The About.Com
website gives a biography of Wesley:
"John Wesley is known for two things: co-founding Methodism
and his tremendous work ethic.
In the 1700s, when land travel was by walking, horseback or
carriage, Wesley logged more than 4,000 miles a year. During his lifetime he
preached about 40,000 sermons.
Wesley could give today's experts lessons in efficiency. He
was a natural organizer and approached everything diligently, especially
religion. It was at Oxford University in England that he and his brother Charles
participated in a Christian club in such an orderly manner that critics called
them methodists, a title which they gladly embraced.
The Aldersgate Experience of John
Wesley:
As priests in the Church of England, John and Charles Wesley
traveled from Great Britain to Georgia, in the American colonies in 1735. While
John's desire had been to preach to the Indians, he was appointed pastor of the
church in Savannah.
When he imposed church discipline on members who failed to
notify him that they were taking communion, John Wesley found himself accused in
civil courts by one of the powerful families of Savannah. The juries were
stacked against him. To make matters worse, a woman he had been courting married
another man.
John Wesley returned to England bitter, disillusioned and
spiritually low. He told Peter Boehler, a Moravian, of his experience and his
inner struggle. On May 24, 1738, Boehler convinced him to go to a meeting. Here
is Wesley's description:
"In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in
Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the Epistle to the
Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which
God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely
warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation, and an
assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me
from the law of sin and death."
This "Aldersgate Experience" had a permanent effect on
Wesley's life. He answered a request from fellow preacher George Whitefield to
join him in Whitefield's evangelism ministry. Whitefield preached outdoors,
something unheard of at the time. Whitefield was one of the co-founders of
Methodism, along with the Wesleys, but they later split when Whitefield clung to
the Calvinist doctrine of predestination.
John Wesley the Organizer:
As always, Wesley went about his new
work methodically. He organized the groups into societies, then classes,
connections and circuits, under the direction of a superintendent. His brother
Charles and some other Anglican priests joined, but John did most of the
preaching. He later added lay preachers who could deliver a message but not
offer communion.
The clergy and lay preachers met on occasion to discuss
progress. That eventually became the annual conference. By 1787, Wesley was
required to register his preachers as non-Anglicans. He, however, remained an
Anglican to his death.
He saw great opportunity outside England. Wesley ordained
two lay preachers to serve in the newly independent United States of America and
named George Coke as superintendent in that country. Methodism was breaking away
from the Church of England as a separate Christian denomination.
Meanwhile, John Wesley continued to preach throughout the
British Isles. Never one to waste time, he discovered that he could read while
walking, on horseback, or in a carriage. Nothing stopped him. Wesley pushed on
through rainstorms and blizzards, and if his coach got stuck, he continued on
horse or on foot.
Early Life of John Wesley:
Susanna Annesley Wesley, John's
mother, had a profound influence on his life. She and her husband Samuel, an
Anglican priest, had 19 children. John was the 15th, born June 17, 1703 in
Epworth, England, where his father was rector.
Family life for the Wesleys was rigidly structured, with
exact times for meals, prayers, and sleep. Susanna home-schooled the children,
teaching them religion and manners as well. They learned to be quiet, obedient,
and hardworking.
In 1709, a fire destroyed the rectory, and young John had to
be rescued from a second story window by a man standing on another man's
shoulders. The children were taken in by various parishioners until the new
rectory was built, at which time the family was reunited and Mrs. Wesley started
"reforming" her children from the bad things they had learned in other
homes.
John eventually attended Oxford, where he proved to be a
brilliant scholar. He was ordained into the Anglican ministry. At age 48, he
married a widow named Mary Vazeille, who deserted him after 25 years. They had
no children together.
The strict discipline and relentless work ethic instilled
early in his life served Wesley well as a preacher, evangelist, and church
organizer. He was still preaching at age 88, just a few days before he died in
1791.
John Wesley met death singing hymns, quoting the Bible, and
saying farewell to his family and friends. Some of his last words were, "The
best of all is, God is with us."