CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 



travelling preachers, 5177 local preachers ; 511,601 

 white members ; 197,848 coloured members. 



Various secessions from the Methodist body in 

 England have also taken place. 



In 1797, was formed the METHODIST NEW 

 CONNECTION, which differs from the older body 

 in admitting one layman to each minister into 

 the Conference, and to a full share of all its busi- 

 ness, spiritual and secular. These laymen are 

 chosen either by the circuits, or by 'guardian 

 representatives,' elected for life by the Conference. 

 The PRIMITIVE METHODISTS were formed into a 

 society in 1810, the causes of separation being 

 a disagreement as to the propriety of camp- 

 meetings for religious purposes, the question of 

 females being permitted to preach, and the differ- 

 ence as to the admission to the Conference of 

 lay members. The UNITED FREE CHURCH 

 METHODISTS were formed by the amalgamation 

 of the Wesley an Association, originated in 1834, 

 and the Wesleyan Reform Association, which 

 began in 1849. Church independency, and free- 

 dom of representation in the annual assembly, are 

 two of the most prominent distinctive traits in 

 the organisation of the United Methodist Free 

 Church. 



The WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODISTS orig- 

 inated partly in the preaching of Whitefield, and 

 partly in that of Howel Harris, a Welsh clergy- 

 man of the Church of England. Whitefield and 

 Wesley differed on the subject of election. White- 

 field did not form a religious sect, and after his 

 death (1769), a large portion of his followers 

 became absorbed in the new society, gradually 

 forming itself through the preaching of Howel 

 Harris and his coadjutors. This body, however, 

 was not formally constituted a religious society 

 till the beginning of this century. Its government 

 is Presbyterian. The adults as well as children 

 attend their Sunday schools ; and they have an 

 extensive periodical literature. The Bible Chris- 

 tians, or Bryanites, were formed by a local 

 preacher named Bryan, who seceded from the 

 Wesleyans in 1815. The only distinction between 

 them and the original body appears to be that 

 the former receive the eucharistic elements in a 

 sitting posture. 



BAPTISTS. 



This denomination of Christians, sometimes 

 called Antipaedists, as opposed to Paedobaptists, 

 or those who advocate infant baptism, refuse to 

 acknowledge any great name as founder of their 

 sect. They trace their origin to the primitive 

 Church itself, and refer to the Acts of the Apostles 

 and their Epistles as affording, in their opinion, 

 evidence in favour of their distinguishing tenets. 

 When Christianity became corrupted, they point 

 to the maintenance of their practice among the 

 Cathari and Albigenses, and other sects of the 

 middle ages, who continued, amid surrounding 

 darkness, to hold fast the apostolic testimony. 

 They sprung into notice in England under Henry 

 VIII. and Elizabeth. They were persecuted under 

 both reigns, but they received freedom to meet 

 for worship from James II., and complete reli- 

 gious liberty under William III. Ever since, they 

 have diffused their principles in Great Britain 

 and America. 



The Baptists generally hold the usual orthodox 

 beliefs, along with some differences. Thus, they 



| have among them Calvinists both hyper and 

 ! moderate, as well as High and Low Arminians. 

 The great body of them in Britain and America 

 are Calvinistic. Particular Baptists, so called 

 because holding that Christ died for an elect 

 number ; and General Baptists, who maintain that 

 he died for all men, constitute the two leading 

 sects into which the body is divided. English 

 Baptists, in their church order and government, 

 are the same as Congregationalists, the rite of 

 baptism excepted. Scotch Baptists, properly so 

 called, insist on a plurality of pastors in every 

 church, and the exercise of mutual exhortation 

 by the members in their public assemblies. There 

 are Baptist churches in England, however, who 

 are Scotch in their order, and English Baptists 

 in Scotland who are English in theirs. Seventh- 

 day Baptists, we believe, are to be found almost 

 wholly in America, who observe not the first day 

 of the week, but the seventh, as the day of rest. 



Baptists are distinguished among their fellow- 

 Christians by holding that baptism, being an 

 ordinance the validity of which depends on an 

 | intelligent faith on the part of the recipient, is to 

 be administered to those who are capable of 

 exercising faith, and by immersion only. Its 

 subjects, therefore, are actual believers in the 

 Lord Jesus Christ adults, not infants ; and its 

 mode is immersion, not sprinkling. The Baptists 

 are divided among themselves regarding com- 

 munion one portion receiving conscientious 

 Paedobaptists to the Lord's table and member- 

 ship ; the other refusing this privilege to any but 

 Baptists. The churches of the former are called 

 open communionists ; the latter, strict commun- 

 ionists. 



The Baptists were early in the field of missions. 



They have been honoured to plant Christian 



churches in many parts of continental India, in 



' Ceylon, in the Bahamas, the West Indies, Africa, 



! and China. They have now schools of learning 



j for training candidates for the ministry at Bristol, 



Bradford, London, Nottingham, &c. 



Congregational in their form of church govern- 

 ment, the Baptists are grouped generally in as- 

 sociations of churches, the greater number of 

 them belonging to the Baptist Union, formed in 

 1832. In England and Wales, the associations 

 number 53, the ministers 2000, and the members 

 241,764. There are supposed to be 8,500,000 

 Baptists of all descriptions in English-speaking 

 communities. 



UNITARIANS. 



Applied generally to all who maintain that 

 God exists in one person only, the term Unita- 

 rians is used specially to designate a small 

 Christian sect of recent times, whose distinguish- 

 : ing tenet is the Unity as opposed to the Trinity 

 of the Godhead. Their particular doctrine was 

 : held substantially from the middle of the 2d cen- 

 tury to the end of the 3d by the Monarchians ; in 

 the 4th century by Arius and his followers, who 

 denied the consubstantiality of the Son with the 

 I Father ; after the Reformation, by the Socini and 

 ! others, through whom it was largely diffused in 

 ; Venetia, Poland, and Transylvania. During the 

 reign of James I. continental Socinianism began 

 to exercise considerable influence in England, and 

 continued to do so till the end of the century ; 

 but it was in the last decade of the i7th century 



411 



