On February 5, 1736 John and Charles Wesley set foot on American soil at
Peeper Island (now
Cockspur Island) just outside of
Savannah, Georgia. The young Anglican ministers had come to the colonies to do missionary work among the Native Americans. John was also to be the minister of
Savannah while his brother Charles went 100 miles south to St. Simon’s Island where he was the minister at
Fort Frederica.
The brothers were unconverted men at this time; they did not yet know the Lord. In addition to his desire to convert the heathen, John Wesley had another, more personal, reason for coming to America. He had been pursuing a life of holiness for years but had not attained it. “My chief motive, to which all the rest are subordinate, is the hope of saving my own soul. I hope to learn the true sense of the gospel of Christ by preaching it to the heathen” (letter of John Wesley as quoted by Iain Murray in Wesley and Men Who Followed, Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, p. 7).
Wesley also hoped to escape certain temptations that had hindered him in England, but he found no refuge in Georgia. He had determined to live a life of celibacy, but he fell deeply in love with a young Savannah woman. Because of Wesley’s decision to remain celibate the relationship eventually soured, and her influential uncle, who didn’t like Wesley anyway, brought charges against him of defaming his niece. The community was divided over their minister (they didn’t like his heavy-handed ways), his brother Charles had gone home in defeat over a year earlier, and now he was facing an unjust trial; so young Wesley sailed for England, never to return. He later famously asked, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but O! who shall convert me?”
What John and Charles Wesley didn’t realize at the time was that the Lord was using these discouraging events to work some wonders. God worked wonders in the southern colonies through the subsequent ministry of George Whitefield, who succeeded Wesley in Savannah and enjoyed the results that had eluded the brothers. Apparently the trouble that the Wesleys had in Georgia “plowed the field” and prepared people to give the gospel a better hearing.
The Lord also worked wonders in the lives of John and Charles. A few months after John’s return to England in February 1738, he attended a meeting at the Aldersgate Street church in London. Someone was reading the preface to Luther’s Commentary on 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” (John Telford, John Wesley: Into All the World, Greenville, SC: Ambassador Publications, p. 101). John Wesley finally found peace in Christ by faith. His brother Charles also was saved around this time.
The Lord frequently works in ways that we can’t comprehend at the time. Our place is to render unto Him the obedience of faith. Our best works will not save. Christ has paid the full price for our sins. Our service for Him is the outworking of the grace that God has worked in us. A heart warmed by His grace is the motivation for a life of service. The results of our service are not always apparent to us, but God will not forget our labor of love. We may be surprised in eternity to find out all the good that God worked through our efforts that we thought were in vain.
Thank God for servants like the Wesleys and Whitefield coming to America with the Gospel!
The Wesleys Come to America
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