The statue is Grade II listed and the
entry at the English
Heritage website tells us:
"Statue. 1891 by Adams Acton. Bronze
on a granite base. Plinth of grey granite, square in plan, inscribed 'WESLEY';
base of pink polished granite, square in plan with curved apsidal ends,
inscribed 'ERECTED WITH FUNDS COLLECTED BY THE CHILDREN OF METHODISM'; bronze
statue inscribed 'THE WORLD IS MY PARISH'."
The statue shows Wesley in robes with
his right arm and hand extended forward with the palm facing down. His left arm
is bent at the elbow and in his left hand is a small book.
The About.Com website gives a biography of Wesley:
"John Wesley is known for two
things: co-founding Methodism and his tremendous work ethic.
In the 1700s, when land travel was
by walking, horseback or carriage, Wesley logged more than 4,000 miles a year.
During his lifetime he preached about 40,000 sermons.
Wesley could give today's experts
lessons in efficiency. He was a natural organizer and approached everything
diligently, especially religion. It was at Oxford University in England that he
and his brother Charles participated in a Christian club in such an orderly
manner that critics called them methodists, a title which they gladly
embraced.
The Aldersgate Experience of John Wesley
As priests in the Church of England,
John and Charles Wesley traveled from Great Britain to Georgia, in the American
colonies in 1735. While John's desire had been to preach to the Indians, he was
appointed pastor of the church in Savannah.
When he imposed church discipline on
members who failed to notify him that they were taking communion, John Wesley
found himself accused in civil courts by one of the powerful families of
Savannah. The juries were stacked against him. To make matters worse, a woman he
had been courting married another man.
John Wesley returned to England
bitter, disillusioned and spiritually low. He told Peter Boehler, a Moravian, of
his experience and his inner struggle. On May 24, 1738, Boehler convinced him to
go to a meeting. Here is Wesley's description:
"In the evening,
I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading
Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine,
while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in
Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ
alone for salvation, and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my
sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."
This "Aldersgate Experience" had a
permanent effect on Wesley's life. He answered a request from fellow preacher
George Whitefield to join him in Whitefield's evangelism ministry. Whitefield
preached outdoors, something unheard of at the time. Whitefield was one of the
co-founders of Methodism, along with the Wesleys, but they later split when
Whitefield clung to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination.
John Wesley the
Organizer
As always, Wesley went about his new
work methodically. He organized the groups into societies, then classes,
connections and circuits, under the direction of a superintendent. His brother
Charles and some other Anglican priests joined, but John did most of the
preaching. He later added lay preachers who could deliver a message but not
offer communion.
The clergy and lay preachers met on
occasion to discuss progress. That eventually became the annual conference. By
1787, Wesley was required to register his preachers as non-Anglicans. He,
however, remained an Anglican to his death.
He saw great opportunity outside
England. Wesley ordained two lay preachers to serve in the newly independent
United States of America and named George Coke as superintendent in that
country. Methodism was breaking away from the Church of England as a separate
Christian denomination.
Meanwhile, John Wesley continued to
preach throughout the British Isles. Never one to waste time, he discovered that
he could read while walking, on horseback, or in a carriage. Nothing stopped
him. Wesley pushed on through rainstorms and blizzards, and if his coach got
stuck, he continued on horse or on foot.
Early Life of John
Wesley
Susanna Annesley Wesley, John's
mother, had a profound influence on his life. She and her husband Samuel, an
Anglican priest, had 19 children. John was the 15th, born June 17, 1703 in
Epworth, England, where his father was rector.
Family life for the Wesleys was
rigidly structured, with exact times for meals, prayers, and sleep. Susanna
home-schooled the children, teaching them religion and manners as well. They
learned to be quiet, obedient, and hardworking.
In 1709, a fire destroyed the
rectory, and young John had to be rescued from a second story window by a man
standing on another man's shoulders. The children were taken in by various
parishioners until the new rectory was built, at which time the family was
reunited and Mrs. Wesley started "reforming" her children from the bad things
they had learned in other homes.
John eventually attended Oxford,
where he proved to be a brilliant scholar. He was ordained into the Anglican
ministry. At age 48, he married a widow named Mary Vazeille, who deserted him
after 25 years. They had no children together.
The strict discipline and relentless
work ethic instilled early in his life served Wesley well as a preacher,
evangelist, and church organizer. He was still preaching at age 88, just a few
days before he died in 1791.
John Wesley met death singing hymns,
quoting the Bible, and saying farewell to his family and friends. Some of his
last words were, "The best of all is, God is with
us."