Some of these figures are _estimated_ numbers, and are so given; the others are statistics officially reported. Put the matter in another form. Is it too much to calculate Methodist _hearers only_ at the rate of twice the number of Methodist church members? If not, the estimated result is as follows: Church members throughout the world 2,901,202 Sunday scholars 3,400,373 Hearers only 5,802,404 ───────── Total 12,103,979 We thus make a total of more than twelve millions of persons receiving Methodist instruction, and, from week to week, meeting together in Methodist buildings for the purpose of worshipping Almighty God. The statement is startling, but the statistics given entitle it to the fullest consideration. But rightly to estimate the results of Methodism during the last hundred and thirty years, there are other facts to be remembered. Who will deny, for instance, that Methodism has exercised a potent and beneficial influence upon other churches: Episcopal, Presbyterian, Independent, and Baptist churches have all been largely indebted to Methodism, either directly or indirectly, for many of the best ministers and agents they have ever had. It is a remarkable fact that, during Wesley’s lifetime, of the 690 men who acted under him as itinerant preachers, 249 relinquished the itinerant ministry. These 249 _retirers_ included not a few of the most intelligent, energetic, pious, and useful preachers that Wesley had. Some left him on the ground of health; others began business, because as itinerant preachers they were unable to support their wives and families; but a large proportion became ordained ministers in other churches. In some instances, the labours of these men, and their brother Methodists, led to marvellous results. To give but one example,—David Taylor, originally a servant of Lady Huntingdon, was one of Wesley’s first preachers, but afterwards left the work. Taylor, however, was the means of converting Samuel Deacon, an agricultural labourer; and the two combined were the instruments, in the hands of God, of raising up a number of churches in Yorkshire and the midland counties, which, in 1770, were organised into the New Connexion of General Baptists; and that Connexion, seventy years afterwards, in 1840, comprised 113 churches, having 11,358 members, a foreign missionary society, and two theological academies.[3]