"In this book, a Methodist minister examines the sources of John Wesley's ideas about marriage and shows how those beliefs found expression in the cleric's revision of the Anglican wedding service." "Author Bufford W. Coe describes the radical differences between a typical eighteenth-century wedding and a church wedding of today. He also tells the fascinating story of Wesley's romances with Sophia Hopkey and Grace Murray, based on his own private diaries, and shows how those relationships, as well as his miserably unhappy marriage, were affected by Wesley's beliefs about matrimony." "Four days after Wesley decided he would marry at the age of forty-seven, he spoke to a group of unmarried men and encouraged them to remain single. In the matrimonial service he devised for American Methodists, Wesley eliminated the custom of the bride being given in marriage by her father, although Wesley consistently taught that Christians should not marry without the consent of their parents. Wesley strongly condemned the Roman Catholic Church for requiring celibacy of its priests, but his own rules required that Methodist preachers who married during their initial probationary period were thereby disqualified." "In 1784, Wesley published The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America with Other Occasional Services. Coe studies the components of Wesley's marriage liturgy from the Sunday Service to try to determine why Wesley revised the Anglican wedding service in the way that he did."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The leaders of the Methodist revival that swept 18th-century England, John and Charles Wesley reveal a spirituality that synthesized into a unique blend elements from the Church Fathers, Catholic mystics and Protestant Reformers. The major works of the Wesleys appear in this volume, including John Wesley's Plain Account of Christian Perfection and Charles Wesley's Hymns.

Includes brief biographies and suggestions for further reading.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of the English hymn. The importance of Charles, however, extends well beyond his undoubted poetic abilities, for he is a figure of central importance in the context of the birth and early growth of Methodism, a movement which today has a worldwide presence. It was Charles and not John who first started the Oxford 'Holy Club' from which the ethos and structures of organised Methodism were eventually to emerge. It was Charles rather than John who first experienced the 'strange warming of the heart' that characterised the experience of many eighteenth-century evangelicals; and in the early years it was Charles no less than John who sought to spread, mainly through his preaching, the evangelical message across England, Wales, and Ireland. Eye witness testimony suggests that Charles was a powerful and effective preacher whose homiletic work and skill did much to establish and further the early Methodist cause. In this book this other side of Charles Wesley is brought clearly into focus through the publication, for the first time, of all of the known Charles Wesley sermon texts. In the four substantial introductory chapters a case is made for the inclusion of the 23 sermons here presented and there is discussion also of the significant text-critical problems that have been negotiated in the production of this volume. Other chapters present a summary of Charles's life and preaching career and seek to show by example how the sermons, no less than the hymns, are significant vehicles for the transmission of Charles's message. This book hence makes a plea for a reassessment of the place of Charles Wesley in English Church history and argues that he deserves to be recognised as more than just 'The Sweet Singer of Methodism'.

This book seeks to understand John Wesley's theology, which when put into practice, gave birth to a great evangelical revival in the English-speaking world of the eighteenth century. On the American Frontier in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, Wesley's theology underwent some significant changes. These changes were in key areas of Wesley's theology: the doctrines of Grace, Christian perfection, and his theology of worship and sacraments. There have always been those who seek church renewal through a return of the 'ole time religion' (the religion of the frontier). This book suggests that we in the twenty-first century need to go back further than the American frontier in our search for church renewal, back to Wesley's theology, unfiltered through the frontier. Dr. Beeson is retired after forty-four years as a United Methodist pastor and District Superintendent in the Western New York Conference. In retirement he has had time to write this book, which has been in the back of his mind for years. He has been a Chaplin in the Army Reserve with the final rank of captain, executive secretary of the Genesee County Council of Churches, mayor of the village of Barker, N.Y. and theology professor in Burundi, Africa. He has written two other books: They Gathered at the Cross 1967 and Deep Pools 1978; a study guide for laity, Theology 101 and a course of study for pastors in Burundi. Dr. Beeson and his wife, Eva, have three grown children and several grandchildren all of whom they are very proud.