4 August 1777 – 10 August 1777

Our yearly Conference began. I now particularly inquired (as that report had been spread far and wide) of every assistant, "Have you reason to believe, from your own observation, that the Methodists are a fallen people? Is there a decay or an increase in the work of God where you have been? Are the societies in general more dead, or more alive to God, than they were some years ago?" The almost universal answer was, “If we must ‘know them by their fruits,' there is no decay in the work of God among the people in general. The societies are not dead to God: they are as much alive as they have been for many years. And we look on this report as a mere device of Satan to make our hands hang down." "But how can this question be decided?" You, and you, can judge no farther than you see. You cannot judge of one part by another; of the people of London, suppose, by those of Bristol. And none but myself has an opportunity of seeing them throughout the three kingdoms. But to come to a short issue. In most places, the Methodists are still a poor despised people, laboring under reproach and many inconveniences; therefore, wherever the power of God is not, they decrease. By this, then you may form a sure judgment. Do the Methodists in general decrease in number? Then they decrease in grace; they are a fallen, or, at least, a falling people. But they do not decrease in number; they continually increase. Therefore, they are not a fallen people. The Conference concluded on Friday, as it began, in much love.