Category Archives: John Wesley

“You can never be a deep preacher without it” by John Wesley

“What has exceedingly hurt you in time past, nay, and I fear, to this day, is lack of reading. I scarce ever knew a preacher who read so little. And perhaps, by neglecting it, you have lost the taste for it. Hence your talent in preaching does not increase. It is just the same as it was seven years ago.

It is lively, but not deep; there is little variety; there is no compass of thought. Reading only can supply this, with meditation and daily prayer. You wrong yourself greatly by omitting this. You can never be a deep preacher without it, any more than a thorough Christian.

Oh begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercise. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterward be pleasant. Whether you like it or not, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way; else you will be a trifler all your days, and a pretty, superficial preacher.

Do justice to your own soul; give it time and means to grow. Do not starve yourself any longer. Take up your cross and be a Christian altogether. Then will all the children of God rejoice (not grieve) over you, and in particular yours.”

–John Wesley, writing to a younger minister, as quoted in D.A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge, Letters Along The Way: A Novel of the Christian Life (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1993), 169.

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Lord’s Day Hymn – “Give to the winds thy fears”

“Give To the Winds Thy Fears”
By Paul Gerhardt, 1656
Translated by John Wesley, 1737

Give to the winds thy fears,
Hope and be undismayed.
God hears thy sighs and counts thy tears,
God shall lift up thy head.

Through waves and clouds and storms,
He gently clears thy way;
Wait thou His time; so shall this night
Soon end in joyous day.

Still heavy is thy heart?
Still sinks thy spirit down?
Cast off the world, let fear depart
Bid every care begone.

What though Thou rulest not;
Yet heaven, and earth, and hell
Proclaim, God sitteth on the throne,
And ruleth all things well.

And whatsoe’er Thou will’st,
Thou dost, O King of kings;
What Thine unerring wisdom chose,
Thy power to being brings.

Leave to His sovereign sway
To choose and to command;
So shalt thou, wondering, own that way,
How wise, how strong this hand.

Far, far above thy thought,
His counsel shall appear,
When fully He the work hath wrought,
That caused thy needless fear.

Thou seest our weakness, Lord;
Our hearts are known to Thee;
O lift Thou up the sinking hand,
Confirm the feeble knee!

Let us in life, in death,
Thy steadfast truth declare,
And publish with our latest breath
Thy love and guardian care.

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Lord’s Day Hymn – “Affect, subdue, and break my stubborn heart”

“O Thou Who Hast Our Sorrows Borne”
By John Wesley, 1780

O Thou who hast our sorrows borne,
Help us to look on Thee and mourn,
On Thee whom we have slain,
Have pierced a thousand thousand times,
And by reiterated crimes
Renewed Thy mortal pain.

Vouchsafe us eyes of faith to see
The Man transfixed on Calvary,
To know Thee, who Thou art,
The one eternal God and true;
And let the sight affect, subdue,
And break my stubborn heart.

Lover of souls, to rescue mine,
Reveal the charity divine,
That suffered in my stead;
That made Thy soul a sacrifice,
And quenched in death those flaming eyes,
And bowed that sacred head.

The veil of unbelief remove,
And by Thy manifested love,
And by Thy sprinkled blood,
Destroy the love of sin in me,
And get Thyself the victory,
And bring me back to God.

Now let Thy dying love constrain
My soul to love its God again,
Its God to glorify;
And lo! I come Thy cross to share,
Echo Thy sacrificial prayer,
And with my Saviour die.

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Lord’s Day Hymn – “Affect, subdue, and break my stubborn heart”

“O Thou Who Hast Our Sorrows Borne”
By John Wesley, 1780

O Thou who hast our sorrows borne,
Help us to look on Thee and mourn,
On Thee whom we have slain,
Have pierced a thousand thousand times,
And by reiterated crimes
Renewed Thy mortal pain.

Vouchsafe us eyes of faith to see
The Man transfixed on Calvary,
To know Thee, who Thou art,
The one eternal God and true;
And let the sight affect, subdue,
And break my stubborn heart.

Lover of souls, to rescue mine,
Reveal the charity divine,
That suffered in my stead;
That made Thy soul a sacrifice,
And quenched in death those flaming eyes,
And bowed that sacred head.

The veil of unbelief remove,
And by Thy manifested love,
And by Thy sprinkled blood,
Destroy the love of sin in me,
And get Thyself the victory,
And bring me back to God.

Now let Thy dying love constrain
My soul to love its God again,
Its God to glorify;
And lo! I come Thy cross to share,
Echo Thy sacrificial prayer,
And with my Saviour die.

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Filed under Christian Theology, Jesus Christ, John Wesley, Lord's Day Hymn, Poetry, Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs, Puritanical, Repentance