On the resignation of John Bryan, the nonconformist vicar of Trinity Church, Coventry, Wanley was instituted his successor on 28 October 1662.
Wanley gave or bequeathed to the grammar school library at Coventry a copy of the Imitatio Christi, described as ‘Ecclesiastical Music, written on Parchment, about the time of King Edward IV.’ His first publication, ‘Vox Dei, or the Great Duty of Self-reflection upon a Man's own Wayes,’ 1658, was dedicated to Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland.
The work, which is meant to illustrate anecdotically the prodigies of human nature, shows wide reading but is credulous; authorities are fully given and referenced.
Later editions include that of 1774, with revision, and index; and 1806–7, 2 vols., with additions by William Johnston who worked with John Aikin on the General Biography.
30 April 1633, d. 28 June 1719), daughter of Humphrey Burton, coroner and town clerk of Coventry, he had five children, among them Humfrey Wanley.