Wesley’s Journal

The Journal of John Wesley (1735–1790)

John Wesley — Anglican clergyman, founder of Methodism, who rode about 250,000 miles on horseback to preach

Catch rate: 60 / 255
Base research: 246
Stat total: 356

Base stats

Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.

Stamina94

Contend86

Defend80

Popularity96

Total356

Why these numbers

The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.

Stamina 94

STAMINA — High. Fifty-five years of entries.

Contend 86

CONTEND — Middling. It is a record of preaching more than an argument.

Defend 80

DEFEND — Middling. Wesley writes down his failures as well as his successes.

Popularity 96

POPULARITY — High. He published it in parts during his lifetime, and it sold.

Cited for this book

John Wesley kept a journal for over fifty years. On 24 May 1738, hearing Luther’s preface to Romans read aloud, he came to trust Christ alone. The next year he began preaching in the open air, and he kept at it for fifty years.

Moves learned

By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.

Lv	Move	Type	Cat.	Pwr	Acc	PP
1	Random Verse	Bible	Argument	10	100%	30
30	Chapter…	Bible	Scripture	—	—	12
38	More Vile	Ecclesiology	Argument	80	100%	15
42	Strangely Warmed	Soteriology	Argument	90	100%	10
46	All the World My Parish	Ecclesiology	Argument	84	100%	12

The quotes behind its moves

How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.

Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.

“At four in the afternoon, I submitted to be more vile and proclaimed in the highways the glad tidings of salvation, speaking from a little eminence in a ground adjoining to the city, to about three thousand people.”
John Wesley, Journal, 2 April 1739 (public domain).public domain

More Vile

EcclesiologyArgument · power 80 · 100% accurate

In the gameBristol, 2 April 1739. Wesley thought preaching in the open air was hardly decent. Whitefield talked him into it, and he preached outdoors for the next fifty years.

“About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation”
John Wesley, Journal, 24 May 1738 (public domain).public domain

Strangely Warmed

SoteriologyArgument · power 90 · 100% accurate

In the gameAldersgate Street, London, 24 May 1738. Somebody was reading Luther’s preface to Romans aloud, and John Wesley came to trust Christ alone.

Strong against

×2.5On Religiona book · why?

Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed, and he says exactly what warmed it: I did trust in Christ, Christ alone. A feeling with an object is a different thing from a feeling that is its own object.

×2.5The Feeling of Absolute Dependencean argument · why?

Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed, and he says exactly what warmed it: I did trust in Christ, Christ alone. A feeling with an object is a different thing from a feeling that is its own object.

×2Christian Freedoma book · why?

Wesley’s heart was warmed while someone read Luther’s preface to Romans. It was Luther’s teaching on faith that he felt.

×2Lectures on Revivalsa book · why?

Wesley was not argued into faith by a method. Someone read Luther on the change God works in the heart, and it was worked in his!

×2The New Measuresan argument · why?

Wesley was not argued into faith by a method. Someone read Luther on the change God works in the heart, and it was worked in his!

“I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”
John Wesley, Journal, 1739 (public domain).public domain

All the World My Parish

EcclesiologyArgument · power 84 · 100% accurate

In the gameWesley’s answer to bishops who said he had no parish and no right to preach in anyone else’s.

What answers it

The specific move or chapter of Scripture that cuts through this one, and why. The number is how much harder it hits than usual — ×4 is four times the normal force.

You Never Thoroughly Intended It×2.5

Wesley wrote that Law’s Serious Call convinced him he could not be half a Christian, and he set out to give God all of himself.

All of Common Life×2

Wesley read Law’s Serious Call as a young man and credited it with showing him that every part of daily life belongs to God.