Is the Basis of Union in Error Regarding John Wesley's Sermons?

Abstract

This article argues that there is a dating error in Paragraph 10 of the Basis of Union which states that ‘the Uniting Church will listen to the preaching of John Wesley in his Forty-Four Sermons (1793).’ There were several editions of Wesley’s sermons published during his lifetime beginning from 1746, but there is no 1793 edition. In the Model Deed of 1763, the ‘Forty-Four Standard Sermons’ were declared to be authoritative standards for Methodist preaching. It is most likely that ‘1793’ was an error and that ‘1763’ was the intended date, given the definitive status of the Model Deed. The existence of this textual gloss forms the basis here for a brief provocation on the need for a critical evaluation of Wesley’s sermons for the Uniting Church.