May 2005 - Tower - Page 9
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Historically Speaking
Louise Fox, Church Historian
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On May 24, 1738, John Wesley attended a
meeting of a little Moravian Society of
believers, gathered in a building on
Aldersgate Street. Someone, a clergyman
or a layman, was reading from the preface
of the Book of Romans, written by Martin
Luther two hundred years earlier. This is
how Wesley tells it in his own words:
While he (Luther, he means) was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given to me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.
John Wesley was to become one of the greatest spiritual giants of all time, and to have the strongest influence on social conditions of the eighteenth century of any other single person.
John Wesley had a most remarkable ability to project his voice when speaking to crowds. He records that on an occasion he spoke to a crowd at Moorfields of about 10,000 people.
He turned an old abandoned Foundry building into a chapel which was large enough to hold 1,700 people, and a large room holding 300 people where 66 class meetings gathered each week. In the Foundry was a book room, a free school for 60 pupils and a free dispensary. A preaching service was held in the Foundry at 5 o'clock every morning. Can you imagine, rising in time to attend those services! In 1744, the very first Methodist Conference was held there.
John Wesley lived in private rooms above the Foundry chapel. His mother, Susanna, spent her last years in these rooms, and died there.
John Wesley made countless statements that have become immortal. Referring to his Aldersgate experience he said, "It pleased God to kindle a fire which I trust shall never be extinguished."
One of his immortal sayings is a good motto for us to use; it is in the form of a prayer. "Lord, let me never live to be useless."
May 24 is the date that we celebrate not only John Wesley's Aldersgate experience but also the union of the Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB), 1968, to form the United Methodist Church.
Did You Notice?
Jerry Dodson, Trustee Chair
In the month of April the following projects were completed:
1. A new tiled floor was added in the sexton's office that had been damaged by Hurricane Isabel.
2. Special thanks to Martha Dodson and Glenn Miller who put down carpeting in the outer area or the second floor men's room.
3. The roof over the library was completed.
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If you have any comments on any of these pages, please email me: Robert W.(Bob) Mckitrick, thanks.
Last update: May 7, 2005