Publisher: John Wesley

From HymnsWithoutWords

John Wesley (1703 – 1791) was an Anglican cleric and Christian theologian who founded the Arminian Methodist movement. The Wesley Methodist Movement began when Wesley took over open-air preaching started by George Whitefield at Hanham Mount, Kingswood, and Bristol.

John Wesley was born in Epworth, 23 miles (37 km) of Lincoln, England, the fifteenth child of Samuel Wesley and his wife Susanna Annesley. His father was a graduate of Oxford and Church of England rector. In 1689 Samuel had married Susanna Annesley, twenty-fifth child of Dr. Samuel Annesley, a Puritan pastor. Wesley's parents had both become members of the Established Church (Anglican Church) early in adulthood. Susanna bore Samuel Wesley nineteen children. In 1696 Wesley was appointed rector of Epworth, where John, the fifteenth child, was born.

See Wikipedia:John Wesley for more details.