by Steve | May 11, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Remember Aldersgate
by Charles Ludwig (1918-2002)
May/June 1978
Good News
Having been raised in Epworth, and having preached in the parish church many times for his father, John Wesley was quite certain Romley, the young curate, would be delighted to have him either preach or read the prayers.
John Romley, however, thought otherwise.
Although disappointed not to have the opportunity to stand once again in his father’s pulpit, John Wesley returned for the after-service. Since it was rumored that their former curate and admired missionary to Georgia was going to speak, the building was crowded.
Romley, however, had determined to have nothing to do with John Wesley; and so he preached himself. His subject was “Quench not the Spirit.” Speaking in a dynamic way, he assured his listeners that too much enthusiasm had a tendency to quench the Spirit.
After the benediction, Wesley’s friend, John Taylor, positioned himself in the churchyard and told the people that Wesley would preach that evening at six o’clock. In his Journal, John Wesley remembered the occasion: “Accordingly at six I came, and found such a congregation as I believe Epworth never saw before. I stood near the east end of the church, upon my father’s tombstone, and cried, ‘The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.’”
As the overwhelmed congregation listened to the gowned preacher standing on the flat, table-tomb of his father, they knew something wonderful had happened to him. His voice had a new ring; his manner was more convincing than it had been; and it even seemed that he was enveloped by some invisible authority.
Deeply stirred, the people insisted that he remain with them for a time. Wesley responded by preaching in nearby villages to large clusters eager to hear him. His final service was at Epworth on Sunday, June 13, 1742. Again at six p.m. he mounted his father’s tomb and “continued with them for nearly three hours.”
Documenting the occasion, Wesley wrote: “I am well assured that I did far more good by preaching three days on my father’s tomb, than I did preaching three years in his pulpit.”
What made the difference? His heart-warming experience at Aldersgate!
Unfortunately, John Wesley’s experience at Aldersgate is frequently played down – especially in our generation. There are even biographies of Wesley in which Aldersgate is barely mentioned. This is a tragic mistake, for eventually that experience changed the lives of millions. In addition, it probably saved England from the revolution that was soon to bloody the streets of France.
To understand Aldersgate, we must realize that John Wesley left Georgia a discouraged man. Much of this discouragement centered around his rather innocent courtship of Sophy Hopkey. Sophy was somewhat fickle; and thus, although John had considered proposing to her, she married William Williamson before he got around to it!
Thoroughly shaken, Wesley refused to serve Sophy Communion. (He felt justified in this because her marriage banns [public announcement of a forthcoming marriage] had not been read before the wedding as required by law.) Williamson retaliated by suing him for “one thousand pounds sterling.” In despair, Wesley reread the Book of Job – and made out his will!
Soon he was indicted on several counts. The indictments were unbelievably trivial. The most serious were that he had “forced” conversation on Sophy; and that he had barred her from the Lord’s Supper. After appearing in court six or seven times without a verdict, Wesley decided to return to England.
In his Journal he wrote: “… the tide then serving, I shook the dust off my feet and left Georgia, after having preached the gospel there (with much weakness and indeed many infirmities) not as I ought, but as I was able, one year and nine months.”
His ministry in Georgia, however, was not the complete failure he assumed. While there, he published America’s first hymnal and established what has been credited as “America’s first Sunday school.” Nevertheless, he was so disheartened he considered it a complete fiasco. Indeed, he felt so spiritually low he recorded his innermost thoughts in a secret code of his own invention. This code was not broken until 1909!
Upon landing in England on February 1, 1738, he hoped his troubles were over. Instead, he was confronted with a new line of disappointments. The first disappointment was that his old friend, George Whitefield, had sailed for Georgia only the day before. After that, a series of doors were slammed in his face. These are recorded in his Journal. They are to be found among those recorded in May:
Sun. 7 – I preached at St. Lawrence’s in the morning, and afterwards at St. Katherine Cree’s church. I was enabled to speak strong words at both, and was therefore the less surprised at being informed I was not to preach any more in either of these churches.
Sun. 14 – I preached in the morning at St. Ann’s, Aldersgate, and in the afternoon at Savoy chapel. … I was quickly apprised that at St. Ann’s likewise I am to preach no more.
Fri. 19 – I preached at St. John’s, Wapping, at three, and at St. Benet’s, Paul’s Warf, in the evening. At these churches likewise I am to preach no more.
At this point we must remember that Wesley had been deeply impressed with a band of Moravians on his way to Georgia. During a terrible storm when it seemed the ship would sink, these earnest German Christians remained perfectly calm. Indeed, they sang during the whole ordeal. When the storm subsided, he approached one of them. “Were you not afraid?” he asked.
“Thank God, no,” returned the Moravian.
“But were not your women and children afraid?”
Again the answer was, “No.”
Several months later, while working in Georgia, Wesley sought advice from Pastor Spangenberg of the Moravians. With utter frankness, Spangenberg said, “My brother, have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?”
Wesley hesitated. He had no answer.
“Do you know Jesus Christ?” persisted the German.
“I know He is the Savior of the world.”
“True, but do you know He has saved you?”
“I hope He has died to save me.”
“Do you know yourself?” pressed Spangenberg.
“I do,” replied Wesley. But as he later recorded the conversation in his Journal, he added, “But I fear they were vain words.”
Following this conversation, Wesley pondered over what had been said. Like a thorn, the questions worked deeper and deeper into his heart. He could not get rid of them; and while on the way back to England he kept wondering if he was really saved. Then a week after his landing in England he met Peter Bohler – another Moravian!
John and Peter became warm friends. Being scholars, they solved their language barrier by conversing in Latin. When John learned that Peter and his Moravian companions had no place to stay, he secured lodging for them near John Hutton’s place where he himself was staying. This meant the two of them had long discussions about Christianity.
One of the things that disturbed Wesley was that he felt he lacked sufficient faith. Indeed, he was so concerned about this subject he asked Bohler if he should not quit preaching. To this he replied, “By no means.”
“But what can I preach?” asked Wesley.
“Preach faith until you have it,” replied Bohler; “and then because you have it, you will preach faith.”
It sounded simple. But would it work? For a long time he had been convinced that salvation is gained by receiving communion and by doing good works. This being so, he did not believe in deathbed conversions, for how could a person do good works on his deathbed? Bohler having urged him to call on a condemned criminal named Clifford, Wesley decided to experiment. Entering the doomed man’s cell, he boldly preached salvation with a clear emphasis on faith.
About three weeks later, Wesley went with a friend to visit a condemned man in the Castle prison. (His identity is unknown.) After praying with him, “he rose up and eagerly said, ‘I am ready to die. I know Olrist has taken away my sins. …’”
Wesley was both pleased and startled by this response. This is because he was concerned whether or not instant conversion was really possible. Such an idea seemed to him to be most revolutionary.
Convinced by the authority of the Word, he made a study of the problem: “I searched the Scriptures again touching this very thing, particularly the Acts of the Apostles: but to my utter astonishment, found scarce any instances there of other than instantaneous conversions; scarce any so slow of that of St. Paul, who was three days in the pangs of the new birth. I had but one retreat left; namely, ‘Thus, I grant, God wrought in the first ages of Christianity; but the times are changed.’”
The conversion of this convict seemed certain, even though it was instantaneous. Nevertheless, Wesley’s extremely logical brain wanted to be absolutely convinced that a person could be converted within a moment of time. With this thought possessing him, he continued to research his life.
Wesley’s days snail-paced along as he considered his past, sought truth, and considered his seemingly doubtful future. On Wednesday, May 24, he awakened at 5 a.m. and reached for his Greek New Testament. Somehow his eyes were drawn to 2 Peter 1:4, “There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature.” Later, as he prepared to leave, he again felt impressed to open his New Testament. This time, he read, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
That afternoon he was invited by a friend to attend a service in nearby St. Paul’s Cathedral. Curiously, the anthem was Psalm 130. Backgrounded by the music of Henry Purcell, former organist at Westminster Abbey, the words were: “Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O let Thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with Thee; therefore shalt thou be feared. O Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins.”
Wesley listened in amazement, for that anthem fitted his need as closely as a glove fits a hand. Was God speaking to him? To Wesley it immediately became apparent that God was seeking to fill a need in his life.
Later that same day, Wesley was invited to a “society in Aldersgate Street.” Since he was staying with the John Huttons, the meeting was not far away. Still, he was reluctant to go. Perhaps he was tired from the long service at St. Paul’s. But one way or another, he was persuaded to go.
Aldersgate is one of London’s older streets. It was named after a gate in the northern wall. No one is certain of the precise address where this meeting was held, but a heavily-researched guess is that it was really at Nettleton Court which was “a narrow byway opening from the east side of Aldersgate.”
It is quite probable that Wesley was invited to the meeting by James Hutton, son of John Hutton. While at this meeting someone – perhaps William Holland – began to read from the preface to Luther’s Commentary on The Epistle to the Romans. John Wesley listened with great concern, for Luther’s words began to bring some puzzling aspects of the Word into focus.
This preface is thought to have been translated by W. W. (William Wilkinson?) and first published in 1594. Here are some passages from that translation which probably seized Wesley’s attention:
- But true faith is the work of God whereby we are regenerate and born anew by his Spirit. …
- Faith therefore is a constant truth and a sure confidence of the mercy of God toward us which is lively, and worketh mightily in our hearts ….
- Neither doth he that hath this faith care greatly whether good works be commanded or not. For though there were no law at all, yet by this lively impulsation working in his heart, he is of his own accord forced and carried to work true and Godly Christian works.
Deeply moved, Wesley noted in his Journal: “About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
How did Wesley respond to this experience? He wrote: “I began to pray with all my might for those who had … despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart.”
Yes, John Wesley, graduate of Oxford, Fellow of Lincoln College, missionary to Georgia, distinguished writer, and winner of souls, had been converted! Moreover, he himself frequently testified to that fact in very definite terms.
Charles Ludwig (1918-2002) was the author of more than 50 books, including Francis Asbury: God’s Circuit Rider (1984).
by Steve | May 2, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Archive: “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people”
A meditation on Isaiah 40:1
by Rev. Dr. John Oswalt
Associate Professor of Biblical Languages and Literature
Asbury Theological Seminary
Good News Contributing Editor
The “good news bad news” jokes are now fast disappearing, having become a cliche overnight like all popular things in our instant communication society. But there is one which is relevant to this ancient but ever-fresh message of Isaiah. A little boy came home from Sunday school and his daddy, who had been receiving his religious instruction from the Sunday paper, asked him what he had learned. The little boy reported that he had learned some good news and some bad news.
Daddy asked, “Oh yeh? What’s the good news?”
“Jesus is coming back soon.”
“Well, that’s nice. Now what’s the bad news?”
“He’s mad!”
But that is exactly what Isaiah is not saying! God is coming to a captive people to heal and bless and deliver. In the words of the Psalmist “His anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5-6)
But what does Isaiah mean here to “comfort”? That meaning is spelled out by the phrase in the second part of the verse. The KJV has the familiar rendering “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem.” The NIV, following RSV, had “Speak tenderly.” But the I iteral translation of the Hebrew is “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem.”
Ah, there it is! God would comfort us by speaking to our hearts.
Luke 21:26 quotes Jesus as He speaks of the last days, “Men’s hearts will fail them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth.” Some have suggested this is being literally fulfilled in our time with the great rise of heart attacks. I do not believe this is the primary reference. Rather, Jesus is speaking about the paralysis which results from a failure of nerve, of will, of hope.
This was the danger to the Judeans in 550 B.C., when all their arrogant self-confidence was broken on the rack of the Babylonian captivity. And unless I am mistaken, this is a danger in America today. Our hearts are failing us. There is a mood of pessimism, of hopelessness, of retrenchment. But God would speak to our hearts.
What would He say?
When we examine the use of that phrase, “to speak to the heart,” in the Bible, an exciting range of meanings opens up.
To speak to the heart is to speak as a lover when he whispers in the ear of his beloved. So it is also said of God as He draws Israel, His betrothed, away from her false lovers and into His bosom (Hosea 2:14). There are the words of admonition for the hesitant, such as King Hezekiah spoke to the hearts of the Levites and had them reinstitute the neglected temple services (II Chronicles 30:22). There are words of encouragement to the downtrodden such as those of Boaz, the great lord of the manor, when he spoke to the heart of Ruth, the little foreign girl who crept into the corners of his field to gather the grain left standing there (Ruth 2:13). There are words of reconciliation to the alienated, as those which the Levite spoke to his estranged concubines (Judges 19:3), or those of Joseph to his frightened brothers (Genesis 50:19-22).
This is what God’s “comfort” means. It is to hear Him whisper, “I love you,” when we feel particularly unlovely. It is to feel that “go ahead” nudge when we wonder if we dare to attempt something bold for Him. It is to have the Lord of the Manor take our hand and say, “You’re somebody!” It is to see the face of the One we have sold into captivity shining with a smile of tenderness and compassion for us. To know the comfort of God is to hear Him say, “I’m on your side, let’s go!”
Does this mean we may not yet, as a nation or a church, experience judgment for our sins? By no means. If we, like Judah, persist in flying in His face there may be days ahead the depths of whose darkness no human eye can plumb. But, even if (God forbid) those days should come, we may know this does not express God’s final attitude or ultimate purpose for us. Instead, He longs to comfort us with Himself. And if we will but let Him, no mountain of circumstance is too high nor valley of helplessness too deep to prevent Him from coming to us.
Long before R. G. LeTourneau had his dreams of great machines which could gnaw through mountains and fill up valleys, the prophet Isaiah had a vision of a highway: the highway of God’s holy love, straight as an arrow, through mountains and across valleys. And on that highway he saw One coming with pierced hands and riven side. And as He came the prophet heard Him cry, “Comfort my people, speak to their hearts.” So Jesus speaks yet today.
by Steve | May 1, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Archive: Let’s Remember Aldersgate
by Charles Ludwig
Having been raised in Epworth, and having preached in the parish church many times for his father, John Wesley was quite certain Romley, the young curate, would be delighted to have him either preach or read the prayers.
John Romley, however, thought otherwise.
Although disappointed not to have the opportunity to stand once again in his father’s pulpit, John Wesley returned for the after- service. Since it was rumored that their former curate and admired missionary to Georgia was going to speak, the building was crowded.
Romley, however, had determined to have nothing to do with John Wesley; and so he preached himself. His subject was “Quench not the Spirit.” Speaking in a dynamic way, he assured his listeners that too much enthusiasm had a tendency to quench the Spirit. After the benediction, Wesley’s friend, John Taylor, positioned himself in the churchyard and told the people that Wesley would preach that evening at six o’clock. In his Journal, John Wesley remembered the occasion:
Accordingly at six I came, and found such a congregation as I believe Epworth never saw before. I stood near the east end of the church, upon my father’s tombstone, and cried, “The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
As the overwhelmed congregation listened to the gowned preacher standing on the flat, table-tomb of his father, they knew something wonderful had happened to him. His voice had a new ring; his manner was more convincing than it had been; and it even seemed that he was enveloped by some invisible authority.
Deeply stirred, the people insisted that he remain with them for a time. Wesley responded by preaching in nearby villages to large clusters eager to hear him. His final service was at Epworth on Sunday, June 13, 1742. Again at six p.m. he mounted his father’s tomb and “continued with them for nearly three hours.” Documenting the occasion, Wesley wrote:
I am well assured that I did far more good by preaching three days on my father’s tomb, than I did preaching three years in his pulpit.
What made the difference? His heart-warming experience at Aldersgate!
Unfortunately, John Wesley’s experience at Aldersgate is frequently played down-especially in our generation. There are even biographies of Wesley in which Aldersgate is barely mentioned. This is a tragic mistake, for eventually that experience changed the lives of millions. In addition, it probably saved England from the revolution that was soon to bloody the streets of France.
To understand Aldersgate, we must realize that John Wesley left Georgia a discouraged man. Much of this discouragement centered around his rather innocent courtship of Sophy Hop key. Sophy was somewhat fickle; and thus, although John had considered proposing to her, she married William Williamson before he got around to it!
Thoroughly shaken, Wesley refused to serve Sophy Communion. (He felt justified in this because her marriage banns[1] had not been read before the wedding as required by law.) Williamson retaliated by suing him for “one thousand pounds sterling.” In despair, Wesley reread the Book of Job-and made out his will!
Soon he was indicted on several counts.
The indictments were unbelievably trivial. The most serious were that he had “forced” conversation on Sophy; and that he had barred her from the Lord’s Supper. After appearing in court six or seven times without a verdict, Wesley decided to return to England. In his Journal he wrote:
… the tide then serving, I shook the dust off my feet and left Georgia, after having preached the gospel there (with much weakness and indeed many infirmities) not as I ought, but as I was able, one year and nine months.
His ministry in Georgia, however, was not the complete failure he assumed. While there, he published America’s first hymnal and established what has been credited as “America’s first Sunday school.” Nevertheless, he was so disheartened he considered it a complete fiasco. Indeed, he felt so spiritually low he recorded his innermost thoughts in a secret code of his own invention. This code was not broken until 1909!
Upon landing in England on February 1, 1738, he hoped his troubles were over. Instead, he was confronted with a new line of disappointments. The first disappointment was that his old friend, George Whitefield, had sailed for Georgia only the day before. After that, a series of doors were slammed in his face. These are recorded in his Journal. They are to be found among those recorded in May:
Sun. 7 – I preached at St. Lawrence’s in the morning, and afterwards at St. Katherine Cree’s church. I was enabled to speak strong words at both, and was therefore the less surprised at being informed I was not to preach any more in either of these churches.
Sun. 14 – I preached in the morning at St. Ann’s, Aldersgate, and in the afternoon at Savoy chapel. … I was quickly apprised that at St. Ann’s likewise I am to preach no more.
Fri. 19 – I preached at St. John’s, Wapping, at three, and at St. Benet’s, Paul’s Warf, in the evening. At these churches likewise I am to preach no more.
At this point we must remember that Wesley had been deeply impressed with a band of Moravians on his way to Georgia. During a terrible storm when it seemed the ship would sink, these earnest German Christians remained perfectly calm. Indeed, they sang during the whole ordeal. When the storm subsided, he approached one of them. “Were you not afraid?” he asked.
“Thank God, no,” returned the Moravian.
“But were not your women and children afraid?”
Again the answer was, “No.”
Several months later, while working in Georgia, Wesley sought advice from Pastor Spangenberg of the Moravians. With utter frankness, Spangenberg said, “My brother, have you the witness within yourself? Does the Spirit of God bear witness with your spirit that you are a child of God?”
Wesley hesitated. He had no answer.
“Do you know Jesus Christ?” persisted the German.
“I know He is the Saviour of the world.”
“True, but do you know He has saved you?”
“I hope He has died to save me.”
“Do you know yourself?” pressed Spangenberg.
“I do,” replied Wesley. But as he later recorded the conversation in his Journal, he added,” But I fear they were vain words.”
Following this conversation, Wesley pondered over what had been said. Like a thorn, the questions worked deeper and deeper into his heart. He could not get rid of them; and while on the way back to England he kept wondering if he was really saved. Then a week after his landing in England he met Peter Bohler—another Moravian!
John and Peter became warm friends. Being scholars, they solved their language barrier by conversing in Latin. When John learned that Peter and his Moravian companions had no place to stay, he secured lodging for them near John Hutton’s place where he himself was staying. This meant the two of them had long discussions about Christianity.
One of the things that disturbed Wesley was that he felt he lacked sufficient faith. Indeed, he was so concerned about this subject he asked Bohler if he should not quit preaching. To this he replied, “By no means.”
“But what can I preach?” asked Wesley.
“Preach faith until you have it,” replied Bohler; “and then because you have it, you will preach faith.”
It sounded simple. But would it work? For a long time he had been convinced that salvation is gained by receiving communion and by doing good works. This being so, he did not believe in deathbed conversions, for how could a person do good works on his deathbed? Bohler having urged him to call on a condemned criminal named Clifford, Wesley decided to experiment. Entering the doomed man’s cell, he boldly preached salvation with a clear emphasis on faith.
About three weeks later, Wesley went with a friend to visit a condemned man in the Castle prison. (His identity is unknown.) After praying with him, “he rose up and eagerly said, ‘I am ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins. ….’ ”
Wesley was both pleased and startled by this response. This is because he was concerned whether or not instant conversion was really possible. Such an idea seemed to him to be most revolutionary. Convinced by the authority of the Word, he made a study of the problem:
I searched the Scriptures again touching this very thing, particularly the Acts of the Apostles: but to my utter astonishment, found scarce any instances there of other than instantaneous conversions; scarce any so slow of that of St. Paul, who was three days in the pangs of the new birth. I had but one retreat left; namely, “Thus, I grant, God wrought in the first ages of Christianity; but the times are changed.”
The conversion of this convict seemed certain, even though it was instantaneous. Nevertheless, Wesley’s extremely logical brain wanted to be absolutely convinced that a person could be converted within a moment of time. With this thought possessing him, he continued to research his life.
Wesley’s days snail-paced along as he considered his past, sought truth, and considered his seemingly doubtful future. On Wednesday, May 24, he awakened at 5 a.m. and reached for his Greek New Testament. Somehow his eyes were drawn to 2 Peter 1:4, “There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, even that ye should be partakers of the divine nature.” Later, as he prepared to leave, he again felt impressed to open his New Testament. This time, he read, “Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.” (Mark 12:34)
That afternoon he was invited by a friend to attend a service in nearby St. Paul’s Cathedral. Curiously, the anthem was Psalm 130. Backgrounded by the music of Henry Purcell, former organist at Westminster Abbey, the words were:
Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice. O let Thine ears consider well the voice of my complaint. If Thou, Lord, wilt be extreme to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who may abide it? For there is mercy with Thee; therefore shalt thou be feared. 0 Israel, trust in the Lord: for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his sins.
Wesley listened in amazement, for that anthem fitted his need as closely as a glove fits a hand. Was God speaking to him? To Wesley it immediately became apparent that God was seeking to fill a need in his life.
Later that same day, Wesley was invited to a “society in Aldersgate Street. ” Since he was staying with the John Huttons, the meeting was not far away. Still, he was reluctant to go. Perhaps he was tired from the long service at St. Paul’s. But one way or another, he was persuaded to go.
Aldersgate is one of London’s older streets. It was named after a gate in the northern wall. No one is certain of the precise address where this meeting was held, but a heavily-researched guess is that it was really at Nettleton Court which was “a narrow byway opening from the east side of Aldersgate.”[2]
It is quite probable that Wesley was invited to the meeting by James Hutton, son of John Hutton. While at this meeting someone—perhaps William Holland—began to read from the preface to Luther’s Commentary on The Epistle to the Romans. John Wesley listened with great concern, for Luther’s words began to bring some puzzling aspects of the Word into focus.
This preface is thought to have been translated by W. W. (William Wilkinson?) and first published in 1594. Here are some passages from that translation which probably seized Wesley’s attention:
But true faith is the work of God whereby we are regenerate and born anew by his Spirit.
… Faith therefore is a constant truth and a sure confidence of the mercy of God toward us which is lively, and worketh mightily in our hearts. …
Neither doth he that hath this faith care greatly whether good works be commanded or not. For though there were no law at all, yet by this lively impulsation working in his heart, he is of his own accord forced and carried to work true and Godly Christian works.
Deeply moved, Wesley noted in his Journal:
About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
How did Wesley respond to this experience? He wrote:
I began to pray with all my might for those who had … despitefully used me and persecuted me. I then testified openly to all there what I now first felt in my heart.
Yes, John Wesley, graduate of Oxford, Fellow of Lincoln College, missionary to Georgia, distinguished writer, and winner of souls, had been converted! Moreover, he himself frequently testified to that fact in very definite terms.
[1] Public announcement of a forthcoming marriage.
[2] Today, a tablet commemorates this event. It is on Barclay’s Bank and is marked No. 28.
by Steve | Mar 3, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Archive: John Wesley and Christian Lifestyle
by Barbara Jackson
Lifestyles are much in our conversations today, often as a response to world shortages of energy and food. But lifestyle has always been an issue of importance to religious communities. During this Lenten Season, as we meditate on our response to Jesus’ sacrifice and His call to “follow me,” United Methodists may find it helpful to understand how John Wesley related lifestyle to faith.
To Wesley, the Christian lifestyle was naturally a simple lifestyle, in which a Christian was concerned with the most careful use of worldly resources. A Christian would use only the clothing, food, and housing necessary to a healthy and dignified life, using the remainder for the benefit of others.
Such plain living fulfills several purposes for us today, as it did for our 18th century brethren:
- It directs our attention to God and away from the distractions of the world.
- It helps us to avoid the sins of self-indulgence and pride.
- It gives us the surplus necessary to be able to serve others in need.
- It prevents our wasting resources needed by others.
- It protects us from the feeling of anomie of modern man, by giving purpose to the smallest details of daily life.
- It helps us to re-examine the value of life itself—and to rejoice in life, rather than in the material things that are coincidental rather than essential.
John Wesley speaks from a joyful, affirmative view of life, even though he calls us to a strict analysis of motives and needs. In a “Plain Account of Genuine Christianity,” Wesley tells us that Christian love soars above scanty bonds, to love every soul God has made. Such love, he says, produces all right actions: the earnest and steady discharge of social offices, the prevention of the hurting or grieving of any person, the uniform practice of justice and mercy, the doing of all possible good to all men.
In Wesley’s thought the love of God leads directly to the love of one’s neighbor. Such love empowers one to accept as neighbor the person across the ocean and the person across town but in another social station, as well as the person next door. This love requires that we care for and share with these neighbors as God cares for and shares with us. Certainly it follows that the generations to come are also our loving concern. We cannot knowingly plunder the planet without a care for their sustenance.
The inward change of heart vital to Wesleyan piety results in a life of moral purity and of social concern. It is a special Wesleyan characteristic that this concern for others is not to be left to the emotions of a moment, but is to be planned for carefully. One is to work steadily, save regularly, and give both regularly and generously. In Wesley’s sermon on the use of money, he says:
Money is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of His children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked. It gives to the traveler and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of a husband to the widow and a father to the fatherless. We may be a defense to the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that be in pain. It may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death.
It is, therefore, of the highest concern that all who fear God know how to employ this valuable talent. … Gain all you can. But this, it is certain, we ought not to do: we ought not to gain money at the expense of life nor at the expense of health … to gain money we must not lose our souls. … We are to gain all we can … without hurting our neighbor. We cannot, if we love every one as ourselves, hurt any one in his substance … neither may we gain by hurting our neighbor in his body. Therefore we may not sell anything which tends to impair health.
God has placed you here not as a proprietor but as a steward. As such He entrusted you for a season with goods of various kinds, but the sole property of these still rests in Him, nor can it ever be alienated from Him … and He has told you in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for Him in such manner that it may be a holy sacrifice.[1]
Having worked to earn all he could, the Methodist was told to save all he could, and to give all he could. This was not meant to encourage investment or hoarding for oneself. It meant “simplicity of living, wasting nothing, spending nothing on cheap or degrading pastimes. ‘Give all you can’ meant the sacrificial mutual sharing among the poor, not handouts from the rich from their superfluity. Wesley’s message was addressed to manual workers and the disinherited, who had a hard time scraping up the one-penny dues used by the Methodist societies for their charity work.”[2]
In contrast, we American United Methodists are rich! However, it may be harder for us to respond to Wesley’s challenge than it was for our ancestors, for we have come to accept extravagance as a way of life.
Oklahoma college students have been analyzing garbage over several years, and their catalogues of what we throw away are startling.
Wesley himself set an example of plain living and of service, along with proclaiming Christ as Savior. He visited prisons. He set up a simple loan society. He established a free medical dispensary, a home for widows, and a school for poor children. He joined with a few valiant Quakers in the unfashionable opposition to slavery. In order to follow his example, we must also express our witness in our homes, our vocations, our schools, and in every level of government.
During this quadrennium we will be working together as the whole United Methodist Church to collect the funds needed to support the work of relieving hunger. Many of us will respond to special Lenten appeals. Let us, however, go beyond a six-week or four-year fund appeal. Let us use this opportunity to study and to pray together in order to reassess our personal and our corporate lifestyles.
Are we witnessing to the love of God by living the Christian lifestyle described by John Wesley? Is it possible for us to begin a life-long effort to achieve a Christian lifestyle?
[1] John Wesley, Albert C. Outler, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
[2] Christian Ethics, Waldo Beach and H. Richard Niebuhr. New York: Ronald Press, 1955.
by Steve | Mar 2, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Archive: Good News and Charismatics[1]
By Charles W. Keysor, Editor, Good News Magazine
Late last year a separate organization was formed by some United Methodists who are charismatic. It is known as UM Renewal Services Fellowship. Its headquarters are in Nashville and its founding president is Dr. William P. Wilson, a psychiatrist, who belongs to the Good News Board of Directors and is scheduled as a major speaker at both Good News convocations this summer.
Formation of UMRSF illustrates a point Good News has been stressing since 1966: Lots of people have spiritual needs which our church is not meeting. One proof of this has been the steady growth of Good News for a decade. In 1977 came still another proof: the organization of these charismatics.
We seem to hold two things in common: both Good News and UMRSF want more spiritual vitality in our church. Also, both began outside of the institutional church womb.
However, unlike Good News, the new organization has quickly sought official approval and sanction. It has applied for, and secured, semi-official status with the UM Board of Discipleship. Its first Executive Director, Rev. Ross Whetstone, is a former staff member of the Board of Discipleship.
Good News, on the other hand, has always been completely independent of any denominational board or agency. We have cared more about upholding Biblical truth and reforming the church than about winning the approval and sanction of church leaders. God has provided this independence so we can be free to speak prophetically to the church-and act prophetically as the Holy Spirit directs.
Obviously, our concerns will overlap those of UMRSF in certain ways. We welcome their renewal efforts—the job of church reform is big enough for many groups, each working in its own style.
It remains to be seen how the charismatic brethren will fare in their quest for denominational blessing. The fact is, they stand conspicuously outside the liberal theological tradition which prevails in the UM hierarchy. Nevertheless, we hope they will be made warmly welcome at the institutional table. We urge church officials to cooperate with them fully. Failure to do after these charismatic leaders have so eagerly sought official acceptance, would be a serious failure in ministry … a breach of Christian brotherhood … and perhaps a violation of the new charismatic policy adopted by the last General Conference.
There is an interesting theological point in all of this. Good News, and now the UMRSF, have come into being because our church has long been theologically lopsided. Under the liberal dominance of the past 75 years, it has failed to give sufficient prominence to the great foundation truths of Holy Scripture. That is why Good News exists. Now UMRSF has formed because of United Methodist failure to place equal and adequate emphasis upon all three Persons of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Our church will remain unhealthy as long as it remains theologically unbalanced. Good News and others will continue working to correct this imbalance. Toward this goal, the prayers, energies, and dollars of many United Methodists are needed urgently. As we have for the past 10 years, Good News will continue working with United Methodists who love Jesus Christ and want the Bible as first authority in their lives. We stand ready to join hands with all others who will work for Scriptural Christianity within our United Methodist Church.
[1] *The first editorial appeared on page 38 of the issue for Sept/Oct 1977.
by Steve | Mar 1, 1978 | Archive - 1978
Archive: Why Not Emphasize Worship?
By Charles W. Keyson, Editor, Good News Magazine
Trial balloons are starting to float upward, borne on freshening political currents of the 1980 General Conference. Various pressure groups are jockeying to determine what will be the official emphasis of our church from 1980-1984. Will it be world hunger, ethnic minority church empowerment, and evangelism again? Raising money to undergird our church-related colleges? Or what?
Probably it will do no harm to float one more trial balloon: why doesn’t the United Methodist Church put its main emphasis on worship during the next quadrennium?
Some are making this suggestion, and I heartily agree. It would make good sense to pay attention officially to one activity without which the church ceases to be the church. It is not hard to imagine a church without apportionments, autocratic national agencies, COCU, church-supported political lobbyists, perpetual meetings, etc. But who can imagine a church without worship?
I am not talking about worship in terms of formal, printed prayers … elaborate liturgies to be dutifully read … rigid and unimaginative following of a calendared church year … flowing robes and stoles of proper color. Instead, I speak of worship as the upward soaring of the heart and mind into praise and adoration of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I speak of worship as God addressing us uniquely when a believing congregation gathers to seek His Word, His will, and His presence.
Behind the Iron Curtain, communist governments have tried to strangle the church. They often forbid churches to engage in education, youth ministry, or in efforts to change or challenge the political status quo. Prohibiting these church functions, the communists think, will destroy the churches. But worship is permitted because secularists consider it unimportant.
Reports coming from the “underground churches” indicate surprising vitality. Forbidden to do anything except worship, churches are thriving.
A recent American visitor was astonished, and thrilled, with the vibrant faith he found among some Christians in Iron Curtain countries. Said he: “They crowd the churches and they boldly risk imprisonment, loss of jobs, and open persecution—all for the faith! I cannot get over the contrast between this robust faith and the tepid, anemic churches we have here at home.”
It would be a great irony if the communists, seeking to destroy the church, unwittingly made it stronger by eliminating diversions which may distract the church from its supreme responsibility: worship. What an irony if in America, where the church is totally free, it got so deeply involved in secondary matters that its worship became cold and dead.
What might happen if our church invested four years of serious effort in vitalizing United Methodist worship?
Vital worship makes Christians vital. And perhaps the greatest problem facing our church is how to infuse vitality into thousands of slumbering, self-satisfied, spiritually-dead congregations. How shall we cause millions of marginal church members to give God higher priority? How shall United Methodism escape the condemnation Jesus Christ declares upon churches which have fallen away from their first love for Him and have grown lukewarm? (Revelation 2:4-5; 3:15-16)
If we could answer these questions, the church would have no problems about money-except how to spend it all. Nor would we have any shortage of Christians getting involved in the world.
In many ways, our UM Church is like a great, immobile machine … needing only to be plugged into the source of energizing power. This power-source is God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! People are best connected with Him through vital corporate worship in which God (not man) is glorified and congregations are thus edified. This happens when the Holy Spirit exalts Christ through God’s written Word, the Bible, and the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion.
In other words, rich, warm, genuine Biblical worship is what the church must recover if it is to escape from being petrified, ossified, and secularized. Yet it would be blasphemy to consider worship as a four-year gimmick which will raise our sagging budgets and fill our empty pews! Jesus gave the right order when He said, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33, New International Version) If we seek after United Methodist worship “in spirit and truth” (John 4:24) then God will take care of any genuine needs the church and its people may have.
What could be done during a four-year official emphasis on vitalizing United Methodist worship?
-
- Ways could be found to involve laypeople significantly in worship—to thus end the stony spectatoritis which so often chills our worship.
- We could recover the joy of singing-not only the “familiar few,” but we could learn to appreciate the many beautiful hymns which belong to our heritage.
- More vital worship could stimulate the writing of new hymns. For new hymns are born in times of vital faith; there is little incentive to create new songs of faith when worship becomes remote, secularized, impersonal, and stiffly formalized.
- Preaching could be improved, so that each week every UM congregation would be edified by eternal truth explained and applied to the actual life-needs of people in our pews.
- Congregations could learn more about worship. Many have never been taught the significance of responsive readings, offerings, public prayers, organ preludes, creeds, hymns. That is one reason why many lifetime church members just “go through the motions” Sunday after Sunday. Can we blame them for being less than enthusiastic when worship has so little meaning?
- The meaning and importance of Communion and Baptism could be clarified. We need to purge away misleading terms (like “Christening”) and sacramental bad habits (like private baptisms, which remove baptism from its proper place as a sacrament of the Body of Christ).
- The teachings of Scripture could be given fresh relevance by creating fresh responsive readings and statements of faith from the Bible. We could use the best contemporary Bible translations in order to edify the majority of our people who do not think in the language of 1611.
- People could be familiarized with the Bible by providing pew Bibles in every church and encouraging their use during our worship services.
- The depth of worship can be enhanced for many people by beautifying our sanctuaries. It is not necessary to equate ugliness with proper Protestantism. Beauty, after all, is one characteristic of true holiness.
- We could encourage pastors and people to pray naturally, easily, and from the heart. There ought to be many in each church who could lead others to the throne of grace.
It could be exciting if our church decided to spend four years stressing the central importance of worship!
