Xethodists Japan, and maintains a large number of schools and seminaries, and one college. In recent years it has made some modifications. The general con­ference of Aug

e. The African Methodist Episcopal Church: Early in the history of American Methodism there was dissatisfaction in the colored membership, who were aroused by Question 25 in the minutes of the conference of 1780: " Ought not the assistant to meet the colored people himself, and appoint as helpers in his absence proper white persons, and not suffer them to stay late and meet by them­selves? Ans. Yes." In Philadelphia, in 1787, certain colored people belonging to the Methodist Church met to consider their condition. When their ideas were opposed, they withdrew from the church, and Bishop William White (q.v.), of the Protestant Epis­copal Church, ordained a colored preacher for them. Asbury, in 1799, ordained Richard Allen (a slave who had bought his freedom, grown rich, and erected on his own land a church for the people of his race) a deacon, he being the first colored preacher ordained by the Methodist Episcopal Church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church sprang from the rela­tions between the white and colored Methodists of Philadelphia. John Emory (q.v.), representing the Methodist Episcopal Church, sent a letter to them stating that the white preachers could no longer maintain pastoral responsibility over them. On ac­count of this they considered themselves disowned by the Methodists, but an attempt was made to re­gain them. The case was taken into the courts, and was decided in favor of Bethel Church, with the result that the colored people in 1816 organized themselves into an independent body, adopting as its standards the doctrines of the Methodist Epis­copal Church, and, with a few modifications, its form of government. Richard Allen was elected bishop. The church steadily prospered, but not proportionately in education. In 1843 a contro­versy arose on the subject of the qualifications for ministers, led by Daniel Alexander Payne (q.v.), who had been trained as a theologian in the Gettysburg Theological Seminary, and to him is due a large part of the intellectual progress of the church. In 1863 the church purchased Wilberforce University in Ohio. This institution has been successfully con­ducted. After the Civil War, the church increased steadily. Educational work is carried on with in­telligence and enthusiasm. The African Methodist Episcopal Church and the British African Methodist Episcopal Church of the Dominion of Canada were united as a result of negotiations begun in 1880. A peculiarity of this body is that it makes the bishops members of the general conference. The African Methodist Episcopal Church has been devoted to missions. Before it was sixteen years old it estab­lished a mission in Hayti. In 1847 it founded The Parent Home and Foreign Missionary Society. . It carries on missions in Africa, South America, West Indies, and Hawaii, and in Africa its missions have about 12,000 members. This body has produced notable orators, such as Bishops Campbell and

8. The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church: In 1866 the conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South authorized the bishops to organize its colored members " into an independent eccle­siastical body," if it should appear that the mem­bers desired it. The bishops then formed a num­ber of annual conferences, consisting wholly of colored preachers. These requested in 1870 the appointment of five as a commission to meet five of their own number to create an independent church. The convention chose as the name of the body " The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church." Two bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South presided and ordained to the episcopacy two col­ored elders, W. H. Miles and R. H. Vanderhorst, selected by the eight colored conferences. The total value of church property then made over by the Methodist Episcopal Church South to the Col­ored Methodist Episcopal Church was $1,500,000. Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South have given them plots of ground and aided them in building churches. Paine College, Augusta, Ga., (with an enrolment of 300 in 1907), and Lane Col­lege, Jackson, Tenn., are carried on by the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in connection with the Methodist Episcopal Church South. This church took over, from the body that had nourished it, the articles of religion and the forms of government. Its rules will not allow any others than negroes the privilege of membership. At the outset there were but little more than 60,000 members; in 1909 it had 233,911, shepherded by 2,809 ministers and housed in 2,619 churches.

9. Minor Methodist Churches: The Primitive Methodist Church, as it exists in the United States, came from England. It has three annual confer­ences subdivided into districts and maintaining itinerant and local ministers and class‑leaders. They are slowly growing, having had 4,764 com­municants in 1890 and 7,295 in 1909. The In­dependent Methodist Churches are composed of congregations in Maryland, Tennessee, and the District of Columbia. Their statistics are inaccessi­ble. The Evangelist Missionary Church comprises ministers and members in Ohio, who in 1886 with­drew from the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. They have now about 5,000 members. They have one bishop and profess to have no creed but the Bible. The New Congregational Method­ists withdrew in 1881 from the Methodist Episcopal Church South in Georgia on account of alleged ar­bitrary action. Seven years later a number of its churches united with the Congregationalists. At the present time they report 1,782 members. The Congregational Methodists originated in Georgia in 1852. When the Congregational body began to establish congregations in the South after the war many of the churches and ministers that organized the Congregational Methodist Church went over to them. In doctrine, the Congregational Method­ists agree with other Methodist bodies; and in pol­ity they are not strictly Congregational. Appeals from the decision of the lower church may be taken


to a district conference, thence to the state confer­ence, and ultimately to .the general conference. This church has 15,529 members, chiefly in the southern states. The African Union Methodist Protestant Church dates from 1816, and differs from the African Methodist Episcopal Church in opposing itinerancy, paid ministers, and episcopacy. It has 3,867 members in eight states. The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church agrees in doc­trines and usages with other Methodist bodies. It antedates the African Methodist Episcopal Church, being organized in 1813 in Wilmington, Del., is di­vided into conferences, and elects its bishops for life. In 1890 it had 2,279 members, and now re­ports 18,500. The Zion Union Apostolic Church was organized in 1869 in Virginia. It was reported in 1890 to have 2,346 communicants, and at the end of 1909 reports 3,059.

10. In Canada and the Maritime Provinces: Methodism was introduced into Newfoundland in 1765 by Lawrence Coughland, who was admitted as a traveling preacher by John Wesley in 1755.

Coughland preached there until 1773, 1. Begin‑ his work being strengthened by local nings. preachers. In 1785 Wesley sent John

McGeary especially to that colony. Methodism came into being in Nova Scotia in 1779 by the conversion of William Black through the in­fluence of Wesley's sermons, and the efforts of newly arrived Methodists. Black in 1784, seeking for reinforcements, visited the conference called at Baltimore, Md., to receive Dr. Coke and form the Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1791 the work had so prospered in Nova Scotia as to demand a district with Black as elder, to act as superintend­ent of six stations, manned by as many preachers from the United States. Other preachers had been sent to various parts of the provinces. Methodism reached New Brunswick by way of Nova Scotia and the United States. In the Province of Canada local preachers had been working before the year 1790, but to William Losee, a preacher on trial without a definite appointment, belongs the honor of being the first missionary to Canada. His ex­periment proving successful, the next year he was regularly appointed. By 1799 a flourishing, pre­siding elder's district existed. In 1810 the Gene­see conference was organized, and preachers in Canada for the most part assumed relations with that body. Until 1812 they had been associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church. From,the beginning there had been steady advance till the war between the United States and Greatttritain; but during that conflict the members were dispersed, and at its close only 1,785 could found. The Methodists of Lower Canada, ng no preacher competent to administer the mances, applied to Nova Scotia for aid, an regular minister was sent from the British conference. This created confusion, which continued till 1820, when the upper province was allotted to the American preach­ers, and the lower to the British. In 1824 Method­ism in Upper'Canada, then comprising thirty‑five ministers and preachers on trial and 6,150 mem­bers, was organized into a single annual confer­ence, and during the next four years increase was

In 1833 the Methodist Episcopal Church of Can­ada had three annual conferences, 197 effective ministers, 25,000 members, and a polity practically the same as that of the Methodist 2. Division Episcopal Church in the United States. and Denom‑In that year it unified with the British inations. conference, changing its name and form of government. When the con­ference agreed to this union it did so without for­mal consultation with the laity. The majority both of ministers and laymen acquiesced, but cer­tain dissentients declared that, as it had not been submitted to the societies, the act was unconstitu­tional, and that it infringed upon the agreement made between the church in Canada and the Meth­odist Episcopal Church in the United States. These organized a new Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada, more than one‑thirteenth of the member­ship, declining to affiliate with the British confer­ence, associating with them. Being without schools, parsonages, and churches, they began litigation to secure a pro rata part of the property. The lower courts decided in their favor, but on appeal the higher court recognized the Wesleyan Methodists of Canada as the rightful owners. After this ques­tion was settled the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada entered on a career of prosperity, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, thrown wholly on its own resources, made every sacrifice in order to succeed. Four Primitive Methodist ministers had been sent in 1829 from England because of the number of that sect emigrating to the United States. Three years later the Hull circuit in England de­cided to take the Canadian societies under its im­mediate charge. A general missionary committee was formed by the home church and under its man­agement the increase of members was such that in 1854 the Canadian annual conference of Primitive Methodists was established. In 1831 the Bible Christians sent two missionaries to the British do­minions in America, one to West Canada and the other to Prince Edward Island. In 1855 the so­ciety was strong, and held its first conference in Columbus. It then had 51 churches, 21 regular preachers and many lay helpers, and 2,200 members. Ten years afterward the union with it of the Prince Edward Island churches, together with local growth, raised its membership to 5,000. The Canadian Wesleyan Methodist Church was formed in 1829. It was founded principally by Henry Ryan and introduced lay representation in all its courts. Ryan died in 1833, but the little church struggled on, and in 1841 united with the Methodist New Connection. The Methodist New Connection of England, with the consent of the parent society, established a mission in Canada in 1837. The mis­sion, enlarged by admitting a small denomination, VII,‑23

Ceremonies of Churches," " Of Christian Men's Goods " and " Of a Christian Man's Oath." The following were retained with important omissions: " The Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salva­tion," " Of Original or Birth Sin," " Of the Church," and" Of Baptism." The following were rejected: " Of the Going down of Christ into Hell," " Of the Three Creeds," " Of Works before Justification," '° Of Christ alone without Sin,", 1 of Predestinar tion and Election," " Of Obtaining Eternal Salva­tion only by the Name of Christ," " Of the Author­ity of the Church," " Of the Authority of General Councils," " Of Ministering in the Congregar

_ _ _ _e t‑ ll . "e‑


assumed the title " Canadian Methodist New Con­nection." In 1840 the British conference " with­drew from its cooperation " with the Canada con­ference, which acted independently for seven years, but during that period the form and name of the Wesleyan Methodist Church remained unchanged. In 1847 the union was restored, and in 1854, by special arrangement, the Lower Canada and the Hudson Bay missionary districts, both of which had stood in immediate connection with the Brit­ish Wesleyan conference, became incorporated with the Wesleyan church in Canada. In 1857 the Methodist Episcopal Church founded an educa­tional institution at Bellville, which was incorpo­rated as Bellville Seminary; three years later it was affiliated with the Toronto University as Bell­ville College, the ladies' department taking the designation of Alexandria College, and later the re­maining part of the institution being known as Albert University.

For years a yearning existed in many hearts for organic union of Methodist bodies. This first bore fruit in the union of the Wesleyan

S. Vni. Methodist Church in Canada, the East‑

ication. ern British American conferences, and

the Methodist New Connection Church,

proposed in 1872, and consummated in Toronto in

1874, the uniting bodies adopting the all‑inclusive

name of the Methodist Church of Canada. Its first

census reported 1,031 ministers, and 101,946 mem­

bers, two universities, three theological schools, and

several colleges and secondary schools. Yet some­

thing still greater awaited Canadian Methodism.

The first Ecumenical Conference of Methodism,

which convened in Wesley Chapel, London, in 1881,

gave such impulse to fraternity as to extend the

horizon till glimpses of complete Methodist unity

could be perceived in the not distant future. Can­

ada was the first to know its visitation. In Bell­

ville, in 1883, was accomplished the formal and ac­

tual union of the Methodist Church of Canada, the

Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada, the Primi­

tive Methodist Church in Canada, and the Bible

Christian Church of Canada. The body thus formed

was in the possession of seven colleges, having 100

professors and 5,068 students. The Methodist

Church of Canada contributed to the union 128;

337 members; the Methodist Episcopal Church in

Canada, 25,678 members; the Primitive Method­

ists, 8,000; and the Bible Christians, 6,800‑a. sum

total of 168,815 members. The itinerant general

superintendents hold office for the term of eight

years, and are eligible to reelection. The annual

conferences are composed of ministers and an equal

number of laymen, a president being selected from

among the ministerial members. The president of

the annual conference is the superintendent of the

district in which he may be stationed. The annual

conference elects superintendents for each district.

There are now six departments of mission work,

home, Indian, French, Chinese and Japanese in

British Columbia, and foreign. The home work

embraces needy fields in the dominion, Newfound­

land, and Bermuda. These include more than

35,000 communicants. The French missions are

in Quebec, The foreign missions are in China and


laneous works; his &splanotory "ores upon W.e n.„. ...­tamant, issued by the game house as a standard (the re­cently deciphered diaries from which the Journals were written, containing s considerable amount of new material, are in course of publication in London, and will be avail­able at the principal repositories for Methodist literature in the United States); the Limes and other literature given under the articles on the Weeleys in the last volume of this work; the Books of Discipline of the various Methodist bodies; the Journals of the Methodist Episcopal Church and of the Methodist Episcopal Church South; the Minntea of the annual confgl'enaes; the Proceedings of the Ecumeni­cal Methodist confermaes, held in London, 1881, Washing­ton, 1891, and London, 1901; the Records of the Centennial Convention in Baltimore, 1884; the Year Boo" of the vari­ous bodies; and the early periodicals to which reference is made in the text. Consult also the numerous sketches of Methodist worthies in this work, and the literature g

V. The Doctrinal Standards of Methodism: John Wesley was a clergyman of the Church of England. The societies which he formed were organizations for the conversion of men and their religious de‑

velopment. He aimed to retain his 1<. Doctrinal converts within the pale of that great

Bases. national church, .and from its clergy­

men the majority of Methodists re­

ceived the sacraments. He and they believed the

fundamental doctrines of universal Christendom,

as contained in the articles, homilies, and ritual to

which they had been accustomed from childhood.

Nevertheless, in the judgment of Wesley, certain

doctrines of the New Testament were neglected by

the clergy or robbed of their true proportion and

emphasis. These doctrines were by him consid­

ered vital to the spread of pure Christianity. Ac­

cordingly he expounded them in his conferences,

published them with comments in the minutes and

preached upon them. Also he found it necessary

to write and publish sermons upon the doctrines

which Methodism emphasized; for his preaching

excited vehement opposition from unsympathetic

Anglican clergymen, and from Presbyterian, Inde­

pendent, and Baptist ministers. The Baptists dif­

fered from him on the method and subjects of bap­

tism and its relation to the reception of the Lord's

Supper. To preserve unity of belief among the

preachers and members of his societies, he prepared

planations of the pivotal passages upon which he

based the views he so firmly believed and fervently