ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



Such a brief sketch of the mere ecclesiastical growth of Primitivism in 

 Lancashire conveys very little idea of the social work of the church, for 

 among all the forms of free churches in England this particular organization 

 is honourably distinguished by its pioneer work in the cause of temperance 

 reform. This phase of its work is closely identified with Lancashire, for 

 James Stamp, the protagonist of that manly strife, ended his life at Teetotal 

 Cottage in Deansgate, Manchester, and the first practical organized efFort 

 of the movement dates from the formation of the Preston Temperance 

 Association in 1832. This denomination has now about sixty circuits in 

 the county, including twelve in the Manchester district and five in Liverpool. 



The United Methodist Free Church 



In turning to the United Methodist Free Churches we leave the breezy 

 upland of the missionary and temperance propaganda of the Primitives to 

 descend again to the chilly plain of theological strife. The basis of the United 

 Free movement was that same protest against the close hierarchical poHty of 

 the Wesleyans which has accounted for most of the schisms from the parent 

 church. Several constituent, and in their origin divergent, elements have 

 gone to form the United Free Church. 



1. The Arminian Methodists, who grew up in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicester- 



shire, and at Redditch under Henry Breedon and others. 



2. The Welsh Independent Methodists, who have a fragmentary history of their own. 



3. The Wesleyan Methodist Association, which, after several incidental preliminary 



episodes — the fight about the establishment of an organ in Leeds Chapel in 1827, 

 and the dispute in conference in 1835 about the proposed theological institute — was 

 finally formed in August, 1836, at Manchester by Dr. Samuel Warren and Robert 

 Eckett. The history of this schism has been already referred to in the account of 

 Wesleyanism. At the formation of the association in 1836 the Protestant Metho- 

 dists, who protested with Warren against itinerant ministers having such sole judicial 

 administrative authority as the Wesleyan polity gave them, threw in their lot with it. 



4. Wesleyan Reformers, a body formed in 1849 ^" consequence of the expulsion of James 



Everett, Samuel Dunn, and William Griffith from the Wesleyan Conference in 

 consequence of their protest against Dr. Bunting's pontifical administration of 

 Methodism. 



The process of amalgamation of these different constituent elements was 

 a slow one. The centre to which they gravitated was the Association. In 

 1837-9 the Arminian Methodists joined the latter, and the Independent 

 Methodists of Wales threw in their lot in 1838. But it was not until 1854 

 that the question of union with the Wesleyan Reformers became practicable. 

 The work was completed in 1857 at Rochdale, when the Association and the 

 Reformers amalgamated, their foundation deed becoming the foundation deed 

 of the United Methodist Free Churches. 



In the matter of polity this church represents the extremest revolt from 

 the clerical bureaucracy of Wesleyanism. As opposed to the hierarchical 

 system of that body, and the Presbyterian system of the New Connexion, the 

 United Free typify the Congregational principle. The system of government 

 is based upon the congregation, and the connexional principle is weak. 

 Circuit independence is assured by making the circuit court supreme in 

 circuit matters, and over this the union organization is a more or less loosely 

 fitting cloak. 



91 



