It might seem strange, but John Wesley did not preach all of the sermons he published. In fact, the published sermons were really intended more for reading in the context of private study than for hearing in a setting of public worship. They are more like “sermonic essays.” Eyewitness accounts confirm that Wesley’s actual preaching was very different in form, if not in substance, from these written essays. He very seldom preached, for example, from a prepared manuscript, preferring to speak spontaneously