In Their Words: The Story of Early Methodism

Abstract

Gary Best, former warden of the New Room in Bristol and currently its historical consultant, has produced this account of early Methodism in a format that includes 500 readings embedded in the text from the Wesleys and 120 of their contemporaries. Most of the chapters are chronological, but three chapters focus on specific themes: the content of early Methodist preaching, social justice issues, and the role of lay preachers. The final chapter is a compendium of eighteenth-century prayers ordered thematically.The book, being aimed at the general reader, is copiously illustrated and while some of the illustrations will be very familiar to Methodist readers—Henry Perlee Parker's A Brand Plucked from the Burning (10), for example—others, such as the interior of the Fetter Lane chapel (98), will be less so. A mix of the familiar and unfamiliar is similarly employed with the selection of quotes, especially those featuring in the parts of the early Methodist story that Best is keen to rescue from the shadow of the Wesleys. The role of George Whitefield and his followers is given due prominence and the pain of their subsequent schism is conveyed vividly in the words of Calvinistic Methodist preacher Joseph Humphreys to John Wesley: ‘Reverend Sir, I would have joined with you in all eternity if I could but … I now think it is my duty no longer to join you but openly renounce your doctrines’ (103).One of the drawbacks of the A5 format of the book is that the illustrations are quite small and, especially in the case of engravings, do not always reproduce very clearly. It also renders the index—which covers only the authors of quotes—in a very small font size. Best includes a Further Reading section at the end, which is very useful and comprehensive: it was somewhat surprising to find, alongside the suggestion that Arthur Skevington Wood's The Inextinguishable Blaze contains judgements ‘no longer supported by modern research’ (273), a recommendation for Roy Hattersley's much derided biography of John Wesley, A Brand Plucked from the Burning!It is possible that, owing to the format of quotations inserted into the text, the target audience of Best's book might find it a volume to dip into rather than read from cover to cover, but however they approach it, they will find much of interest. Preachers looking for material for sermons, especially around 24 May, will similarly find it a treasure trove, even if an additional index of subjects would have helped in this regard. Best's book will help the general reader to understand that the story of early Methodism contains a much wider cast of characters than most popular narratives allow, and their understanding of it will thus be much the richer.