Methodism as a Counter-Revolutionary Effect on the Working Class in Industrial England

Abstract

This is not a religion paper. I have not attempted to uncover the secrets of wisdom or love. I have tried to show how one man with great determination and drive affected an entire nation. John Wesley was more than just a minister. Through the efforts of Wesley and men like him, Great Britain was perhaps, saved from rebellion and allowed to prosper from the slowly emerging industry. The reason for writing about a man like Wesley centers on the times of his movement. Though I do not believe in the mass united front of the poor and working class people, the agitation caused by the sweeping tide of industry for some might have been irksome enough to spark rebellion. There were many occurrences of mob action. In those times, the poor and working classes, it was widely believed, were especially susceptible to the poison of rebellion. They were infidels, idlers and immoral. But even with all these negative traits the poor were not always eager for the rebellion so often attributed to them.