What were the elements of John Wesley's power as a preacher? One can discover some of them in his printed sermons, of which he said: "I design plain truth for plain people. I labor to avoid all words which are not easy to be understood, all which are not used in common life."

The kind of speech Wesley used was one element of his power: of him as of his Lord it could be said: "The common people heard him gladly." The kinds of truth he clothed in the speech of the common people was an even more elemental power in his preaching. The truths he proclaimed were those that set forth Scriptural, experimental religion.

"Our main doctrines," he said, "are repentance, faith and holiness. The first of these we account the porch of religion, the next the door, the third religion itself."

Many have been puzzled by the apparent disparity between Wesley's effectiveness as a preacher and the quality of his printed sermons. Friedrich Loofs, the great historian of dogma, wrote of the wealth of content in them, the orderly progress of thought, the practical earnestness and the sheer lucidity which marked them. But they do not represent his ordinary preaching from day to day, except for their themes. They were prepared for the press rather than for the pulpit, to guide his preachers and people.

The sermons he preached to the crowds were much lighter in texture, more anecdotal and more interesting to a popular audience. No man could preach incessantly, as Wesley did -- often four or five times a day to all sorts of people -- without getting to preach easily and conversationally. No man could have possessed so varied an experience of life without drawing upon

When he was a young preacher he preached a highly polished sermon to a country congregation. It left them open-mouthed and Wesley saw that they had not understood him. He struck out some of the hard words and tried again. The mouths of his hearers this time were only half-opened.

He felt this would not do, so he read the sermon to an intelligent maid servant, asking her to tell him whenever she could not understand it. Betsy's "Stop, sir" came so often that Wesley grew impatient. Yet he had the grace to persevere and to substitute simple words for hard ones, so that at last the people understood every word he said.

In the last year of his life he preached at Lincoln, where a lady on hearing him for the first time said: "Is this the great Mr. Wesley of whom we hear so much in the present day? Why, the poorest person in the chapel might have understood him." The man to whom she spoke replied: "In this, madam, he displays the greatness that, whilst the poorest can understand him, the most learned are edified."

Another element of Wesley's power was his skill in extempore preaching. His first extempore sermon was delivered in All Hallows Church in London in 1735. Dr. Heylyn, whom he had gone to hear, did not come and Wesley was asked to take his place. He consented, but as he was going up the pulpit steps he hesitated and returned in much confusion to the vestry.