Aldersgate or Fetter Lane

Wesley’s Continued Angst Following His Aldersgate Experience
17
Wesley’s journal for months following Aldersgate are filled with doubt and
questions. Albert Outler, one of the premier Wesley scholars of the twentieth century,
writes that one of the curiosities of the May 24 Aldersgate experience is that before this
date “Wesley records moments of equal, or nearly equal, spiritual exaltation; and in the
first six months after “Aldersgate” he reports numerous instances of acute spiritual
depression, equal in severity to anything preceding.” 58 Outler goes on to surmise that
Aldersgate was not the only turning point in Wesley’s life, but “one in a series of the
‘turning points’ in his passage from don to missionary to evangelist.” 59 It is noteworthy
that the list of turning points Outler presents is “the German journey, the impact of
Edwards’s Faithful Narrative, the rediscovery of the Homilies on salvation, faith and
good works and, finally, the unanticipated response to his revival preaching at Bristol.” 60
There is no mention of the event of the Fetter Lane society meeting of January 1, 1739.
In reading through Wesley’s journal entries, there are at least eleven entries in
1738 after the Aldersgate experience where Wesley reveals some form of spiritual
depression (using Outler’s terminology). 61 For instance, Wesley writes the day after
Aldersgate (May 25), “Yet the enemy injected fear. … Then inferred I, well may fears be
58
Albert Outler, “The Aldersgate Experience,” John Wesley, ed. Albert Outler (New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, 1964), 51. Outler references in the footnote to this quote “Cf. Journal, September
1738 to April 1739,” which would does not encompass the six months prior and six months after
Aldersgate (November, 1737 to November, 1738). This is important in that the angst that Wesley reveals is
present after Aldersgate, as Outler suggests, but seems to end after January 1, 1739.
59
Outler, “Aldersgate,” Wesley, 52.
60
Outler, “Aldersgate,” Wesley, 52.
61
May 25, May 26, May 27, May 28, May 29, June 3, June 6, June 7, October 14, October 27, and
November 23 of 1738 (see these dates in Wesley, Works, vols. 18 and 19).