[2] After holding a curacy at Barton, Cambridgeshire, he became curate of both St Matthew, Friday Street, in the City of London, and of West Horsley, Surrey, in 1750.

[3] Local clergy already considered him a Methodist (in later terms, an evangelical), since he taught Scripture in his home and the number of communicants at West Horsley increased from twelve to sixty.

However, it was only at this time that his beliefs moved from the High Church views of The Whole Duty of Man to the more evangelical position of A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life.

[3] He found a small group of like-minded Yorkshire clergy: Richard Conyers, William Grimshaw of Haworth, James Stillingfleet.

[4] In 1771 he exchanged to the living of Yelling, Huntingdonshire[3] where he drew as visitors William Faris, Joseph Jowett, Thomas Robinson and Charles Simeon.