The following is a list of John Wesley’s favorite books, listed in descending order, according to their priority. This is based on the “Christian Library” that he edited and republished. I am leaving out small extracts from sermon collections; and only including well-known books that are whole books and have stood the test of time, and are still published today:

1. Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers ed. by Andrew Louth. (Penguin)

2. Pseudo-Macarius: The Fifty Spiritual Homilies ed. by George Maloney. (Paulist Press)

3. Johann Arndt: True Christianity ed. by Peter Erb. (Paulist Press)

4. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs ed. by Marie King. (Spire Books)

5. The Works of Thomas Goodwin (Banner of Truth / Soli Deo Gloria / Reformation Heritage Books).

6. Looking Unto Jesus by Isaac Ambrose. (Pillar and Ground Publications). See also Tom Schwanda’s Soul Recreation, which is a type of mystical theology study of this.

7. The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living by Jeremy Taylor. (Harper & Row, 1970)

8. Communion with God by John Owen. (Banner of Truth)

[9. A Discourse Treating of the Nature of Prophecy by John Smith. I think the Smith mentioned here is the Cambridge Platonist who died in 1652. This writing is out of print, but because it was so unique I thought that I’d mention it. This writing is found in volume 11 of “A Christian Library.” I don’t know exactly how orthodox Smith was, but apparently this selection was deemed orthodox enough by Wesley to be considered as a serious teaching about the prophetic gifts. My guess is that it runs along similar lines to Jack Deere’s Surprised by the Voice of God.]

10. Pensées by Blaise Pascal. (Penguin)

11. A Sure Guide to Heaven by Joseph Alleine. (Banner of Truth). Also called An Alarm to the Unconverted.

12. Letters of Samuel Rutherford. (Banner of Truth).

13. The Saints’ Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter. (Crossway; with audiobook).

14. Let Go by Fenelon. (Whitaker House).–only the sections on the love of God.

15. The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. (Whitaker House).

16. Miguel de Molinos: The Spiritual Guide. (Paulist Press).

17. John of Avila: Audi, Filia. (Paulist Press).

18. George Herbert: The Country Parson. (Paulist Press).

19. The Works of John Flavel. (Banner of Truth).

20. The Scots Worthies by John Howie. (Banner of Truth, 1996).

21. The Life of Monsieur De Renty edited by John Wesley. (Schmul Publishing).

22. Jonathan Edwards on Revival. (Banner of Truth, 1984)…of course Wesley would’ve disagreed with Edwards’ occasional statements against Arminianism.

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John Wesley’s Theological Leanings:
Mainly the Banner of Truth Puritans, But Sometimes the Catholic Saints

As we can see, if Wesley were in ministry today, his pastor’s library would mainly be filled up with books from Banner of Truth and the Classics of Western Spirituality by Paulist Press. The Banner of Truth books represent the orthodox and Biblical spirituality of the Puritans, which was mainly focused on ethics and moral theology. The Paulist Press books were mostly focused on the mystical and contemplative spirituality of the Catholic saints, or at least of those men who ran close to that kind of thinking. Although St. Teresa of Avila does not find a place in “A Christian Library,” we can find that these mystical writers do: Molinos, Fenelon, Smith, Brother Lawrence, and perhaps most importantly: John of Avila. This last one was a friend of St. Teresa, a Spanish priest, and a Catholic saint himself. The only reason I can find for why Interior Castle did not find its way into “A Christian Library,” is because it wasn’t available in English at the time. Some say there was an English translation in 1675, but it doesn’t look like it was widely circulated. If it were, then I’m 95% certain that Wesley would have had a high regard for it; and would have included it in his selections. This is all the evidence we need to support the view that Wesley, although grounded in Puritan theology and ethics, was also open to learn from Catholic mystical theology to fill in those supernatural blank spots that the Puritans had left out of their system of faith. But make no mistake, Wesley was mainly an ascetic moralist–and much less of a dreams and visions mystic. Robert Tuttle’s Mysticism in the Wesleyan Tradition can help to shine some light on this. His attitude about the charismatic aspects of faith was very withdrawn, although he wasn’t against journaling privately about it sometimes. I wouldn’t say he was as gung-ho about prophecy, healing, and miracles like John Wimber was, but he was open to it. He tried to maintain a distant and “healthy skepticism” about such things.

I’d say if anything, Wesley was probably more like Leonard Ravenhill in the way he approached theology. Denominationally, I’d be prone to place Wesley in the Christian & Missionary Alliance if he were around today; or maybe the Assemblies of God; maybe Church of God (Cleveland, TN); or maybe the conservative holiness movement. But Wesley was just as passionate about street evangelism, as much as he was about preaching in pulpits, and so in this sense I’d say he was a lot more like Ray Comfort, who has been part of the ministry staff in Calvary Chapel, but also has an evangelistic parachurch ministry called Living Waters. Having one foot on the ministry team of a local church; and another foot in an independent evangelistic ministry, is definitely the approach to ministry that Wesley would take, if he were around today. However, it would mostly be involved in his own evangelistic ministry; and his relationship with the local church would be tense and strained, because he’d always feel like people there were judging him for being overzealous, unlike they were. Practically speaking, I think that people who are trying to walk in the steps of John Wesley should mainly place their calling to ministry on their own independent evangelistic ministry, something like Living Waters, and then  eventually if pastors and churches–denominational and non-denominational–come to invite you, accept you, and such, then accept those as open doors from the providence of God. My reason for saying this, is that revivalism should be the priority, not employment or involvement with a religious organization. If a church invites you to minister on the basis of revival principles, then your presence there is justifiable. If its for any other reason, then your reason for being there has questionable motives.

That being said, the film Elmer Gantry shows us that revivalism can be misused and often is. The reason why it exists in the first place, is that the established churches usually fall into a “declension” of theology and morals. A revivalist ministry then appears to point Christians back to what they have lost–the old-time religion–that is, as is usually the case: the doctrine of Hell, repentance, substitutionary atonement, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the supernatural, signs from God confirming the ministry, young earth creationism, KJV Onlyism, the gift of prophecy, physical healing by multiple healing prayers with the laying on of hands, and non-denominationalism. Vices like pornography, prostitution, drugs, and alcohol are condemned: and so is gambling, with poker and stocks included together. Billy Sunday and Gipsy Smith are referred to as evangelists, but Sister Falconer typifies the Pentecostal healing evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. All of these things appear in Elmer Gantry, but unfortunately so do the bad things that bring revival ministries down: independence from church authority and third-party moral accountability; the temptation and seduction of preachers by fornicators: and the “my word versus your word” blackmail element (the implied solution to this is the Billy Graham Rule, for preachers to avoid private meetings with women): and if this Rule is broken the whole ministry will be destroyed by scandalous news publicity; preacher burnout and exhaustion; and the inclination to lie about things in order to increase attendance and donations. An occasion of animal noises manifests in a meeting and is blessed as a sign and symbol of the Holy Spirit: the same error that John Arnott fell into during the Toronto Blessing. It seems that if any legitimate revival ministry is to exist, then it should not only remain mindful of the “gold, glory, and girls,” but put measures in place to prevent any kind of string-pulling in these areas. That is, 1. Financial independence should already be established through business and investments, before the minister goes public. This is so the evangelist will have the power to say “No” to moneyed people with bad motives; and already have the capital to plant his own church when the time seems right. 2. He should keep himself out of the public spotlight as much as possible; and be willing to self-deprecate in sermons, but remaining clean about it. 3. He should be in his retirement years, I’d say. Or at least have married his kids off first. His 60s or maybe his 50s could be a starting point. “He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)” (1 Tim. 3:4-5). He should also travel and minister with his wife at all times, so she can bat off the women with a fly swatter: “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?” (1 Cor. 9:5). He should not have a team with other people on it, as that could lead to sexual temptation for the husband or conversely for the wife. The “ministry team” should only consist of husband and wife. The fact that he is aging should also help to curb sexual temptation.