John Wesley — "I have often thought, that if I were to choose a carriage to ride in, it should …"
I have often thought, that if I were to choose a carriage to ride in, it should be a plain one.
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More from John Wesley
"I conceive slavery to be such a thing as is odious to the God of love."
"I am not careful about my life or my death. I know that I am in the hands of God."
"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 been accounted a madman, a fool, a knave, a liar, a deceiver, and a devil."
"I do not love to dispute about religion. I had rather feel it."
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
Wesley is saying he would deliberately choose the simplest, most unadorned carriage rather than an ornate or prestigious one. It's a statement against status-seeking and material display — that what you ride in shouldn't signal your importance. Living plainly, even when you could afford more, reflects genuine values rather than performance. Wealth and comfort are traps; simplicity keeps a person honest about what actually matters.
Relevance to John Wesley
Wesley earned substantial sums from his published journals, sermons, and hymn collections — yet gave virtually everything away, dying in 1791 with almost nothing. He preached that Christians should earn all they can, save all they can, and give all they can. He traveled 250,000 miles on horseback across Britain, deliberately avoiding the luxury of a private carriage. His coarse clothing and bare lodgings were intentional disciplines, not poverty — they were his theology made visible.
The era
In 18th-century Britain, one's carriage was among the most visible markers of social rank. Elaborate coaches with gilded crests and velvet interiors signaled aristocratic standing, while the rising merchant class used increasingly ornate vehicles to broadcast new wealth. Wesley's Methodist movement explicitly pushed back against this culture — he preached in fields to miners, weavers, and the urban poor. Choosing a plain carriage wasn't modesty; it was a political act against a class system the established Church quietly endorsed.
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