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They told him that he believed with his head
and struggled with his life, but he needed to be born again. This
would bring him the gift of faith in God, and he would be completely
certainty of salvation, enjoying perfect righteousness in the sight
of God.
So as Wesley sailed back to England in 1737, he was not only devastated
by the collapse of his mission, but convinced by the Germans that
he had no true faith. "I am a child of wrath, an heir of hell,"
he cried. "I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh!
who shall convert me?"
He planned to give up preaching, but another German he met back
in London told him "Preach faith till you have it; and then,
because you have it, you will preach faith."
And so, Wesley started touring the churches around London and Oxford,
preaching new birth and telling people that faith alone, not trying
to be good, would get them right with God. Many responded hungrily
to this new teaching, and so gradually Wesley's own confidence that
he was saved by God grew.
While he was still struggling with this, we went reluctantly to
a German service in Aldersgate Street in London on Wednesday 24
May 1738. As he listened to the reading, a started to feel a new
sense that he was accepted by God.
"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."
In fact, that assurance did not always stay with him, but it was
a powerful experience, and another step along the way.
Next: Preaching
in the fields
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