Known sins

Two questions drive Henry Abelove’s The Evangelist of Desire: John Wesley and the Methodists. How did John Wesley sustain his following for over four decades when other eighteenth-century evangelicals failed? Of his strict teachings, what did his followers actually accept?

Standing apart in his gown, silk stockings, and gloves, Wesley commanded deference. He spent nights in humble homes and joined families for meals. His touch was healing, his presence intimate and loving. But devotion went so far. His call for celibacy went unheeded. When he said no play for children, families looked the other way because how was he to know, he did not have any. When he said no play for adults, they spurned public theater - only to establish their own! They took to stage sharing personal stories with fellow Methodists and demonstratively celebrated the newly converted. They refused 5am daily worship because their days began only at 8am. But they honored Wesley in the end by holding his service then.