Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/199

Rh METHODISM 189 to the societies came to be the universal rule. By this legislation the preachers assumed the powers of pastors, in accordance, however, only and always with the desire and choice of their flocks. No formal service or act of ordination was brought into use till forty years after wards. All preachers on probation for the ministry, after the completion of their probation, were &quot; received into full connexion &quot; with the Conference, this reception im plying investment with all pastoral prerogatives. Modern Methodism has developed more fully and conspicuously the pastoral idea. No sooner was the sacramental controversy settled than the further question as to the position and rights of the laity came to the front in great force. A comparatively small party, led by Alexander Kilham, imported into the discussion ideas of a republican complexion, and demanded that the members in their individual capacity should be recognized as the direct basis of all power, that they should freely elect the leaders and stewards, that all distinction in Conference between ministers and laymen should be done away (elected laymen being sent as delegates from the circuits in equal number with the ministers), that the ministry should possess no official authority or pastoral prerogative, but should merely carry into effect the decisions of majorities in the different meetings. In the course of a very violent controversy which ensued, pamphlets and broadsheets, chiefly anonymous, from Kilham s pen, advocating his views and containing gross imputations on the ministers generally, and in particular on some not named but distinctly indicated, were disseminated through the societies. The writer was tried at the Conference of 1796, condemned for the publication of injurious and unjustifiable charges against his brethren, and by a unani mous vote expelled from the Conference. In the follow ing year he founded the &quot; New Connexion,&quot; the earliest of the organized secessions from Wesleyan Methodism. Views much more moderate than Kilham s prevailed in the Connexion at large. At the Leeds Conference of 1797 the basis was laid of that system of balance between the prerogatives of the ministers and the rights of the laity which has been maintained in its principles ever since, and which, in reality., has governed the recent provisions (1877-78) for the admission of lay-representatives into the Conference not less than the former developments of Wesleyan Methodism. The admission of members into the society had, up to 1797, been entirely in the hands of the itinerant preachers, that is, the &quot;assistant,&quot; hence forth to be styled the &quot;superintendent,&quot; and his &quot;helpers.&quot; The new regulations, without interfering rath the power of the ministers to admit members on trial, declared that &quot;the leaders meeting shall have a right to declare any person on trial improper to be received into society, and after such declaration the superintendent shall not admit such person into society &quot; ; also that &quot; no person shall be expelled from the society for immorality till such immorality be proved at a leaders meeting.&quot; 1 For the appointment of church officers (leaders and stewards) the following regulations were made, the second based on recognized usage, the first on general but not invariable practice : 1 In this regulation it was assumed that the old rule of society by which a member disqualifies and vritually expels himself by con tinued absence from class, without reason for such absence, still held good. The case provides only for expulsions for &quot;immorality.&quot; Subsequent legislation has introduced a provision which ensures to any member before he ceases to be recognized on account of non- attendance the right of having his case brought before a leaders meeting if he desires it. This rule of 1797 has always been under stood by the Conference as constituting the leaders meeting in effect a jury, leaving the superintendent with his colleague or colleagues as advisers to act as judge. Appeal has always lain from the leaders meeting to the district meeting, and, finally, to the Conference. &quot;1. No person shall be appointed a leader or steward, or be removed from his office, but in conjunction with the leaders meet ing, the nomination to be in the superintendent, and the approba tion or disapprobation in the leaders meeting. &quot;2. The former rule concerning local preachers is confirmed, viz., that no man shall receive a plan as a local preacher, without the approbation of a local preachers meeting.&quot; The Conference at the same time made several provisions for carrying out the process, which had been going on for some years, of denuding itself of direct responsibility in regard to the disbursement of the Connexional funds. The principle was established that such matters were to be administered by the district committees acting in corre spondence with the quarterly meetings of the circuits. It was also provided that circuits were not to be divided without the consent of the respective quarterly meetings ; and, finally, it was resolved that, in the case of any new rule made by the Conference for the Connexion, its action within a circuit might be suspended for a year by the quarterly meeting, if it disapproved of the rule. If, how ever, the Conference, after twelve months interval, still adhered to the new rule, it was to be binding on the whole Connexion. The powers of district committees, as defined by former Conferences, were in 1797 confirmed and enhanced, special powers being given to special meetings of these committees convened when necessary to settle the affairs of a distracted circuit. In the same Conference all the principal rules of Methodism, in regard both to the ministers and the laity, were collected and (in a sense) codified, including the new regulations adopted that same year ; and the whole, under the title &quot; Large Minutes,&quot; was accepted as binding by the Conference, each minister being required to sign his acceptance individually. This compendium, itself based on one which had been prepared by Wesley, is still accepted by every Wesleyan minister on his ordina tion as containing the rules and principles to which he subscribes. During the sitting of this critical Conference at Leeds an assembly of delegates from bodies of trustees throughout the kingdom was simultaneously held. The form of the regulations enacted by the Conference was, to a considerable extent, determined by the nature and form of the requests made by this body of trustees. There was one request, however, which the Conference distinctly declined to grant namely, that for lay delegation to the Conference. The Conference replied that they could not admit any but regular travelling preachers into their body, and preserve the system of Methodism entire, particularly the &quot; itinerant plan.&quot; It was not until many years after wards that anything was heard again as to this matter. By the settlement now described the outlines of Methodism as an organized church were fairly completed. Many details have since been filled in, and many changes have been made in secondary arrangements, but the principles of development have remained unchanged. The Connexion after 1797 had a long unbroken period of peaceful progress. The effect of the &quot; Kilhamite &quot; separa tion, indeed, was after 1797 not greatly felt by the parent body. The number of Methodists in the United Kingdom in 1796, the year of Kilham s expulsion, was 95,226; in 1797 it was 99,519 ; in 1798 the New Connexion held its first Conference, and reported 5037 members, the number of the parent body being 101,682. Nor was it till 1806 that the New Connexion reached 6000. During the period of quiet growth and development which followed 1797 the influence of one superior mind (Dr Jabez Bunting, 1779-1858) was to prevail with increasing sway. This was to be the period of the gradual development of lay co-operation in the administration of the various departments of Connexional extension and enterprise a development which prepared the way for the important legislation of 1852 and following years, and for the ultimate settlement of the respective provinces and powers