; but that the leader shall
see each person in his class, and meet the minister and stewards once a
week. Yet, by constant and universal practice, we have transferred the
obligation from the leader to the member, and made it the duty of the
latter (on pain of excommunication), to meet the former in
class-meeting; an obligation which is nowhere enjoined in the general
rules. In those rules it is said:

There is only one condition previously required of those who desire
admission into these societies--a desire to flee from the wrath to
come, and to be saved from their sins.

The rules then truly state, that wherever this desire is really fixed in
the soul, it will be known by its fruits. These fruits are briefly but
fully set forth under three heads. (1) By doing no harm. (2) By doing
good. (3) "By attending all the ordinances of God: such as, the public
worship of God; the ministry of the word, either read or expounded; the
Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures,
and fasting or abstinence. These are the general rules of our societies,
all of which we are taught of God to observe, even in His written word,
which is the only rule, and the sufficient rule, both of faith and
practice." Now, neither class-meeting nor love-feast is mentioned among
the "ordinances of God" enumerated in the general rules of the society;
nor is it mentioned in Mr. Wesley's Large Minutes of Conference among
the instituted means of grace. So far as the general rules themselves
are concerned, there is nothing which makes attendance at class-meeting
a condition of membership, even in Mr. Wesley's societies as he
originally instituted them; nor did the idea of holding class-meetings
at all occur to Mr. Wesley until after the general rules were drawn up
and published.[138] But what was not required by the general rules soon
became a condition of membership in another way--this was by the system
of giving tickets. Mr. Wesley says in his Plain Account of People called
Methodists:

As the society increased, I found it required still greater care to
separate the precious from the vile. In order to this, I
determined, at least once in three months, to talk with every
member myself, and to inquire at their own mouth, as well as of
their leaders and neighbours, whether they grew in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. To each of those whose
seriousness and go