The Rector of Epworth Who Could Not Have Imagined

Samuel Wesley served as rector of a small parish in Epworth, England, for nearly forty years. He baptized babies, buried the dead, and preached faithfully to a congregation that rarely exceeded a few dozen souls. Twice his rectory burned. His debts landed him in prison. His parishioners once stabbed his cattle in protest. By any measure of his own era, Samuel Wesley was an unremarkable country parson who would be forgotten within a generation.…