Aldersgate or Fetter Lane

within me; but I must go on, and tread them under my feet.” 62 Struggles continued on
18
May 26 (“My soul continued in peace, but yet in heaviness”), May 27 (“believing one
reason of my want of joy was want of time for prayer”), May 28 (“I waked in peace, but
not in joy”), and May 29 (“Yet … did I grieve the Spirit of God”). 63
A couple of weeks later Wesley “felt a soreness in my heart.” 64 It was then that
Wesley decided to journey to Herrnhut where he “hoped the conversing with those holy
men who were themselves living witnesses of the full power of faith, and yet able to bear
with those that are weak, would be a means, under God, of so stablishing my soul.” 65 His
journey to Herrnhut reads more like a travel journal in which Wesley does not refrain
from commenting on “bad beds,” an “ill-built” city, a “misshapen” cathedral, an
“unhandsome town,” “poor accommodations,” a “bad inn,” and the “senseless, inhuman
usage of strangers, which we met with at almost every German city.” 66 Notably, while at
Herrnhut until his return to England on September 16, 1738, Wesley did not record any
spiritually low moments.
After returning to England, Wesley had continued moments of angst. He wrote on
October 14, “I cannot find in myself the love of God or of Christ. Hence my deadness
and wanderings in public prayer. … Yea, at this moment, I feel no more love to him than
to one I had never heard of. … I have not that ‘joy in the Holy Ghost’.” 67 On October 30,
62
Wesley, “May 25, 1738,” Works, vol. 18, 250-1.
63
Wesley, Works, vol. 18, 251-253.
64
Wesley, “June 6, 1738,” Works, vol. 18, 254.
65
Wesley, “June 7, 1738,” Works, vol. 18, 254.
66
Wesley, Works, vol. 18, 255, 257, 258, 262, 262, and 265, respectively.
67
Wesley, “October 14, 1738,” Works, vol. 18, 18-19.