John Wesley-Into All the World

by John Telford

This book paints a vivid picture of Wesley's spiritual journey, his active life and the message he preached.

353 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1902

About the author

1851-1936

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

This now 100 year-old biography is favorable to John Wesley; not so favorable to his wife (who, it is said, was an angry, bitter woman who often left him; though there is ultimately very little in this book about her). The story of his life is a great challenge to be diligent to serve God by spreading the Gospel and alleviating the poor in our own times. His work ethic and study habits were exemplary. For a biography of a preacher, there is not a lot of deep discussion of doctrine in this book. There is discussion of the influence of Moravian preachers on Wesley’s move away from trying to justify himself by his works to recognition of justification by faith in Christ, which ultimately led to his exclusion from Established churches and into field preaching and an itinerant ministry. The Arminianism-Calvinism controversy is touched on several times, with the assumption that Arminianism is the obvious winner and without considering that they both may be wrong in some respects. Also, ironically, it took the death of John and Charles Wesley for Methodism to fully break from the Church of England, but it is not clear from this book why, given the clear disagreements. The great divider—infant or believer’s baptism (Wesley hung to the former)—is ignored. Notwithstanding, this was my first in-depth look at John Wesley, and this biography was insightful in its portrayal of him and his life’s work.