Methodists & Microcredit
Publication Date
11-1-2009
Publication
First Things
Document Type
Article
Abstract
John Wesley was not the greatest preacher of his day. His occasional friend and sometime nemesis George Whitefield was that. “My brother Wesley acted wisely,” Whitefield said. “The souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in societies, and thus preserved the fruit of his labor. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.”
That’s an arresting image. A rope of sand may seem to the eye like a rope of cords. At a glance you might think you could secure a ship to a dock with it. But as soon as you touch it, it falls to dust. Wesley himself used the image to describe the Christianity against which his people reacted in eighteenth-century England: “Those who were desirous to save their souls were no longer a rope of sand, but clave to one another, and began to watch over each other in love. Societies were formed, and Christian discipline was introduced in all its branches.”
Recommended Citation
Jones, Gregory and Byasee, Jason, "Methodists & Microcredit" (2009). Public Intellectual Writing. 77.
https://repository.belmont.edu/gregoryjones_public/77
