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John and Charles Wesley, Priests, 1791, 1788
3 March

John and Charles Wesley are often combined when they are talked about. I would like to separate them. Charles was one of the greatest hymn writers of all time. He wrote over 5,000 hymns in his lifetime 24 of them are in the 1982 Hymnal. Charles opposed all moves tending to separation from the Church of England especially the illegal ordinations that John performed. Charles understood importance of hymns for missionary, devotional and instructional purposes.

I am not as impressed with John his brother. It was stated that John never intended to leave the Church of England either. He preferred the idea that a person should go to Mass in the morning and then in the evening go for more preaching and singing. While this might sound great and I understand that this was needed, especially at this time in the church. Where the problems begin to occur are when he begins to do his own ordinations and even ordaining Thomas Coke as a Bishop. John Wesley obviously did not want to stay within the Church of England and having him on our calendar is like the Roman Catholic Church making Martin Luther a saint.



The Reverend Mark A Stockstill, SSC
Vicar, St Matthew's Church
Comanche, Texas

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Biblical † Orthodox † Anglo-Catholic
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