Mercy for the Missionary
John Wesley
The ship lurched crazily as it inched its way through twenty-foot-high waves in the Atlantic. A wall of water burst across the deck, split the mainsail of the eighteenth-century sailing vessel, and sloshed into the living quarters.
The Reverend John Wesley shuddered in fear. Several Englishmen around him screamed. But when he glanced at a group of Moravians, he marveled that they were calmly singing a psalm. "Heavy-minded and dull-witted folk," he thought.
When the seas had calmed, Wesley edged up to their leader. "Were you not afraid in the storm?" he inquired.
"No. The Lord is on our side. We do not fear death."
The next day the Moravian pastor, Spangenberg, had a question for the English minister. "Friend Wesley, do you know Jesus Christ?" he inquired.
"I know that He is the Saviour of the world," the dignified Englishman replied blandly.
"But can you tell me if He has saved you?"
Wesley was plainly flustered. "I hope so," he answered uneasily.
John Wesley was on his way to Georgia to evangelize
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the Indians. But before he was to find peace in the faith of the Moravians, he was to wail, "I came to Georgia to convert the Indians, but oh, who shall convert me? I have but a fair summer religion."
Although Wesley was an Oxford graduate and sternly religious his "fair summer religion" failed to move the indifferent English colonists, much less the pagan Indians. He returned to England after two years, his missionary journey a failure.
He discovered that all over England people were talking about the preaching of his former classmate at Oxford, George Whitefield. Whitefield had had a dramatic conversion experience and was preaching the new birth to large audiences.
At this time, John Wesley's brother, Charles, fell ill. John hurried to his bedside, only to find that Peter Bohler, a Moravian, had arrived first. Peter Bohler was plying the sick man with questions about his faith.
John wrote later in his Journal that he heard enough of the conversation to "convince me of my want of faith."
He felt that he should no longer preach. But Bohler advised him to tell others the truth until he had it himself.
Two days later, John Wesley told a condemned prisoner that he could have his sins forgiven by simply trusting in Christ. "I will," the prisoner said. "Now I am fully prepared to die," he added with deep feeling. "Christ has taken away my sins." The prisoner had full assurance, but poor Wesley struggled on.
On May 20, 1738, Charles Wesley received the full assurance of his salvation after reading Luther's Commentary on Galatians.
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About five A.M. on the following Wednesday, John opened his New Testament to 2 Peter 1:4 and read, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature."
That evening he was invited to a Christian society meeting in Aldersgate Street. "I went very unwillingly," he later wrote in his journal, "to hear one who was reading Luther's preface to Romans."
That was to be his victory night. Here is how he described it: "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 alone for salvation."
He could scarcely wait to tell Charles. Bursting into his room, he shouted, "I believe."
"Let us sing a hymn together, brother," Charles suggested.
John agreed, and the two sang a new hymn which Charles had written only the day before — a song still sung by Christians today, "Christ the Friend of Sinners."
Where shall my wondering soul begin!
How shall I to heaven aspire?
A slave redeemed from death and sin.
A brand plucked from eternal fire.
How shall I equal triumphs raise,
Or sing my great Deliverer's praise?
Eighteen days later, John Wesley preached at the University of Oxford a long-remembered sermon, "By grace are ye saved through faith." This sounded the keynote of a ministry during which he is credited with saving England from moral anarchy, winning tens of thousands to Christ, and founding the Methodist church.
