Mr. Wesley and John Nelson for three weeks labored to introduce the
Gospel into Cornwall. During this time they slept on the floor. Nelson
says that Mr. Wesley had his great coat for his pillow, while Nelson had
Burkitt's _Notes on the New Testament_ for his. After they had been
there nearly three weeks, one morning about three o'clock, Mr. Wesley
turned over, and finding Nelson awake, clapped him on his side, saying,
"Brother Nelson, let us be of good cheer; I have one whole side yet, for
the skin is off but one side." As they were leaving Cornwall Mr. Wesley
stopped his horse to pick blackberries, saying, "Brother Nelson, we
ought to be thankful that there are plenty of blackberries, for this is
the best country I ever saw to get an appetite and the worst place to
provide means to satisfy it." Still they courageously pushed forward,
with the one purpose of saving men.
That we may aid the reader in getting a clearer and more comprehensive
conception of the immense amount of labor performed by Mr. Wesley, we
will arrange it under distinct heads:
1. His travels were immense. He averaged, during a period of fifty-four
years, about five thousand miles a year, some say eight, making in all
at least some two hundred and ninety thousand miles, a distance equal to
circumnavigating the globe about twelve times. It must not be forgotten
that most of this travel was performed on horseback. Think of riding
around the globe on horseback twelve times!
2. The amount of his preaching was unparalleled. Mr. Wesley preached not
less than twenty sermons a week--frequently many more. These sermons
were delivered mostly in the open air and under circumstances calculated
to test the nerve of the most vigorous frame. He did, in the matter of
preaching, what no other man ever did--he preached on an average, for a
period of fifty-four years, fifteen sermons a week, making in all
forty-two thousand four hundred, besides numberless exhortations and
addresses on a great variety of occasions.
A minister in these times does well to preach one hundred sermons a
year. At this rate, to preach as many sermons as Mr. Wesley did, such a
minister must live and preach four hundred and twenty-four years. Think
of a minister preaching two sermons each week day and three each Sabbath
for fifty-four years, and some idea can be formed of Mr. Wesley's labors
in this department.
3. His literary labors were extraordinary. While traveling five thousand
miles and more a year, or at least about fourteen miles a day, and
preaching two sermons, and frequently five, each day, he read
extensively. He read not less than two thousand two hundred volumes on
all subjects, many of the volumes folios, after the old English style.
His journals show that he read not only to understand, but to severely
criticise his author as well.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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