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METHODISM. 



METHODISM. 



010 



rules set forth, that the Methodists are a people who, in addition to 

 the form of Christianity, seek the power of godliness, and manifest it 

 by good works : the societies are united, that by counsel, exhortation, 

 and prayer, they may assist each other iii the great work of religion. 



We proceed to describe the constitution of these societies and of 

 the general union of them, forming the highly important class of 

 Christians called the Wesleyan Methodists. 



These societies are divided into classes of twelve persons generally, 

 but sometimes more, and he that is supposed the best qualified by 

 mental and religious excellency, is appointed the leader. His duty is 

 to see his members weekly, to receive the voluntary contributions of 

 his class, and to take the amount to what is termed the " leaders' 

 meeting ;" that is, the stated meetings of all the leaders and the society- 

 stewards in a certain locality, where the society of the place is repre- 

 sented, and its affairs transacted. The society-stewards take the 

 moneys from the leaders, pay the ministers their weekly stipend, and 

 take the surplus to the circuit-stewards at the quarterly meeting. In 

 the leaders' meetings are stewards for the poor also, who at the direc- 

 tion of the meeting give to the leaders, for their poorer members, 

 whatever funds may be furnished by any society and congregation for 

 that purpose. 



A number of these united societies lying around some central town 

 or large chapel is known as a circuit. The villages or chapels in the 

 vicinity of the centre are regularly visited by the ministers at stated 

 times for the purpose of conducting worship, and the discharge of other 

 pastoral duties. In the origin of Methodism these circuits included 

 not merely one county, but sometimes parts of several; but now, 

 owing to the spread of Methodism, the circuits are limited to a 

 diameter of twenty, ten, and in some cases of fewer miles. The 

 societies and congregations in these circuits are committed to the care 

 of the ministers yearly appointed by the Conference ; and more 

 especially to one who is termed the superintendent : generally, when 

 compared with his fellow-ministers in the same circuit, he is of the 

 longest standing in the connection, but not always so, as the Conference 

 claims the right of appointing to this office the person whom it judges 

 the moat proper. To the superintendent principally the direction of 

 the other ministers is committed, as well as that of the local preachers 

 also, who are men in business and only occasional preachers ; and in 

 addition to the above, the superintendent has the care of the leaders, 

 Htewards, and, in one sentence, the whole circuit : he is accountable to 

 the Conference for the use of the power committed to him. 



At the May district-meeting, when the circuit-stewards have taken 

 their departure, one of its ministers is chosen by ballot, as its general 

 representative at the coming Conference. Then the meeting deter- 

 mines how many additional ministers belonging to the district shall be 

 allowed to proceed to the Conference. The Conference, strictly and 

 truly, consists only of one hundred preachers, whose names are in the 

 deed that gives it a legal existence, but all the preachers allowed to go 

 from the respective districts are suffered to sit therein, and vote as 

 integral parts thereof. At the assembling of the Conference, one of its 

 first acts is the choosing by ballot the president and secretary, who 

 must be of the hundred the legal Conference. The business which 

 follows comprises the supplying of the places of those who by death, 

 &c., have been removed, by the hundred, partly by ballot and partly 

 by nomination : the examination of the character of every minister as 

 to his moral conduct, Methodist.'cal orthodoxy, &c. ; the examination 

 of the minutes of the several districts ; and the appointments of the 

 ministers for the coming year. Further, they legislate for, and deter- 

 mine the multifarious concerns of the connexion. 



In Methodism, the members are divided into two great classes the 

 ministers and the people ; and each, if accused, is tried at its separate 

 tribunal, and by its own peers. The members are tried by the leaders' 

 meeting ; and the ministers by the ministers only, at a district-meeting. 

 If either the members or ministers are dissatisfied with the decision 

 of their respective judicatories, they may appeal to the Conference, the 

 highest court of Methodism. 



Methodism furnishes its ministers from the members, who first are 

 known as local preachers, and then nominated at the March quarterly 

 meeting as persons proper to be recommended for examination at the 

 coming May district-meeting by the ministers alone. If the churches 

 in the circuit, by their representatives at the quarterly meeting, re- 

 commend the person nominated, he appears before the district-meeting 

 Mid undergoes an examination as to his personal acquaintance with 

 Christianity, his Methodistic orthodoxy, and attachment to its dis- 

 cipline. If approved and recommended by the district-meeting, his 

 name is brought before the next Conference. If all inquiries here are 

 satisfactorily met, he is either immediately employed as a probationer, 

 in which state he must continue for four years, before he can be 

 admitted into full connection that is, be ordained and permitted to 

 administer the sacraments or he may be placed on the list of reserve, 

 and if approved, when again examined by the preachers in the London 

 district, he will be admitted to the Theological Institution, and by 

 training for some two or three years, be prej>ared for his work. 



The doctrinal test of the Methodists is found in certain volumes of 

 Mr. Wesley's Sermons, and his notes on the New Testament. Among 

 the most prominent of these doctrines, next to the being of God, his 

 perfections and worship, are original sin, moral impotency, the 

 sufficiency of grace, the atonement, general redemption, justification 



ARTS AWD MI. DIV. VOL. V. 



by faith, the witness and work of the Spirit, entire regeneration, good 

 works as the fruits thereof, eternal life, and everlasting punishment. 



The disciplinary test is found in the minutes of Conferences, the 

 statute-books of the Wesleyans. While the ministers appointed by 

 the Conference keep within the above limits, they have a right to the 

 pulpits, and are beyond control. But any departure from the above 

 will give authority to the trustees of any chapel in which un-Method- 

 istical doctrine is preached, to require the chairman of that district to 

 summon the ministers of the district, and the trustees of the circuit 

 in which the supposed transgressor is found, and if at the district 

 meeting so constituted his delinquency be proved, he may be suspended 

 until the next Conference, when the whole case will be reviewed, and 

 finally adjudicated. 



While the ministers are irreproachable, the Conference claims the 

 right of appointing them to all the chapels in the connection settled on 

 the Conference plan, and this right is beyond dispute or control; 

 but over the property of the chapels, the Conference has no control, 

 except it be the giving or withholding permission to the trustees to 

 sell, when this is craved by them. 



The labours of Wesley were not wholly confined to England. He 

 had made little impression upon Scotland, where the number of 

 members at the time of his decease scarcely exceeded a thousand. But 

 in Ireland he had about fifteen thousand, and in the United States 

 there were about thirty thousand. Since his decease, the prevalence of 

 Wesleyan Methodism in North America has been very great. 



By the census of 1851, there were 428 circuits in Great Britain, with 

 1024 ordained preachers, and between 13,000 and 14,000 lay-preachers, 

 who receive no remuneration, and there were 6579 chapels in England 

 and Wales, with accommodation for 1,447,580 persons. The number 

 of communicants was 358,277. On Sunday, March 31, 1851, the 

 attendance at these chapels (including an estimate for 133, from which 

 no returns were madej, was morning, 429,714; afternoon, 383,694; 

 evening, 667,850. 



The number of Scotch chapels by the census return was 82, of which 

 65 were open in the morning, 31 only in the afternoon, and 64 in the 

 evening; the attendance was 8937 in the morning, 2563 in the after- 

 noon, and 9516 in the evening; but there is accommodation for 22,441. 

 The separation of the Wesleyan reformers, however, in 1850 and 1851, 

 reduced the number of communicants in England and Wales to 270,265. 

 In 1860 the returns to Conference show the members in society in 

 Great Britain to be 277,589, with 26,683 members on trial, and 

 121,760 scholars. 



In 1793 great dissensions existed about the sacraments, whether they 

 should or should not be administered by the ministers, in the chapels, 

 to the members of the society who required them as a part of Chris- 

 tianity. This led to secessions at Bristol and elsewhere. In 1795 

 many influential societies chose delegates, and sent them to the 

 Conference then held at Manchester, for the purpose of claiming 

 some share in the government of Methodism. This led to concessions 

 as they may be found in the Plan of Pacification, the Bill of Rights 

 of the Methodists. 



With these concessions many were not satisfied, and, being led prin- 

 cipally by the Rev. Alexander Kilham, they seceded in 1797, and 

 formed the New Connemun, a truly respectable body, who, in 1853, 

 had 301 chapels, 95 circuits, 814 local preachers, and 16,070 members. 

 In the report of the Conference of 1860, the total number of chapels, 

 including Ireland and Canada, is stated as 473, preachers, 189; local 

 preachers, 1204 ; members, 29,331 ; on probation, 2562 ; there were also 

 60,753 scholars attending their schools. Mr. O'Bryan, of the North 

 Cornwall district, was the founder of the Bible Christian Methodists ; 

 they are sometimes called Bryanites. They were not seceders from 

 the Wesleyan stock, but an independent sect, that gradually adopted 

 the Wesleyan tenets. In 1852 they had 403 chapels, 113 itinerant 

 ministers, 1059 local preachers, and 13,862 members. The Primitive 

 Methodists, who are sometimes known as Ranters, originated in Staf- 

 fordshire : their professed object is to recall the Wesleyans to the 

 ancient spirit and fervour with which their fathers met rude and un- 

 civilised mobs. By the census return the attendance on March 31, 

 1851, was, in the morning, 98,001 ; afternoon, 172,684 ; evening, 

 229,646: and in 1853, the return gave 1789 chapels. By their own 

 report, of June 1860, they have 2267 chapels, and 3263 rented chapels 

 and rooms, 675 travelling preachers, and 132,114 members in society. 

 They have also 167,533 Sunday scholars, with 30,988 teachers. The 

 report claims a considerable extension of the sect in every branch. 

 Dissension in Leeds, in 1829, gave birth to the Protestant Methodists, 

 who declared that the Wesleyans had violated their own laws by the 

 erection of an organ in one of the chapels in that town, contrary to the 

 decision of a leaders' meeting. In 1835, the establishment of the 

 Theological Institution, the expulsion of Dr. Samuel Warren, and con- 

 tentions on the rights of leaders' meetings, gave existence to the Asso- 

 ciation Methodists. In 1852 the Association had 329 chapels, and 171 

 rooms and other places for preaching, 90 itinerant ministers, 1016 local 

 preachers, 1353 class leaders, and 19,411 members. Attendance on 

 Census Sunday :. morning, 32,308 ; afternoon, 21,140; evening, 40,565. 



The Weileyan Reformers separated formally in March, 1850, in con- 

 sequence of the expulsion, by the Conference, of certain ministers, 

 accused only of anonymous writings against the powers claimed by 

 the Conference. At a meeting of delegates, in the mouth named, 



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