Hello, I'm Wilson Pruitt, and you are listening to the History of Methodism Podcast. You can support us online at patreon.com/historyofmethodism. Please rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. Today’s Episode: Back to England.
1739 marks the beginning of the Methodist revival. Before we get to that auspicious year, we need to keep track of what our main characters are up to.
While John was on the Continent, Charles stayed in England. He had had his own conversion experience at the end of May in 1738, but June had brought him more of a spiritual lull. It wasn’t until July 2 that Charles was able to preach again. Charles’s biographer, John Tyson, notes that “the sermon that Charles preached on July 2 was probably John Wesley’s sermon “Justification by Faith.”1
Yet it was at this time that Charles began to write his own fresh sermons to preach when he could. The first of these was called “The Three States” and he preached it around 20 times in 1738-39.
The title refers to the three states of humanity. He defines them in the sermon as follows: First, the state of a "natural man:" Secondly, that of one who is "under the law:" And Thirdly, of one who is "under grace.”2
Charles describes the first state in the following way:
He is secure, because he is utterly ignorant of himself. Hence he talks of "repenting by and by;" he does not indeed exactly know when, but some time or other before he dies; taking it for granted, that this is quite in his own power. For what should hinder his doing it, if he does but once set a resolution, no fear but he will make it good!
The second state is a challenge. This would be the awakening as Jonathan Edwards understood it.
The fumes of those opiates being now dispelled, he feels the anguish of a wounded spirit. He finds that sin let loose upon the soul (whether it be pride, anger, or evil desire, whether self-will, malice, envy, revenge, or any other) is perfect misery.
The third state is grace.
Here end both the guilt and power of sin. He can now say, "I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me: And the life which I now live in the flesh," (even in this mortal body,) "I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Here end remorse, and sorrow of heart, and the anguish of a wounded spirit. "God turneth his heaviness into joy."
Meanwhile, John was making his journey back to England from Herrnhut and his time with the Moravians. He walked again and it took just as long, with plenty of stops along the way, though not as many complaints about German hospitality.
On his journey, John met with the eminent Lutheran pietist, August Franke, described in our episode on Pietism. A few days later they were in Jena and stopped at a school there which John spent many pages in his journal describing the history of the school and the pedagogical style. John understood already that training young ones in the faith would be a priority.
By September 2, John and his group had made it to Cologne where John met a few folks excited to be heading to Georgia. He tried to dissuade them.3 Soon he was in the Netherlands and back to England.
It didn’t take John long before he started preaching and evangelizing again. On September 17, John writes:
I began again to declare in my own country the glad tidings of salvation, preaching three times and afterwards expounding the Holy Scripture to a large company.4
John is visiting with society meetings at this time, as well as speaking to small gatherings, and preaching when he can. And with this, John is having mixed results. He writes:
On Saturday [September] 23 I was enabled to speak strong words both at Newgate and at Mr. E’s society; and the next day at St. Anne’s, and twice at St. John’s, Clerkenwell, so that I fear they will bear me no longer.5
The extant diaries for the earlier part of 1738 are lost, but we have his diary starting on September 17 when he landed back in England. They help illuminate what his life was occupied with during this time. His days are more full and his entries more consistent than when he was in Georgia the year before.
A typical day was the following
Friday [October] 13. 6.30 Prayed; meditated; Greek Testament. 7.30 Read Prayers. 8 Mrs Ford’s, Mr Sarney, etc. 9 Tea, religious talk, sang prayed. 9.45 At home; write to Dr Koker, to Ingham. 12 Garden, corrected prayers. 1 Writ verses. 2:45 Mr Sarney’s, prayed, tea, religious talk. 4 At Mr Wells’, religious talk, prayed. 5 At home; Mr Evans, religious talk. 5.30 Read prayers. 6 Mr Fox’s, Mrs Ford, etc. sang, prayed. 7 Mr Washington’s, Turn, etc, prayed, religious talk, prayed. 9 At home; writ notes. 11:15.6
As well, there are fewer entries about unmarried women, though they are not entirely absent. John notes the presence of Miss Claggett while visiting at Mrs. Thornbury’s on September 19, and writes : “con[vinced?]”7
He notes her presence again on September 28, and then that she sang during morning prayer on October 3, but then she drops out of the picture.
In September, John is still preaching about assurance but he has yet to publish anything on the topic. In August, the Rev. Arthur Bedford preached and published a sermon titled: The Doctrine of Assurance: or the case of a weak and doubting conscience. Though John is not named, he felt under attack and that he needed to respond. He wrote to Arthur on September 25 and sent the letter on September 28. The extant letter gives us a solid understanding of John’s theological position at this time.
John quickly clarifies the misunderstanding between Bedford and he. John “saw clearly that by this one phrase, ‘assurance of salvation’, we meant entirely different things, you understanding thereby ‘an assurance that we shall persevere in a state of salvation’, whereas I mean no more by that term than ‘an assurance that we are in such a state.’8
John then goes through a translation question before clarifying his own understanding assurance: He writes:
This assurance, I believe, is given to some in a smaller, to others in a larger degree; to some also sooner, to others later, according to the counsels of his will. But since it is promised to all, I cannot doubt but it will be given to all that diligently seek it.9
The beginning of October sent John into another spiritual crisis. On October 9, he read Jonathan Edwards A Faithful Narrative about the Northampton revival. He sent an extract to a friend whose response sent John “into great perplexity.”10
His solace was found in the evening lesson of the day from 2 Corinthians 5: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things are become new.”
John spends time in his journal expanding on this notion. He writes:
First, his judgments are new: his judgment of himself, of happiness, of holiness…Secondly, his designs are new. It is the design of his life not to heap up treasures upon earth, not to gain the praise of men, not to indulge the desires of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life, but to regain the image of God, to have the life of God again planted in his soul, and to be renewed after his likeness, in righteousness and all true holiness…Thirdly, his desires are new, and indeed the whole train of his passions and inclinations…Fourthly, his conversation is new. It is ‘always seasoned with salt’…Fifthly, his actions are new. The tenor of his life singly points at the glory of God.11
In November, Charles and John visit Newgate prison and have a powerful experience in their ministry and witness powerful transformations.
At this time, John also published an extract of the official Homilies on the doctrine of Justification by faith.
Sporadic preaching and various engagements filled his time in this season, but there was no revival. George Whitefield returned from America in late November and John and George met on December 12 in London. John writes, “God gave us once more to take sweet counsel together.”12 They stayed up til almost midnight the next few nights talking about the things of God.
On January 1, 1739, John, Charles, George Whitefield, and many others met at Fetter Lane to partake in a Love Feast and to celebrate the new year. John Writes: About three in the morning, as we were continuing instant in prayer, the power of God came mightily upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we were recovered a little from that awe and amazement at the presence of his majesty, we broke out with one voice, “We praise Thee, O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord”13
John went to sleep at 6:30 am after that event, according to his diary.14
It would be a momentous year for everyone involved that night. One person major player in Methodist history, has yet to receive a proper introduction. In order to understand the revival of 1739, we need to understand George Whitefield. Who he was, where he came from, and how his gifts will change the movement. Next time on the History of Methodism.
Sources
John R. Tyson, Assist Me to Proclaim: The Life and Hymns of Charles Wesley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008).