John Wesley

The founder of my own Methodist religious denomination, John Wesley, was an Anglican priest who had a scientific, common sense approach to helping members of his congregations who were suffering from illness.

As an eighteenth century gentleman educated at Oxford he was knowledgeable about medical matters, and many clergy at that time served as the only reliable source of medical help available to poor congregations, especially in rural regions. Thus, many reverend gentlemen were "physicians of the body as well as of the soul."²

In addition, John and his brother Charles were missionaries to the Georgia colony in America. In preparation for this service, John records in his journal that for practical reasons he had intensely studied medical literature for a few months prior to his departure. However, upon his return to England a couple of years later he continued to practice the reading of Anatomy and Physic in his leisure hours and records again in his journal that he had done so consistently for twenty-six or seven years prior to his writing a small book called Primitive Physic in 1774.

Not only did Wesley study the Bible and religious literature, preaching extensively over most of England, Scotland and Ireland during his long life (1703-1791), but he also was an avid reader of scientific journals and kept current with medical knowledge of the best cures available to physicians at the time. With his extensive travels and the help of his brother he opened dispensaries and clinics, was regarded as an expert in diagnosis and treatment, and was "quite capable of undertaking the office of physician."

Wesley's theology included the belief that at creation Adam and Eve were in a state of perfection, and that illness and disease had entered the human condition as a result of sin. A pastor's duty was to offer a way to move from sin to the creator's original state of perfection, in which humans knew no pain, sickness, weakness or bodily disorder. Wesley viewed humans as capable of being restored to that original state of perfection and preached strongly about God's freely given gift of grace as a means of going on to perfection and right relationship with both God and one's fellow beings.³

Wesley, as he traveled widely, was not only interested in the religious salvation of his congregants, but also was practical in offering alleviation as best he could of the illnesses and diseases which afflicted them. His deeply rooted faith was in Christ as the Great Physician: he believed, therefore, that Methodist clergy had a duty and obligation to provide the means of healing not only spiritually but also physically.

In 1774 he published the first edition of what was to become an extremely popular book, which went through many editions and was found on the mantle of most homes in England. It was Primitive Physic: or An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases, by John Wesley, M.A. The twenty-third edition was published in 1791 in London. The title page reads: Printed and sold at the New-Chapel, City-Road; and at the Rev. Mr.Wesley's Preaching Houses in Town and Country.

In the preface, Wesley states that he wrote this text because he objected to the complicated theories of physicians about the origin of disease and the methods of treating diseases they used because they too often, in their arguments with each other about who was correct, forgot that their primary task was to provide medicine to alleviate pain and not simply to maintain their status as physicians.

He also objected to the expensive and dangerous medicines prescribed when simpler and less costly means were available readily. Physicians did not listen carefully to their patient's symptoms, charged too much for their services, were more interested in unintelligible technical terms, and solicited admiration as persons somewhat more than human who could levy enormous fees for their services. In short, the health care system of the 18th century was badly in need of reform.

Not only did the health-care system need reform, but the spiritual climate also needed to be reformed. He thus established numerous small group class meetings for Bible study and righteous living led by laity and supervised by visiting clergy. Using this double-edged approach, Wesley is credited with England's avoidance of the bloody revolutions that occurred on the continent by ordinary people desperately seeking to improve their lot in life.

Many of the cures and remedies outlined in Wesley's book would not be acceptable by 21st century standards. For example, one common remedy was brown Tarwater, a decoction made from water and macadam, which is used to surface roads. It was said to be useful against headaches, fevers, aches and pains of many illnesses. He was also interested in electricity available from friction machines popularized by Benjamin Franklin. Wesley lists as many as 48 different illnesses which could be helped by electrifying in a proper manner. He was probably one of the first to effectively use electrical shock in the treatment of depression. He states that he knew of no instance where electrical treatment had caused harm.⁴

His book emphasized common sense in everyday living and he encouraged cold bathing, recommended specifically for cures of young children, hereditary illnesses, nervous and paralytic disorders. He also advocated personal physical cleanliness by bathing often, wearing clean clothes, drinking water frequently, avoiding excessive hard spirits, and regular exercise. It is to be remembered that 18th century hospitals were notoriously dirty places,⁵ and physicians did not regularly wash their hands between seeing patients or moving from autopsies to treating patients. Most persons did not bathe more than once or twice a year and did not regularly change bedding to avoid lice, bed bugs and other insects.

Outbreaks of puerperal fever were rampant and in some hospitals most of the women delivering infants died from this fever. It was not until one hundred years later in 1858 that Ignace Ludwig Semmelweis in Austria was able to convince physicians to wash their hands with a chemical treatment to avoid the spread of puerperal fever.⁶ Anesthesia was unknown and surgery and tooth extractions were done by barbers.

Nevertheless, Wesley admonished that if the practical cures and remedies he wrote about were without effect a person should consult an honest physician who might be able to bring about healing. Both spiritual and the best available medical knowledge were to be used.

He concludes the preface of Primitive Physic with: "The love of God, as it is the sovereign remedy of all miseries, so in particular it effectually prevents all the bodily disorders the passions introduce, by keeping the passions themselves within due bounds. And by the unspeakable joy and perfect calm, serenity, and tranquility it gives the mind, it becomes the most powerful of all the means of health and long life. London, June 11, 1747."

As the effectiveness and reliance upon scientific methodology increased, it occurred to some that the efficacy of prayer could be tested scientifically.

Discussion Questions:

• Does your cosmological belief system allow for a God who is interested in you personally?



• How would you test the validity of this belief?



• Does your belief system hold that health and freedom from disease are dependent upon your participation in sin?

2. John Wesley, Primitive Physic or An Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases 23rd Edition reprinted in 1960 with an introduction by A. Wesley Hill (The Epworth Press: London, 1791).
3. Original Sin. See papers from previous Washington Theological Union workshop papers, Fall 2003.
4. Wesley, Primitive Physic.
5. Howard Wilcox Haggard, Devils, Drugs, and Doctors: The Story of the Science of Healing from Medicine-Man to Doctor (Harper & Brothers: New York and London, 1929).
6. Ibid. Semmelweis, Ludwig Ignaz Phillip, pp. 75-78.