| "John Wesley" - Stephanie Gray | 1 Dec 07 |
I'm not sure if I should admit this openly but, until about two years ago, what I knew of the life and work of the founder of Methodism you could write on the back of an envelope (a very small one at that!). A great itinerant preacher, brother of the great hymn writer, this I knew, but never did I declare John Wesley an 18th century prototype environmentalist. I do now. Moreover, I suggested that had Wesley been born decades later, he would have becomes one of the foremost campaigners for environmental protection, sustainable development and fair trade. Allow me to explain.
For content, we need to consider the prevalent social and environmental conditions in which Wesley lived. At the turn of the 18th century Britain faced a number of major issues: food shortages brought about though failed harvests resulting in inflated flour prices; excessive consumption of alcohol; and disease. Smallpox was a major killer which was socially selective targeting the poorer classes. Towns were dirty, water supplies were tainted and sewage disposed of inadequately. The science of Environmental Health did not exist. Its foundation is accredited to Stir Edwin Chadwick with the passing of the Public Health Act of 1848. However as Dr Robert Parry, Medical Officer for Health for the City of Bristol, commented. "Chadwick did not start that fight. One hundred years before him John Wesley fought his great fight for hygiene; he was the greatest health educator of the 18th century in Britain" ('The Medical Officer', 1956:226).
Recognising the need for access to affordable healthcare, in 1746 Wesley opened a basic health clinic in London. The following year he published his Primitive physic: or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. The book provides an insight into how Wesley had begun to identify links between environmental conditions and health. He emphasised the need for clean air, good personal hygiene, household cleanliness, the need to drink only water and the benefits of cold bathing to prevent disease and aid circulation at a time when few had access to bathing facilities. Poverty meant that clothes were rarely changed, often passed down from those who had died from the plague and were still harbouring disease-carrying fleas, and when alcohol was the cause of many social and heath problems.
Wesley's insights were fundamental building blocks for the modern environmental health movement. In 1968 the World Heath Organisation report concluded that "excessive pollution can interfere with man's health and his mental, social and economic well being". What Wesley identified in the 18th century was now an acknowledged fact. The quality of the environment in which people live affects their quality of life directly.
But what of his response to the practical needs of the poor? In his sermon "The Use of Money" Wesley sets out his principles of philanthropy, providing an insight into his interpretation of Christian stewardship. Written against a background of capitalism and wealth contrasted with the misery of the permanent poor, Wesley urges his hearers to use their God-given talents to acquire money. However there are conditions. The Christian should "gain all we can but not at the expense of life or health; without hurting our mind and more than our body; and without hurting our neighbourgh."
This doctrine of "evangelical economics" focusing on the sharing of wealth, solidarity with the poor and stewardship, was for Wesley at the heart of the Christian response to God.
He directs the people to save, to live simply and not to waste valuable resources. His final direction to the Christian was to "Give all you can." His own response was very practical: making collections to feed the poor during harsh winters; establishing a collection of clothes for the poor; tacking the problem of seasonal winter unemployment by setting up a scheme for workers to spin their own cotton establishing a loan scheme to alleviate the extortion of pawn brokers; and providing housing for widows and the sick: "We give not by giving to the Church but by giving to the poor."
A prototype 18th century environmentalist, a man ahead of his time, what would Wesley make of the Methodist Church today? One look a the weekly notices of any Methodist Church will verify that in terms of giving and practical action the Church is rising to the challenge of this aspect of Wesley's thinking on the use of money. But what of the call to ensure that the money we gain either as a direct result of our employment or from interest paid on investments does not hurt our neighbourgh? When Wesley pronounces, "We cannot consistently with brotherly love, sell our goods below the market price", nor can we "study to ruin our neighbourgh's trade in order to advance our own" or "devour the increase of his land, by gaming, by overgrown bills" he may have been making a statement on international economics. He is also, I believe, setting a personal challenge to us all.
Stephanie Grey works for the Manx Government managing the Island's recycling and waste strategies. She is also a member of Promenade Methodist Church and is a Local Preacher.
This article has been republish by kind permission of the author. It first appeared in the Autumn 2007 edition of Magnet, (a magazine published by the Women's Network in the Methodist Church).