Wednesday, 25.--We rode on to Bristol.
Thursday, 26.--About fifty of us being met, the Rules of the Society were read over and carefully considered one by one; but we did not find any that could be spared. So we all agreed to abide by them all and to recommend them with our might.
We then largely considered the necessity of keeping in the church and using the clergy with tenderness, and there was no dissenting voice. God made us all of one mind and judgment.
Friday, 27.--The Rules of the Bands were read over and considered, one by one; which rules, after some verbal alterations, we all agreed to observe and enforce.
Saturday, 28.--My brother and I closed the conference by a solemn declaration of our purpose never to separate from the church, and all our brethren concurred therein.
Monday, September 6.--I set out in the machine, and on Tuesday evening came to London.
Wednesday and Thursday, I settled my temporal business. It is now about eighteen years since I began writing and printing books; and how much in that time have I gained by printing? Why, on summing up my accounts, I found that on March 1, 1756 (the day I left London last), I had gained by printing and preaching together a debt of twelve hundred and thirty-six pounds.
Sunday, October 10.--I preached to a huge multitude in Moorfields on "Why will ye die, O house of Israel?" It is field-preaching which does the execution still; for usefulness there is none comparable to it.
Tuesday, November 9.--Having procured an apparatus on purpose, I ordered several persons to be electrified who were ill of various disorders; some of whom found an immediate, some a gradual, cure. From this time I appointed, first some hours in every week and afterward an hour in every day, wherein any that desired it might try the virture of this surprising medicine. Two or three years after, our patients were so numerous that we were obliged to divide them: so part were electrified in Southwark, part at the Foundry, others near St. Paul's, and the rest near the Seven Dials. The same method we have taken ever since; and to this day, while hundreds, perhaps thousands, have received unspeakable good, I have not known one man, woman, or child, who has received any hurt thereby: so that when I hear any talk of the danger of being electrified (especially if they are medical men who talk so), I cannot but impute it to great want either of sense or honesty.