John Wesley

A Diligent Preacher: John Wesley preached three sermons a day for 54 years, preaching more than 44,000 times. He travelled by horseback and carriage more than 200,000 miles (around 5,000 miles a year), knew 10 languages, published a four-volume commentary on the Bible, an English dictionary, five volumes on natural philosophy, four volumes on church history, histories of England and Rome, grammar books on Hebrew, Latin, Greek, French and English, three works on medicine, six volumes of church music, seven volumes of sermons and controversial papers, edited a library of fifty books, arose at 4 a.m., and worked solidly to 10 p.m. ARE YOU GETTING TIRED? He said, "I have more hours of private retirement than any man in England." At 83 he was irritated because he could no longer write more than fifteen hours a day without hurting his eyes. On his 85th birthday he wrote that he felt no weariness while travelling or preaching. But at 86 he was ashamed that he could no longer preach more than twice a day. He complained in his diary that he had an increasing tendency to sleep in till 5:30 a.m.