Aldersgate or Fetter Lane

misrepresentations of things) not to regard visions or dreams; or to fancy people had
31
remission of sins because of their cries or tears, or bare outward professions.” 104 He
responded in letter form, which he includes his journal:
You deny that God does now work these effects; at least, that he works them in
this manner. I affirm both, because I have heard these things with my own ears
and seen them with my eyes. I have seen (as far as a thing of this kind can be
seen) very many persons changed in a moment from the spirit of fear, horror,
despair, to the spirit of love, joy, and peace; and from sinful desires till then
reigning over them to a pure desire of doing the will of God. These are matters of
fact, whereof I have been, and almost daily am, an eye- or ear-witness. 105
He continues to write in this letter regarding visions and dreams: “I know several persons
in whom this great change was wrought, in a dream, or during a strong representation to
the eye of their mind, of Christ either on the cross or in glory.” 106
Up until this time, May 20, 1739, most of the outward manifestations occurred
privately or in society meetings. Those that did not believe in these “signs and wonders,”
as Wesley stated he must term them, 107 “could not deny the facts, but they could explain
them away” saying that people fainted because the rooms were too warm or that it was all
a cheat. ‘Why were they not done in the face of the sun?” they asked. 108 This question
was answered by God in a dramatic way the very next day. On May 21, 1739 at an open
air meeting with more than two thousand present, “one and another and another was
104
Wesley, “May 20, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 59.
105
Wesley, “May 20, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 59.
106
Wesley, “May 20, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 59.
107
Wesley, “May 20, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 60.
108
Wesley, “May 20, 1739,” Works, vol. 19, 60.