“I Felt my Heart Strangely Warmed” – The Place of Experience in Wesley’s Life and Thought

Focus: The focus of these two sessions is on the place of experience in the life and ministry of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement in 18th century England. This will be broken down into two broad areas, namely the supposed Wesleyan Quadrilateral and the place of religious experience in Wesley’s thinking and life.

The “Wesleyan Quadrilateral”: The Wesleyan Quadrilateral emerged sometime in the early 1960s and was first incorporated into the United Methodist Church (UMC) Discipline in 1972. In essence it asserted that Wesley accepted Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason as the four sources of theological authority. Despite the fact that this generated widespread discussions, especially among UMC scholars, this has been rejected as historically untrue and theologically unsound by those who are committed to Scriptures as the primary source of authority in the church. Wesley himself categorically asserted that he himself is “homo unis libri”, a man of one book! The late Professor William Abraham has suggested that its acceptance by many is because “Postmodernists and Quadrilateralists share the same intellectual pedigree.”

“Religious experience in Wesley’s thinking and life”: The rejection of the Quadrilateral does not however mean that Wesley did not take experience seriously. It is fundamental to his understanding of the Christian faith in that it elucidates key aspects of scriptural teachings. This is true in at least three areas.

The first is Christian assurance, which is central to his Aldersgate experience. After many years of striving he finally came to know the assurance which the Spirit imparts: “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation.”

The second aspect of Wesley’s understanding of experience is the reality of the power of the Holy Spirit. On 1st Jan 1739, seven months after Aldersgate, he and some seventy others had gathered for the watch-night service, praying into the early hours of the morning. At 3 am in the morning, the Holy Spirit came upon them in power “insomuch that many cried out in exceeding joy and many fell to the ground.” What many present-day Methodists find difficult to accept is that early Methodism was fundamentally charismatic in its understanding and practice of the power and gifts of the Spirit. This has now been demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt by Robert Webster’s Oxford D.Phil. dissertation which has now been published as Methodism and the Miraculous (Lexington, KY: Emeth Press, 2013).

The third important aspect concerns Wesley’s emphasis on holiness which is summed up in the goal of early Methodism: “to reform the nation … and to spread scriptural holiness over the land.” Notwithstanding the fact that he probably caused unnecessary theological difficulties for himself in his preoccupation with “perfection,” his concern to produce a holy people was absolutely clear through his emphasis on classes and bands.

The first session will deal with the more theological aspects of the subject. The second will be more sermonic in applying Wesley’s concerns to life and ministry. These experiential aspects of Wesley’s teaching are central and crucial for the Christian life. Regrettably, they are also often forgotten or ignored, and desperately need to be recovered by present-day Methodism.

We do well to remember what Wesley said towards the end of his life: “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist in either Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case, unless they hold fast to both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”