Welsh Journals

John Wesley and Methodist Literature By REV. ERIC EDWARDS Re-printed, with acknowledgements, from The Library World, August, 1960. The story of Methodist Literature begins soon after John Wesley "submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation". The date was 2nd April, 1739. From that time, as people began to follow him, they were urged by Wesley's word and example, to read, and not to tolerate ignorance. Soon, there was made available for them, a collection of books, pamphlets and tracts, on various subjects, of Wesley's own writing or condensed from the writings of other authors. These he recom- mended, and for years after his death in 1791, Methodist libraries consisted, in the main, of Wesley's recommendations. Part of his oversight of Methodist societies was the guidance on reading which Wesley gave them, acting as Chief Librarian! The Methodist Church, through its Book Committee, still encourages Methodists to read; advised by the Book Steward and the ConnexionaI Editor,2 the Committee still maintains the same careful choosing of books, to carry on the reading tradition of Methodists. John Wesley, if he were alive today, would greatly rejoice in the establishment of public libraries. He would have given his fullest support to the advancement of their work which has been so pro- nounced during the first half of this twentieth century. In the mobile libraries which serve rural districts, he would be particularly inter- ested, and he would be enheartened by the many ways in which librarians are able to guide those who seek knowledge from books. For one who was so able an administrator, who ordered his own life-a Methodist in truth as well as by derision-the setting out of libraries into departmental sections would greatly please him. No great imagination is needed to picture him browsing happily in our modren libraries, casting his eyes over the neatly classified rows of books, printed and produced far more attractively than those which were sold in the eighteenth century. John Wesley would befriend librarians for their work. When his own work of caring for the societies became too much for him, he appointed the first official librarian, though Wesley called him "Corrector of Proofs"! More often on horseback, he covered the five thousand miles of poor class roads of Britain every year for the last thirty years 'Since 1948, the Rev. Dr. Frank H. Cumbers, B.A.. B.D., who has readily allowed me to quote from his excellent book, The Book Room. %Since 1953. the Rev. Dr. J. Alan Kay, M.A.