The Moravians’ Witness

John Wesley’s conversion came as a result of a great storm at sea. Though his conversion came two and a half years after the storm, it was the influence of the Moravians (identified as the Germans in his journal) that led him to search his heart for whether he trusted God fully or not. After describing the harsh treatment that the German servants received on a boat he was traveling on, Wesley describes a time of worship on January 25, 1736: “In the midst of the psalm wherewith their service began, the sea broke over, split the main-sail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sung on. I asked one of them afterwards, ‘Was you not afraid?’ He answered, ‘I thank God, no.’ I asked, ‘But were not your women and children afraid?’ He replied, mildly, ‘No; our women and children are not afraid to die’” (John Wesley, “The Moravians and John Wesley,” January 25, 1736, https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/moravians-and-wesley).