Samuel Wesley’s Conformity in 1684

Abstract This chapter explores Samuel Wesley’s decision to abandon his family’s commitment to Dissent and conform to the Church of England around 1684. Wesley was raised in a Dissenting family and educated at a Dissenting academy. His decision to conform to the Church of England was therefore surprising and there have been a number of explanations for it. This chapter explores the range of motives for Wesley’s decision and presents new evidence for the reasons for this decision. The decision was undoubtedly influenced by the desire to go to the University of Oxford. Other accounts have suggested that Wesley was unhappy with the attitudes of his fellow students at the dissenting academy he attended, and that he had developed a strong commitment to the idea of Charles I as a martyr. He may also have attended Oxford with the intention to remain a Dissenter but gradually found himself drawn to the Church of England. Other influences may have been his future wife, Susanna, who had conformed at the age of twelve.