Awake, Thou That Sleepest (Oxford, 1742)

On April 4, 1742—Easter Day—Charles Wesley preached at Oxford’s University Church of St Mary the Virgin. His sermon, titled “Awake, thou that sleepest,” took its burden from Ephesians 5:14, calling learned hearers to face a sobering possibility: that a person may be surrounded by Christian language, scholarship, and worship, yet remain spiritually asleep.

He pressed the truth that outward religion cannot substitute for inward life. Books, sermons, and sacraments—good gifts in their place—become empty when the heart is untouched by grace. Wesley’s appeal was not to abandon the church, but to meet the living Christ in repentance and faith, and to receive the new birth that produces real holiness.

“Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5:14)

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Known widely for hymns, Charles Wesley also carried a preacher’s courage. Speaking plainly to scholars and clergy required moral bravery, especially on Easter, when many expected a safer message. Yet he warned that respectability can mask spiritual death, and he urged his hearers to seek the risen Lord with honest confession, humble dependence, and obedient trust.

His call was not merely to feel sorry for sin, but to turn from it—rising into love for God and neighbor, and into joyful obedience empowered by grace rather than self-effort.

“Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3)

St Mary the Virgin and the Oxford Reception

St Mary’s stood at the heart of university life, a fitting place for a message aimed at the mind and conscience. Oxford’s response was notably cold, yet the sermon’s clarity exposed what polite religion often avoids: that a person can be near Christian truth and still be far from Christ.

Printed Sermon and Lasting Fruit

Soon printed and circulated, the sermon traveled beyond Oxford’s walls. Its plain insistence on repentance, new birth, and living faith stirred many who recognized their own sleepiness. It remains a witness that God often uses faithful proclamation—offered with humility and firmness—to awaken hearts, revive churches, and call believers into sincere devotion, spiritual courage, and enduring hope in the risen Christ.