Elijah's Chariots of Fire, Byzantine Museum, Athens, Greece
John
Wesley was insatiably curious about natural and supernatural
phenomena. He published an expansive work titled "A
Compendium of Natural Philosophy". His "Journals" are
a tremendous collection of psychic and spiritual reports. He speculated
about the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Recently, I came
across this tantalising reference:
Aliens have been sighted all throughout history by millions of people. Most people think that only crazy people have said they have saw "aliens" or "UFO's," but that is not true. Christopher Columbus, who discovered America recorded that he saw a UFO that looked like fireballs going across the sky. John Wesley, the Christian theologian said that he saw a UFO come out of a lake. Three Presidents of the United States, Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter and Dwight Eisenhower, also have said that they saw UFOs. Not to mention over 14,000 American Servicemen in the Air Force and Navy, along with thirteen astronauts have spotted UFOs.
-Cody Waters, Friday, June 1, 2012, Aliens & UFOs
I
was familiar with most of these documented reports but the sighting
attributed to John Wesley was new to me. Attempts to locate the
source reference has failed. I wondered if anyone else had heard of this? I had not. I would be most appreciative if a
Wesleyan researcher could point me to the likely incident referred
to here. If Wesley actually saw "a UFO [or something like that] come
out of a lake" I would be very interested to know. It certainly begs further
investigation.
However, John
Wesley does relate another, most extraordinary incident he had come
across and, as he often would, sought to investigate it for
himself...
Last year, a strange letter, written at Penzance, was inserted in the public papers. Today I spoke to the two persons who occasioned that letter. They are of St. Just parish, sensible men, and no Methodists. The name of one is James Tregear; of the other, Thomas Sackerly. I received the account from James, two or three hours before Thomas came: But there was no material difference. In July was twelvemonth, they both said, as they were walking from St. Just church town toward Sancreet, Thomas, happening to look up, cried out, "James, look, look! What is that in the sky?" The first appearance, as James expressed it, was, three large columns of horsemen, swiftly pressing on, as in a fight from southwest to northeast; a broad streak of sky being between each column. Sometimes they seemed to run thick together; then to thin their ranks. Afterward they saw a large fleet of three mast ships, in full sail toward the Lizard Point. This continued above a quarter of an hour: Then, all disappearing, they went on their way. The meaning of this, if it was real, (which I do not affirm,) time only can show. (Journal, 7th September 1755.)
Wesley
is not sure about the objective reality of the reported event. He
typically, "thinks and lets think" on such matters. For him such occurrences evokes a sense of awe and wonder. Unfortunately he doesn't comment further. Nehemiah Curnock, the
editor of Wesley's Journals, refers to the Gentleman's Magazine 1754,
p. 482 which is even more curious despite its brevity:
"About three weeks since, two persons of St Juste, six miles westward of Penzance in Cornwall, about 10 at night, saw in the sky, a large fleet of ships, and soon after a cloud came before it, and the scene was changed to an army, or armies, seeming to be smartly engaged in battle. It lasted fifteen minutes, and divers other persons saw this phaenomenon." (Gentleman's Magazine, Octboer 1745, p.482)
What
are we to make of this? It was witnessed by "divers other
persons". How many? A night-time observation....could it have been fireballs?
northern lights? group hallucination? unidentified flying objects?
psychological projection? star wars? condensation trails? a fiction? Definitely
not Japanese lanterns! "Definitely not a hostile takeover!" The story is most peculiar. reminiscent of numerous, similar
experiences reported throughout history since Elijah's chariots of
fire and before.
Paul
Lambourne Higgins in his, John Wesley Spiritual Witness,
says, "At every point Wesley was a careful observer of unusual
events and a thorough-going and highly intelligent investigator of
psychic and supernatural phenomena." He also observes that the
"active power of Providence for Wesley shaped the very forces of
nature" which might explain how Wesley might have understood the
experience of the two "sensible men" from Penzance. "Those
experiences which strangely eluded man's understanding and quite
defied the explanation of natural science were to Wesley clear
evidence of the Providence of God." We probably need to view
this incident in a similar light...an awesome manifestation of God's foresightful protective assurance and care for his creatures.
Whatever
startled Tregear and Sackerly and others that July night in 1754, it remains a mystery to us, an "unexplained flying observation". Wesley leaves us to ponder "the meaning of this", to quietly contemplate the strange and mysterious permeation of worlds unseen and dimensions unknown to us. But time will tell!
Further Reading:
Graham Hancock, Supernatural, 2005, Arrow Books, London.
Paul Lambourne Higgins, John Wesley Spiritual Witness, 1960, Dennison & Co, Minneapolis.
Carl Jung, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky, 2002, Routledge, London and New York.
Jacque Vallee, Passport to Magnolia: On UFOs, Folklore and Parallel Worlds, 1993 Contemporary Books, Chicago.
WY Evan-Wentz, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, 2004, New Page Books, Franklin lakes, NJ.
Walter Scott, Demonology and Witchcraft, 1830
©Colin G Garvie HomePage: http://www.garvies.co.za
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