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Neither John nor Charles, however, had a positive experience in Georgia. Both of them lost favor with the political powers they were supposed to assist. Charles, ill and depressed, left for home within half a year. John lasted a year longer, then decided it was better to return to England than face the grand jury indictments his enemies had concocted (see "Wesleys in America," page 14).

Though the brothers' missionary efforts bore little fruit, their interaction with some German Pietist settlers they met while crossing the Atlantic had important consequences.

The settlers, a band of Moravians, had remained calm during a potentially deadly sea squall, which greatly impressed the Wesleys. Seeking to have the same depth of spiritual assurance, the brothers sought out Peter Boehler, who became their spiritual tutor.

Boehler's message was simple: a proper faith will result in a clear sense of assurance of salvation. One cannot have one without the other. And such a faith will be accompanied by love, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. At the same time, one will become free from fear, doubt, and sin. Such a heart-centered experience was necessary for one to become a true Christian.

Charles was the first to have this "Moravian" experience of assurance. On May 21, 1738, he powerfully sensed Christ's forgiving presence. "I felt a strange palpitation of heart" was his own unpoetic description.

John joined the friends who came to Charles's lodgings that evening to rejoice with him, pray, and sing a hymn. John was thrilled for his brother, but his heart must have churned as he went back out into the darkness to face his own doubts and questionings.

Three days later, John experienced assurance himself. The setting was a small religious society meeting in Aldersgate Street. The catalyst was a Pietist classic: Martin Luther's preface to the Book of Romans. Also in the Pietist tradition, the experience included an intense sensation. As John described it, "I felt my heart strangely warmed."

It is no surprise that these two Moravian-inspired experiences would be expressed in terms of heart imagery. Especially noteworthy, however, is the fact that both brothers found the sensation "strange." Nevertheless, John's account of his Alders-gate experience, as reported in his published journal, became the normative pattern for many of his followers.

Just as the brothers' spiritual journeys were not identical, their theology and ecclesiology diverged at a few points.

Regarding the process of salvation, Charles seems to have had an earlier sense that the "almost Christian," the one who is struggling with the faith, should be reckoned as having the "faith of a servant." John persisted longer in believing that the "almost Christian" was no Christian at all, because he had not yet experienced spiritual assurance.

John struggled with this question for many years, eventually modifying his opinion to allow "exempt cases"—persons who had not experienced assurance but who were surely real Christians. In his later years, he even allowed that one should take Scripture seriously when it says that a person who simply "fears God and works righteousness" is accepted by him.

In general, where the brothers disagreed on theology, John felt it was best if each proceeded with his own strengths. Thus he encouraged Charles to continue emphasizing sanctification as the gift of God's grace in a moment (instantaneous) while he continued to stress the importance of growing in holiness through nurture and grace (process). Since both approaches would meet the same goal—to spread scriptural holiness across the land—both were beneficial.

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