Into the Foundry Society
and the many others organized among his converts, Wesley introduced lovefeasts
and "bands" (or "classes",) both familiar to him from the Fetter Lane Society,
which had copied them from the Moravians. When his societies grew so numerous
that he could not personally serve them all he selected lay assistants,
and then "became convinced that presbyter and bishop are of the same order,
and that he had as good a right to ordain as to administer the Sacraments."
He, therefore, ordained bishops for America, and Scotland,
and registered his chapels in order to protect them, according to
the Act of Toleration. This gave the Methodist body a separate legal status,
but Wesley always claimed that he was still a member of the Church of England,
and would not allow the preachers of his English societies
to administer the Sacraments, a right which was finally granted them
by the Methodist Conference after his death.
When Benjamin Ingham returned from Georgia he commenced to preach the Gospel
in Yorkshire, his native place, and at the time of his journey to Germany
a promising work was begun there. From Herrnhut he wrote to Count Zinzendorf
asking that Toeltschig be permitted to visit him in England,
and the request was granted a few months later.
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