John Wesley was an ecclesiastical, theological, and evangelist from England, founded Methodism, a revivalist movement within the Church of England. He established societies that eventually dominated the independent Methodist movement, which is still in existence today.
53 John Wesley Quotes
- “Earn all you can, give all you can, save all you can”
2. “What one generation tolerates, the next generation will embrace.”
3. “Get on fire for God and men will come and see you burn.”
4. “I have no objection to instruments of music in our worship, provided they are neither seen nor heard.”
5. “I pity those who can find no good at church. But how should they if prejudice come between, an effectual bar to the grace of God?”
6. “Not, how much of my money will I give to God, but, how much of God’s money will I keep for myself?”
7. “Light yourself on fire with passion and people will come from miles to watch you burn.”
8. “Do not despise or run down any preacher; do not exalt any one above the rest, lest you hurt both him and the cause of God.”
9. “I build on Christ, the rock of ages; on his sure mercies described in his word, and on his promises, all which I know are yea and amen.”
10. “Though I am always in haste, I am never in a hurry.”
11. “I learned more about Christianity from my mother than from all the theologians in England.”
12. “Do all the good you can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, with all the zeal you can, as long as ever you can.”
13. “Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God; such alone will shake the gates of hell.”
14. “You have one business on earth – to save souls.”
15. “Good people avoid sin because they love goodness, Wicked people avoid sin because they fear punishment.”
16. “I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.”
17. “A man of one book, a student of many.”
18. “People who wish to be offended will always find some occasion for taking offense.”
19. “Bring me a worm that can comprehend a man, and then I will show you a man that can comprehend the Triune God.”
20. “It is no marvel that the devil does not love field preaching! Neither do I; I love a commodious room, a soft cushion, a handsome pulpit. But where is my zeal if I do not trample all these underfoot in order to save one more soul?”
21. “Proceed with much prayer, and your way will be made plain.”
22. “We should be rigorous in judging ourselves and gracious in judging others.”
23. “Nothing short of God can satisfy your soul.”
24. “God does nothing except in response to believing prayer.”
25. “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.”
26. Never dream of forcing men into the ways of God. Think yourself, and let think. Use no constraint in matters of religion. Even those who are farthest out of the way never compel to come in by any other means than reason, truth, and love.”
27. “No outward practices will stand in the place of the new birth. Nothing under heaven will stand in its place.”
28. “By justification, we are saved from the guilt of sin…by sanctification, we are saved from the power and root of sin”
29. “Cleanliness is indeed next to godliness.”
30. “Vice does not lose its character by becoming fashionable.”
31. “Catch on fire and others will love to come watch you burn.”
32. “Absolute perfection belongs not to man, nor to angels, but to God alone.”
33. “At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation.”
34. “In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is continual prayer.”
35. “Untold millions are still untold.”
36. “Reading Christians are growing Christians. When Christians cease to read, they cease to grow.”
37. “Until my work on this earth is done, I am immortal. But when my work for Christ is done … I go to be with Jesus”
38. “All worldly joys are less than that one joy of doing kindnesses.“
39. “Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.”
40. “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation.”
41. “O leave nothing behind you! Send all you have before you into a better world! Lend it, lend it all unto the Lord, and it shall be paid you again!”
42. “In all cases, the Church is to be judged by the Scripture, not the Scripture by the Church.”
43. “If we cannot think alike, at least we may love alike; and can anything but love beget love?”
44. “It cannot be that the people should grow in grace unless they give themselves to reading. A reading people will always be a knowing people.”
45. “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.”
46. “I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.”
47. “How is it more for the glory of God to save man irresistibly, than to save him as a free agent, by such grace as he may either concur or resist?”
48. “Then you ought to teach others to read only the Bible, and, by parity of reasoning, to hear only the Bible. But if so, you need preach no more.”
49. “One of the greatest evidences of God’s love to those that love him is, to send them afflictions, with grace to bear them.”
50. “Humility and patience are the surest proofs of the increase of love.”
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51. “Gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”
52. “Bear up the hands that hang down, by faith and prayer; support the tottering knees. Have you any days of fasting and prayer? Storm the throne of grace and persevere therein, and mercy will come down.”
53. “When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous. Now, if that man, when he gets all he can and saves all he can, does not give all he can, I have more hope for Judas Iscariot than for that man!”
Must Read: – John Wesley: His Life and His Work
John Wesley Short Biography
John Wesley attended Charterhouse and Christ Church in Oxford for his education. In 1726, Wesley was elected a fellow of Lincoln College in Oxford, and two years later, he was ordained as an Anglican priest.
At Oxford, he served as the leader of the “Holy Club,” a group that George Whitefield and his brother Charles founded for the purpose of studying and pursuing a devoted Christian life.
He returned to London and joined a religious organization run by Moravian Christians after serving in an unsuccessful ministry for two years at Christ Church in the Georgia colony of Savannah. He felt his “heart strangely warmed” on May 24, 1738, which is now known as the date of his evangelical conversion. After doing so, he started his own ministry and eventually left the Moravians.
Wesley, like Whitefield, took to the road and delivered his sermons outside, which was a crucial development for his ministry. Wesley embraced Arminian principles in contrast to Whitefield’s Calvinism. Over the course of his travels in Great Britain and Ireland, he assisted in the formation and organization of small Christian groups (societies) that fostered intense and individualized accountability, discipleship, and religious instruction.
He entrusted the care of these populations to itinerant, unordained evangelists, both men and women. Methodists rose to prominence in a number of contemporary social issues, such as the abolition of slavery and prison reform, under Wesley’s guidance.
Wesley opposed Calvinism, particularly its doctrine of predestination, and advocated for the idea of Christian perfection despite the fact that he was not a systematic theologian.
His sacramental theology-based evangelicalism upheld that means of grace occasionally played a part in the sanctification of the believer, but he taught that it was through faith that a believer was changed into the likeness of Christ. He believed that Christians could reach a state where God’s love “reigned supreme in their hearts” during this life, making them holy both inside and out. Wesley’s ideas, collectively referred to as “Wesleyan theology,” continue to influence Methodist churches’ doctrine.
Wesley insisted that the Methodist movement fit well within the tradition of the established Church of England throughout his life and remained a member of it throughout. Early in his ministry, Wesley was forbidden from preaching in many parish churches and the Methodists were persecuted; later, he gained widespread respect and was dubbed “the best-loved man in England” at the end of his life.
Additional Read:
10 fascinating facts about John Wesley and United Methodism