While visiting Wesley’s Chapel and the Museum of Methodism in London this summer, I came across something that immediately caught my attention: a worn pair of leather saddlebags that belonged to John Nelson (1707–1774), one of the most remarkable lay preachers of the early Methodist revival. I took this picture while I was there, and knowing something of Nelson’s story made seeing the actual saddlebags he carried especially meaningful.

Nelson was not a trained clergyman. He was a Yorkshire stonemason who spent years searching for spiritual peace. While working in London, he heard John Wesley preach at Moorfields in 1739. That encounter helped change the direction of his life. Nelson eventually returned to his hometown of Birstall, where he began telling his neighbors what God had done for him. People gathered to listen, a Methodist society was formed, and before long this stonemason had become one of Wesley’s most effective lay preachers.

John Wesley recognized something important in men like Nelson. The gospel did not have to wait for an ordained clergyman to arrive. Spiritually mature laymen could be equipped and sent to preach, establish societies, encourage believers, and carry the Methodist message from community to community. Nelson became one of the great examples of that early Methodist itinerant spirit.

And that brings me back to these saddlebags. According to the museum display, they carried Nelson’s daily necessities, but they also carried Methodist books that he sold as he traveled. I love that detail. The early Methodists understood that preaching and publishing belonged together. They preached the message, organized believers into societies, and then placed good Christian literature into people’s hands so that the teaching could continue after the preacher had moved on.

Nelson paid a tremendous price for that ministry. He faced hostile crowds and physical violence. In 1744, opponents succeeded in having him forcibly pressed into the British army, apparently hoping military service would accomplish what intimidation had failed to do and silence the Methodist preacher. Even there, Nelson continued speaking about Christ. Eventually he was released and returned to preaching.

He would spend much of the rest of his life traveling, preaching, and helping establish Methodist work. He accompanied Wesley on journeys and carried the message into places where Methodism was still new and frequently unwelcome.

Standing there looking at those battered saddlebags, I couldn’t help thinking about the miles they represent. The leather is cracked and worn because they were used. They remind us of a generation of Methodists who were willing to travel difficult roads because they believed people needed to hear the gospel.

They also remind us that the Methodist revival was spread not only by famous names like John and Charles Wesley. God used faithful laypeople as well, including a Yorkshire stonemason named John Nelson who was willing to put a few necessities and some Methodist books into his saddlebags and go wherever the gospel needed to be preached.

More than two centuries later, the saddlebags remain. To me, they are a powerful picture of Wesleyan theology in practice: not simply truth believed, but truth carried to others.