“I felt my heart strangely warmed”

Today is the date in 1738 that John Wesley had his “Aldersgate experience,” a time of spiritual conversion for one of the founders of the Methodist movement.

He was born on June 28, 1703 and died on March 2, 1791.  He was the fifteenth of nineteen children (ten of whom lived to adulthood).  He attended Oxford University and was ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1728.  He participated in the Holy Club while at Oxford (although he was not a founding member like his brother Charles, he quickly emerged as a leader).  He accepted General James Oglethorpe’s invitation to come to the Georgia Colony and serve as Governor Oglethorpe’s personal secretary.  Wesley went in hopes of having an opportunity to convert Native Americans.  His tenure in both positions was a disappointment, and he returned to Britain.

Like his brother Charles, John came under the influence of the Moravian Church and one of their leaders, Peter Böhler.  In a well-known interchange, John told Peter that he was going to quit preaching because he “had no faith.” Bohler said, “Don’t do that, Mr. Wesley. You are a Bible scholar and have so much to offer. Preach faith until you have it. Then you will preach faith because you do have it.”

A few days later, on May 24, Wesley records in his Journal:

In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's Preface to the Epistle to the Romans. 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.

This citation has always been very important to Methodists.  They frequently speak about their own “Aldersgate Experiences.”  Methodists name churches and schools “Aldersgate.”  It is interesting to note that Wesley himself only refers to this event one more time in all of his writings, and that is in a letter to one of his brothers a few years later.

That is not to diminish the significance of this moment in Wesley’s life.  And he surely wasn’t a person who lived in the past.  But such an observation offers a perspective on the event.

Nevertheless, we give thanks for Wesley at Aldersgate.