Today I dive into the kind of approach John Wesley had in mind when it comes to our physical and spiritual health. For Wesley, he believed that the two [spiritual & physical] were tied together. I have frequently said, we can’t address a person’s spiritual needs/health until we have met their physical needs first. Phrased in another way, meeting humanitarian needs is our method but making disciples is our mission. Look at it from this perspective: I believe that the purest form of freedom can be found in Christ Jesus, but that freedom cannot be understood if a child is stuck in abusive homes, foster care systems that don’t quite meet those needs, or children that go to school without clean clothes or food in the bellies. Even the ability for this child to learn in school is already at a disadvantage when their physical needs are not being met. So I turn this topic to parents, church leaders, children ministry leaders, teachers, and anyone who works with children: how does a child learn about Jesus’ love if they’ve never been treated with any worth? How does a parent build a relationship with Jesus if they are so sick from the dirty water they’re drinking and lack of accessible medical care due to outrageous prices in medical care or public water works that are contaminated?

It can absolutely be said that our social and personal contexts can shape our overall health and wellbeing. One might even argue that our ethical and moral decisions shape the outcome of our overall health too. Take for example, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. A basic right to have clean running water was stolen from the community in Flint, Michigan. Contaminants were found to be in the water, and the health and wellness of the entire community was at risk. We have to ask ourselves, what are the ramifications of not providing safe drinking water for individuals? For a deeper reading of these ramifications in Flint, Michigan, take a look at this article from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/us/politics/flint-michigan-schools.html

For John Wesley, his approach to health and wellness by some is considered to be “a strange mix of old wives’ tales.”¹ Randy Maddox draws our attention to “one recent book on Wesley’s ethics describes Primitive Physick as ‘a collection of folklore prescriptions for various ailments…[revealing] his reliance on testimony and a sometime credulity in belief in what the folk tradition contained.”² Although some of the nuances to John Wesley’s methodology seem ridiculous to our 21st century minds, his 18th century approach to health and wellness became a centerpiece of his ministry and mission of early Methodism. Maddox notes, “when considered in its historical context, I believe that Wesley’s precedent provides a model of the concern for holistic health and healing that is instructive for his present ecclesial heirs.”³

In the context of the 18th century, it is important to understand that clergy frequently offered medical care as part of their ministry. This can be seen through the example of “Wesley’s great-grandfather Bartholomew Wes(t)ley, who consulted from time to time as a physician while rector of Channouth in Dorset, and took up this career for his full livelihood when his refusal to sign the Act of Conformity in the early 1660s led to ejection from his pastoral charge.”⁴ It is equally important to note that not all of John Wesley’s approaches to health and wellness were about old wives’ tales. Many of his statements in Primitive Physick draw from Wesley’s personal readings of medical works by experts such as Hermann Boerhaave, Kenelm Digby, Thomas Dover, John Huxham, Richard Mead, Lazarus Riverius, Thomas Short, and many others. Due to Wesley’s vast stretch across multiple parishes, we are able to see with greater clarity why he offered both medical and spiritual guidance as part of his duties as a clergy person.

For a better glimpse into 18th century medical practices, check out this video on the history of smallpox: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6tT3_QTuM

As a result of continued outlandish practices by the mass in the 18th century, Wesley supported a medical dispensary (clinic) in London. Central to the call from Jesus to care for the poor, Wesley understood that medical care was expensive and frequently people could not access it. In many instances, we can see that this systemic problem persists in the United States today. Aside from Wesley’s support of the dispensary, he expected Methodists to care for the sick. We can read about how Wesley cared for the body, the mind, and the spirit in his sermon “The Good Shepherd.” He further calls us to Visit the Sick so that all might experience the means of grace.

So what is our command from God to care for the physical and spiritual needs of others? We find in Matthew 25:35-40 this passage: ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸ And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹ And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

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Resources

¹ Ronald H. Stone, John Wesley’s Life and Ethics (Nashville: Abingdon, 2001), 157; and John Munsey Turner, John Wesley: The Evangelical Revival and the Rise of Method­ism in England (Peterborough: Epworth, 2002), 41-42.

² Randy Maddox, John Wesley on Holistic Health and Healing, Methodist History, 46:1 (October 2007), 4.

³ Readers are encouraged to supplement the discussion that follows with the helpful studies of Deborah Madden that appeared subsequent to my original presentation: “Experience and the Common Interest of Mankind: The Enlightened Empiricism of John Wesley’s Primitive Physic,” British Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies 26 (2003): 41-53; “Medicine and Moral Reform: The Place of Practical Piety in John Wesley’s Art of Physic,” Church History 73 (2004): 741-758; and “Primitive Physic”: John Wesley’s “Cheap, Safe and Natural Medicine for Health and Long Life” (New York: Rodopi, 2007)

⁴ Maddox, 5.