ABSTRACT
During the nineteenth century the Methodists continued to be the largest body among the Nonconformists in England, probably as numerous as the other bodies put together. They undoubtedly owed much of their success to the organization bequeathed by John Wesley. The weekly class-meetings for 'fellowship in Christian experience' were the basis of Methodist discipline and unity. A number of Methodists compared such chapels unfavourably with the early field preaching and simple meeting-houses of the early days under Wesley and his friends. Towards the end of the century there was, indeed, a general feeling that Nonconformity suffered from 'failing vitality' and was in decline. One of the main reasons why Nonconformity did not increase during the later part of the nineteenth century was the considerable defection of its members to the Church of England. The traditional Nonconformist bodies did little to identify themselves with Booth's new strategy of salvation.
