~Methodism.~--The introduction here must date from Wesley's first visit
in March, 1738. In 1764, Moor Street Theatre was taken as a meeting
place, and John Wesley opened it March 21. The new sect afterwards
occupied the King Street Theatre. Hutton says:--"The Methodists
occupied for many years a place in Steelhouse Lane, where the wags of
the age observed, 'they were eaten out by the bugs.' They therefore
procured the cast-off Theatre in Moor Street, where they continued to
exhibit till 1782, when, quitting the stage, they erected a superb
meeting house in Cherry Street, at the expense of £1,200. This was
opened, July 7, by John Wesley, the chief priest, whose extensive
knowledge and unblemished manners give us a tolerable picture of
apostolic purity, who believed as if he were to be saved by faith, and
who laboured as if he were to be saved by works." The note made by
Wesley, who was in his 80th year, respecting the opening of Cherry
Street Chapel, has been preserved. He says:--"July 6th, 1782. I came to
Birmingham, and preached once more in the old dreary preaching-house.
The next day I opened the new house at eight, and it contained the
people well, but not in the evening, many more then constrained to go
away. In the middle of the sermon a huge noise was heard, caused by the
breaking of a bench on which some people stood. None of them were hurt;
yet it occasioned a general panic at first, but in a few minutes all was
quiet." Four years after the opening, Wesley preached in the chapel
again, and found great prosperity. "At first," he wrote, "the
preaching-house would not near contain the congregation. Afterwards I
administered the Lord's Supper to about 500 communicants." Old as he
then was, the apostle of Methodism came here a time or two after that,
his last visit being in 1790. Many talented men have since served the
Wesleyan body in this town, and the society holds a strong position
among our Dissenting brethren. The minutes of the Wesleyan Conference