From this time Wesley, having shaken off two connexions which had embarrassed more than they had strengthened him, became the sole head and mover of a considerable religious party: and he immediately applied his talents to give it organization and perpetuity. He divided his followers into _classes_, each under the direction of a leader. He caused pecuniary contributions to be collected from the individuals composing those classes, so as to establish a permanent fund for the support of his society, bearing an exact proportion to the number of its members. He appointed itinerant preachers, and instructed them to preach in the open air, under the plea that they were excluded from the pulpits of the Church. And lastly and reluctantly,—for he still retained much affection for that Church, and could not be blind to the consequences of the measure,—he committed the office of preaching to laymen. In the first instance, indeed, he conceded to them no more than the privilege of expounding the Gospel; but seeing how soon they deviated from exposition into preaching, he thought it wiser at once to acknowledge the latter as a part of his system, and thus acquire the power of preventing, as far as might be, its abuse. These men were, for the most part, humbly born and ill educated. But their zeal supplied, in popular estimation, the place of learning; and their habits of poverty enabled them to endure the privations incident to the missionary of a new sect. Thus were their labours attended with great success; and this was essentially promoted by a very sage provision of Wesley, that no confession of faith should be required on admission into his community. The door was thus open to all mankind. The new member was never called upon to secede from the body to which he had previously belonged. He might bear what denomination he chose among the visible members of Christ’s Church, so long as he renounced his vices and his pleasures, and engaged with a regenerate heart in the work of his salvation.