The life and times of the Rev. Samuel Wesley: Rector of Epworth and father of the Revs. John and Charles Wesley, the founders of the Methodists

In Short

L. Tyerman’s biography recovers the life of Samuel Wesley, Rector of Epworth, defending him from historical neglect and unfair charges of foolish eccentricity. The book traces his lineage from Dissenting roots to his unwavering devotion as an Anglican clergyman, outlining his early education, his literary ventures, his domestic life, and his pastoral trials. Through political entanglements, public controversies, financial hardships, and the harrowing burning of his parsonage, Wesley emerges as a man of rigid integrity and deep conviction. Tyerman examines Wesley's scholarly works, including his extensive commentary on Job, while illuminating the domestic environment that shaped his famous sons, John and Charles. The biography has endured because it provides an exhaustive, primary-source foundation for understanding the familial and ecclesiastical origins of Methodism.

The Story

The narrative opens with the political and religious turmoil of late seventeenth-century England. Following the Restoration of Charles II and the Act of Uniformity, nonconforming ministers face eviction and persecution. Among those affected are Samuel Wesley’s ancestral forebears, including Bartholomew Wesley and John Wesley of Melcombe, who are driven from their livings and forced to preach in secret while evading hostile authorities. Raised within this Dissenting tradition, young Samuel Wesley is initially educated in Dissenting academies at Stepney and London with the expectation that he will join the Nonconformist ministry. However, after witnessing the internal squabbles of the Dissenters and studying the arguments for the Established Church, Wesley makes a decisive break with his family tradition and enters Oxford as a servitor to qualify for holy orders in the Church of England.

Wesley’s early career is marked by financial struggle and intense literary activity. He publishes a youthful collection of light verse titled Maggots, serves brief stints as a naval chaplain and London curate, and marries Susanna Annesley, the daughter of a prominent Nonconformist divine. He joins John Dunton and Richard Sault in founding the Athenian Gazette, contributing scholarly articles on Hebrew points and biblical antiquity to the publication. His literary efforts and staunch loyalty to the crown eventually secure him the livings of South Ormsby and, subsequently, the rectory of Epworth in Lincolnshire, where he serves for decades.

At Epworth, Wesley encounters continuous hardship. His stubborn devotion to Church discipline, coupled with his high-church political sermons, alienates many of his parishioners. Local hostility escalates into overt malice: his crops are damaged, his livestock mutilated, and his parsonage set on fire. In 1709, a devastating blaze completely destroys the parsonage, nearly killing his young son John, who is rescued at the last moment from an upper window. Undeterred, Wesley rebuilds the rectory and resumes his duties, though he remains chronically plagued by severe debts, at one point suffering imprisonment in Lincoln Castle for unpaid obligations.

Despite these personal and financial crises, Wesley remains actively engaged in the broader ecclesiastical debates of his era. He writes a controversial pamphlet critiquing Dissenting academies, triggering a bitter print war with authors like Daniel Defoe. He attends Convocations in London, preaches before the Society for the Reformation of Manners, and vigorously defends traditional orthodoxy against Arian and anti-trinitarian views. Meanwhile, strange supernatural disturbances—attributed to a poltergeist dubbed "Old Jeffery"—haunt the Epworth parsonage, a phenomenon that deeply impresses the entire family and solidifies their belief in an unseen spiritual world.

In his declining years, Wesley channels his remaining energy into his magnum opus, a massive Latin dissertation on the Book of Job, while maintaining a rigorous correspondence with his sons, John and Charles, who are then at Oxford forming the "Holy Club." Wesley offers them stern paternal counsel on theology, ordination, and ecclesiastical duty. When his health fails following a carriage accident, he attempts to persuade John to succeed him as Rector of Epworth to preserve the family's home, but John refuses, choosing to remain at Oxford. Wesley dies surrounded by his family, leaving behind a legacy of uncompromising duty that directly informs the spiritual movement his sons would soon launch worldwide.

How It Unfolds

The voyage begins Samuel Wesley is born into a devout Dissenting family during the height of religious persecution following the Restoration. His father and grandfather face eviction under the Act of Uniformity, forcing the family to relocate frequently as they preach illegally. These early experiences surround young Wesley with the sacrifices and trials of nonconformist piety.

A turn to orthodoxy Sent to London Dissenting academies to prepare for the ministry, young Wesley grows disillusioned with the factionalism of Dissenting circles. He makes the bold choice to break from his family's heritage, traveling to Oxford to enter the Established Church. He supports himself through college as a servitor while preparing for Anglican ordination.

Literary trials in London After taking orders, Wesley marries Susanna Annesley and enters the London literary world to supplement his meager curacy income. He writes light satirical poetry, serves as a naval chaplain, and becomes a primary contributor to the Athenian Gazette. This period establishes his reputation as a formidable, if impecunious, scholar.

The Epworth parish struggle Appointed Rector of Epworth, Wesley faces a recalcitrant and often hostile flock that resents his strict enforcement of church discipline. His uncompromising political stances and insistence on public penances provoke fierce retaliation from locals. The conflict culminates in the total destruction of his parsonage by fire, from which his son John narrowly escapes.

Debt and prison walls Challenged by a large family and small tithes, Wesley falls heavily into debt to local creditors. His political enemies take advantage of his financial embarrassment, resulting in his arrest and temporary imprisonment in Lincoln Castle. Even behind bars, he continues his pastoral labors by preaching to his fellow inmates.

The parsonage ghost Mysterious knockings, footsteps, and uncanny sounds begin to echo through the rebuilt Epworth parsonage, baffling the household. The family attributes these supernatural events to a ghost named "Old Jeffery," an experience that strengthens their lifelong conviction regarding the reality of the spiritual realm.

Counsel to the Holy Club As his sons John and Charles establish their methodical devotional group at Oxford, Wesley guides them through extensive correspondence. He offers precise theological advice on ordination, church canons, and the necessity of personal holiness. Though aging and frail, he remains their principal intellectual and spiritual advisor.

The final cross In his last years, Wesley suffers severe injuries in a carriage accident, further deteriorating his health as he labors to finish his Latin treatise on Job. He tries unsuccessfully to convince John to accept the Epworth living to care for his mother and sisters. He dies peacefully, passing his spiritual mantle to his sons.

The People

• Samuel Wesley: The Rector of Epworth who wants to uphold rigid Anglican orthodoxy, fulfill his calling as a biblical scholar, and provide for his large family. Hindered by chronic debt, malicious parishioners, and severe domestic misfortunes, he remains fiercely uncompromising, ultimately shaping the devout atmosphere that grounds his famous sons.
• Susanna Wesley: Samuel’s formidable wife, who seeks to cultivate deep piety and strict discipline within her household while managing their precarious estate. Hindered by poverty, personal loss, and her husband's frequent absences, she emerges as an intellectual force and an unwavering mother who profoundly influences her children's religious development.
• John Wesley: Samuel's second surviving son, who wants to achieve personal holiness and follow a precise scriptural path. Hindered by his father's pressure to take over the Epworth parish, he ultimately refuses the living to maintain his academic and spiritual life at Oxford, laying the groundwork for Methodism.
• Charles Wesley: The younger son, who seeks to pursue sacred studies and remain faithful to his familial and church duties. Hindered by financial constraints and early indecision regarding his career, he relies closely on his father's guidance through his Oxford years.
• John Dunton: Samuel’s eccentric brother-in-law and publishing partner, who wants to commercialize literary and educational periodicals in London. His erratic publishings occasionally entangle Wesley in public rivalries and bitter pamphleteering.

In Its Own Voice

“Go, sell all that thou hast; and take up thy cross, and follow me.”

After a devastating fire burned the Epworth rectory to the ground, Samuel Wesley mournfully surveyed the ruins of his garden and discovered a single burnt leaf from his Polyglott Bible containing only these legible words.

“King William is come home, come home, / King William home is come; / Therefore let us together sing, / The hymn that is called ‘Te D’um.’”

An eccentric and vain parish clerk at Epworth once rose in the middle of divine service to give out this original verse to the great amusement of the congregation.

“I have an ambition to get him drawn by the best artist we can find, and place him as the greatest ornament of my work.”

In a letter to Lord Oxford, Samuel Wesley sought permission to make an engraving of his lordship's celebrated Arab horse to serve as an illustration for his massive scholarly dissertation on the Book of Job.

What It's Really About

The book is fundamentally a study of moral duty and religious conviction maintaining itself against relentless adversity. Tyerman sets out to rehabilitate Samuel Wesley’s reputation, moving past historical caricatures that dismissed him as merely eccentric or quarrelsome. At its core, the text explores the intense struggle between Nonconformity and the Established Church in post-Restoration England, demonstrating how institutional conflict personally shaped individual clergymen and their families.

The biography also examines the nature of Christian trial and domestic endurance. Wesley’s life is presented as a series of heavy crosses—poverty, parish hatred, house fires, political attacks, and debt—borne with an uncompromising, if sometimes rigid, conscience. Tyerman argues that this very environment of fiery trial and unyielding Anglican discipline was the necessary soil for the rise of Methodism. The book investigates how the spiritual convictions of the parents, forged in persecution and pastoral hardship, directly informed the impelling zeal, martyr courage, and structured faith that John and Charles Wesley later carried to the wider world.

Why Read It Today

Readers drawn to eighteenth-century religious history, ecclesiastical biography, or the roots of the Methodist movement will find this book an indispensable source. Tyerman avoids hollow praise, opting instead to present a detailed, document-driven record of a complex life. Reading it feels like sifting through a rich archive of personal letters, parish records, and period pamphlets. The narrative immerses the reader directly into the gritty realities of early provincial ministry, where parish priests fought not just theological battles, but literal fires, poverty, and violent local feuds.

The text does present real difficulties for the modern reader. It is an extensive nineteenth-century work that quotes heavily from ancient letters, lengthy Latin dissertations, and forgotten political tracts. The prose reflects period attitudes, containing dense ecclesiastical debates, structural footnoting, and meticulous transcriptions of obscure local squabbles that can occasionally slow the pace. Yet, what stays with the reader is the unyielding grit of the Wesley household. The dramatic image of the burning parsonage, the strange occurrences of the Epworth ghost, and the fierce integrity of a father writing scholarly treatises by candlelight despite looming debt leave a lasting impression of human resilience and devotional conviction.