John Wesley Sermon Notes: Where to Find Them (+ How to Make Your Own)
John Wesley (1703-1791) founded Methodism, riding an estimated 250,000 miles on horseback over fifty-three years to preach in fields, mines and market squares wherever a crowd would gather. His 'Standard Sermons' — fifty-three sermons he himself designated as the doctrinal standard for Methodist preachers, later expanded in some editions to around 150 — remain the confessional basis of the United Methodist Church and every Wesleyan and Holiness denomination descended from it.
Wesley died in 1791, so his sermons are public domain, and the United Methodist Church's own mission agency hosts the standard digital edition free online, alongside the Wesley Center's complete 1872 Jackson edition. That is the good news for a note-taker: the text is not hard to find. The actual work is that Wesley wrote for readers as much as for hearers — the Standard Sermons are doctrinal essays with a plain, formal structure: a Text, an explanation of its terms, a series of numbered Heads developing the doctrine, and an Application addressed to the reader directly.
This guide covers where the free texts live, and a method for outlining a Wesley sermon that follows that structure rather than fighting it.
Where to find official John Wesley sermon notes
Because the Standard Sermons are public domain, the official digital editions are hosted by Methodist institutions rather than a modern ministry:
UM Mission — John Wesley Sermons (Standard)
The General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church hosts the Standard Sermons free online, numbered as Wesley's own editions numbered them — useful because a Wesley sermon is properly cited by number, not just by title.
Wesley Center Online
Hosts the complete 1872 Jackson edition of Wesley's sermons and other works, free, including sermons beyond the fifty-three Standard Sermons.
Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Also carries Wesley's sermons and journals in freely reproducible text, useful if you want his journal entries alongside a specific sermon for context on when and where he preached it.
A note on copyright: John Wesley's sermons and any official notes remain the intellectual property of The General Board of Global Ministries, UMC. Everything below is about making notes for your own study — not about republishing the ministry's content.
How to create your own sermon notes from any John Wesley sermon
The text is already free, so the work is recovering Wesley's formal structure and then restating his eighteenth-century prose in plain language:
Get the sermon text
Find the sermon by its number in the Standard Sermons at UM Mission or the Wesley Center. Note the number, the text and, where given, the date and place he preached it — Wesley moved constantly, and the occasion often explains the sermon's tone.
Or transcribe an audio reading
If you are working from a recorded reading of a Wesley sermon, upload the audio and get the text in minutes, first sermon free.
Transcribe an audio readingRecover the Heads
Run the text through the free outline generator. Wesley numbers his Heads explicitly and often previews them before developing each one, so the outline generator recovers his structure with high fidelity.
Generate sermon notes freeTranslate the eighteenth-century prose
Rewrite each Head in plain modern English underneath Wesley's own wording, the same discipline used for Spurgeon's Victorian phrasing. Wesley's sentences are formal and Latinate; the rewrite is what makes a Head usable in a class or small group.
Quote freely, and cite the sermon number
Because the text is public domain you may reproduce it at length without permission. Citing the sermon's number in the Standard Sermons anyway lets anyone check your quotation against the source.
The Text-Heads-Application Method
Text, Terms, Heads, Application
Wesley wrote to be read as much as heard, and it shows in a formal, teachable structure. Four sections on one page:
The verse, written out in full. Wesley usually opens by explaining the occasion or the plain sense of the words before developing doctrine from them.
Any key word Wesley defines before building his argument — he is a careful definer of terms, especially in doctrinal sermons like 'The Almost Christian.' Write the term and his definition.
His numbered points, in order, in his own wording where it is memorable. Two to five is typical for a Standard Sermon.
The closing section addressed to the reader or hearer directly, often with practical instruction — as in 'The Use of Money,' where the Application is three famous rules: gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.
Tip: Read the Application first if the sermon is long. Wesley usually tells you exactly what he wants you to do with the doctrine, and knowing that in advance makes the Heads read as a case being built rather than a lecture.
Study tips for John Wesley's preaching
Read a Standard Sermon as an essay, not a transcript
Unlike Spurgeon's shorthand-transcribed sermons, the Standard Sermons were composed and revised by Wesley as written doctrinal statements. Read them the way you would read a theological essay — slowly, with the argument in view — rather than expecting the loose rhythm of extemporaneous preaching.
Track the Heads against a doctrine index
The Standard Sermons together form Methodism's doctrinal standards. Tagging your notes by doctrine — justification, the new birth, Christian perfection, the use of money — builds a personal index of Wesleyan theology as you go.
Compare 'Free Grace' with the Whitefield material
Wesley's 'Free Grace' sermon marks his public break with Calvinism, preached the same season George Whitefield left for America. Reading it alongside Whitefield's own sermons is a direct way to see the two founders of the eighteenth-century revival differ on one specific doctrine.
Frequently asked questions
Are John Wesley's sermons public domain?+
What are the Standard Sermons?+
Where can I read 'The Almost Christian' or 'The Use of Money' for free?+
What's the best format for notes on a Wesley sermon?+
Did Wesley write out his open-air sermons in advance?+
Transcribe any sermon free
Wesley wrote his doctrine down so it would outlast him. Do the same for your own pulpit's teaching. Your first full sermon is free — no credit card to start, then $19/month for unlimited sermons.
Start Transcribing FreeThen turn the transcript into notes with the free sermon outline generator.
Want the bigger picture on John Wesley's ministry and most notable messages? See our John Wesley sermon archive guide in the Famous Sermons library.
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