400 



METHODISTS. 



whose parents desire it. But the Conference ex- 

 presses once more its deep conviction that no 

 increased grant from public funds should be made 

 to denominational schools, unless that increased 

 grant is accompanied by adequate and represent- 

 ative public management. If, however, denomi- 

 national schools are to be almost wholly main- 

 tained from Imperial taxes and local rates, the 

 ' irreducible minimum ' of the rights of con- 

 science and public justice demands that at least 

 a majority of the local educational authority and 

 of the governing committee of every school shall 

 consist of publicly elected persons." 



The Committee' on the Twentieth Century fund 

 reported that in payments more that 900,000 

 had been reached. About 880,000 were drawing 

 interest (3 per cent.), and from this source nearly 

 35.000 had accrued. For the Methodist House 

 in London, which formed part of the fund's pro- 

 gram, the committee had entered into negotia- 

 tions for the purchase of the Royal Aquarium 

 premises at Westminster. A deposit had been 

 paid, and, subject to the approval of shareholders 

 (which was given before the close of the Con- 

 ference), the Aquarium site, containing 100,000 

 square feet, would become connectional property 

 before the ensuing February. The building to be 

 erected thereon would include one large hall seat- 

 ing 3,000 persons, a smaller hall seating 1,000 

 persons, a large library, and many suites of rooms 

 for connectional organizations. The attention of 

 the Conference was occupied in a very large 

 degree with the case of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Agar 

 Beet, a professor in the college at Richmond of 

 the Theological Institution, in which a question 

 of heresy was involved. Dr. Beet had published 

 a book entitled The last Things, in which he as- 

 serted that the doctrine of the natural immortal- 

 ity of the soul was not taught in the Scriptures; 

 and while denying the doctrines of annihilation 

 at death and of immortality in Christ alone, he 

 held that the soul has a conscious existence after 

 death and the souls of the impenitent exist in con- 

 scious suffering, but it is not taught that this con- 

 tinued existence is endless. The case had been 

 before the Conference four years before, and was 

 dropped on Dr. Beet's promising to withdraw the 

 book. Since then he had published another book, 

 The Immortality of the Soul: a Protest, in which 

 similar views to those formerly objected to were 

 advanced. He was charged before the Conference 

 with having violated his pledge given at the Con- 

 ference of 1898 to withdraw the book The Last 

 Things by republishing the substance of it in an- 

 other book, and with having published in the 

 latter book doctrines contrary to the standards 

 of the Church. The case was referred to a special 

 committee, upon the report of which the Con- 

 ference found, with regard to the first charge, that 

 Dr. Beet had not kept the pledge given to the 

 Conference in the sense in which it was generally 

 understood. But the Conference recognized the 

 great difficulty and perplexity in which he 

 was placed at the time the promise was made, 

 and while deeply regretting his action, regarded 

 it as arising from a serious error of judgment 

 rather than from want of good faith. In regard 

 to the second charge, it was found that Dr. Beet 

 " has published in the aforesaid book doctrines 

 contrary to the standards of our Church (a) in 

 exalting the moral sense to an authority in re- 

 ligious belief above Holy Scripture, (ft) in regard 

 to the immortality of the soul and the endless 

 sufferings of the lost. In regard to (a) the 

 Conference finds that though his language was 

 unguarded and liable to misconception, and some 

 passages of the book seem to place the moral 



sense above Scripture as an authority in matters 

 of religious belief, Dr. Beet has no intention of 

 doing this, and he emphatically denies that there 

 is any real conflict between the two. In regard 

 to (6) Dr. Beet stated before the committee that 

 in some small details his teaching contravened the 

 teachings of our standards, but that it is in 

 harmony with the general system of doctrine that 

 underlies them. The Conference finds that Dr. 

 Beet rejects as without foundation the doctrines 

 popularly known as those of annihilation, con- 

 ditional immortality, universal restoration, and 

 probation after death, and maintains that though 

 the Holy Scriptures teach that all our souls will 

 survive death for a period to which no limit can 

 be affixed, and that utter hopeless and final pun- 

 ishment will overtake the impenitent, they do not 

 assert or assume the essential permanence of the 

 soul, though neither do they deny this. And that, 

 while the Holy Scriptures give no ground for hope 

 that the agony of the lost will ever cease, they 

 do not plainly and categorically assert its endless 

 continuance. The above is the statement of Dr. 

 Beet's views made at the Conference of 1898, and 

 accepted by Dr. Beet before the committee as 

 a statement of his present position. The Con- 

 ference decides that this teaching falls short of 

 and contravenes the doctrine held and taught in 

 our Church. In regard to the whole case, in view 

 of the dread solemnity and admitted mystery of 

 the subject and the necessity of allowing some 

 freedom of opinion upon it, and out of respect to 

 the fidelity of Dr. Beet to our general system of 

 doctrine, the Conference resolves that on con- 

 dition that Dr. Beet does not teach in our pulpits 

 the doctrine of this book, and that he publish no 

 further upon the subject except with the consent 

 of the Conference, the Conference will take no 

 further action." The reelection of Dr. Beet as a 

 professor in the Theological Institution was op- 

 posed on account of his position respecting these 

 doctrines; but he was chosen, receiving 377 votes 

 out of 577 cast. The home mission department 

 reported a rising income; but the foreign mis- 

 sion report embodied a complaint that the con- 

 tributions were stagnant, and the Church was in 

 danger of being outstripped on the mission fields. 

 A series of missionary conventions on a large scale 

 was directed to be held during the coming year 

 in London and 11 other of the more important 

 cities. 



VIII. Primitive Methodist Church. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 Church reported to the Conference in June: 

 Number of traveling preachers, 1.048; of local 

 preachers, 16,016; of class-leaders, 10,569; of mem- 

 bers of society, 195,651 ; of Sunday-schools, 4,107, 

 with 58,881 teachers and 450,396 pupils; of hear- 

 ers, 589,784; of connectional chapels (home), 

 4,321; of other chapels (home), 632: value of 

 church property (home), 4,019,239; debt on the 

 same, 1,016.678. In Africa and New Zealand 

 were 60 .connectional chapels and 101 other 

 chapels and rooms, and the value of the church 

 property was 45.843, less debt of 9,564. 



The General Chapel fund had granted dur- 

 ing the year 783 toward reducing debts and 

 211 toward new erections, and had promised 

 2,200 additional. The Chapel Loan fund 

 amounted to 12.313. The Legal Defense fund 

 amounted to 271. The London Chapel Exten- 

 sion fund had received 191, and had granted 

 250 for the purchase of sites. The Church Ex- 

 tension fund had an income of 4,400, and had 

 promised assistance to projects involving a cost 

 of more than 150.000. The connectional fund 

 returned an income of 11,563. The Superan- 



