A History of the Moravian ChurchHutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Religion
A History of the Moravian Church
Hutton, J. E. (Joseph Edmund)
Moravian Church -- History
For answer Boehler appealed to the New Testament; and Wesley, looking to
see for himself, found that nearly all the cases of conversion mentioned
there were instantaneous. He contended, however, that such miracles did
not happen in the eighteenth century. Boehler brought four friends to
prove that they did. Four examples, said Wesley, were not enough to
prove a principle. Boehler promised to bring eight more. For some days
Wesley continued to wander in the valley of indecision, and consulted
Boehler at every turn of the road. He persuaded Boehler to pray with
him; he joined him in singing Richter's hymn, "My soul before Thee
prostrate lies"; and finally, he preached a sermon to four thousand
hearers in London, enforcing that very faith in Christ which he himself
did not yet possess. But Boehler had now to leave for South Carolina.
From Southampton he wrote a farewell letter to Wesley. "Beware of the
sin of unbelief," he wrote, "and if you have not conquered it yet, see
that you conquer it this very day, through the blood of Jesus Christ."
The letter produced its effect. The turning-point in John Wesley's
career arrived. He was able to give, not only the day, but the hour,
and almost the minute. As he was still under the influence of Boehler's
teaching, many writers have here assumed that his conversion took place
in a Moravian society.[110] The assumption is false. "In the evening,"
says Wesley, "I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street
{May 24th.}, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to
the Romans." At that time the society in Aldersgate Street had no more
connection with the Moravian Church than any other religious society in
England. It was founded by James Hutton; it was an ordinary religious
society; it consisted entirely of members of the Anglican Church; and
there, in an Anglican religious society, Wesley's conversion took place.
"About a quarter to nine," he says, "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."
From that moment, despite some recurring doubts, John Wesley was a
changed man. If he had not exactly learned any new doctrine, he had
certainly passed through a new experience. He had peace in his heart; he
was sure of his salvation; and henceforth, as all readers know, he was
able to forget himself, to leave his soul in the hands of God, and to
spend his life in the salvation of his fellow-men.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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