Page 85 - Pilgrims in Georgia I

John Wesley

Wesley eventually left Georgia in December 1737 defeated, disillusioned,
and spiritually unsure of himself. He would write on his return trip to
England:, "I went to America, to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall
convert me? who, what is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of
mischief? I have a fair summer religion. I can talk well; nay, and believe
myself, while no danger is near; but let death look me in the face, and my
spirit is troubled. Nor can I say, 'To die is gain!’ Again back in England he
sought the Moravians whom he come to know through his experience in
Georgia and He told Peter Boehler, of his experience and his inner

struggle. On May 24, 1738, Boehler convinced him to go to the meeting
at Aldersgate Street where God provided the solution to what Wesley
Aldergate Street Memorial to John Wesley
had been struggling with. The "Aldersgate Experience" had a permanent
effect on Wesley's life as from then on, he is known for two things: co-
founding Methodism and his tremendous work ethic.

In the 1700s, when land travel was by walking, horseback or carriage, evidence form
his detailed daily journals indicate that over 50 years he covered 250,000 miles in
travel and delivered 40,000 sermons. He was a natural organizer and approached
everything diligently, especially religion. All this as a result of his time in Georgia,
where circuit riders would return to in the 1780’s. And, despite the difficulties in his
Georgia mission, he made a significant accomplishments there too in the publication
of a Collection of Psalms and Hymns. The Collection was the first Anglican hymnal
published in America, and the first of many hymn-books Wesley published. Though
Wesley became famous and made an enormous amount of money in his lifetime he
consciously gave almost all of it away, leaving as the result of his life's work 135,000

members and 541 itinerant preachers under the name "Methodist". It has been said
that "when John Wesley was carried to his grave in 1791, he left behind him a good
library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown" and the Methodist Church.

John Wesley Preaching to a crowd