Holy Remedies: John Wesley’s Primitive Physick
You can hear an audio recording of this post on Episode 51 of the Methodical Methodist Podcast!
Long before modern medicine, Urgent Care, or WebMD, John Wesley published a manual on health and wellness called Primitive Physick, or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. This practical guide was filled with advice on everything from colds and fevers to melancholy and asthma. John Wesley believed that physical health was as important as spiritual health and had a deep concern for the whole person – body, mind, and soul. Wesley also believed that healthcare should be accessible and affordable. And while some of the cures might cause us to laugh today, Wesley’s passion for healing was not a joke. He saw it as part of his mission to care for the physical as well as the spiritual needs of his community.
Disclaimer: The content of this episode is for historical and informational purposes only. I am not a medical professional, and the remedies discussed from Primitive Physick are not intended to be taken as medical advice. Many of these treatments reflect 18th-century understandings of health and should not be used as substitutes for modern medical care. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before attempting any form of treatment.
John Wesley had been interested in medicine and the human anatomy throughout most of his life. As a student at Oxford, Wesley read medical texts, and his interest intensified as he prepared for his ministry overseas in Georgia. As he prepared for this missionary work, he wrote, “I imagined I might be of some service to those who had no regular Physician among them.”[i] He continued to read medical texts throughout the rest of his life, and he even references around 100 different medical works in his writings.[ii] Wesley believed that caring for one’s physical health was connected to spiritual health. In his essay, “A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion,” Wesley connects restoration of the soul to primitive health by writing:
“By salvation I mean, not barely (according to the vulgar notion) deliverance from hell, or going to heaven, but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original purity; a recovery of the divine nature; the renewal of our soul after the image of God…”[iii]
Wesley was motivated out of his concern for the medical needs of the people in England, especially the poor. In the 18th century, medicine was inaccessible, and often ineffective. Treatments were dangerous, and doctors were expensive. Many people were suffering without help or relief.
In most villages in early 18th century England, the pastor was usually the only person with a college education. Therefore, Anglican clergy were responsible for spiritual and physical care. Part of their job was to give health advice. This is a role that Wesley took very seriously.
In a letter from Oct. 26, 1778, Wesley offers medical and spiritual advice to his friend, Alexander Knox. “Alleck ... it will be a double blessing if you give yourself up to the Great Physician, that he may heal soul and body together. And unquestionably this is his design. He wants to give you ... both inward and outward health.”[iv]
One way that Wesley chose to address the issue of healthcare was through setting up a visitation program for the sick in all the Methodist societies. After that, Wesley also started a free medical dispensary at the Foundry in London in December 1746. The success of this first dispensary inspired Wesley to start medical ministries in Bristol and Newcastle.
Wesley himself actually prescribed many of the medications given at the dispensaries, and his work was assisted by an apothecary and a surgeon. By Wesley’s account, the dispensaries were quite successful. In the first five months, Wesley had prescribed medicine to over 500 people at the London dispensary, many were not even associated with the Methodist societies. Still, Wesley acknowledged his own limitations, and he would sometimes advise patients to see a physician if it was beyond his scope of work.
In 1745, Wesley published his first medical tract entitled, A Collection of Receipts for the Use of the Poor. In this short booklet, he suggested cures for around 90 different illnesses with about 230 remedies.[v]
Then, in 1747, while he is traveling constantly, preaching daily, caring for the poor, organizing societies, and leading the Methodist movement, John Wesley somehow finds the time to publish his work on health and wellness called Primitive Physick, or an Easy and Natural Method of Curing Most Diseases. This quickly became his most popular publication of all time, selling over a million copies - more than any of his other books, and went through twenty-three editions during his lifetime.
The word “primitive” during that time simply meant going back to the original. So, Wesley was trying to go back and offer medical advice that had been used for generations and generations.
Wesley would often suggest herbs and minerals that could be found in the forest or local apothecary. He also suggested four or five treatments for each ailment. That way, if you didn’t have access or one didn’t work, you could try another. Wesley also suggested exercise such as walking outside every day, getting your steps in, and riding a horse.
Wesley also had suggestions for what people should eat and drink. He recommended eight ounces of “animal food” and “twelve of vegetable, in twenty hours.” He also told people to avoid all pickled, smoked, and over-salted foods and to “suit the quality and quantity of food to the strength of the digestion; to take always such a sort and such a measure of food as sits light and easy on the stomach.”[vi] In other words, he told people not to overeat.
When it came to drink, Wesley preferred water. He writes, “Water is the wholesomest of all drinks; it quickens the appetite and strengthens the digestion most.” He also says, “Strong, and more especially, spirituous liquors, are a certain, though slow poison.” And he adds that “Coffee and tea are extremely hurtful to persons who have weak nerves.”
Wesley was also a fan of cold baths, stating: “Cold bathing is of great advantage to health; it prevents abundance of diseases. It promotes perspiration, helps the circulation of the blood; and prevents the danger of catching cold. Tender persons should pour pure water upon the head before they go in, and walk swiftly. To jump in with the head foremost is too great a shock to nature.”[vii]
Most of what Wesley published in this book came from the standard medical textbooks of his day. He was simply trying to synthesize the knowledge that he had learned in school and make it available to the wider population. Still, some of these remedies sound a little unusual in our day and age.
Wesley’s Primitive Physick is basically a listing of various ailments and possible treatments. The book is laid out by symptom. If you had a cough, Wesley had a remedy. A toothache? Covered. Baldness? Absolutely. And in true Wesleyan fashion, it’s methodically organized and designed for practical use. Again, some of these seem like their common sense, others seem a little less scientific.
One of the first passages reads: “The air we breathe is of great consequence to our health. Those who have been long abroad in easterly or northerly winds should drink some warm pepper tea on going to bed, or a draught of toast and water.”[viii]
“A draught of toast and water” was basically water that had been steeped with toasted bread. This was a popular drink until the late nineteenth century.
For baldness Wesley prescribes the following: “Rub that Part Morning and Evening, with Onions, ‘till it is red; and rub it afterwards with Honey.”[ix]
Weirdly enough, I saw a few modern claims that onion juice does actually help with hair loss due to its high sulfur content and potential to improve blood circulation to hair follicles. I’m not sure that’s true, but if it is I imagine it would be hard to hide the smell.
For a nosebleed, Wesley recommends washing your temples and neck with vinegar, or holding a red hot poker under your nose.
For deafness, Wesley says to be electrified through the ear, take a cold bath, put a little salt into the ear, drop a teaspoonful of saltwater into the ear, use the juice of ground ivy, or use three or four drops of onion juice.
For blindness, Wesley says – you guessed it – take a cold bath or electrical stimulation.
For asthma, Wesley has several recommendations such as, the juice of a radish, a strong cup of coffee, garlic, tea, milk, a cold bath three times a week, saffron, apple-water. Then, for asthma, Wesley also encourages you to “dry and powder a Toad. Make it into small Pills, and take one every Hour till the Convulsions cease.”[x]
Honestly, some of this sounds like advice an influencer might give you on Tik Tok or Instagram these days.
One of the weirdest treatments in the book is for treating colic. Wesley says, “Hold a live puppy constantly to your stomach.”[xi] I don’t know, I personally feel like Wesley was barking up the wrong tree. But what do I know?
It’s true—some of this advice didn’t age well. But one thing that Wesley did in this book is remind us that ministry is about the whole person. Wesley didn’t separate spiritual needs from physical ones. He believed that the gospel touches every part of our lives. As Wesley wrote, at the conclusion of his preface in his book: “the love of God, as it is the sovereign remedy of all miseries … by the unspeakable joy and perfect calm serenity and tranquility it gives the mind … becomes the most powerful of all the means of health and long life.”
So what can we learn today from Primitive Physic? Well, maybe not how to treat baldness with onions. But we can rediscover a Wesleyan vision of health—one that values care for the body and justice for those who can’t afford a doctor. We can be reminded that spiritual leaders are called not just to preach and teach, but to care deeply for people’s full humanity.
NOTES
[i]. John Wesley, Plain Account of the People Called Methodists, §XII.2, in The Works of John Wesley, ed. Rupert E. Davies (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 9:275.
[ii]. Randy L. Maddox, “John Wesley on Holistic Health and Healing,” Methodist History 46 (2007), 5.
[iii]. John Wesley, “A Farther Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion,” in The Works of John Wesley, ed. G.R. Craig (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989), 11:106.
[iv]. John Wesley, Letter to Alexander Knox (26 October 1778), in The Letters of the Rev. John Wesley, ed. John Telford, vol. 6 (London: Epworth Press, 1931), 327.
[v]. James G. Donat, “Empirical Medicine in the 18th Century,” 218.
[vi]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick: An Easy and Natural Way to Cure Most Diseases, (London: Printed by Robert Hawes, 1772), xix.
[vii]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick, xxii.
[viii]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick, xviii.
[ix]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick, 36.
[x]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick, 36.
[xi]. John Wesley, Primitive Physick, 76.
