And again, under his assurance of full forgiveness and free salvation, the storm would give way to a calm, and these same persons would be at peace, clothed and in their right minds. Wesley was helpless; never was more honest and straightforward in generous work. He was himself amazed, almost terrified; but, "I have come to the conclusion," he says, "that we must all suffer God to carry on his own work in the way that pleaseth him. I am not anxious to account for this." Wesley's attitude was the right one. Wesley was preaching to men and women who were densely ignorant, in many cases, of the nature of sin, and of the story of God's redemptive mercy. His words to them were as truly the opening of an apocalypse as when John saw the vision of his Lord, and "fell at his feet as dead." No wonder such signal effects moved England, Ireland, and Scotland, and, in many instances, America. The venerable Rev. Thomas Jackson says: "No man was accustomed to address larger multitudes or with greater success, and it may be fairly questioned whether any minister in modern ages has been instrumental in effecting a greater number of conversions. He possessed all the essential elements of a great preacher, and in nothing was he inferior to his eminent friend and contemporary, George Whitefield, except in voice and manner. In respect of matter, language, and arrangement, his sermons were vastly superior to those of Mr. Whitefield. Those who judge Wesley's ministry from the sermons which he preached and published in the decline of life greatly mistake his real character. Till he was enfeebled by age his discourses were not at all remarkable for their brevity. They were often extended to a considerable length. Wesley the preacher was tethered by no lines of written preparation and verbal recollection; he spoke with extraordinary power of utterance out of the fullness of his heart." Dr. Rigg says: "In regard to Wesley in his early Oxford days, calm, serene, methodical as Wesley was, there was a deep, steadfast fire of earnest purpose about him; and notwithstanding the smallness of his stature there was an elevation of character and of bearing visible to all with whom he had intercourse, which gave him a wonderful power of command, however quiet were his words, and however placid his deportment. But the extraordinary power of his preaching, while it owed something, no doubt, to this tone and presence of calm, unconscious authority, was due mainly, essentially, to the searching and importunate closeness and fidelity with which he dealt with the consciences of his hearers, and the passionate vehemence with which he urged and entreated them to turn to Christ and be saved. His words went with a sudden and startling shock straight home into the core of the guilty sinner's consciousness and heart."