DAY 6

MORNING

PSALMS 29–31

Psalm 30:1 “You lifted me out of the depths.”

Aldersgate Experience

John Wesley’s quest for spiritual reality and his preparation for his work as an evangelist came to a climax on 24 May 1738. Of the years of his life, 1738 was the most decisive year. Of all the days in his life, 24th May 1738 was the most decisive, as
 this was the day that he was converted. His experience at Aldersgate street was the crisis and turning point of his career. Wesley came into a place of saving faith on 24 May 1738 and it was this that released him into his true vocation as an evangelist.57 He wrote in his Journal:

“In the afternoon I was asked to go to St Paul’s. The anthem was De Profundis,58 was based on Psalm 130:1–8

1 Out of the depths, I cry to you Lord;

2 O Lord hear my voice. Let your ears be 
attentive to my cry for mercy.

3 If you O Lord kept a record of sins, O Lord who 
could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness, therefore 
you are feared.

5 I wait for the Lord my soul waits, and in his 
word I put my hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord more than 
watchmen wait for the morning, more than 
watchmen wait for the morning.

7 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.


8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

The music and the words deeply touched John Wesley and a seed was planted. Later that day, in the evening, he met with a group of friends who were reading from the book of Romans. While meeting with these friends he heard Luther’s “preface to Romans”, which reads, “God judges what is in the depths of the heart. Therefore his law also makes demands on the depths of the heart and doesn’t let the heart rest content in works; rather it punishes as hypocrisy and lies all works done apart from the depths of the heart.”59 Wesley suddenly saw for the very first time the extent of his sin despite having been to church, despite having been a missionary. He realised the extent to which God by grace and by grace alone saves us ‘out of the depths’.

Wesley famously says 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.”

Prayer

Lord, you were attentive to John Wesley’s cry for mercy, you heard his cry, you saved him out of the depths. I cry to you from the depths of my heart, save me and save my nation. Be attentive to my cry for mercy. I wait for you, Lord. I put my hope in you, Lord, for with you there is unfailing love, with you there is full redemption. Lord, hear my cry!

57 Skevington-Wood, A. The burning heart, 59.


58 Wesley, J. Journal, 103.


59 Luther, M. Preface to Romans. http://www.ccel.org/l/luther/romans/pref_romans.html

DAY 6 EVENING PSALMS 32–34

Psalm 32:1 “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”

Fetter Lane Society

The Fetter Lane society was Wesley’s support group now that he had come
to faith. Some of the members of the group were John and Charles Wesley, James Hutton, and Peter Böhler. They and a couple of others met (at the suggestion of Böhler) a few weeks before on the evening of May 1st. The rules of the society were later printed with the title “orders of a religious society, meeting in Fetter-Lane; in obedience to the command of God by St James,60 and by advice of Peter Böhler, 1738: ‘Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another that ye may be healed.’”61 “The Fetter Lane society’s rules included weekly meetings for prayer and confession, division into bands of 5 to 10 persons each, the right and duty of each person to speak freely, procedures for admitting new members, and provision for a monthly love feast from 7 to 10 pM.”62

The restoration of early Christianity within the Church of England had been John Wesley’s dream. This society became the context, now that Wesley had come to Christ for Wesley to pursue this dream.63 Attendance of the Fetter Lane society was a vehicle for believers to
live out their faith and they could do that by confessing their faults to one another, and praying for one another that they be healed.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, that you are faithful and just and if we confess our sins you will forgive us and cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. Lord, we pray for the new wine and new wineskins for the revival that you are bringing to our land. Thank you, Lord, for the principles from scripture of “confessing our faults to one another” that you have given us. Show us how we can put them into practice in our day, as Wesley did in his.

60 James 5:16


61 Simon, John Wesley and the Religious Societies, 196–200. Snyder, H. The Radical Wesley and patterns for Church Renewal, 27.

62 Wesley, J. Journal 1, 458–459.
63 Snyder, The Radical Wesley, 28.