Section 9
John Wesley is about to embark on the actual work of launching Methodism. Alder’s Gate and his “heart strangely warmed” happened seven months ago, in May of 1738. On New Year’s Day, January 1, 1739, the Wesley’s along with about seventy other people, gathered at Fetter Lane. From what I have read, the Moravians, specifically Peter Böhler, opened a chapter there. During the Fetter Lane Love Feast, Wesley entered in his journal how, “The power of God came mightily upon us.” Fetter Lane is frequently referred to as a Pentecostal experience at the birth of the Methodist church.
From the Fetter Lane Love Feast, the Wesely’s begin to participate in open-air preaching across London. They, along with Whitefield and others, are the seed that starts a full-on revival across England. Alder’s Gate seems to have been a very personal and private touch of the Holy Spirit. What comes next in John Wesley’s life is the beginning of the outward manifestation of the inward change that has occurred for this Anglican priest.
Section 9 is merely John Wesley using bits of hymns or poems he and Charles published in the book Hymns and Sacred Poems to communicate their spiritual state of mind at this time. It is a transformative time for John Wesley. He is moving out of the pulpit for preaching and into the open-air venue. George Whitefield leads the way on this and provides Wesley with an example of how he is doing it.
From that example, Wesley begins to draw large crowds. First in the hundreds, then the thousands, and then quite literally the tens of thousands, drawing upwards of twenty thousand people or more in some cases. Section 9 has to be written after March of 1739 because it opens with the statement, “my brother and I published a volume of Hymns and Sacred Poems.” p.14. That book wasn’t published until March of that year.
The first hymn quoted is from Enslaved to Sense, to Pleasure Prone. The seven months since Alder’s Gate, Wesley has been in something of a depressed state over his faith and spirituality. According to his journal entries, he sees little fruit of the spirit. However, Wesley is a competent priest/pastor who attends to his duties and is well thought of in the Anglican church in that regard. That aside, Wesley feels he isn’t accomplishing what God has for him. This hymn encompasses Wesley’s opinion that he is too caught up in earthly pleasures and desires. If you’d like to see this hymn, you can find it HERE.
The next hymn is one John Wesley translated from Joachim Lange called The Act of Consecration. This feels like the Wesley’s plea to God to send them out purposefully. That request is about to be fulfilled in spades. If you’d like to see that hymn in its totality, you can find it HERE.
The last hymn is titled Heavenly Adam, Life Divine. The “heavenly Adam” is Jesus, as He is referred to as the second Adam. By the first Adam, sin entered the world. By the second Adam, the sins of all mankind were paid for, thus blotting them out.
41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;
43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
45So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:41–45 (NASB95)
The hymn title is listed as Heavenly Adam, Life Divine. I can’t find a link to it in the published work listed. However, this keeps with the theme in this section that Wesley is asking God for a spiritual renewal. On this side of history, we can see that God is going to answer Wesley’s prayers dramatically and abundantly very soon. I think when he wrote Section 9, he knew what was happening, or at least was caught up in the beginnings of the movement taking shape. I think Wesley grasped that something monumental was beginning to happen for God’s people. In Section 10 next week, we will see a dramatic shift in these entries begin. God bless and Godspeed.