42. John Wesley (1703–1791). Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament. Corrected proof sheets. [London: William Bowyer, 1755].

The Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament was John Wesley’s most substantial work of scriptural exegesis. Based on a commentary on the Greek New Testament by Johann Albrecht Bengel (1687–1753), the work features a revised text of the King James Version and copious instructive notes. The copy exhibited here, printed prior to the first edition of 1755, consists of the printer’s proof sheets annotated and corrected in pen and ink by Wesley, his colleagues, and the publisher. Some of the author’s annotations, such as those following footnote “V. 43” for Luke 23:43, reveal the final stages of Wesley’s theological thought on particular passages.