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 452 METHODISM no inspired or divinely imposed church polity. While it believes that certain types of church organization are found in the New Testament, it teaches that no uniformity of church gov- ernment is obligatory, but that a church is at liberty to adapt its polity and government to its varying exigencies. So with the orders of the clergy. Methodism concedes that three orders early appeared in the church, but denies that these are enjoined in Scripture. Thus in Great Britain it recognizes but one order, while in America it has provided two. Agree- ably with its original character as a revival and missionary movement, it feels at liberty to adjust its polity to the demands of its work. Nevertheless its government and usages are essentially similar in all its divisions, as will appear from the separate accounts of them. II. DIVISIONS OF METHODISM. The original body of Methodists in Great Britain are called Wes- ley ans or Wesley an Methodists. The principal secessions from this parent body are the Cal- vinistic Methodists, the Methodist New Con- nection, the Primitive Methodists, the United Methodist Free church, the Bible Christians, and the Primitive Methodists of Ireland. There are also several minor divisions. 1. Wesley - ans, or Wesleyan Methodists. Although the " United Society," organized in 1739, was the real origin of Methodism, the Wesleyans had no legal status till 1784, and the societies had been under the exclusive control of the Wes- leys. They had assembled the conferences, and had directed the religious work. The chapels and preachers' houses had been deeded to trustees for the use of such preachers as John or Charles Wesley should send to them, and, after the death of the Wesleys, of such as the conference should appoint. Near the close of his life, John Wesley drafted the so- called " Deed of Declaration," a plan for the perpetuity of the societies. In this instrument 100 preachers named by Wesley were declared to be the legal conference, and their character and powers were clearly defined. To them was intrusted the duty of filling vacancies as they might occur. By the enrollment of this document in the high court of chancery the conference secured a corporate existence and legal status. The provisions of this deed have remained substantially the same to the present time. These members are technically called " The Legal Hundred." After the death of Wesley the church was greatly agitated by controversies relative to its polity, as well as by the political questions to which the French revolution had given rise. The celebration of the sacraments by its own preachers inde- pendently of the establishment, the powers of individual societies, and the relation of lay- men to the government of the church, were among the chief subjects in controversy. These were substantially adjusted in 1795 by the adoption of a plan called " Articles of Agree- ment for General Pacification," although soon after a secession under the leadership of Alex- ander Kilham resulted, and took the name of the Methodist New Connection. After Wes- ley's death the progress of the Wesleyan Meth- odists was rapid and substantial. As a revi- val power it was unceasing in its labors for home evangelization, and as a missionary move- ment it organized conferences in Ireland, France, Australia, Canada, and the other Brit- ish provinces of America, and established mis- sions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portu- gal, continental India, Ceylon, China, western and southern Africa, the West Indies, Austra- lia, and many of the islands of Oceania. It de- veloped a wise and efficient financial system ; it has taken active part in the great ques- tions of emancipation and civil liberty ; it laid broad the foundations of its educational sys- tem, and wonderfully developed its literary and theological character by the works of Thomas Coke, Jabez Bunting, Adam Clarke, Robert Newton, Joseph Benson, Richard Watson, Thomas Jackson, and many others. The doc- trines of the Wesleyan Methodists have al- ready been sufficiently indicated. While they have no written confession of faith, they find in the thirty-nine articles of the established church a proximate expression of their doctrinal belief ; but the deeds of their churches and the courts of England recognize Wesley's notes on the New Testament and a portion of his ser- mons as a standard of doctrine. Its polity and government are substantially defined in the " Deed of Declaration." By this instrument the' supreme ecclesiastical government is vested ex- clusively in the hands of the clergy. These meet annually in conference, and continue in session not less than five days and not more than three weeks. The legal conference has power to receive preachers on trial, to re- ceive into full membership on ordination, to pass upon the character of all the preachers, to try charges against any, and to reprimand, suspend, or exscind. It is its prerogative to review and revise the proceedings of the sub- ordinate judicatories. These are : first, the district meeting or conference, composed of ministers and laymen residing within a cer- tain district, embracing from 10 to 20 circuits ; second, the quarterly meeting, composed of local preachers, stewards, and class leaders, at which meeting, thus composed largely of the lay element of the church, candidates for the ministry are first proposed, and can be rejected without appeal; thirdly, the leaders' meeting, held monthly, and composed of the minister or ministers of a circuit, the leaders of classes, and stewards, the last having in charge chiefly the temporalities of the societies. The members of the various churches are divided into "classes," each numbering from 12 to 20 persons and placed under a "leader," who is to meet the class weekly to inquire after their spiritual condition and give such counsel and exhortation as each may need. The ministry is itinerant, preachers being appointed to a church for a single year, and eligible to con-