THE BOOKS IN JOHN WESLEY'S LIFE

ONVA K. BOSHEARS, JR. M.R.E., PH.D. (Cand.)
(Associate Professor of Bibliography and Director of Library
Services, Asbury Theological Seminary)

Diverse avenues of research have been stimulated by the life and thought of John Wesley, the eighteenth-century founder of Methodism. In addition to the voluminous writing which has been done on Wesley and the origins of Methodism as well as the various aspects of his theology, Wesley has been studied as an educator, (1) literary figure, (2) social reformer, (3) rhetorician, (4) rationalist, (5) empiricist, (6) and as a man deeply interested in science and medical practice. (7) Since Wesley's life spanned almost the entire century from 1703 to 1791, he is a fruitful resource for the study of many aspects of eighteenth century English life.

It is rather surprising, therefore, that Wesley's bookmanship has not received a full length study. This aspect of Wesley has been discussed briefly in a few biographies and more precisely in three journal articles (George Jackson, "John Wesley as a Bookman," London Quarterly and Holborn Review, 160 (July 1935), pp.294-305 and James R. Joy, "Wesley: Man of a Thousand Books and a Book," Religion in Life, (8) (Winter 1939), pp. 71-84, and Frank Baker, "A Study of John Wesley's Readings," London Quarterly and Holborn Review, 168 (April and July 1943), pp.140-145 and pp. 234-242). However, no comprehensive bibliographic study has been done on Wesley's reading. Frank Baker has done more work in this area than any other scholar, but he has no plans for publishing. (8)

Although Wesley referred to himself as "homo unius libri," and William Arnett's dissertation (9) thoroughly explicates and substantiates this claim, Wesley was, without doubt, a man of many books. Throughout his life, he was an avid reader with broad interests. His Oxford diaries (1725-1734) and his journal (1735-1790) are filled with constant reference to books which he read and his brief or lengthy appraisals of them. It was his regular habit to read while riding horseback, and later in life when he did more of his traveling by carriage, he placed a book shelf in the carriage so that he might occupy his time in reading. His letters, spanning from 1721 to 1791, contain frequent references to his book reading. Thus these sources-diaries, journal, and letters-reveal that Wesley read in virtually all fields of human inquiry.

These sources also contain a wealth of information about Wesley's advice on reading to the early Methodists, as well as his publishing material for them to read and establishing book rooms for the distribution of literature and promotion of reading.

I. An Outline of Proposed Research

This essay consists of some preliminary observations on the writer's Ph.D. dissertation topic, "John Wesley: the Bookman of Early Methodism," which is being pursued at The University of Michigan. First, the dissertation is dealing with an analysis of Wesley's personal reading as he recorded it in his diaries, journal, and letters and to a lesser extent in other sources. The purpose will be to identify titles which Wesley read and to give some description of them, to determine more precisely the categories in which he read, to systematize the material and to organize it by subject and also chronologically, and to examine his comments on various titles.

Second, the dissertation proposes to explore Wesley's advice, guidance, and exhortations to the early Methodists concerning the importance of book reading. Wesley was fond of saying, "Reading Christians are knowing Christians." He wrote several letters which deal with the subject of reading, and he also compiled reading lists, especially for the benefit of the Methodist preachers. These letters and reading lists will be examined. Finally, consideration will be given not only to titles which Wesley recommended but also titles which he sought to suppress.

No effort will be made in this dissertation to deal with Wesley's own writings, his literary style, his use of the English language, his editing, or his translating. This project will not cover his involvement with publishing and printing. These aspects will be touched upon only as they relate to his reading. For example, Wesley's editing provides some evidence of his tastes in reading, but a lengthy treatment of Wesley's role as editor and publisher is not relevant to the purpose of this study. Besides, this work has already been ably completed by Thomas Walter Herbert's John Wesley as Author and Editor. No effort will be made to present a historical bibliography of Wesley's publications since this already exists in Richard Green's (10) and Frank Baker's (11) works. (10) Frank Baker is also working on a bibliography of the extant copies which remain from Wesley's personal library, and no attempt will be made to venture into this area. This study will focus most singularly upon Wesley's personal reading and secondarily upon his reading advice and guidance to others.

The underlying concept for this dissertation is not new. It is simply that we do not fully understand a man until we know something about what he has read. A man's reading, among other factors, influences his contribution to society. Specifically, with Wesley, this dissertation hopes to discover, in some measure, how Wesley's reading parallels important events, changes, and transitions in his life and to discover, if possible, some general insights into how his reading informed his social and theological views, as well as how these views are reflected in the reading guidance which he gave to his followers. Although this task of interpretation is exceedingly difficult, and entire dissertations have been devoted to the influence of given individuals upon Wesley, it is hoped that in this study, following in the bibliographer's tradition of a broad and universal sweep of a man's reading, some general, but not detailed, conclusions may be reached about the impact of Wesley's reading upon his life.

II. Wesley's Reading

Evidence of the careful attention with which Wesley read is quite obvious throughout his Journal. He frequently summarizes the essential content or thesis of a book. If his opinion on a subject has been altered after reading a given book, he usually notes his change of mind. He fully interacted with the authors which he read and often engaged in critical examination. He was greatly distressed, for example, to read in Sketches of the History of Man a statement that Negro children turn black on the ninth day after birth. His dislike for Rousseau and his contempt for Swendenbourg are apparent. On the other hand, he has great admiration for Marcus Aurelius, Pascal, Milton, and Matthew Prior.

Although Wesley has his fair share of literary prejudices, his reading tastes were also shaped by rather definite canons of judgment. In regard to literary style, he values grammatical correctness, clarity of language, and above all brevity. He rejects verbosity, obscurity, and an ornate style of writing in favor of simple concise expression. He was especially offended by the verbose style of Robertson's History of Charles V and suggested that the substance of it could be reduced to a half of a sheet of paper.

Beyond literary style, Wesley's major canon of judgment was the moral content of a publication. Sometimes the moralistic measure produced a distortion of his critical evaluation. No style of writing, however good, was acceptable if an author trespassed upon traditional Christian morality. Thus he admired the wit of Lord Chesterfield, but otherwise, Wesley viewed him as lacking in virtue as any heathen. He admired Homer as a great narrator and respected the certain measure of piety which he observed in Homer's poetry, but he notes improprieties in Homer. As Wesley records in his Journal for August 12, 1748:

In riding to Newcastle I finished the Iliad of Homer. What an amazing genius has this man! To write with such strength of thought and beauty of expression when he had none to go before him! And what a vein of piety runs through his whole work, in spite of his pagan prejudices. Yet one cannot but observe such improprieties interrnixt, as are shocking to the last degree. (12)

Wesley also had harsh words for Machiavelli and Voltaire on moral grounds.

Wesley's literary tastes were also shaped by his rationalistic commitments, and following his Georgia experience, he became increasingly suspicious of mysticism. This helps one to understand his criticism of Luther's commentary on Galatians and his rejection of Swendenbourg.

Now let us move from these general considerations of literary style to a survey of Wesley's reading during the major segments of his life.

During the Oxford years, Wesley acquired a taste for reading which he was to maintain throughout his life. His reading during these years was dominated by religion and classics. Also there is poetry, considerable drama, and some philosophy and science. Much of his correspondence with his mother during his days at Oxford concerned his reading. It is quite apparent that the two of them carried on an intriguing dialogue over books. One of his earliest letters, November 1, 1724, discusses Cheyne's Book of Health and Long Life which championed exercise and temperance. Another book by Cheyne, Natural Method of Curing Diseases, which Wesley records in his Journal for March 12,1742, had an important influence upon his interests in practical medicine throughout the rest of his career.

Aside from the Scriptures and the Book of Common Prayer, there were four major molders of Wesley's mind during these critical days at Oxford: Thomas a Kempis, Imitation of Christ, Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Holy Dying, William Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life and his Christian Perfection, and Henry Scougal's The Life of God in the Soul of Man. These books made a lasting impression on Wesley.

His Oxford reading reflected tendencies toward ritualism and asceticism, and these characteristics are also present during the voyage and Georgia reading. During the Georgia period, there are references to over one hundred books which Wesley read. He took a considerable library with him to America, and when he was ready to leave, he found it necessary to post a notice asking friends to return books which they had borrowed from him.

The period of 1733 to 1738 was characterized by devotional reading, culminating at Aldersgate with the public reading of Luther's preface to Romans at which time he experienced his evangelical conversion. Gradually the heavy devotional reading gave way to a return to more general literature, and after 1747, references to books on botany, biology, history, classics, medicine, and travel become more frequent.

Outside of religion, Wesley's chief reading interest, or diversion, was the natural sciences, or natural philosophy as it was called in Wesley's day. He was familiar with titles on medicine, astronomy, geology, physics, and biology. For Wesley, there was no conflict between religion and science. For him, science was the unfolding of God's creative purpose in the world. He was acquainted with such works as Bacon's Ten Centuries of Experiment, Priestly's work on Electricity, and Burnet's Theory of the Earth. Wesley's warm sentiments toward Burnet were interpreted as somewhat heretical by a few of his followers. Burnet championed the view that the earth arose out of chaos.

Wesley showed a great deal of openness toward scientific discoveries. Several entries in his Journal reveal his fascination with biology. One of these was recorded on July 21, 1758. He states:

I met with a tract which utterly confounded all my philosophy: I had long believed that all microscopic animals were generated like all other animals by parents of the same species. But Mr. Needham makes it highly probable that they constitute a peculiar class of animals, differing from all others in this, that they neither are generated or generate nor subsist by food in the ordinary way. (13)

Second to his interest in science was his interest in history, and particularly English history. Two notable aspects of his interest in British history may be traced to a couple of books which he read: William Tytler's An Historical and Critical Inquiry into the Evidence Commonly Advanced Against Mary, Queen of Scotland which he noted in his Journal on April 29, 1768, and Horace Walpole's Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard the Third, which he discussed in his Journal on June 17, 1769, as follows:

I finished Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard the Third. What an amazing monster, both in body and mind, have our historians and poets painted him! And yet I think Mr. Walpole makes it more clear than one could expect at this distance of time (1) that he was not only not remarkably deformed, but on the contrary, remarkably handsome; (2) that his queen, whom he entirely loved, died a natural death; (3) that his nephew, Edward the Fifth, did so too, there being no shadow of proof to the contrary; (4) that his other nephew, Richard, was the very person whom Henry the Seventh murdered, after constraining him to call himself Perkin Warbeck; (5) that the death of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, was the sole act, not of him, but Edward the Fourth; (6) that he had no hand at all in the murder of Henry the Sixth, any more than of his son; and, lastly, that he was clear of all blame as to the execution of Lord Hastings, as well as of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan. (14)

Wesley was persuaded by these authors that a vindication of Mary and Richard was in order and consequently in his own Concise History of England he seeks to establish their innocence, and in so doing, he anticipated the work of modern historians.

Wesley read hundreds of authors in English literature, but two prominent names of his time are noticeably missing - Fielding and Richardson. These omissions reflect his distaste for fiction. Reading novels was a waste of time as far as Wesley was concerned, and as he suggested in his letter of August 18, 1784, to Mary Bishop, histories should be preferred to novels. Wesley was fond of Milton, championed Matthew Prior as his favorite poet, Shakespeare as his favorite dramatist, and to the surprise of many, praised Young's Night Thoughts.

Although Wesley preached against the corruption of the theatre, he recognized the value of drama and several plays evoked his admiration. On December 14, 1768, he wrote in his Journal concerning a performance of Terence's Adelphi:

An entertainment not unworthy of a Christian! 0 how do these heathen shame us! Their very comedies contain both excellent sense, the liveliest pictures of men and manners, and so fine strokes of genuine morality, as are seldom found in the writings of Christians. (15)

Concerning one of Thomson's tragedies, Edward and Eleanora, he wrote on October 14,1772, in his Journal:

I was agreeably surprised. The sentiments are just and noble; the diction strong, smooth, and elegant; and the plot conducted with the utmost art, and wrought off in a most surprising manner. It is quite his masterpiece, and I really think might vie with any modern performance of the kind. (16)

The last publication which Wesley records as having read throws considerable light upon his human and spiritual sensitivity. Six days before his death on February 24, 1791, he wrote to William Wilberforce regarding the abolition of slavery. Wesley had been tremendously moved by a "tract written by a poor African" (17) as he puts it in his last diary. The publication was written by Gustavus Vasa, a slave, and is powerful evidence of the influence of the printed page upon Wesley, and because of it, Wesley's last letter was one of protest about the most pressing social problem of his age.

Reading was a thing for any time and any place with Wesley. He read at the Lincoln College Library and at the Bodleian. He had small collections for his personal use at London, Bristol, and Newcastle. But much of his reading was done away from home, library, or a friend's house. He used his odd moments for reading, and he read while walking and while riding horseback. In his Journal entry for March 21, 1770, he gives the secret of his success at reading on horseback.

Nearly thirty years ago, I was thinking, 'How is it that no horse ever stumbles while I am reading?' (History, poetry, and philosophy, I commonly read on horseback, having other employment at other times.) No account can possibly be given but this: because then I throw the reins on his neck. I then set myself to observe; and I aver that, in riding above a hundred thousand miles, I scarce ever remember any horse (except two, that would fall head over heels any way) to fall, or make a considerable stumble, while I rode with a slack rein. To fancy, therefore, that a tight rein prevents stumbling is a capital blunder. I have repeated the trial more frequently than most men in the kingdom can do. A slack rein will prevent stumbling, if anything will. But in some horses nothing can. (18)

After a bad fall from his horse on December 18, 1765, he came to rely increasingly upon vehicles. In the summer of 1766, a Miss Lewen gave him a chaise and a pair of horses. It was an attractive yellow carriage, and as one would expect, it was equipped with a bookcase.

Wesley often read with his pen in hand-summarizing and abridging books or "collecting a book" as he termed it. He also frequently used oral reading as a method of evangelism and for pastoral care and Christian nurture.

III. Wesley's Role as a Reader-Advisor

Wesley assumed a definite role as a reader-advisor to the early Methodists. John Telford has suggested that no man in the eighteenth century "did so much to create a taste for good reading and to supply it with books at the lowest prices" (19) as did John Wesley. In a sermon written in 1780, Wesley remarks concerning his promotion of reading:

Two and forty years ago, having a desire to furnish poor people with cheaper, shorter, and plainer books than I had seen, I wrote many small tracts, generally a penny apiece, and afterwards several larger. Some of these had such a sale as I never thought of and by this means, I unawares became rich. (20)

Wesley deliberately provided useful literature that was cheap in cost and aimed at lifting the educational and spiritual life of the eighteenth century English masses. He established book rooms to promote reading and declared that "the work of grace would die out in one generation if the Methodists were not a reading people." (21)

Wesley's reading was purposeful, and his guidance to Methodist readers was likewise obedient to a disciplined purpose. His personal reading and his reading advice to others was guided by a threefold purpose: (1) to spread Scriptural holiness, (2) to educate the Methodists, (3) to nurture and protect the Methodists from harmful books.

Wesley practiced three methods of discouraging the Methodists from reading certain books. His most common method was to publish a note against the title in his Journal which became for all practical purposes the "Methodist Index." He also published tracts, pamphlets, or books in reply. Or as more often happened, he simply published a censored version of the title leaving out all objectionable content.

IV. Summary

In conclusion, one may safely say that few, if any, eighteenth century Englishmen were better read men than John Wesley. His reading tastes were catholic in scope, yet disciplined and purposeful. He seized on the most important points of any book he read, and his warmed heart did not mean a dulled mind. Rather he was an alert and critical reader. He was contemporary and yet mindful of the books of the ages. He did not despise wisdom, and through him books and reading reached the English masses as they never had before.

DOCUMENTATIONS

1. Frederick R. Edgar, A Study of John Wesley from the Point of View of the Educational Methodology Used by Him in Fostering the Wesleyan Revival in England. Ph.D. Dissertation, Columbia, 1953.

2. Thomas Walter Herbert, Wesley as Author and Editor. Ph.D. Dissertation. Princeton University, 1939.

George Lawton, John Wesley' s English; a Study of His Literary Style (London: Allen and Unwin, 1962). George H. Vailins, The Wesleys and the English Language (London: Epworth Press, 1957).

3. Maldwyn Lloyd Edwards, John Wesley and the Eighteenth Century; a Study of His Social and Political Influence (London: Epworth Press, 1955)

4. Harold V. Whited, A Rhetorical Analysis of the Published Sermons Preached by John Wesley at Oxford University. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan, 1959.

5. Wallace G. Gray, The Place of Reason in the Theology of John Wesley, Ph.D Dissertation, Vanderbilt, 1953.

6. William E. Sweetland, John Wesley: Eighteenth Century Empiricist. Ph.D. Dissertation, Michigan State University, 1954.

7. Frank W. Collier, John Wesley Among the Scientists. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1928).

Alfred W. Hill, John Wesley Among the Physicians: "a Study of Eighteenth Century Medicine" (London: Epworth Press, 1958).

8. His intentions were confirmed to the writer in conversation in his office at Duke University on April 7, 1967, when the writer also examined the notes which Mr. Baker has gathered on this topic.

9. William M. Arnett, John Wesley~ Man of One Book. Ph.D. Dissertation. Drew University, 1954. A study of Wesley's use of Scripture.

10. Richard Green, The Works of John and Charles Wesley; "a Bibliography" (London: C. H. Kelly, 1896).

11. Frank Baker, A Union Catalogue of the Publications of John and Charles Wesley (Durham, North Carolina: Duke University, 1966).

12. John Wesley, Journal, Vol. 3, Ed. by Nehemiah Curnock (London: Epworth Press, 1938), p. 366.

13. Ibid., IV, 279.

14. Ibid., V, 322.

15. Ibid., V, 294-295.

16. Ibid., V, 485.

17. Ibid., VIII, 128.

18. Ibid., V, 360-561.

19. John Telford, "John Wesley," Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 23, (Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 1965), p. 518.

20. John Wesley, Works, Vol. 7, Ed. by Thomas Jackson (London: John Mason, 1829), p. 9.

21. John Wesley, Letters, Vol. I, Ed. by John Telford (London: Epworth Press, 1931), p. xv.