John Wesley (1703-1791)

"I look upon the whole world as my parish."

The following is a letter written by John Wesley to William Wilberforce on 24 February 1791.  Written from his deathbed, it was the last letter written by John Wesley.  Wilberforce, then a 32-year old member of Parliment, had been converted to Evangelical Christianity under John Wesley's ministry. (1)

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine Power has raised you up to be as Athanasius, contra mundum, (2) I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils; but if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O "be not weary of well doing." Go on, in the name of God, and in the power of his might, till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract, wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance - that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a law in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this!

That He who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir, your affectionate servant,

John Wesley

• The Wesleys and Their Times
• Tercentenary of the Birth of John Wesley (1703-1791)