Wesley Tercentenary Feature

By Herbert McGonigle

John Wesley: Preacher of the Gospel

In this tercentenary year of John Wesley’s birth there are books and articles being published, and conferences and seminars planned that are dealing with every aspect of his life and work. In this context it is very appropriate that the Preacher’s Magazine should look at John Wesley the preacher. Dr. A. Skevington Wood, in his excellent study of John Wesley, The Burning Heart: John Wesley Evangelist, argues very convincingly that, first and foremost, Wesley was an evangelist. An evangelist is a herald, a preacher of the gospel, and Wesley took up this calling deliberately and gave himself to it with passion and dedication for the greater part of his life. He preached his first sermon on October 3, 1725, two weeks after his ordination as a deacon, and he preached his last sermon on February 23, 1791. Between these two dates he had given almost sixty-six years to preaching the gospel across the four kingdoms of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. He had also spent two years of ministry in Georgia and made two preaching visits to Holland in later life.

The years 1737 and 1738 were epochal years in John Wesley’s life. Under the influence of the Moravians, first in Georgia and then in London, Wesley was coming to an understanding of salvation by faith that would not only transform his personal spiritual life but also revolutionise his preaching. The Aldersgate ‘heart-warming’ of May 24, 1738, not only gave Wesley the assurance of his acceptance with God but it also gave him a new evangel. Eighteen days after the Aldersgate experience, Wesley preached at St Mary’s, Oxford. His theme was ‘Salvation by Faith’ and it marked the beginning of half a century of gospel preaching. Compared with his earlier Oxford sermons, not only does this sermon declare the Pauline doctrine of salvation by faith far more clearly and unequivocally than they did, but there is also about it an urgency and an evangelistic thrust that marks Wesley’s subsequent preaching. When John Wesley compared his earlier and later preaching, he pointed to his great discovery of salvation by faith.

From the year 1725 to 1729 I preached much, but saw no fruit to my labour. Indeed it could not be that I should; for I neither laid the foundation of repentance, nor of believing the gospel. . . . From the year 1729 to 1734, laying a deeper foundation of repentance, I saw a little fruit. But it was only a little; and no wonder: For I did not preach faith in the blood of the covenant. From 1734 to 1738, speaking more of faith in Christ, I saw more fruit of my preaching . . . From 1738 to this time, speaking continually of Jesus Christ, laying him only for the foundation of the whole building. . . . The word of God ran as fire among stubble. . . . multitudes crying out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’1

Monday, April 2 1739 marked another important milestone in John Wesley’s preaching ministry. At four in the afternoon that day he consented, in his own words, to be ‘more vile’ and preached to about three thousand people in a brickyard in Bristol. This open-air preaching, which Wesley always called ‘field-preaching,’ had been pioneered by George Whitefield but John Wesley was to make it his life’s work. His theme that day in Bristol was near-prophetic, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel . . .’2 Fifty-one and a half years later Wesley preached his last open-air sermon, under an ash tree at Winchelsea on the south coast of England, from the words of Mark 1:15, ‘Repent and believe the gospel.’ In the years between the sermon in the brickyard and the sermon under the ash tree, Wesley had preached about forty-five thousand times and about 80% of that amazing ministry was conducted out-of-doors. In all places, in all weathers, to crowds large and small, he proclaimed the Good News across Great Britain for half a century. He preached in fields, in barns, on hillsides, at market crosses, in town and city streets. This tercentenary appreciation of John Wesley as a preacher will seek to answer two questions. First, what was the content of John Wesley’s half-century of evangelistic preaching, and, second, what impression did Wesley’s preaching make on his hearers?

What was the evangel that Wesley preached so effectively? We have already seen that he designated 1738 as the year in which the word of God began to ‘run as fire among stubble,’ with multitudes crying out for salvation. 1738 was the year he ‘discovered’ the doctrine of salvation by faith in personal experience and the year in which it became his evangel. Wesley published some one hundred and forty sermons and the first impression on reading them is that they are theologically ‘heavy’ and surely not fitted for the unchurched masses who crowded to hear him preach. Wesley’s published sermons are sprinkled with Greek and Latin quotations and with many citations from the English classical poets. Would the farm labourers of Lancashire, the cloth weavers in Yorkshire and the tin miners in Cornwall have understood such theologically orientated sermons? The answer is simple—they didn’t have to! John Wesley did not preach these sermons as they appeared in print. He published the sermons to inform his Methodist people, and whoever else might read them, about what the doctrines of Methodism were. When the sermons are looked at carefully it is important to note that most of them are intended to build up in holy faith those who are already converted. Certainly there are sermons like ‘Salvation by Faith’ (1738), ‘The Almost Christian’ (1741), ‘Justification by Faith’ (1746) and ‘The New Birth’ (1760), that are intended to bring sinners to saving faith but such sermons are a minority in the collection. The majority of the published sermons are directed to those who are already Christians and Wesley’s intention is to build them up in faith and holiness. There are thirteen sermons based on ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ and many sermons on practical daily Christian living. These include sermons like ‘Self Denial,’ ‘The Cure of Evil Speaking,’ ‘The Use of Money,’ ‘The Danger of Riches,’ ‘On Family Religion,’ ‘On Temptation,’ ‘The Duty of Reproving our Neighbour,’ and many other practical and ethical subjects.

If John Wesley did not preach these sermons in his half-century of evangelism, what did he preach? The answer to this is found in a manuscript that Wesley entitled ‘The Sermon Register.’3 It details the dates, locations and sermon texts for fourteen years of his ministry, from January 1747 to December 1761. Almost certainly Wesley had kept a sermon register for his entire ministry but the records for the other years are lost. This register, covering almost a third of his itinerant ministry, is the best guide we have to the sermons he preached across the kingdoms. The same texts are used scores of times as Wesley travelled from place to place, and, on closer examination, a list of favourite texts begins to emerge. The texts that he preached from again and again include the following. ‘What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul’? (Matt. 16:26); ‘Repent and believe the gospel’ (Mk. 1:15); ‘Thou art not far from the kingdom of God’ (Mk. 12:34); ‘Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth’ (Lk. 15:7); ‘Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed’ (Lk. 16:26); ‘It is God that justifieth’ (Rom. 8:33); ‘All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ’ (2 Cor. 5:18). Interestingly the one text from which John Wesley seems to have preached most often was, ‘And the Spirit and the bride say, Come . . .’ (Rev. 22:17). These were the texts that Wesley used to convince his hearers that they were sinners, to warn them to flee from the wrath to come, to bring them to repentance and to lead them to saving faith in Christ. These sermons were not preached from written outlines or notes but straight from the biblical text. In many places in his Journal Wesley describes what his preaching was meant to do. ‘I there offered Christ.’ ‘I offered the grace of God.’ ‘I offered the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ ‘I proclaimed the Name of the Lord.’ ‘I proclaimed Christ crucified.’ ‘I proclaimed free salvation.’ ‘I declared the free grace of God.’ ‘I exhorted the wicked to forsake his way.’ ‘I began to call sinners to repentance.’ ‘I invited all guilty, helpless sinners.’ This was soul-saving preaching and the sermons had anecdotes, illustrations and stories that the common people could easily understand. John Wesley’s favourite quotations from Latin authors and the English classical poets were not used in his field-preaching; rather he spoke straight from the heart in plain, pointed sentences that called sinners to repentance and directed them to faith in a crucified and risen Lord.

Having looked at the content and style of John Wesley’s evangelistic preaching, the question is very relevant: what impression did this preaching make on those who heard him? Out of the thousands who were converted through his preaching a few left written records of their experiences, so we can call the witnesses. John Nelson was a stonecutter by profession and he heard Wesley preach in Moorfields in London. ‘As soon as he got upon the stand he stroked back his hair and turned his face towards where I stood . . . His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a clock. I thought his whole discourse was aimed at me. When he had done I said, ‘This man can tell the secrets of my heart: he hath not left me there, for he hath showed me the remedy, even the blood of Jesus.’4 Later Nelson became one of Wesley’s itinerant preachers, as did Alexander Mather, who recorded: ‘Wesley preached at West Street and under that sermon God set my heart at liberty, removing my sins from me as far as the east is from the west. My load was gone and I could praise God from the ground of my heart.’5 Thomas Tennant wrote to Wesley and described how his preaching had affected him. ‘When I have heard you preach, I thought you appeared as with a sword in your hand, with which you cleft me asunder. At such times the word was indeed quick and powerful, piercing and wounding my inmost soul.’6 Silas Told was invited by a friend to hear Wesley preach. Told went unwillingly and Wesley preached on the forgiveness of sins. He wrote later. ‘I had never heard this doctrine preached in the Church. I plainly saw I could never be saved without knowing my sins forgiven . . . Under this sermon my soul was filled with a hatred for sin, and also with zeal for the truth.’7

These and other eyewitness accounts of John Wesley’s preaching are very vivid. Wesley took an evangelistic text and applied the gospel with power and conviction. In the pulpit he warned against sin and damnation, he pleaded with men and women to repent and call upon the Lord and he applied the gospel promises with passion and sometimes with tears. Our last witness is Hester Ann Rogers, whose Diary is a marvellous record of the spiritual life of one of the outstanding women of 18th century English Methodism. Among other treasures she gave a very full account of John Wesley preaching on the text, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Although Wesley did not ask penitents to stand up or raise their hands as a sign of spiritual need, clearly the sermon’s conclusion was an invitation in its directness and simplicity.

Yield now to him who loveth you, who died for you, who will save you from all your sins here and from Hell hereafter. He loves you all, even thou, poor sinner. He bled for thee, and wilt thou resist Him still? Dost thou feel thou art a sinner deserving nothing but hell? . . . Fear not, look up, He is nigh thee. Look up now, even at this moment. ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ . . . Come just as thou art. Come now a helpless sinner to a mighty Saviour. The kingdom of heaven is at hand! It is nigh thee, it is here, take it! Now believe, wait for nothing!

Then Mrs Rogers’ account tells what happened.

Mr. Wesley prayed for penitents, for backsliders, for the unawakened and for children, such as could till now break the Sabbath, steal apples, tell lies and disobey parents. In short I never heard him so full of life and love. He wept several times while he prayed. All the congregation were in tears . . . As we came home in the chaise, Mr Wesley said, ‘I never saw a more lovely congregation, Hetty. They were like melting wax; just fit for divine impressions. But God was with us, there’s the secret.’ Tears filled his eyes.8

John Wesley was 79 years old when Hester Rogers heard him preach this sermon and in many ways, Wesley’s whole preaching ministry is encapsulated in this stirring account. He chose a simple gospel text (Matt. 4:17) and he explained it and applied it to every heart. He warned, he exhorted, he invited, he pleaded, he prayed and he wept. And he gave the glory to God, for the secret of this soul-saving sermon, and thousands like it, was—‘God was with us.’ In this tercentenary year of Wesley’s birth we are reminded that above all else he was John Wesley—Preacher of the Gospel.

Herbert McGonigle serves as president of Nazarene Theological College in Manchester, England.

1. J Wesley, Works, 8:468, 469.
2. Luke 4:18
3. J Wesley, Journal, 8:169-252.
4. The Lives of Early Methodist Preachers, Edited by Thomas Jackson, (London, Wesleyan-Methodist Book-Room) n.d. 6 Vols. Vol. 1, p. 14.
5. Ibid., Vol. 2, pp. 167, 168.
6. Ibid., Vol. 6, pp. 236, 237.
7. The Life of Mr Silas Told (Epworth Press, London, 1954; 1st edn. 1786), p. 67.
8. Hester Ann Rogers, Manuscript Diary. The John Rylands University Library, Manchester, England. The quotation is taken from the Diary entry for Saturday, 30 March, 1782. The Diary consists of three thousand pages, many of which have never been transcribed. All the published editions of the Diary are abridgements and none of them have this valuable account of Wesley’s preaching.