CHAPTER XXXII.

THE METHODIST CHURCH.

The Origin of Methodism-The New Connexion-Bible Christian Methodists -Primitive Methodists-Protestant Methodists-Association MethodistsWesleyan Reformers-The United Methodist Free Church.

THE ORIGIN OF METHODISM.

HE word "Methodist," applied descriptively to one of

Tthe largest and most influential denominations of

largest

Protestantism, is a derisive appellation that was used against John and Charles Wesley when they were sowing the seeds of the great church of to-day. The Methodici were physicians in ancient Rome, and the allusion of scoffers at the Wesleys' work to that very old word was occasioned by the doctrines they taught and personally practiced, of, among others, visiting the poor and sick.

The history of the inception and subsequent growth of Methodism forms one of the most entertaining narratives in the whole range of ecclesiastical records. The achievements of the Wesley brothers and their immediate followers are now known and honored "to the uttermost parts of the earth."

The Wesley brothers sprang from a family of strong religious convictions, which gave to the world several clergymen distinguished in their day. John was born at Epworth, Eng., June 17 (O. S.), 1703. He entered Christchurch, Oxford, when seventeen years old, and was ordained in 1725. Soon after his ordination he went to officiate as curate to his father at Wroote, where he remained two years. During

THE ORIGIN OF METHODISM.

459 this brief residence he received priest's orders. Towards the close of 1728 he was summoned back to college, in accordance with a regulation that such of the junior fellows as might be chosen moderator, should perform the duties of their office in person. There he found his younger brother, Charles (born in 1708), then an undergraduate of Christchurch, one of a small association of students already distinguished in the university by the sarcastic appellations of the Holy Club, the Godly Club, the Bible Moths, the Bible Bigots, the Sacramentarians, and the Methodists. At first their religious enthusiasm only carried them the length of devoting Sunday evenings to the reading of divinity, the other nights being given to secular study. Very soon, however, religion became the sole business of their meetings. They communicated once and fasted twice a week; they employed much of their time in visiting the prisons and the sick; gave away whatever they could spare in charity; observed among themselves a regular system of prayer, meditation, and self-examination, and, in a word, exhibited in all things a zeal and abstraction from the world such as has scarcely been surpassed by the most rigid order of religious devotees.

John Wesley immediately joined this gathering, which now (1729) consisted of about fifteen individuals, of whom the most remarkable, besides the Wesley brothers, were Mr. Morgan, a commoner of Christchurch; James Hervey, author of the well-known "Meditations," and George Whitefield, who became the celebrated revivalist. In the spring of 1735, Mr. John Wesley was called to attend his dying father, who desired him to present to Queen Caroline a book he had just finished. Soon after his return to Oxford, he went to London on this account, where he was strongly solicited by Dr. Burton, one of the trustees for the new colony at Georgia, to go there to preach to the Indians. At first he peremptorily refused. He particularly mentioned the grief it would occasion to his widowed mother. The case being referred to her, she is said to have made this reply: “Had I twenty sons, I should rejoice that they were all so employed, though I should never see them more."

His way appeared now plain, and he made arrangements for this enterprise. On Tuesday, October 14, 1735, he set off from London for Gravesend, accompanied by Mr. Ingham, Mr. Delamotte, and his brother Charles, who had taken holy orders, to embark for Georgia. There was a little company of Germans on board, members of the Moravian Church, with whose Christian deportment Mr. Wesley was much struck, and he immediately set himself to learn the German language, in order to converse with them.

The piety and devotion which Mr. Wesley and his companions manifested during the voyage indicated a becoming impression of the importance of their undertaking. Charles returned to England with despatches from Governor Oglethorpe early in 1737, and John remained until the close of that year. His work was taken up by his valued friend, Mr. George Whitefield, who arrived at Savannah on May 7, 1738, and was received by Mr. Delamotte and many of Mr. Wesley's hearers. It may be proper to notice the success which attended Mr. Whitefield's labors in this quarter of the globe. He returned to England at the close of the same year to receive priest's orders. On his return to America in 1739, he landed at Philadelphia, and immediately began his spiritual labors, which he continued as he passed through the colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and North and South Carolina, being attended by considerable audiences. Upon his arrival at Savannah, he found the colony almost deserted, which moved him to carry into effect his scheme of building an orphan-house, which he had the happiness to see completed through his exertions, and the liberal donations of his friends. Upon his third visit to the western continent, he took a voyage to the Bermuda Islands, where his ministry was successfully attended, and some contributions made for his orphan-house at Savannah. Upon his sixth voyage to Georgia, he received the thanks of the governor and principal people for the advantage which the colony had derived from his benevolent exertions. In 1769 he made his seventh and last voyage to America; but although his labors were so extensive, he formed no separate congregation.

EARLY BRANCHES OF THE CHURCH.

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In the meantime John Wesley, soon after his arrival in London, hastened to renew his connection with the Moravians. In the summer of 1738 he visited these brethren at their original seat of Herrnhut, Germany. He remained, in belief, with this sect until July, 1740, when he separated himself from them on account of differences on some fundamental points of doctrine.

The first separate meeting-house for the Methodists was begun to be built in the Horse Fair, near St. James' Church, Bristol, May 12, 1739. Upon his withdrawal from the Moravians and return to London, John Wesley devoted himself to preaching, traveling, writing books, and laboring in all other possible ways for the consolidation and extension of the new church.

Mr. Whitefield died Sept. 30, 1770, at Newburyport, near Boston, worn out by his extraordinary exertions. Charles Wesley died in London, March 29, 1788, while the life of his brother John was prolonged to his eighty-seventh year, and when he died, in March, 1791, he had been sixty-five years in the ministry, and fifty-two years an itinerant preacher. He lived to see in Great Britain and Ireland about 300 itinerant preachers, and 1,000 of what are called local preachers, raised up from the midst of his own people, and 80,000 persons in the societies under his care.

Whitefield is regarded in England as the founder of the Calvinistic section of Methodists. Of this sect the original chapels have become, not adopting any connectional bond, Independents; but from it arose two separate sects, the Countess of Huntingdon's connection, and the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists.

EARLY BRANCHES OF THE CHURCH..

In 1793 great dissensions sprang up among the Methodists in England about the sacraments, as to whether they should or should not be administered by the ministers, in the chapels to the members of the society who required them, as a part of Christianity. These led to secessions in Bristol and elsewhere. In 1795 many influential societies chose

delegates, and sent them to the Conference then held at Manchester, for the purpose of claiming some share in the government of Methodism. This led to concessions that may be found in the Plan of Pacification. These concessions, however, did not satisfy all. The dissenters formed themselves into a body under the leadership of the Rev. Alexander Kilham, and, withdrawing from the church, established the "NEW CONNEXION," in 1797. By the year 1853 this body had 301 chapels, 95 circuits, 814 local preachers, and 16,070 members; while at the close of 1860 they reported 473 chapels, including those in Ireland and Canada, 189 preachers, 1,204 local preachers, 29,331 members, and 60,753 Sunday-school scholars. Thirty years later these figures had been increased as follows: 514 chapels, 472 societies, 188 circuit preachers, 1,271 local preachers, 29,299 members, and 92,703 Sunday-school scholars.

THE BIBLE CHRISTIAN METHODISTS were consolidated into a denomination by Mr. O'Bryan, of the North Cornwall district. They were not seceders from the Wesleyan stock, but an independent sect that gradually adopted the Wesleyan tenets. In 1852 they had 403 chapels, 113 itinerant preachers, 1,059 local preachers, and 13,862 members.

THE PRIMITIVE METHODISTS originated in Staffordshire. Their first camp-meeting was held May 31, 1807. It commenced at six o'clock in the morning, and continued till eight in the evening. These camp-meetings being disapproved of by the old connection, a separation took place, when H. and J. Bourne enlarged their views, and the cause spread in every direction. Societies were established at Boylstone, Todely, and Hallington in Derbyshire. A general meeting was held at Tunstall, February 13, 1812, and a preparatory meeting at Nottingham, August 18, 1819, when arrangements were made for annual meetings. Quarterly meetings were held in March, June, September, and December, under which "the work mightily enlarged." Missionary exertions, which had been declining, were revived at Belper "very powerfully," while "the praying people, in returning home, were accustomed to sing through the streets of Belper {"