16. To make the Methodists sensible of the excellency of Kingswood school, every assistant was to read an account of it yearly; to exhort parents, who were able, to send their children thither; to answer all their objections, and refute all the lies they had heard about it; and to make a collection for it, at Midsummer, in every preaching house throughout England.[543]
17. “Has the office of an assistant been thoroughly executed?
“Answer. No; not by one assistant out of three. For instance, every assistant ought (1) To ‘see that the other preachers behave well.’ But who has sent me word whether they did or no? (2) ‘To visit the classes, regulate the bands, and deliver tickets quarterly.’ How few have done this! (3) Lovefeasts for the bands have been neglected. (4) Nor have persons been regularly taken in, and put out of, the bands. (5) I fear many of the quarterly meetings are formal, not spiritual. (6) The societies are not half supplied with books; not even with ‘Kempis,’ ‘Instructions for Children,’ and ‘Primitive Physic,’ which ought to be in every house. And why should not each of you do like William Pennington—carry books with you through every round? Exert yourselves in this. Be not ashamed. Be not weary. Leave no stone unturned. And let none print anything of his own, till it has been approved by the conference. (7) How few accounts have I had, either of remarkable deaths or remarkable conversions! (8) How few exact lists have we received of the societies! Take more time and more pains in preparing them. (9) Who of you has met the married and single men and women once a quarter, even in the largest societies? (10) You have not provided a private room everywhere for the preacher; nor a bed to himself; neither the ‘Library,’ for want of which some still read trash. Till this can be done, let there be, immediately, in every place, at least the ‘Notes,’ and the tract on original sin.”[544]
18. “Is there any other advice which you would give assistants?
“Answer. Yes. In every place, exhort those who were brought up in the Church, constantly to attend its service. And in visiting the classes, ask every one, ‘Do you go to church as often as ever you did?’ Set the example yourself. And immediately alter every plan that interferes therewith. Is there not a cause for this? Are we not unawares, by little and little, tending to a separation from the Church? Oh remove every tendency thereto with all diligence. (1) Let all our preachers go to church. (2) Let all our people go constantly. (3) Receive the sacrament at every opportunity. (4) Warn all against niceness in hearing; a great and prevailing evil. (5) Warn them likewise against despising the prayers of the Church. (6) Against calling our society a church, or the church. (7) Against calling our preachers ministers, our houses meeting-houses (call them plain preaching houses). (9) Do not license them as such. The proper form of a petition to the judge is, ‘A. B. desires to have his house in C. licensed for public worship.’ (10) Do not license yourself, till you are constrained; and then not as a Dissenter, but a Methodist preacher. It is time enough when you are prosecuted, to take the oaths. Thereby you are licensed.”[545]
19. “What do you advise with regard to public buildings?
“Answer. (1) Let none be undertaken without the consent of the assistant. (2) Build, if possible, in the form of Rotherham house. (3) Settle it in the following form.”
Here follows the trust deed for the chapel in Manchester, to the effect that, during their lifetime, Wesley, his brother, and Grimshaw of Haworth, and others, whom they might appoint, should have the use of the said chapel; and that, after their death, the trustees should permit such persons to preach in it as were appointed by the yearly conference; provided always, that such persons preach no other doctrine than is contained in Wesley’s Notes upon the New Testament, and his four volumes of sermons; and provided also, that they preach —— evenings in every week, and at five o’clock on each morning following.[546]
20. “How may we raise a general fund?
“Answer. By a yearly subscription, to be proposed by every assistant when he visits the classes at Christmas, and to be received at the visitation following.”