ABSTRACT
What of Wesley’s preaching? We have the Forty Four Sermons, certainly preached – yet they are in the style often of the Oxford don. Wesley’s style in the open air and, later, in Methodist societies was what may be called ‘illustrious vulgar’, everyday speech which, nevertheless, conveys an air of distinction and
authority. ‘I now write, as I generally speak, ad populum, to the bulk of mankind, plain truth for plain people.’5
