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 450 METHODISM stances the converts, and even Mr. Wesley and some of his clerical fellow workers, were re- pelled from the eucharist. Under these cir- cumstances it was felt by many that these so- cieties should receive the sacraments at the hands of their own preachers, and some had ventured to administer them. The conference of 1755 was greatly agitated with this question, and the kindred one of separation from the established church was openly discussed ; but after a protracted debate, it was decided to be inexpedient to form a separate church. Since the first voyage of Wesley to America in 1735, the Moravians, whom he then met, had by the simplicity and purity of their lives exerted a powerful influence on the Methodist move- ment. They had societies in London and else- where, but their numbers were limited, and they lacked that compact organization neces- sary for permanent success. Between 1750 and 1760 Ingham, assisted by Moravian helpers, founded more than 80 societies in Yorkshire and the neighboring counties. These were in close affiliation with the Arminian and Calvinistic societies, but had their separate conferences. In 1760 a small company of Irish, descendants of German Palatines, who had received Meth- odism, removed to New York, and in 1766, through the influence of Barbara Heck and Philip Embury, resumed the religious services to which they had been accustomed in Ireland. They were assisted by Oapt. Webb, an officer in the British army, who had been licensed by Wesley as a local preacher. In 1769 two preach- ers were sent to America. These found that the country had been greatly awakened by the labors of Whitefield, and they were successful in establishing a church in New York. White- field had crossed the ocean 13 times, but in 1770 his work was terminated by his death at Newburyport, Mass. At this time the mem- bers in Wesley's societies amounted to 29,- 179. The period between 1770 and 1780 wit- nessed no cessation of labor by either branch of Methodism. Although a controversy on the points of difference between Arminianism and Calvinism was carried on with great ability on either side, in which Wesley and Fletcher were opposed by Shirley, Toplady, Rowland Hill, and others, not only were the societies cared for and greatly increased, but also the foundations of those great moral enterprises, the Bible, tract, and missionary societies, were laid, and much attention was given to schemes of public philanthropy. In 1771 Francis As- bury and Richard Wright had been sent to America, where the work had greatly in- creased, and where the first conference was held in 1773. From 1784 the history of Meth- odism diverges into two main branches, viz. : Wesleyan Methodism and the Methodist Epis- copal church. The first assumed a distinct organic and legal status by the record in the high court of chancery of Mr. Wesley's " Deed of Declaration," and the second became an independent church in America through the ordination by Mr. Wesley and the Rev. James Creighton of Thomas Coke as superintendent and bishop of the Methodist societies in Amer- ica, and Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Ya- sey as presbyters. Till his death in 1791, Wesley continued to preside at the annual conferences and to plan and direct the work. Methodism had already been introduced into England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, the British islands, France, the United States, Nova Sco- tia, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. In 1791 it numbered 233 circuits, 540 travelling preachers, and 134,599 members. Confession. Methodism strove at first only to restore a purified and intensified spiritual life. The careful discussion by Wesley and his fellow laborers, in the conferences and through pub- lished works, of the religious needs of the people and of the obstacles to the progress of the work of evangelization, was the occasion of the development of the Wesleyan theology. Methodism has no such elaborate and authori- tative symbol as the Tridentine decrees, or the Heidelberg, the Augsburg, the Westminster, and other confessions. The substance of its doctrines is to be found in the writings of John Wesley, John Fletcher, Richard Watson, and others, and in the generally uniform teach- ings of the Methodist pulpit. The articles which Wesley prepared for the Methodist church in America were taken substantially from the thirty-nine articles of the church of England. Agreeing with the so-called orthodox churches in most cardinal doctrines of the Bible, the material principle of Methodism, like that .of all other independent systems of theology, is to be found in its conception of the mutual relation of God and man with regard to the work of salvation through Christ. Methodism holds that the salvation or non-salvation of each human being depends solely on his own free action in respect to the enlightening, renewing, and sanctifying inworkings of the Holy Spirit. If, in respect to these inworkings, he holds himself receptively, he will be saved both here and hereafter ; but if he closes his heart against these influences of the Spirit, he will continue in death both here and in eter- nity. With this fundamental view, all the other doctrinal peculiarities of Methodism, such as its dogma of freedom, its emphasis of the work of the Holy Spirit, its views of assurance, Christian perfection, &c., are inti- mately and harmoniously connected. In ac- cord with this general principle, Methodism is Arminian in distinction from Calvinistic. Teaching the total depravity of the race through the fall of the first pair, and man's consequent absolute inability to recover a state of holiness and obedience, except as aided by divine grace, Methodism teaches that this grace of God in Christ is universal. First, as to the divine purpose : God wills the salvation of all, and Christ died for all. Secondly, as to the work of God for us, or the objective , operation of grace : for as by the first Adam