itinerants and local preachers also attended it. Nine new preachers were "admitted on trial," among whom was Francis Asbury, afterward the chief founder of American Methodism. Two desisted from traveling, and six probationers were admitted to full membership. Forty circuits were reported. Their number, however, does not show the extent of the field, for they were continually changing, and two or three were often combined in one. England had twenty-five, Ireland nine, Scotland five. All Wales was this year included in one. Twenty-five preachers were designated to those of England, nineteen to those of Ireland, seven to Scotland, and three to Wales. There were 22,410 members in the English societies, 2,801 in the Irish, 468 in the Scotch, and 232 in the Welsh. The comparatively small number reported from Wales arose from the fact that while Calvinistic Methodism formed but few societies in the rest of the country, it had begun in Wales, under Howell Harris, by their organization, and as Wesley disowned dogmatic terms of membership, and recognized the whole Methodistic revival as a unit, the Welsh converts of his preachers very naturally resorted to the societies of Harris. It seems never to have occasioned a demur on his part.

The membership of the societies amounted to 25,911:11 London circuit reported 2,180; Bristol 1,177; Cornwall, 2,038; Staffordshire, 1,994; Lancashire, 2,000; Leeds, 1,088; Bristol, 1,476; Haworth, 1,356; Newcastle, 1,910.

The examination of the characters of preachers, now an invariable part of the proceedings, seems to have occupied most of the time of the session, as but few other important; items of business are recorded. Among these was the better circulation of books; a means of usefulness which began almost at the origin of Methodism, and may thus be considered the commencement of the popular and systematic use of the religious press by evangelical Protestantism. Hitherto books had been sold on all the circuits; the

11 This is Myles's estimate. (Chron. Hist.) The aggregate given in the Minutes is 26,341,

Assistants were now instructed to 66 give them away prudently," and beg money from the rich to pay for them

for the poor.

A singular apprehension had been expressed by the trus tees of the Wednesbury Society, that the conference might impose the same preacher upon them for many years. They seem to have prized the itineracy, and the Conference, to relieve their fears, allowed to be inserted, in the deeds of "Preaching Houses," the promise "that the same preacher shall not be sent ordinarily above one, never above two years together." English Methodists afterward found it convenient to change the term to three years. Quarterly fasts in all the societies were ordered at this session. "Love and harmony,' says Wesley, "reigned from the beginning to the end."

The twenty-fifth Conference was held at Bristol, August 16, 1768. Eleven probationers were admitted to membership, and twelve candidates were received on trial, among whom was George Shadford, another name known in American Methodist history. Two desisted from traveling. The contributions toward the payment of debts on chapels and preaching houses were £5,666, besides the collection of £173 for Kingswood school. The financial system which has since been a distinguishing characteristic of English Methodism, had already begun to take efficiency under the systematic genius of Wesley. The whole debt remaining in England, Ireland, and Scotland, was £7,728. Forty cir cuits were reported, and 27,341 members, showing a gain of 1,430 over the returns of the preceding session.

While some circuits returned an increase, others reported a declension, and an inquiry was made why the preachers were not more effective. The reason most discussed was the fact, hitherto quite general, of their partial devotion to secular business. This had been to some extent necessary, their support by the societies having been quite deficient. John Nelon as we have seen, worked as a mason during the day and preached at night. William Shent, one of the earliest of the itinerants, maintained himself by a humble craft

in Leeds. He kept it up by hiring assistants, and by returning frequently to his shop from his distant fields of labor, and at last gave his entire time to it, except ing such intervals as he could spare for preaching excursions in the vicinity- a fact which seems to have had a serious if not fatal effect on his religious character.12

Wesley now saw that the time had come to correct this inconvenience. He did not deny its necessity under some circumstances, as in the case of St. Paul, but the keeping of shops, or dealing in merchandise, he pronounced "an evil in itself, an evil in its consequences." Those views of their character, as legitimate preachers of the Gospel, which he had already expressed, were again indicated by the fact that he applied to them the passages of Holy Scripture which assert the right of Christian pastors to a pecuniary support from the Church. He even appealed to the office of Ordination in the Liturgy of the national Church as relevant to the case, thereby classing his itinerants, in this respect, with the regular clergy. "Therefore," he concludes, 'give up all, and attend to the one business, and God will recompense you a hundred fold in this world as well as in the world to come."

The increased circulation of books was urged as a means of checking the lamented declension. Wesley, from the very beginning of his public career, seemed to have a sublime idea of the power of the religious press; he used it continually, and never ceased to exhort his preachers to circulate books and tracts."Carry them with you in every round,” he said; "leave not a stone unturned." They were to be presented everywhere among the people, and even portions

12 Three female members of his family were the first Methodists of Leeds, and are still held in affectionate remembrance there as "the three Marys." On hearing of the fame of John Nelson, when he began to exhort among his neighbors at Birstal, they went thither to see him, and soon after opened the way for him at Leeds. He preached his first sermon there in front of Shent's shop. See Pawson's Life in Lives of Early Wesleyan Preachers, vol. ii, p. 60.

of them read by the preachers in the congregations, in order to promote their sale.

Field preaching was to be kept up diligently, and it is evident that Wesley intended it should never be abandoned, never, at least, while any considerable portion of the population neglected the house of God. The morning five o'clock preaching was to be maintained wherever twenty persons could be found to attend it. This he deemed absolutely necessary for the success of Methodism; "it is," he says, “the glory of the Methodists. Rising early is equally good for soul and body. It helps the nerves better than a thousand medicines; and in particular preserves the sight, and prevents lowness of spirits more than can well be imagined."

He exhorted them to give more attention than ever to the doctrine of sanctification. "I ask, once for all, Shall we defend this perfection or give it up? You all agree to defend it, meaning thereby, as we did from the beginning, salvation from all sin by the love of God and our neighbor filling the heart. The Papists say, 'This cannot be attained till we have been in purgatory.' The Dissenters say, 'It will be attained as soon as the soul and body part.' The old Methodists said, 'It may be attained before we die, a moment after is too late.' You are all agreed we may be saved from all sin before death. The substance then is settled." As to the question, Is the change instantaneous or gradual? he argues that it is both; that from the moment of justification there may be a gradual sanctification, a daily growth in grace; but that, if sin ceases before death, there must, in the nature of things, be an instantaneous change; there must be a last moment wherein it does exist, and a first moment wherein it does not. But should the preacher insist upon both one and the other? Certainly, he replies; he should insist on the gradual change, and that earnestly and continually. But there are reasons why he should insist on the instantaneous one also. If there be such a blessed change before death, all believers should be encouraged to expect it, because the more earnestly they expect it, the more steadily and speedily does the

gradual experience of grace go on in their hearts, the more watchful are they against all sin, the more zealous of good works; whereas the contrary effects were usually observed when this expectation ceased. They are saved by hope; by this hope of a total renovation saved with a gradually increasing salvation. Destroy this hope, and that salvation usually stands still. Therefore, he concludes, whoever would advance the gradual salvation of believers should strongly insist upon the instantaneous one.

On the first day of August, 1769, began at Leeds the twenty-sixth Conference. The number of circuits reported was forty-six, showing a gain of six. The aggregate of members was 28,263, showing an increase of 922. Ten probationers were admitted, and twelve candidates received on trial. Six ceased to travel.

It was at this Conference that the first appeal for Methodist preaching from America was presented by Wesley. "Who is willing to go?" he asked. Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor responded, and were appointed to the distant field. The occasion could not fail to produce a deep interest in the assembly. Methodism had already begun its work in the West Indies by Nathaniel Gilbert, who es tablished a society of two hundred negroes in Antigua. Whitefield had spread it in spirit and power among the independent churches of North America, where he was about to die. It was now to take an organic form in the New World by the agency of Wesley's lay preachers. "What can we do further in token of our brotherly love?" he asked, after the appointment of Boardman and Pilmoor. "Let us now make a collection among ourselves," was the prompt response, and the liberal sum of £70 was collected among these generous men, most of whom were themselves sufferers from want. Twenty of the seventy pounds were appropriated for the voyage of the two missionaries, and fifty were sent toward paying the debt of "Wesley Chapel," the first that ever bore that name, and the first Methodist church of the Western hemisphere.