In his Journal, John Wesley gives his readers a vivid picture of his life in eighteenth-century Britain and America. Wesley's account, originally written in code and later published in instalments, records the journeys of the man who regarded the world as his parish. Covering fifty-six years of his life, the Journal chronicles his controversial open-air preaching, his inner doubts and conflicts, his journeys on horseback and by ship, and his encounters with many people - the famous, the infamous and the ordinary.