John Wesley — "I desire to have but one thing in view, to please God."
I desire to have but one thing in view, to please God.
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More from John Wesley
"I have been reading a book of travels. I do not know when I have been so much amused. It is a pity that so few of our travellers write like rational creatures."
"I have often thought that the greatest comfort in life, is to have a friend."
"I have often thought, that if I were to choose a food to eat, it should be bread and water."
"What is the secret of your strength? I answer, the power of prayer."
"The Gospel of Christ knows of no religion but social; no holiness but social holiness."
About John Wesley (1703-1791)
English Anglican cleric and founder of Methodism, whose open-air preaching and class-meeting structure created the largest 18th-century evangelical revival. Closely associated with Charles Wesley (his hymn-writing brother) and George Whitefield (early co-revivalist, later doctrinal opponent). For an intellectual contrast, see George Whitefield, Calvinist evangelical revivalist — Whitefield's predestinarian Calvinism vs Wesley's free-grace Arminian theology split the early Methodist movement permanently in the 1739-41 break. The founding evangelical Calvinist-Arminian schism — the two parallel evangelical traditions American Christianity descends from.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
A declaration of singular, undivided purpose: everything else—reputation, wealth, comfort, social approval—becomes secondary or irrelevant. The speaker wants one organizing principle for all decisions and actions. In modern terms, it's radical simplicity of motivation: strip away competing desires and ambitions until only one thing remains as your north star, letting that single aim govern how you spend time, energy, and attention.
Relevance to John Wesley
Wesley lived this literally. He rode 250,000 miles on horseback, preached 40,000 sermons, woke at 4am daily, gave away nearly all his income, and faced mob violence rather than soften his message. He founded Methodism not for institutional glory but from methodical spiritual discipline. This quote reflects the inner engine behind that extraordinary output—a man genuinely uninterested in personal gain, measuring every action against one criterion.
The era
18th-century England was convulsed by industrialization, urban poverty, and a Church of England grown comfortable and distant from ordinary people. Wesley's era saw gin epidemics, child labor, and spiritual neglect of the working class. Against this backdrop, declaring singular devotion to pleasing God—not pleasing bishops, aristocrats, or polite society—was countercultural and costly. It justified preaching in fields when churches shut their doors to him.
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