Thomas Maxfield (Methodist)

Thomas Maxfield (died 1784) was an English Wesleyan Methodist preacher.

Maxfield, a native of Bristol from a poor background, was converted by John Wesley during his first visit to the city, on 1 May 1739. In March 1740 he was travelling with Charles Wesley, and remained with him for a period. In 1742, when Wesley left London, he gave Maxfield the charge of the Foundery Society, directing him to pray with the members and give them suitable advice. Maxfield soon passed from praying to preaching, and Lady Huntingdon, who was an attendant at the chapel, was impressed by his talents. Others complained to Wesley that Maxfield had usurped the sacred office without being called to it. Wesley came back to London, where his mother mollified his anger, and after Wesley heard Maxfield he decided the dispute in his favour.

In June 1745 Maxfield, while preaching in Cornwall, was pressed for the navy; but the captain to whom he was taken refused to have him on board, and he was imprisoned at Penzance. Then he was handed over to the military authorities through the intervention of the Rev. William Borlase of Ludgvan, who was hostile to the Methodists. Wesley, who was preaching nearby, attended the meeting of the justices at Marazion, by whom Maxfield was given over to the military. He served in the army for several years. After his discharge he was at Wesley's request ordained at Bath, Somerset by William Barnard, bishop of Derry. From this time he was one of Wesley's main assistants, as well as an assistant chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon.

Maxfield, however, was a divisive figure. He encouraged those who saw visions. At the conference of 1761 Maxfield silenced opponents, but Wesley wrote to him subsequently about the complaints made. At the beginning of 1762 Wesley still had concerns, and John William Fletcher had serious criticisms. In the course of the year the problem became more acute. Maxfield had adopted a prediction made by George Bell, a fellow-minister, sharing his opinion that the world would end on 28 February 1763. Wesley preached against him on 23 January, but with little effect. A schism became inevitable, and in February 1763 Maxfield practically told Wesley "You take too much upon you". On 28 April he finally broke with Wesley, taking Bell and about two hundred others with him.

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