Strangely Warmed

This old country hymn by Charles B. Wid­mey­er was written in 1906 and it is a pretty good fit for a sermon on this Sunday's lectionary reading from Isaiah 55:1-2. I can still hear the pianist in the little church I served early in my career giving this song the honky-tonk treatment. Jesus has a table spread Where the saints of God are fed, He invites His chosen people, “Come and dine”; With His manna He doth feed And supplies our every need: O ’tis sweet to sup with Jesus all the time! Refrain “Come and dine,” the Master calleth, “Come and dine”; You may feast at Jesus’ table all the time; He Who fed the multitude, turned the water into wine, To the hungry calleth now, “Come and dine.” The disciples came to land, Thus obeying Christ’s command, For the Master called unto them, “Come and dine”; There they found their heart’s desire, Bread and fish upon the fire; Thus He satisfies the hungry every time. Refrain Soon the Lamb will take His bride To be ever at His side, All the h...

In Wesley and the Second Jacobite Rebellion , I described how John Wesley found himself in Newcastle in 1745, just at the time the city was preparing to defend itself against the invading army of Charles Edward Stuart, pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland. The city was in a panic and the people were terrified. Wesley continue to preach as best he could amidst the chaos, and his journal entry for Sunday, September 22 records this: At eight I preached at Gateshead, in a broad part of the street near the popish chapel, on the wisdom of God in governing the world. How do all things tend to the furtherance of the gospel! Wesley's journal is filled with his belief in God's active intervention in "governing the world." Mobs attack him, but somehow never manage to hurt him. He survives all sorts of dangers in his travels. When he needs something, it appears at just the right time. God brings him the people that need to hear him preach and touches their h...

As I described in Wesley and the Second Jacobite Rebellion , John Wesley found himself in the city of Newcastle in 1745, the likely target of an attack by a rebel army. Most of the English army was deployed to the continent of Europe. Only a handful of regular troops were available for the defense of England and King George II. One of the greatest dangers to the English cause, Wesley believed, was the immoral conduct of the English soldiers. On October 26, 1745, Wesley wrote the mayor of Newcastle, asking him to express his concerns with the general who commanded the English forces. My soul has been pained day by day, even in walking the streets of Newcastle, at the senseless, shameless wickedness, the ignorant profaneness, of the poor men to whom our lives are entrusted. The continual cursing and swearing, the wanton blasphemy of the soldiers in general, must needs be a torture to the sober ear, whether of a Christian or an honest infidel. Can any that either fear God, or love th...

In 1745 Charles Edward Stuart arrived in Scotland from France and raised and army in order to invade England. Stuart was the Young Pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland, the grandson of James II who had been deposed by Parliament in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The military actions that took place in Scotland and England in 1745 and 1746 are known as the Second Jacobite Rebellion. John Wesley arrived in Newcastle at about the time Stuart’s force captured Edinburgh, about 100 miles to the north. This posed a potential problem for Wesley, beyond the physical dangers and difficulties associated preaching in such an environment. One of the accusations thrown at Wesley during his ministry was that he was a secret supporter of Stuart’s cause. His journal entry for July 4, 1745 includes this quotation informing Wesley why so many people were violently opposed to him. “Sir, I will tell you the ground of this. All the gentlemen of these parts say that you have been a ...

In his journal, John Wesley records a conversation that he had with his mother Susanna in London on September 3, 1739 . I talked largely with my mother, who told me that, till a short time since, she had scarcely heard such a thing mentioned as the having forgiveness of sins now, or God’s Spirit bearing witness with our spirit: much less did she imagine that this was the common privilege of all true believers. “Therefore,” said she, “I never durst ask for it myself. But two or three weeks ago, while my son Hall was pronouncing those words, in delivering the cup to me, the words struck through my heart and I knew God for Christ’s sake had forgiven me all my sins. The “short time” was about 15 months. In June of 1738, Wesley visited his mother and read to her a paper describing the spiritual journey that brought him to own inward experience of forgiveness the previous month. Wesley describes that meeting with his mother in a journal entry from a year later, June 13, 1739 . ...

Wesley's journal entry from June 25, 1744 : Monday, 25, and the five following days we spent in conference with many of our brethren (come from several parts), who desire nothing but to save their own souls and those who hear them. And surely, as long as they continue thus minded, their labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. The next day we endeavored to purge the society of all that did not walk according to the gospel. By this means we reduced the number of members to less than nineteen hundred. But number is an inconsiderable circumstance. May God increase them in faith and love! Wesley and his followers were confident in the identity and mission of their little society. They had a coherent vision of their life together. They knew who they were, what they believed and what kind of life those beliefs required. Sermons such as A Caution Against Bigotry and Catholic Spirit demonstrate that they also knew God might be at work in and through the members of other institut...