Sacramental & Devotional Sources
John and Charles Wesley were raised, educated, ministered, and lived their entire lives as high churchmen in the Anglican Church tradition. High churchmanship in the 18th century held a cluster of beliefs, including apostolic succession, the authority of the church fathers, episcopacy, divine right monarchy, Arminianism, church discipline, holy living, and a liturgical and sacramental view of the Christian life. The Wesleys interest in the sacraments included a strong interest in the ancient liturgies of the Christian church. Therefore, their sacramentalism involved studying the liturgical life of the primitive church of the first four centuries. The collection of writings below reflects this interest.
Anglican Eucharistic theology.
The Book of Common Prayer was first published in 1549 during the reign of Edward VI and has served as the prayer book for the Anglican Communion. Over the years it has been updated. It’s influence on the Wesleys and early Methodists cannot be overstated since they were devout high churchmen. For a spell in the mid-1730s John Wesley sought to follow the 1549 version, but through most of his ministry he used the 1662 edition. The BCP contains the Church of England’s Articles of Religion, and the Church’s teachings on baptism, catechism, and communion:
Book of Common Prayer 1549
Book of Common Prayer 1662
Samuel Wesley, Sr. 1662-1735
Samuel was the father of John & Charles Wesley. He wrote a tract on the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism. In the 1750s John published an extract of his father’s Discourse on Baptism for his Methodist followers. Samuel’s tract is critical to understand the Wesleys upbringing in the high church tradition. It reflects what they were taught as children and why they became high churchmen themselves.
Pious Communicant & Discourse on Baptism 1700
William Wall 1647-1728
Wall published a two-volume work in support of the Church’s position on infant baptism, spelled out in The Book of Common Prayer. John Wesley held Wall’s work in such esteem that he published a short extract in 1751, titled Thoughts upon Infant-Baptism. Here is Wall’s 2nd part of the two-volume work. John’s extract can be found on the John Wesley page of resources.
History of Infant Baptism, Part 2 3rd ed 1720
Thomas Deacon 1697-1753
Deacon was a non-juror Bishop a leader among the Manchester sect of Usagers. He advocated returning to the 1549 edition of the BCP and following the ancient work The Apostolic Constitutions for the Eucharist. Deacon believed the Constitutions originated with the apostles, though it is a 4th century work. In 1734 he published his Compleat Collection of Devotions, which is a heavily redacted version of the BCP. John Wesley read Deacon’s work in 1734 and for a spell advocated its sacramental theology.
Compleat Collection Devotions 1734
Thomas Ken 1637-1711
Ken was a prominent non-juring bishop who wrote hymns and produced the Manual of Prayers for the use of the Scholars of Winchester College (p. 1674). John Wesley began to read Ken’s manual in 1727 and included a number of his prayers in his own manuscript prayer (1730-1734). This manuscript prayer manual served as the basis for John’s first publication, A Collection of Forms of Prayer for Every day of the Week (p. 1733). See the John Wesley page for both works.
Manual of Prayers 1674 reprint
Jeremy Taylor 1613-1667
Taylor was one of the most popular Anglican authors of the Restoration period. He wrote The Golden Grove; or, a Manual of Daily Prayers and Litanies Fitted to the Days of the Week in 1654. The Wesleys began reading the the Golden Grove in 1733.
Golden Grove 28th Ed. 1761
Golden Grove reprint 1839
John Norris 1657-1711
Norriswas an Anglican clergyman who wrote on numerous topics, including politics, religion, philosophy and the Christian life. He wrote A Collection of Miscellanies: Consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses, and Letters, Occasionally Written in 1687. The Wesleys began reading this work in 1726 and turned to it often through the years.
Collection of Miscellanies 3rd ed 1699
Collection of Miscellanies 9th ed 1730
Daniel Brevint 1616-1695
Brevint was the source behind many of the Wesleys’ hymns on the sacrament. John included an extract of Brevint’s Christian Sacrament as a preface in their Hymns on the Lord’s Supper (1745). The Wesleys began to read Brevint during their Oxford period. Brevint’s work is very important to better understand the Wesleys’ sacramentalism over the course of their lives.
Christian Sacrament & Sacrifice 4th ed 1757
John Johnson 1662-1725
Johnson’s work on the Lord’s Supper – Unbloody Sacrifice – was published as two parts, in 1714 and 1718. A complete second edition was released in 1724. The Wesleys read Johnson’s work during their Oxford period and were deeply impressed with it. Johnson’s work contributed to the development of their high church views of the sacrament.
Unbloody Sacrifice 2nd edition 1724
Edward Lake 1641-1704
Lake authored, for the use of his students, the Officium Eucharisticum. A preparatory service to a devout and worthy reception of the Lord’s Supper, which reached thirty editions by the 1750s. The Wesleys began to read Lake’s work in the early 1730s. It reflects their high churchmanship on the sacraments.
Officium Eucharisticum 8th edition 1683
Officium Eucharisticum, new edition 1858
Anthony Horneck 1641-1697
Horneck was a German Protestant clergyman and scholar who made his career in England. He inspired the birth of religious societies during the Anglican renewal of the late 17th century and contributed to pietistic influences in Anglican religious life. The Anglican religious societies were a major source of inspiration for the rise of the Methodist societies during the Evangelical Revival.
Happy Ascetick 1685
Robert Nelson 1656-1715
Nelson was a high church Nonjuror liturgist, who wrote popular works supporting Anglican theology. The Wesleys read the following two works with great interest and John used them to encourage his students at Oxford to strictly observe the Sacrament of Communion. Nelson’s Great Duty inspired John’s sermon The Duty of Constant Communion, written in 1732 and published in 1787.
Companion for Festivals and Fasts 1704 reprint (1837)
Great Duty Frequenting Christian Sacrifice 4th ed 1711
Great Duty Frequenting Christian Sacrifice 1706 reprint (1841)
William Cave 1637-1713
Cave’s work on Primitive Christians inspired the Wesleys interest in early Christianity as a model for religious devotion and liturgical practices. The Wesleys began to read Cave’s work in the early 1730s. It reflects their interest in reviving primitive Christianity.
Primitive Christianity 7th ed 1728
Primitive Christianity 1825 edition
William Whiston 1667-1752
Whiston is well-known for his translation of the writings of Josephus, the first century Jewish historian. He also published works of the primitive church, including the Apostolic Constitutions & Canons, which the Wesleys read during their Oxford period. As many did at the time, the Wesleys initially believed these Constitutions and canons originated from the apostolic age. He soon learned they were of a later age. Today it is believed they came from the 4th century. Still, the Constitutions & Canons influenced the Wesleys sacramental piety in their Oxford period. It reflects their deep interest in reviving primitive Christianity.
Apostolic Constitutions & Canons reprint 1848
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