1703-1791
Founder Of Methodism

Birth and Early Life. Samuel and Susanna Wesley had nineteen children, ten of whom survived to adulthood. John Wesley, their second son, was born in the small town of Epworth in Lincolnshire, England. John's great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all clergy in the Church of England, as were his older brother, Samuel Jr., and younger brother, Charles. While John was still a toddler, his mother taught him to read, and soon he developed a great love for two books, the Bible and the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. At eleven he was enrolled in Charterhouse, an exclusive boys' school then located in London, which prepared him for entry into Christ Church College, Oxford. An avid reader, Wesley graduated in 1724, having studied the classics, science, theology, and history and having become proficient in reading the New Testament in the original Greek. He was...