The General Rules: John Wesley's Framework for Holiness

In 1743, John Wesley issued what he called The Nature, Design, and General Rules of the United Societies for the Methodist movement he had helped birth. The societies were gatherings of men and women who had experienced the new birth and were seeking to pursue holiness together. The General Rules were the conditions for membership — not a means of earning salvation, but a framework for disciplined Christian living within the communal context of the society and its class meetings.

The Three Rules

Wesley's three rules are elegantly simple: First, 'Do no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind.' This was elaborated to include avoiding profanity, Sabbath-breaking, drunkenness, fighting, uncharitable speech, and any practice that would damage one's neighbor. Second, 'Do good of every possible sort, and as far as possible to all.' This meant actively seeking the good of others' souls and bodies — visiting the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, instructing the ignorant, and sharing the gospel. Third, 'Attend upon all the ordinances of God.'

The third rule is the most distinctively Wesleyan. The ordinances Wesley specified included public worship, the Lord's Supper, private and family prayer, searching the Scriptures, and fasting. Wesley was thoroughly sacramental and liturgical in his understanding of how grace is ordinarily conveyed — not through spectacular experience alone but through the regular, disciplined use of the means God has appointed. The class meetings were themselves a form of accountability to this third rule.

The Class Meeting and Mutual Accountability

The genius of Wesley's system was the class meeting, a weekly gathering of twelve or so society members who would answer the classic question: 'How is it with your soul?' The General Rules gave the class meetings a common framework for this inquiry — members would report on their practice of the three rules, receive exhortation and prayer from the class leader, and be held accountable to a pattern of holy living. This intimate accountability distinguished early Methodism from mere religious enthusiasm and gave it remarkable capacity for genuine formation.

The General Rules have been compared to the Rule of Benedict in Roman Catholic monasticism: a simple, portable framework that orders communal life toward God. Wesley understood holiness not as a private achievement but as a communal undertaking. No one could pursue the way of salvation in isolation. The class meeting was the institutional form of that conviction.

The Lasting Legacy

The General Rules remain part of the constitutional documents of the United Methodist Church and many Wesleyan and holiness denominations. Their influence runs through the holiness revival of the nineteenth century, the Salvation Army, the Pentecostal movement, and numerous other traditions that trace their spiritual lineage to Wesley. More broadly, Wesley's threefold framework — avoid evil, do good, use the means of grace — captures a vision of Christian ethics that is neither perfectionist legalism nor antinomian license. It is a way of life oriented toward the One who is himself perfect love.