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.
The number of his publications will scarcely be credited by those who are not familiar with them, especially when we consider the amount of time he spent in traveling and preaching, and the urgency of his engagements, both of a public and private nature.
He wrote and published grammars of the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and English languages.
He was for many years editor of a monthly periodical of fifty-six pages, known as the Arminian Magazine, requiring the undivided attention of any ordinary man in these times.
He wrote, abridged, revised, and published a library of fifty volumes known as the Christian Library, one of the most remarkable collections of Christian literature of the times. He subsequently reread and revised the whole work with great care, and it was afterward published in thirty volumes—a marvel of excellence and industry.