John Wesley's Voting Advice

SOURCE:  https://hydeparkumc.org/three-simple-rules-for-voting/

https://archive.org/details/a613690406wesluoft/page/n7/mode/2up

KEYWORDS:  Election, Politics, USA, Nationalism, Love, Neighbor

In October 1774, John Wesley was preaching in some small English towns near Bristol, where a contentious election for Parliament was underway. The chief candidates were Edmund Burke and Henry Cruger, who differed in their political ideologies, their positions on the American colonies, and their support from religious groups.

In his journal, Wesley called it “[one of the most] exciting elections Bristol has ever had.”

In the days leading up to the election, while in the town of Pill, he met with members of the local Methodist society and recorded this guidance in his journal:

"October 6, 1774. I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them (1) to vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy; (2) to speak no evil of the person they voted against; and (3) to take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side."