"Inward and Outward Health"

Bawtry Hall, Doncaster

When his friend Alexander Knox was suffering from melancholia (depression), John Wesley wrote to him, "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."

Since Wesley wrote THE most popular self-help health care book of the 18th century, it must be assumed that his perspective resonated with his readers.  Deborah Madden says it eloquently:

"... Wesley did not simply spiritualize disease.  It was, in fact, essential for the sick to follow the very best medical advice available. ... Primitive Physic[k] was a manual designed to help the laboring poor stave off disease by regulating their lifestyle through regimen, as well as self-medicating safely when they became sick.  This testifies to a rationally verifiable empirical method for treating illness, which was fully conversant with Georgian medical practice.  The remedies listed in Primitive Physic[k] can be traced to contemporary 'orthodox' medical sources and Wesley was not merely peddling 'kitchen-physic' recipies from a bygone era.  His empirical, experimental method sought to restore an 'ancient standard' in physic, which was also the intellectual corallary to those trials and tribulations faced by Christians as they struggled for spiritual wholeness ..."  (Madden, Deborah, ed. "Inward and Outward Health:" John Wesley's Holistic Concept of Medical Science, the Environment and Holy Living.  Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2008. p. 7.)

A couple of definitions that might help:
empirical = when what you do is based not on theory but on observations and experience
Georgian = 18th century English, since England was ruled by 4 Georges in a row (for a laugh, see www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPtYmq5qFVA or search for "Horrible Histories 4 Georges.")
"ancient standard in physic" = since Wesley believed that basic and early ("primitive") Christianity was the highest standard, he also believed that the simplest medicine was the best.