DAY 14

DAY 14

MORNING

PSALMS 71–72

Psalm 72:12 “He will deliver the needy who cry out.”

Signs Following

Wesley continued to preach to the poor, and God continued to confirm his word with signs following, as Wesley relates in his Journal:115

Tuesday 17 April 1739

At five in the afternoon I was at a little society
in the Back Lane. The room in which we were was propped beneath, but the weight of people made the floor give way; so that in the beginning of expounding, the post which propped it fell down with a great noise. But the floor sank no farther; so that, after a little surprise at first, they quietly attended to the things that were spoken. Thence I went to Baldwin Street and expounded, as it came in course, the fourth chapter of the Acts. We then called upon God to confirm his word. Immediately one that stood by (to our no small surprise) cried out loud with the utmost vehemence, even as in the agonies of death. But we continued in prayer till “a new song was put in her mouth, a thanksgiving unto our God.” Soon after, two other persons (well known in this place, as labouring to live in all good conscience towards all men) were seized with strong pain, and constrained to roar for the disquietness of their heart. But it was not long before they likewise burst forth into praise to God their Saviour. The last who called upon God as out of the belly of hell, was a stranger in Bristol. And in a short space he was overwhelmed with joy and love, knowing that God had healed his backslidings. So many living witnesses hath God that his hand is still “stretched out to heal,” and that “signs and wonders are even now wrought by his holy child Jesus.”

Wednesday 18 April 1739

In the evening ... A Quaker and a few others were admitted into the society. .. But (another) was scarcely able either to speak or look up ... The sorrows of death compassed her and the pains of hell got hold upon her. We poured out our complaints before God, and showed him of her trouble. And he soon showed he is a God “that heareth prayer”. She felt in herself that being justified freely, she had peace with God, through Jesus Christ. She rejoiced in hope of the glory of God, and “the love of God was shed abroad in her heart.”

Prayer

Thank you for your promise, Lord, that you will deliver the needy who cry out, and that you do hear our prayers. Lord, bring to birth another spiritual awakening in our land. Confirm your word with signs following as you have done before, as we see so clearly in the book of Acts and as you did in England in the Methodist revival of 1739. Deliver the needy who cry out. Let there be a bursting forth of praise to God on their lips. We pray for salvation and deliverance! Open up deep wells of salvation in our land ONCE AGAIN!

115 Wesley, J. Journal, April 8th 1739 , Vol 1, 187.

DAY 14 EVENING PSALMS 73–74

Psalm 73:20 “As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.”

Human Life: A Dream

Summary of Sermon preached by John Wesley (on Psalm 73:20)116

Anyone that considers these verses (in Psalm 73), will easily observe that the Psalmist is speaking directly of the wicked that prosper in their wickedness. It is very common for these utterly to forget that they are creatures of a day; to live as if they were never to die; as if their present state was to endure forever ... how miserable a mistake is this ... ... but I would at present carry this thought further. I would show how near a resemblance there is between human life and a dream. What is a dream? It is a series of persons and things presented to our mind which have no being but in our imagination. It seems to be an echo of what was said or done when we were awake... a fragment of life, broken off at both ends, having no connexion with the real things which either precede it or follow it.

Let us illustrate rather than prove the resemblance between transient dreams and the dream of life. Suppose we have before us someone who has just passed into the world
 of spirits. We talk to this person, before us
and we say to them “You have been living on earth for 40, 50 or 60 years.” God has just spoken and said to you, “Awake you who have been sleeping.” Look around you. What is the difference? Where is your body. Where are your limbs, your hands, your feet, your head. They lie cold, insensible. How different now you are thoroughly awake, are the objects around you? Where are the houses and gardens and fields and cities which you lately saw?

Now suppose this to be the case with any of you and that you are now present before God. It may be so tomorrow; perhaps tonight. Perhaps this night your soul “may be required of you;” the dream of life may end and you may wake into broad eternity.

See there lies the poor inanimate carcass shortly to be sown in corruption and dishonour. But where is the immortal incorruptible spirit? There it stands, naked before the eyes of God! What profit have you reaped of all your labour and care? Does your money follow you? Do your clothes follow you? Where is the honour, the pomp, the applause that surrounded you? All are gone; all are vanished away, “like as a shadow they depart.”

See on the other hand, the mansions which were prepared for you before the foundations
 of the world! O what a difference between the dream that is past and the real scene that is
now before you! Look up! See Jesus! Look down! What a prison is there, its inhabitants gnashing their teeth at Him! We might wish that we had
a friend with us always whispering in our ear, “Wake up O sleeper rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” Soon you will awake into real life. You will stand a naked spirit, in the world of spirits, before the face of the great God! See that now you hold fast to that “eternal life which he has given you in his Son”.

Prayer

Lord, we know that this world of shadows will pass away. Open our eyes, Lord. Where so many in our celebrity-focused, consumerist nation today are lost in temporal fantasies and have no thought of the age to come, Lord Jesus, wake us up out of our slumber. We long for your appearing, Lord. Rend the heavens and come down.

116 Wesley, J. Sermons Volume 3, addresses, 325.