Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/473

 METHODISM 459 the communion of the church. As the general conference refused to comply, 19 annual con- ferences sent delegates to a convention which met in Springfield, O., Nov. 10, 1858. This convention suspended all official connection with the other portions of the church so long as they tolerated slaveholding. Subsequently these conferences seceded from the Methodist Protestant church, and with a few from the other non-Episcopal Methodist bodies organ- ized the " Methodist Church." This secession reduced the numerical and financial strength of the original church fully one half, leaving to it only 20 annual conferences. The Methodist Protestant church has about 65,000 members, and about $1,500,000 worth of property. The denomination has a book concern in Balti- more, and publishes three periodicals. Its church organ is " The Methodist Protestant," published in Baltimore. It has likewise un- der its control four literary institutions. The Methodist church had in 1874 28 confer- ences, 924 preachers, and about 65,000 mem- bers. It has a book concern and publishes a paper at Pittsburgh, Pa., and supports a mis- sionary board, a board for ministerial edu- cation, and one college. 5. The Wesley an Methodist Connection of America was organ- ized by a convention of 151 members, minis- terial and lay, convened in Utica, N. Y., May 31, 1843. Prominent among its founders were Orange Scott, president of the convention, first editor and publishing agent of the denomina- tion ; Luther Lee, an able controversialist and theologian, author of "Elements of Theology;" Edward Smith, and others of large experience and good ability. In doctrine and religious usages this body is strictly Methodistic. Its distinctive features appertain to questions of morality and church polity. Opposition to slavery was a principal cause of its organiza- tion. The argument ran thus : Slavery is sin per se; therefore slaveholders should be de- nied a place in the Christian church. A strin- gent rule was enacted, excluding from church communion not only all slave owners and slave traders, but also all who claimed that the in- stitution is right. This denomination did much to educate the public to the point of positive opposition to slavery. A strong position was also taken against intemperance, forbidding the manufacture, sale, or use of intoxicants as bev- erages, and even the intentional aiding of oth- ers so to do. Fellowship with freemasonry and kindred societies is forbidden, as incompati- ble with the spirit and precepts of the Chris- tian religion. The polity of this denomination unites the connectional and congregational ele- ments. In interests merely local the churches are independent, but those which are general are placed under the supervision of the con- ferences, general and yearly. In the former, which meets quadrennially, rests the supreme legislative authority, while the latter are for the most part administrative. These confer- ences respectively elect their own presidents. Equal representation of the laity with the min- istry is secured in all the conferences by spe- cific provision. There is but one order in its ministry, that of elders ; it is believed that, in the sense of the Scriptures, bishops are but pastors, and deacons supervised the temporal- ities of the church. Its itineracy is voluntary, and the pastorate is purely the subject of agree- ment between pastor and people. There are 16 yearly conferences, mostly confined to the northern states. The connection owns a pub- lishing house at Syracuse, KT, Y., where two papers are issued, the "American Wesley an," organ of the denomination, and the "Chil- dren's Banner." The assets are estimated at $40,000. These interests are supervised by a publishing agent, editors, and a book com- mittee consisting of six ministers and six lay- men, all of whom are elected by the general conference. The connection has contributed liberally to the cause of Christian education, has a well organized missionary society, and a society incorporated for the aid of superan- nuated ministers and the needy widows and orphans of deceased ministers. It had in 1874 about 250 ministers and 20,000 members. 6. Canadian Methodism. Methodism was intro- duced into the eastern British provinces by Wesleyan missionaries as early as 1765, and was afterward greatly advanced by American itinerants sent. out by Coke. Chief among these was Freeborn Garrettson, who reached Nova Scotia in 1785. Though there were classes prior to this time, William Losee, who entered Canada in 1790, is regarded as the first Methodist itinerant minister in that province. Methodism was greatly promoted by laborers from the United States, William Case, Henry Eyan, Nathan Bangs, and others, who in the face of great opposition established societies in both Lower and Upper Canada. Till the war of 1812 this work had been chiefly di- rected by the Methodist Episcopal church of the United States. The war interrupted this intercourse, and at its close preachers appointed to Canadian stations by the Genesee confer- ence were regarded with suspicion. The rival claims of the American and English Methodists were adjusted in 1820 by giving to the Eng- lish Conference the jurisdiction of Lower Can- ada and to the Genesee conference that of the Upper province. This adjustment did not prove satisfactory. In 1828 the Canada con- ference, organized in 1824, became an inde- pendent Methodist church, with an episcopal form of government, but in 1833 a union with the British conference was effected. A portion of the church resisted this union, and has continued under the title of the Meth- odist Episcopal church of Canada. In govern- ment and doctrine it is like the parent body. It has three annual conferences, 228 travel- ling preachers, 225 local preachers, 21,818 members, 30,000 Sunday school scholars, and church property to the amount of $2,149,776, and has charge of two collegiate institutions.