A Short History Of The Methodists... - Media Sabda Org

Thus the society began and continued, till Mr. John Wesley went to Epworth to assist his father
as his curate. In his absence, June 16, 1729, Mr. Charles Wesley, and one or two more, began again
to meet to assist each other. In Nov. 1729, when Mr. John Wesley returned from Epworth, the whole
management of the society devolved upon him. The society at that time consisted of the following
persons -- Mr. John Wesley, fellow of Lincoln college; Mr. Charles Wesley, student of Christ's
Church; Mr. Richard Morgan, commoner of Christ's church; and Mr. Kirkman, of Merton college.
The next year, two or three of Mr. John Wesley's pupils desired the liberty of meeting with them, and
afterwards one of Mr. Charles Wesley's pupils. In 1732, Mr. Benjamin Ingham, of Queen's college,
and Mr. Broughton, of Exeter, were added to their number. In April in the same year, Mr. Clayton,
of Brazen Nose college, with two or three of his pupils, were added. It was by his advice that they
began to observe the fasts of the ancient church, every Wednesday and Friday. About the same time
Mr. James Harvey, one of Mr. John Wesley's pupils, was added to the society. And in the year 1735,
Mr. George Whitefield, of Pembroke college, joined them. At that time they were fourteen or fifteen
in number, all of one heart and of one mind. They formed rules for the regulation of their time and
their studies; for reading the scriptures, and self-examination.-- They also visited the sick, and the
prisoners, and received the Lord's Supper once a week.
Mr. John Wesley gives the following account of the rise of Methodism. "In 1729, my brother and
I, by reading the Bible, saw inward and outward holiness therein; followed after it, and incited others
so to do. In 1737, we saw that this holiness comes by faith, and that men are justified before they are
sanctified -- but still holiness was our point."
In the beginning of the year 1735, Mr. Wesley for the first time preached extempore, which
practice is now followed by all the Methodist preachers. In the latter part of this year Mr. Wesley and
his brother Charles consented to leave their native country, and to come over to America as
missionaries to the Indians; and on the 14th day of October 1735, they set off. After a passage of
more than three months, they landed on the 6th of February 1736, over against Tybee, near
Savannah, in Georgia.
In April 1736, Mr. Wesley formed a society at his own house in Savannah, and instructed them
weekly in the things belonging to their peace. This he used to consider as the second rise of
Methodism. But in the end of the following year, Mr. Wesley left America, and sailed from
Charleston, in South-Carolina, for England on December 24th, 1737, and never more returned to
America; of course that society fell through, and there was no society of Methodists formed in that
town for seventy years afterwards. It was not until the year 1807 that a regular Methodist society was
formed in Savannah. Mr. Charles Wesley embarked for England in July 1736, about six months after
his arrival in Georgia.
May 1, 1738, Mr. Wesley and some Moravian brethren formed themselves into a religious society,
which met at Fetter-lane, in London. This he calls in his Ecclesiastical History, vol.4, page 175, the
third period of Methodism. Mr. Wesley, speaking of this society, says, "Our little society began in
London, when forty or fifty of us agreed to meet together every Wednesday evening, in order to a
free conversation, began and ended with singing and prayer."