his societies merged and re-merged through the 20th century, most notably into the United Methodist Church in 1968, and the World Methodist Council now counts tens of millions of members across the globe rather than the largely Anglo-American movement these entries describe. That unity has since fractured: disputes over sexuality led to the launch of the Global Methodist Church in 2022 and the departure of thousands of United Methodist congregations in the United States. Wesley's own writings, meanwhile, have been given a critical scholarly edition (the Bicentennial Works, begun in the 1970s), and Charles's hymns remain in use much as Aiton's said.
Written for this edition, 2026.