There were at that time large districts slumbering in utter darkness and ignorance of the saving truths of the Gospel: and it was to these that the Wesleys especially directed their attention, with a success proportioned to their zeal; and had the then heads of the church availed themselves of the assistance of these earnest men in the way they might have done, by sanctioning their missionary labours among the poor and the uninstructed, the benefit would have been incalculable. But the harsh treatment {54} they met with, drove John Wesley at last into complete schism: and then the ambition, which had perhaps animated his first exertions almost unknown to himself, assumed a bolder flight, and he aspired to the distinction of being the head and leader of a sect which grew so rapidly, that at the time of his death in 1791, “the number of members in connexion with him in Europe, America, and the West Indian Islands, was 80,000. And at the last conference in 1831 the numbers returned were, in Great Britain, 249,119; in Ireland, 22,470; in the Foreign Missions, 42,743. Total 314,332. Exclusive of more than half a million of persons in the Societies in the States of America.” {55} You are probably aware that, besides the public preaching, Wesley instituted among his people several kinds of private meetings. To the public prayer meetings, which were generally held in private houses, persons not of this sect were often invited, and on these occasions a hymn was first sung, then they all knelt, and the first who felt “moved” made an extempore prayer: when he had finished, another commenced, and so on for about two hours. These prayer meetings were held in such high esteem among the Methodists, that they asserted more were “born again” and “made free,” as they termed it, “from all the remains of sin” than at any other meetings, public preachings, &c. There was much in this kind of meeting which was likely to lead to enthusiasm, which is universally found to be most easily awakened where numbers are congregated; and according to an author formerly of their persuasion, {56} the consequence was such as might have been expected. “It is impossible,” says he, “to form any just idea of those assemblies except you had been present at them. One coaxes the Divine Being, another is amorous, and a third will tell the Deity, ‘He must be a liar if he does not grant all they ask.’ They thus go on working up each other’s imagination until they become as it were spiritually intoxicated, and while in this state they sometimes recollect a text or two of Scripture, such as ‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’—‘Go and sin no more’—‘Go in peace,’ &c. and then declare themselves to be ‘born again’ or ‘sanctified.’”