[166] Ibid. vol. xii., p. 369. [167] “Memoir of Mrs. Mortimer,” p. 37; and Wesley’s Works, vol. iii., p. 449. [168] “Methodism in Halifax,” p. 121. [169] _Methodist Magazine_, 1808, p. 482. [170] _Irish Evangelist_, April, 1864. [171] Wesley justly appends a note to this: “Let the unbiased reader judge, whether Mr. Fletcher has made use of groundless arguments or bitter invectives.” [172] _Methodist Magazine_, 1785, p. 336. [173] Wesley’s Works, vol. xiii., p. 357. [174] Mr. George Mackie has the credit of founding this society. He died in 1821, after being a member of the Methodist society more than fifty years, and a zealous and respected local preacher for forty.--(_Methodist Magazine_, 1821, p. 939.) The rules of the Christian Community, published in 1811, required, that, “in order to admission, every candidate must have been a member of the late Rev. John Wesley’s society twelve months; a man of strict piety and irreproachable character; and having a gift for prayer and exhortation.” [175] The number of services held, indoors and out, during the year 1867, was 6558, and the number of addresses given 7524. [176] Wesley’s Works, vol. vii., p. 390. [177] Wesley’s Works, vol. xii., pp. 130, 131. [178] Toplady writes, November 27, 1772: “I am informed, that inveterate troubler in Israel, Mr. John Wesley, has lately published a fourth squib against Mr. Hill. What a mercy it is, that the enemies of the gospel, amidst all their plenitude of malice, have little skill and less power! Mr. Wesley, considered as a reasoner, is one of the most contemptible writers that ever set pen to paper!” (Toplady’s Posthumous Works, 8vo, 1780, p. 330.) [179] Rowland Hill’s Life, p. 428. [180] Besides the above, there were also published, at this period, the two following pamphlets, by Jonathan Warne, of Southwark: “Arminianism, the Back Door to Popery:” price one shilling. And “The Downfall of Arminianism; or Arminians tried and cast, before the Right Honourable the Lord Chief Justice Truth, for holding and propagating false opinions concerning the five following points, viz.: (1) Absolute election; (2) Particular redemption; (3) The efficacy of God’s grace in conversion; (4) The impotency of man’s will in conversion; (5) The final perseverance of the regenerate.” 8vo, 145 pages. [181] The _italic_ words are emphasized in the original. [182] Sir Richard Hill did not obtain his title till the death of his father, in 1783. [183] Life of Wesley, vol. iii., p. 160.