Conscience and Commerce: Thoughts from John Wesley

Many British writers of the early modern period recognized the great power of private commercial enterprise to draw the resources, creativity, and exertions of different corners of humanity into a common stock (metaphorically, at least). Commerce was seen as a powerful instrument of freedom—it gradually freed laborers from dependence on the whims and humor of feudal lords and barons; it promised alleviation from hunger and privation by increasing material outputs in agriculture and manufacturing at lowering average costs. The returns of profitable commercial enterprise, moreover, gave the claimants of those returns the means for extensive charitable giving. Read Full Article »