The Minutes Controversy 1770-1777

Historical Setting

In 1739 theological differences over election and predestination became public between John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. It led to a sharp breach in 1741, though on a personal level the Wesleys and Whitefield remained friends and colleagues. This became known as the Free Grace Controversy. Then from 1756 to 1766 John Wesley was embroiled in controversy with the Methodist Calvinist James Hervey and his supporters over the imputed righteousness of Christ. To clarify his position Wesley published his landmark sermon The Lord Our Righteousness (1765). This proved to be a precursor to the Minutes Controversy.

Whitefield died in 1770, the same year John Wesley published statements in the annual Conference Minutes regarding the relationship between faith, good works, and justification that Calvinists took as espousing justification by works. John Wesley’s central point is expressed in the following quote, “Every believer, till he comes to glory, works for, as well as from life.” To see what he meant by this statement, read the tract listed below: The 1770 Conference Minutes. A pamphlet war between the Arminians and Calvinists that lasted for several years and involved a number of people on both sides. The Controversy motivated John Wesley to begin publishing the Arminian Magazine in 1778 to counter Calvinism. In 1785, he published the sermon On Working Out Our Own Salvation as his settled opinion on the role of works in salvation.

The Minutes Controversy focused on the role of works in the process of salvation, but behind it were the continual tensions between the Wesleyans and the Calvinists over the order of salvation (ordo salutis) and core theological principles: election (conditional vs unconditional), predestination (divine foreknowledge vs divine decree), grace (prevenient vs irresistible), justification (degrees, imputation, & single vs double), perseverance (apostasy possible vs eternal security), and sanctification (Christian perfection vs perpetual sinner). In many ways, the Controversy was a conflict between two theological systems within a common evangelical tradition. These two traditions continue to exist down to our own day. By studying the Minutes Controversy we can gain a better understanding of how these two traditions took shape at the beginning of the evangelical movement and continue to influence the evangelical faith today.

Secondary Resources

W. Stephen Gunter, The Limits of Love Divine. Kingswood Books, 1989.
J. Russell Frazier, True Christianity: Doctrine of Dispensations in the Thought of John W. Fletcher. Pickwick, 2014.
Henry Rack, Reasonable Enthusiast, 3rd ed. Epworth Press, 2002, pp. 450-470.
Henry Rack, ed. Works of John Wesley: The Minutes of Conference, vol. 10. Abingdon Press, 2011.

Meet the Wesleyan Methodists

John Wesley 1703-1791
John was the primary founder and undisputed leader of Methodism. He was an Anglican high churchman converted to the evangelical faith in 1738 at Aldersgate. WEsley was a lifelong opponent of Calvinism have been raised in a parsonage that espoused Anglican Arminianism. Wesley began to publicly confront Calvinism in 1739 with his sermon on Free Grace. His remarks on Calvinism and salvation at the 1770 Annual Conference infuriated the Calvinists, which officially sparked the Minutes Controversy.

Charles Wesley 1707-1788
Charles was the other primary founder of Methodism and is remembered most for his thousands of hymns. Like his brother John, Charles was nurtured in the Anglican Arminian tradition from early childhood. And, like his older brother, Charles was an Anglican high churchman who converted to the evangelical faith in 1738. Charles was minimally involved in the Minutes Controversy.

John Fletcher 1729-1785
Fletcher was an Anglican priest and was a key participant in the controversy. Born in Switzerland, Fletcher came to England around 1749/1750 and became an ordained minister in the Church of England. He became associated with the Wesleys in the mid-1750s. Fletcher deserves the title as Methodism’s first theologian for his Five Checks Against Antinomianism and other writings during the Minutes Controversy. He stood by John Wesley and defended the 1770 Conference Minutes.

Walter Sellon 1715-1792
Sellon was an Anglican clergyman of Huguenot descent. Before his ordination he was a baker and a local preacher having met John Wesley in 1745. He taught at Kingswood School from 1748 to 1750. In the late 1760s Sellon began to publish writings in support of the Arminian cause and joined in the fray of the Controversy at its beginning.

Thomas Olivers 1725-1799
Olivers was a Welsh Methodist preacher and hymn writer. He translated the Hebrew hymn The God of Abraham Praise after hearing it chanted in the Great Synagogue of London. He played a minor role in the Controversy.

Meet the Calvinistic Methodists

Augustus Toplady 1740-1778
Toplady was an Anglican minister, a well-known hymn-writer (Rock of Ages), and a committed Calvinist. He was spiritually awakened in 1755 and converted three years later in 1758. He initially was Arminian in theology, but following his graduation from Trinity College 1760, Toplady become acquainted with prominent Calvinists George Whitefield, John Gill, and William Romaine. His relationship with John Wesley was cordial but soured during the Minutes Controversy.

Walter Shirley 1725-1786
Shirley was an Anglican minister, hymn-writer, and a first cousin of the Countess of Huntingdon. He ignited the controversy with a circular letter inviting other Anglican clergy and laity to oppose John Wesley’s teachings in the 1770 Conference Minutes, which drew a response from Wesley’s colleague John Fletcher (First Check to Antinomianism).

Rowland Hill 1744-1833
Hill was a popular English preacher, enthusiastic Calvinist evangelical, and an advocate for the smallpox vaccination. He was founder and resident pastor of an independent chapel, the Surrey Chapel, London. Hill was a friend of the Countess of Huntingdon.

Richard Hill 1732-1808
Hill was the oldest son of Sir Rowland Hill and a Baronet. He distinguished himself as a champion of George Whitefield and of the Calvinistic Methodists. When six students were expelled from Edmund Hall, Oxford, for adopting Methodism, Hill sharply criticized the university authorities in the tract, Pietas Oxoniensis. In 1771 he joined the Minutes Controversy and become one of the most vocal opponents of John Wesley and John Fletcher.

John Berridge 1716-1793
Berridge was an evangelical Anglican clergyman and hymnist. Converted in 1757, Berridge became a very popular preacher to the ire of the mainstream clergy of the Established Church. He faced much opposition through most of his ministry. He played a minor role in the controversy.

Documents of the Controversy

All the published writings of the Minutes Controversy are listed below in their chronological order, and grouped according to their theological position. The earliest edition of each writing is posted. A few writings are unavailable and are listed in regular font. They are included so the reader is aware of them. We begin with the year 1769 since the first stirrings of the controversy began in that year. The following list is taken from Stephen Gunter’s The Limits of Love Divine, pp. 277-79.

Digital copies can be accessed at Hathi Trust Digital Library