Room 1 Object Highlights

Bible, printed and published in London by Robert Barker and John Bill. This Bible dates from 1630 and is one of the oldest items in our collection.

In this room you will discover how John and Charles Wesley regularly visited those in prison during their time at Oxford University. They were appalled by terrible conditions and campaigned for reform. What encouragement it would have been for prisoners to open up the word of God with those who came to visit them.

"At any price, give me the book of God!... Let me be 'homo unius libri' [a man of one book]... I sit down alone... [and in God's] presence I open, I read his book... Is there a doubt concerning the meaning of what I read? Does anything appear dark or intricate?... I then search after and consider parallel passages of Scripture, 'comparing spiritual things with spiritual'. I mediate thereon, with all the attention and earnestness of which my mind is capable. If any doubt remains, I consult those who are experienced in the things of God.'   

John Wesley (preface from Sermons on Several Occasions, 1746)