The Life and Times of the Rev. John Wesley, Vol. I - Enter His Rest

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]
Sunday-schools are now an important appendage of every church, and
have been a benefit to millions of immortal souls; but it deserves to be
mentioned that Hannah Ball, a young Methodist lady, had a Methodist
Sunday-school at High Wycombe fourteen years before Robert Raikes