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

Germany, one; India, one; China, one; Australia, two; Canada and British
America, five; and the United States about fifty.
Let the reader think of twelve millions of people at present enjoying
the benefits of Methodist instruction; let him think of Methodism's 21,875
ordained ministers, and of its tens of thousands of lay preachers; let him
think of the immense amount of its church property, and of the well-nigh
countless number of its church publications; let him think of millions of
young people in its schools, and of its missionary agents almost all the
wide world over; let him think of its incalculable influence upon other
churches, and of the unsectarian institutions to which it has given rise;
and then let him say whether the bold suggestion already made is not
strictly true, viz., that "Methodism is the greatest fact in the history of the
church of Christ."
Here we have an immensely ramified church organisation, everywhere
preaching the same momentous doctrines, and aiming at the same great
purpose. A day never passes without numbers of its converts being
admitted into heaven; and without many a poor wayward wanderer being
brought by it into the fold of Christ on earth. Thousands of its temples are
daily open; and "prayer," by its churches, in one quarter of the globe or in
another, is "made continually." It has belted the entire planet with its
myriad agents, who—in English, French, Dutch, German, and Italian; in
the various dialects and tongues of Africa, India, and China; and in the
newly formed languages of the Feegee and the Friendly Islands—are
calling to the nations, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price."
In England, it has had much to do with the almost incredible changes
that have taken place in English society during the last hundred years. In
Ireland, with Popery so rampant, a people so poor, and emigration so vast,
it has some five or six hundred chapels, besides having many hundreds of
small congregations in cottages, court-houses, market-places, and villagegreens.
In Australia, it has more church sittings than any other Christian
community, the Church of England not excepted; and has, at least, one