526 



METHODISTS. 



mittee was appointed to draw up such a basis 

 of union as, in their judgment, would be accept- 

 able to the people of the Church; their report 

 to be presented to the next Conference for con- 

 firmation or rejection. It was understood 

 that negotiations would not be entered into 

 with other bodies without the consent of the 

 parent Church in England. 



X. METHODIST NEW CONNECTION IN CAN- 

 ADA. The Conference of the Methodist New 

 Connection in Canada met at Hespeler, On- 

 tario, May 22d. It adopted unanimously the 

 following resolution on the subject of union 

 with other Methodist bodies in Canada : 



Having considered the subject of Methodist un- 

 ion, this conference would renew its expressions as 

 to the desirableness of union of the various Meth- 

 odist bodies in Canada. And, while adhering to the 

 action of our last Conference, in regard to the basis 

 recommended by the united committees, we feel 

 bound to say that we could not accept any scheme 

 of union by which restrictions would be imposed 

 upon the legislative powers of General Conference or 

 upon the rights of the laity to cooperate with the 

 ministry in such Conference in all its legislation and 

 discipline. 



An address of advice on this subject from 

 the English Missionary Committee was read. 

 It recited that several of the denominations 

 which had entered into the project of union 

 had since withdrawn from it, and that the 

 only bodies now left to negotiate were the 

 New Connection and the Wesleyans ; that 

 the Wesleyan Conference had not adopted the 

 principle of the equality of the rights of the 

 laymen to sit with the ministers in all the 

 courts of the Church, and to cooperate with 

 them in all acts of legislation, administration, 

 and discipline, which principle is fundamental 

 with the New Connection, and cannot be re- 

 moved or compromised; it expressed the 

 opinion that there was no reasonable ground 

 at that time to hope for an honorable union, 



and advised a discontinuance of the negotia- 

 tions ; and it advised that no part of the 

 Church, whether in Canada or elsewhere, 

 should assume the right of acting indepen- 

 dently on the subject, but that all parts should 

 be allowed an opportunity of joining in the ul- 

 timate decision and action. The Conference 

 responded to this address with a pledge that 

 any action it might take should be with due 

 regard to the principles of the present body, 

 and the obligations it was under. The most 

 weighty objections urged by the Missionary 

 Committee, against the continuance of the ne- 

 gotiations, appear to have been substantially 

 removed by the action of the Wesleyan Con- 

 ference in reference to the representation of 

 the laity in the courts of the Church. 



Committees of the Wesleyan and the New 

 Connection Conference met on the 1st and 

 2d of October, and agreed provisionally upon 

 a basis of union, to be submitted to their re- 

 spective conferences for ratification. Only 

 unofficial general accounts of its purport have 

 been published. It provides for a General 

 Conference, to be composed of equal numbers 

 of clerical and lay delegates. It leaves the An- 

 nual Conferences composed entirely of minis- 

 ters, as is now the case in the Wesleyan Con- 

 ference, but requires that the committees, who 

 prepare the business for the Annual Confer- 

 ence, and perform a large share of their ex- 

 ecutive duties, shall be composed partly of 

 laymen. Thus, by the operation of this plan, 

 if it is adopted, the Wesleyans will concede 

 the principle of lay representation, while the 

 New Connection will accept the Wesleyan 

 plan of constitution in the Annual Conferences. 

 This plan was held subject to revision at sub- 

 sequent meetings of the committee. 



XI. THE WESLEYAN CONNECTION. The fol- 

 lowing are the general statistics of this body 

 for 1872: 



The Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist 

 connection met in London on the 31st of Au- 

 gust. Luke H. Wiseman, D. D., was elected 

 President, George T. Perks, D. D., Secretary. 



The most important discussion in the Con- 

 ference took place on the education question. 

 While the other nonconformist bodies in Eng- 

 land had assumed an attitude of more or less 

 active opposition to the acts of 1870, relating 



* These numbers are those of 1871, the minutes of the 

 Eastern British American Conference of 1872 not having 

 been received. 



t Exclusive of missionaries in Ireland. 



to education, the Wesleyan body had stood 

 with the Established Church in support of the 

 plan of utilizing the denominational schools, 

 and giving them state support as a part of the 

 great national system of schools, provided for 

 by that act. Early in the session of the Con- 

 ference (August 13th), Mr. William Arthur 

 offered the following resolution 



Resolved, That considering the difficulties of the 

 denominational system of education, the Conference 

 judges it desirable that it should be gradually 

 merged in a system of united unsectarian schools, 

 with the Bible, under school boards. 



