Editing John Wesley (section)

==Wesley's "Aldersgate experience"==
{{multiple images
 |title=Aldersgate memorials
 |direction=vertical
 |image1=The probable site where on May 24 1738 John Wesley felt his heart strangely warmed. This experience of grace was the beginning of Methodism.jpg
 |caption1=Plaque erected in August 1926 at the probable site of the Aldersgate experience by the [[Drew University|Drew Theological Seminary]] of the [[Methodist Episcopal Church]].
 |image2=John Wesley memorial Aldersgate.jpg
 |caption2=The "Aldersgate Flame" commemorates the event and features text from Wesley's journal describing his experience.
}}

As a result of his experience in Georgia, Wesley became depressed. While on his voyage home to England, he had the opportunity to think about his own religious faith. He found that, although he had committed to the life of following Christ, he was dissatisfied with his spiritual soundness and felt inadequate to [[preaching|preach]], especially after witnessing the confident way in which the [[Moravian Church|Moravians]] had preached their faith. Both he and Charles received counsel from Moravian minister [[Peter Boehler]], who was temporarily in England awaiting permission to depart for Georgia himself. Boehler encouraged Wesley to "preach faith until you have it".{{sfn|Cracknell|White|2005|p=97}}

Wesley's noted "Aldersgate experience" of 24 May 1738, at a Moravian meeting in [[Aldersgate Street]], London, in which he heard a reading of [[Martin Luther]]'s preface to the [[Epistle to the Romans]], revolutionised the character and method of his ministry.{{sfn |Hurst |1903 |pp=102–103}} The previous week he had been highly impressed by the sermon of [[John Heylyn]], whom he was assisting in the service at [[St Mary le Strand]]. Earlier that day, he had heard the choir at [[St Paul's Cathedral]] singing [[Psalm 130]], where the Psalmist calls to God "Out of the depths."{{sfn |Wesley |2000a}}

But it was still a depressed Wesley who attended a service on the evening of 24 May. Wesley recounted his Aldersgate experience in his journal: 
<blockquote>"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. 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."{{sfn |Dreyer |1999 |p=27}}</blockquote>

A few weeks later, Wesley preached a sermon on the doctrine of personal salvation by faith,{{sfn |Wesley |Jackson |1979 |loc=Sermon #1: Salvation By Faith}} which was followed by another, on God's [[Grace (Christianity)|grace]] "free in all, and free for all."{{sfn |Wesley |Jackson |1979 |loc=Sermon #128: Free Grace}} Considered a pivotal moment, Daniel L. Burnett writes: "The significance of Wesley's Aldersgate Experience is monumental ... Without it, the names of Wesley and Methodism would likely be nothing more than obscure footnotes in the pages of church history."{{sfn |Burnett |2006 |p=36}} Burnett describes this event as Wesley's "Evangelical Conversion".{{sfn |Burnett |2006 |pp=36–37}} May 24 is commemorated in Methodist churches as [[Aldersgate Day]].{{sfn |Waltz |1991}}