You are correct about Wesley being a Tory. Originally, he sided with the colonies and wrote a tract/pamphlet that explained such. Then he read a tract by Samuel Johnson (whose title I cannot recall) and changed his mind, whereupon he wrote A Calm Address to the American Colonies. Because of the support Wesley started to exhibit towards Britain's crown, the Methodist ministers that he had sent to America were all recalled: the Methodist ministers refused to bear arms with the Patriots, and Wesley's Toryism didn't help Methodism's image in America. The only one to stay behind was Francis Asbury, who continued the monumental work by himself. In fact, it was Asbury himself who turned the tide of sentiment in America back from hostility towards Methodists, when he wrote a letter to a man named Rankin in 1777, writing that he believed America would become an independent nation, that he loved America too much to leave it, and that Methodist preachers had a great work to do given to them by God's own hand. The letter found its way into colonial authorities' hands, and it produced a marked change in their attitudes towards Asbury and the Methodist preachers that were converted in America, like Freeborn Garrettson. (See One Methodist's March issue).
As for Wesley splintering from Whitefield, that was never the case. Wesley was preaching in churches (those few that didn't kick him out for preaching the Gospel) before Whitefield's invitation to come field preach with him. As it stood, Wesley was really the backbone of the Wesleyan (or Evangelical, or Methodist) Revival, which was a seperate revival though vaguely linked to the American First Great Awakening, and which outlasted the Great Awakening by over 50 years (the Wesleyan Revival was considered in full swing from 1739 all the way to at least the 1780s, and very likely even beyond Wesley's death in 1791). Whitefield was a far better revivalist--his way of almost "grand-standing" reminded people of an actor on a stage, and would later have some comparison to the admittedly-heretical Charles Finney--but Wesley was a far better organizer. He was the one that made sure there was a follow-up organization (the Methodist Societies) in place wherever he preached, in order to ensure that he was not, as he would say of a place where the Methodist Society had declined, "begetting children for the slaughter."
In regard to Whitefield, Wesley's Arminianism was in place long before the Evangelical Revival (though this is not to say that that immediately makes it obvious Arminianism is "the lie of Eden;" note also that many Calvinists' Calvinism is in place before their own regeneration). It was in fact Whitefield, in going to the Americas, who "went off into" Calvinism--likely in the hope that this was enable him to work closer with the patently more Calvinistic preachers in New England (e.g., Edwards).
There was indeed a predominantly Calvinistic view of things in Revolutionary America, although this changed very significantly on the frontiers where the Methodist preachers ("circuit riders") roamed. In fact, Methodism's halcyon days in America would probably be placed immediately after the Revolutionary War, when the likes of Peter Cartwright, Bishop Asbury (who continued the rough preaching lifestyle even when his rheumatism got so bad he could no longer walk) and the world-renowned Lorenzo Dow (who could say with Paul that preaching was laid upon him as a necessity, such that when he did not preach he indeed fell ill) were preaching the Gospel and pushing God's kingdom farther and farther into the frontier, and men like Joshua Thomas would preach to and convert British armies during the War of 1812.
As for British Methodism, the vast majority of Methodists are Wesleyan Methodists. The very few Methodists Whitefield had theological influence over are strictly in Wales and the surrounding areas, where they have formed their own distinct church, the Calvinistic Methodist Church, commonly called the "Presbyterian Church of Wales."
Certainly, a Calvinistic interpretation of the Bible has had a major impact on the Revolutionary War time period, but at the same time, to deny the Methodists any powerful influence is to forget that it was Methodism (predominantly, with Baptists not far behind) that tamed the frontiers and that it was Methodism that dominated America's Christianity straight up until the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy. It should also be noted that by the Civil War, the Methodist Episcopal Church was actually the largest denomination in America, very opposed to slavery (though not exactly radically opposed--that is why the Wesleyan Church, originally the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, came into being) and it was for this reason that President Lincoln, after receiving a request for a meeting with the MEC's bishops and a delegation already in Philadelphia, wrote this letter in direct reply to the address the clergymen would give:
Gentlemen.In response to your address, allow me to attest the accuracy of its historical statements; endorse the sentiments it expresses; and thank you, in the nation's name for the sure promise it gives. Nobly sustained as the government has been by all the churches, I would utter nothing which might, in the least, appear invidious against any. Yet, without this, it may fairly be said that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is, by its greater numbers, the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospital, and more prayers to Heaven than any. God bless the Methodist Church – bless all the churches – and blessed be to God, who, in this our great trial, giveth us the churches.
May 18, 1864
A. Lincoln
Labor Day weekend, 1997, saw the world pause from its games and picnics to follow in dismay the horrific spectacle of the death of "The People's Princess." Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales, Princess Di had been killed in a Paris tunnel following a high speed race through the city. The popular outpouring of grief and anguish has surprised even the most devoted Royal Voyeurs throughout the world.
Hundreds and thousands of mourners que up, waiting up to eleven hours just to sign "The Book of Condolences." Plans are made to extend the miles traveled by the funeral processional just to accommodate the people who want to be present to show their respect for this former member of the Royal family.
Loyal devotion to the monarchy is not a new phenomenon for Methodists. John Wesley was a High Churchman and the son of a High Churchman. He was also a staunch supporter of the Crown. (It was not unusual for a person to hold fast to both positions in eighteenth century England when the Church and the State were closely allied.) Wesley was a citizen of two worlds, prepared to travel to great length and at great peril to participate in affairs of state, but exhorting his followers to set their affections on a heavenly realm.
It is clear that John and Charles Wesley were totally loyal to their church, the Anglican Church; and their government represented by the King. They strongly opposed the rebellion of the American colonists against one they considered to be the Lord's anointed. In his poems on the American war and Patriotism, we see Charles, not as a genteel, thoughtful Tory, but as an angry and uncritical supporter of the Crown. Wesley's political conservatism and uncritical attitude toward the law caused him to initially remain silent even about slavery in order to avoid speaking out against the position of political leaders. On the other hand, his language became very intemperate and abusive as he presents George III as almost saintly, and those who question him as "demonic and witting pawns of Satan." (It should be noted that John Wesley later described slavery as "the vilest that ever saw the sun.")
As a high-church Anglican, Wesley favored the political views of the Tories. He strongly supported the King, his ministers and Parliament. He wrote in favor of the institution of the constitutional monarchy, opposed democracy, attacked the American Revolution, and even offered to help raise an army to support the king. He went so far as to contend that religion actually compels us to be obedient to kings, because kingly power comes directly from God. In Certain Sermons or Homilies he says that "loyalty to the prince is the sum of all virtues and disloyalty the sum of all evil." He prohibited his preachers from addressing political topics except to defend the king and government. God has given them the power and responsibility of governing the nation and he supported them in that assignment.
Were John Wesley alive today he would surely face a frustrating paradox. His loyalty to the monarchy would make it very difficult to oppose the decision of the Royal family in not giving Princess Diana the pageantry of a full state funeral. On the other hand, his close identification with the common person would make it very difficult for him to avoid raising his voice in support of the desires of the people to give the Princess a funeral fully befitting Royalty.
Craven E. Williams
President
Greensboro College