John Telford

“ Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey were ordained by Wesley, Coke and Creighton to administer the sacraments in America. Wesley had reached the conclusion in 1746 that bishops and presbyters were essentially of one order (see Methodism, sect. “United States”) . He told his brother in 1785: "I firmly believe that I am a scriptural ἐπίσκοπος as much as any man in England or in Europe; for the uninterrupted succession I know to be a fable, which no man ever did or can prove." Other ordinations for the administration of the sacraments in Scotland, the colonies and England followed. ”

“ On the 1st of May 1738 he wrote in his journal: “This evening our little society began, which afterwards met in Fetter Lane.” Among its “fundamental rules” we find a provision for dividing the society into bands of five or ten persons who spoke freely and plainly to each other as to the “real state” of their hearts. The bands united in a conference every Wednesday evening. The society first met at James Hutton’s shop, “The Bible and Sun,” Wild Street, west of Temple Bar. About the 25th of September it moved to Fetter Lane. Wesley describes this as the third beginning of Methodism. ”

“ The conference became an annual gathering of Wesley's preachers. In the early conversations doctrine took a prominent place, but as Methodism spread the oversight of its growing organization occupied more time and more attention. In February 1784 Wesley's deed of declaration gave the conference a legal constitution. He named one hundred preachers who after his death were to meet once a year, fill up vacancies in their number, appoint a president and secretary, station the preachers, admit proper persons into the ministry, and take general oversight of the societies. ”

“ In October 1768, a Methodist chapel was opened in New York. At the conference of 1769 two preachers, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, volunteered to go out to take charge of the work. In 1771, Francis Asbury, the Wesley of America, crossed the Atlantic. Methodism grew rapidly, and it became essential to provide its people with the sacraments. ”

“ John Clayton, afterwards chaplain of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, who remained a strong High Churchman; James Hervey, author of Meditations among the Tombs, SinA Thcron and Aspasio; Benjamin Ingham, who became the Yorkshire evangelist; and Thomas Broughton, afterwards secretary of the S.P .C .K ., were members of the Holy Club, and George Whitefield joined it on the eve of the Wesleys departure for Georgia. ”

“ He preached frequently in the churches near Oxford in the months succeeding his ordination, and in April 1726 he obtained leave from his college to act as^his father's curate. The new material in the Journal describes the simple matter of his life. He read plays, attended the village fairs, shot plovers in the fenland, and enjoyed a dance with his sisters. In October he returned to Oxford, where he was appointed Greek lecturer and moderator of the classes. ”