“More Moravians”
Not long after the first Moravian missionaries had left for the West Indies, John Wesley, unconverted at the time, found himself aboard ship alongside another group of them. It was January 25, 1736, and the weather was rough. Three storms had already battered the boat, and a fourth was brewing. Wesley scribbled in his journal, “Storm greater: afraid!” But the Moravians were trusting God so simply and so completely that they evidenced no signs of fear, and they even persevered in their plans for worship service. In the middle of their singing, a gigantic wave rose over the side of the vessel, splitting the main-sail, covering the ship, pouring water like Niagara Falls between decks “as if the great deep had already swallowed us up.”
The English passengers screamed as the ship lurched and pitched between towering waves. A terrified Wesley clung on for dear life. But the German missionaries didn't miss a note. Wesley, awestruck by their composure, later went to the leader and asked, “Weren't you afraid?”
“I thank God, no.”
“Were not your women and children afraid?”
“No,” replied the man. “Our women and children are not afraid.”
Back in London, Wesley was so struck by their sturdy faith that he attended a Moravian meeting on Aldersgate Street on May 24, 1738. He later said, “I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an assurance was given to me that He had taken away my sins, even mine.”
Wesley became a famous evangelist and social reformer, with the world as his parish. But he himself was won to Christ by the power of a small group whose faith in Christ was strong enough to keep them unflappable in a storm.
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