John Wesley, the founder of Methodism was first and foremost a preacher. It is estimated that he preached over 40,000 sermons in his approximately 60 year career.
For two centuries, Wesley's published sermons have been an important source of theological reflection for all Methodists, in particular his 44 standard sermons that he published between 1746 and 1760. These sermons are considered to be "canonical" for understanding Wesleyan theology. In the standard sermons, Wesley provided the center of his doctrinal teaching. All the sermons after that were considered to be supplementary.(1)