Wesleyan Methodism from 1840 to 1890; a mere glance — The great Reform in 1877 of a Pastoral and a Representative house in the Conference — Another attempt to episcopize the Conference, by Riggs and Hughes, an utter failure — The Bible Christians; O'Brian and his case 1809 to 1814; his expulsion — Organization of a new Methodism; its marvelous success under a liberal polity — The United Methodist Free churches; a coalition of secedent bodies — Sketch of its polity and growth — Expulsion of Messrs. Griffith, Everett, and Dunn, originates the Free Methodists in 1849 — Comparative growth of liberal and autocratic Methodism.
It would demand more space than the scope and intent of this History could allow to treat with even the same discursiveness the half-century of English Methodism from 1840 to 1890, nor is it necessary. In the symposium for the centenary of Wesley's death, 1891, in the New York Independent the Wesleyan Conference is treated by James M. King, D.D. The sketch is meager considering its importance, and much of its contents has been anticipated. Of course, it takes no notice of the expulsions and secessions from the body, specially of a later date than the Associated Methodists under Dr. Warren. These have a separate history in this symposium and shall occupy most of the space of this concluding chapter on transatlantic Methodisms. Notice is taken of a few aphoristic sentences of Dr. King's: "No great religious movement known in history is so thoroughly-personal in conception, development, and manner of its ramifications as the Wesleyan movement." "The separation from the Church of England was brought about by gradual steps, and was never the subject of formal declaration."
The leaven of lay-recognition, as has been found under the educational force of secessions, continued to work from the last in 1835 down through others to be mentioned until the year 1877, when the widest stride was made in this direction. Dr. King epitomizes it: "In 1877 the constitution of the Conference was so amended as to admit lay-representatives to a participation in certain parts of its proceedings. The Pastoral Session of the Conference, composed of ministers only, deals with ministerial and pastoral questions; and the Representative Session of the Conference, composed of ministers and laymen, manages financial and general matters. But these sessions of the Conference possess no functions interfering with the constitutional rights of the Legal Hundred." It outlines the deepest inroad yet made upon the exclusiveness of the ministerial class, and when Dr. King says
"lay-representation" he means lay-delegation. Two houses, one for ministers, and one for ministers and laymen, is a favorite idea, borrowed from these brethren by not a few Episcopal Methodist ministers as they see the inevitable crowding upon them. It is a plausible scheme, and if adopted would satisfy, for the time at least, not a few of the thoughtful laymen of that Church. But it is seriously objectionable, and will never be received as a finality by the self-respecting lay element;
but this is not the place for its discussion. It shows also how the Poll-Deed stands as a bar to generous enlargement, and is the responsible factor for these makeshifts of a liberal polity. Every such movement also is sure to alarm the class, typical among the ministers, of the old paternal idea, and reactionary steps are ever and anon suggested. In 1891, when the large delegation of the
Wesleyan Conference mingled with the paramount element of the Episcopal churches at the second Ecumenical Conference in Washington, D. C., its features of strength and centralization appealed to the admiration of some of the foremost of these brethren, and they returned home full of the purpose to embody modifications of them in the Wesleyan Conference. They secured at the last Conference a committee to consider the subject of strengthening the executive department. It originated with Rev. Dr. Riggs and had the support of Rev. Hugh Price Hughes, and other prominent men. The plan is not fully matured by the committee having it in hand, but it is in brief: to create a body of thirteen administrative officers, who for the present shall be styled "Separated Chairmen,"
each of whom shall have administrative charge of some sixty circuits as a superintendent, preside over meetings of the district conferences, etc. These officers are to be elected for a term of six years.
It is a recrudescence of Coke's plan at the Manchester Conference nearly one hundred years ago, though this does not appear to be confessed, as it might prejudice the case. It is the mildest approach possible to a reestablishment of the paternal idea, and would probably be helpful, but the lurking danger of something else it might generate has turned upon it already in its incipiency a storm of opposition from laymen and ministers. The English Methodist press reports R. W. Peeks, a member of Parliament and a layman, as saying: "It is a new scheme for the creation of a bench of Methodist bishops.
I earnestly appeal to my fellow Methodists not to be misled by poetical similes and adulatory phrases; but to recognize the plain and naked fact, that the new clerical order will be nothing more or less than a Methodist episcopate." Rev. W. H. Coradine says, "The whole affair, to sum up, is too autocratic and bureaucratic for the 'times' and for the Methodist Church." Rev. W. G. Hall says:
"Will the game be worth the candle? I call it a game, for I cannot but see it in the light of playing a pretty little game at bishops . . . the powers of such brethren, chairmen or bishops as we might call them, would soon grow beyond that of the President. . . . I think it likely the thirteen so appointed would be known as the thirteen Methodist tyrants, and their government as the Methodist Reign of Terror. The toadyism to which this would give rise would be most degrading to the ministerial character, and the partiality to which the bishops would be tempted would soon show itself." Nothing comparable to this severity of language can be found in the whole range of the Reform controversy of 1820-30 in America, and yet for milder protests laymen and preachers in no small numbers were expelled the Mother Church. Will this man lose his clerical head? No. The time for the excision of men for opinions' sake and denying freedom of speech is past in Methodism. The Riggs proposition will probably be disastrously defeated. "In founding the United Societies of the people called[1]
Methodists, John Wesley founded a Church." The statement must be unqualifiedly denied. There is not a single fact to support it, and such reckless avowals confuse true history. Such annalists deliver themselves in an occult sense, and if critically pressed could justify their assertions only in a refined transcendental meaning. There is a purpose, however, in linking Wesley's name with Churchism both in England and America, as will hereafter be seen. Wesleyan Methodism under the immediate supervision of the Conference is accredited with the following statistics for 1891. Members in Great Britain, 423,615; in Ireland and Irish missions, 25,365; in Foreign missions, 34,287; French Conference, 1411; South African Conference, 28,776; West India Conferences, 45,928; total, 559,382. Ministers, total 2224. Dr. King furnishes no property values for this period.
It is necessary to retrace steps to notice the Bible Christian denomination, originating in the expulsion of William O'Brian, a lay-preacher, from the Wesleyan society in 1810. It is remarkable that Stevens takes no account of this transaction.
O'Brian was born in Cornwall in 1778. His mother was a deeply pious woman, and, with her family, joined the Methodists when they organized in her neighborhood. Her son was converted in his eighteenth year, and at once began to exhort his companions and establish meetings in various places, which were marked with converting power. In 1804 he suffered a severe illness, and promised the Lord that if restored he would give himself fully to the ministry. He consulted the circuit preacher, but was not encouraged. In 1809 the circuit preacher was absent and O'Brian was called upon to fill his appointments. He did so acceptably, often walking twenty and thirty miles and preaching three and four times on the Sabbath. Scores were converted and united with the societies.
For six years he hoped to be engaged by the Conference. He attended the annual district meeting and begged to be heard. He was not heard, and was requested to return home. No data are before us explaining the reason for this persistent refusal. He kept up his irregular services, and in November, 1810, he was expelled from the local society where he held his membership, and in a chapel built upon a piece of land he gave. He quietly submitted, but worked and preached, as the way was opened to him, into distant and destitute neighborhoods. His mother began to hold services also, and a deep prejudice was created against both of them. In 1814, O'Brian gave up his business that he might devote himself wholly to the work. He heard that in the east of Cornwall there were thirteen parishes destitute of evangelical preaching. He went among them in 1815. He was greatly persecuted by the parish priests and was threatened with the jail if he continued. He made repeated overtures for work under the Conference. He was as repeatedly rejected. In 1815 he formed the first society of a new cause in a farmhouse in the county of Devon. Twenty united with the Thorne family, who opened their farmhouse to him. He was much maligned, but, disproving all the calumnies, grew more popular than ever. A first quarterly meeting was held January 1, 1816, at Holsworthy, Devon, where his mother had come to live. The number in society was now 237, all of them O'Brian's converts under God, none having been received from the old societies. They held their first love-feast and prospered. A storm of persecution beat upon them from the viler sort of sinners. Johanna Brooks was converted. She began to tell her neighbors what great things God had done for her. This she did in the parish church, and a warden turned her out. O'Brian was sent for and began working. Many influential families were brought to Christ under his crude, but powerful preaching. James Thorne at twenty years of age began to preach, his parents consenting. He set out upon what proved to be his life-work of eminent usefulness. He sought for and professed to find the full salvation, and in consequence "a fervor and a zeal burned through all his life." Making the Bible alone their guide-book, wonderful results attended their word. Their persecutions were akin to all the early Methodist preachers. The first church, or chapel, was built on the Thorne estate. It was twenty by forty feet, and opened May 29, 1818. On the same estate has since been built the Connectional College. At the quarterly meeting, held October 6, 1817, the membership had increased to 1146.
There were now six traveling preachers and three circuits.
The first Conference was held at Baddash Launcestion, in Cornwall, and about twelve preachers attended, August 17, 1819. The form of a deed for the conveyance of property was made and duly enrolled in the High Court of Chancery. The subject of women preaching was discussed and unanimously agreed to. The printed minutes of the Conference showed sixteen men and fourteen
women on the roll. A Home missionary society was organized, and the work much enlarged under it. The second Conference was held at Baddash in 1820. There were six ordained ministers, nineteen on trial, and nineteen women, making a total of forty-four. There were seventeen circuits. The third Conference was held at Shebbear, in Lake chapel, in August, 1820. An Annuitant Society was formed, whose capital fund is now 4212. It is for the superannuated and their families. A connectional magazine was established in 1822. It is now a sixty-four page monthly. In 1822 a mission was opened in London and in the Channel islands. In 1831 a missionary was sent to Canada.
In 1850 two were sent to South Australia; in 1855 one to Victoria; in 1866 a mission was opened in Queensland, and in 1877 in New Zealand. In 1885 two missionaries were sent to China, which have been increased to eight. It is therefore a truly missionary Church, thus showing its credentials as of Christ. In 1883 their Canada Conference of 71 ministers, local preachers, 181 chapels with 6918 members, and their Sabbath-schools, went into the union of Methodisms. Its statistics for 1891 are:
271 ministers, 1899 local preachers, 1011 chapels, halls, and rooms, with a membership of 30,000.
Its polity is liberal, and, on the question of women preaching, radical. These facts are gleaned from the paper of Rev. William Higman, President of the Conference, in the symposium of the New York Independent for 1891, the centenary of Wesley's decease.
The United Methodist Free Churches now demand attention. They embody the most recent and numerous secessions from the Wesleyan body with their own increase under a prosperity that scouts the idea that a favoring Providence is on the side of Wesley's paternal polity as embodied in the Poll-Deed and the Wesleyan Conference. The Union was formed in 1857 between the Associated Methodists of 1835, whose history was left incomplete in the notice of their organization under the lead of Dr. Warren; the Wesleyan Reformers of 1849; the Protestant Methodists originating in the Leeds organ question, and the last secession resulting from the expulsion of Rev. James Everett, Samuel Dunn, and William Griffith, with the sequel of the loss of one hundred thousand officers and members to the Wesleyan connection. These sections, or branches of Methodism, finding that their principles of church government and administration were identical, after friendly negotiations, met by representation in the town of Rochdale, Lancashire, and in July, 1857, the Union was consummated, and for more than thirty years it has worked with undisputed satisfaction to all the contracting parties.
It is under an Annual Assembly. Its constitution is found in a legal instrument called the
"Foundation Deed." The Annual Assembly is purely elective, and that directly from the quarterly meetings of the circuits. The ratio is one to every circuit having under 500 members, two for every 500 and under 1000, and three for every 1000 members and upward. No qualification is required for election but membership in the circuit, and no distinction is made between ministers and laymen, and there is nothing to bar the eligibility of a woman, if elected.
The Assembly has four ex-officio members, the President, the Connectional and Corresponding Secretaries, and the Treasurer, who form the connecting link between the Annual Assemblies. A Connectional Committee has charge of the interests of the denomination during the interval of the Assemblies. The ministry is connectional, and in principle itinerant, but without a restrictive rule as to limit of pastoral service. Its ministry is also under the absolute control of the Annual Assembly.
It controls all the connectional institutions and funds. "The fundamental principles of the body are circuit independence and free election to the Annual Assembly, which, however, has no authority
to interfere with the internal affairs of the circuits or to make laws for their guidance. The district meetings have no judicial or legislative functions, but are the medium of communication between the circuits and the Assembly." The circuit strength of the denomination lies principally in the mining and manufacturing counties of England; it has also large interests in the agricultural provinces. Lately attention has been given to London.
In the earlier years of the Union its resources were taxed to depletion in building chapels and consolidating itself, a factor in all these secedent branches, of which too much account cannot be taken in comparative estimates. Then it took up Home and Foreign missions, and collections must be taken up for them under penalty of forfeiture of membership in the Assembly. Its foreign missions are in Jamaica, West and East Africa, China, Australia, and New Zealand. The income for the Mission Fund is 12,000. They are prosecuted at great expense and martyr devotion from its young preachers. The denomination has a publishing house in London which issues its connectional literature. The profits are distributed among the connectional funds. A new congregational hymn-book was published in 1890. A Relief Fund for indigent chapels and a London Chapel Fund are among its creations. In 1877 a college was opened at Harrogate, Yorkshire, for the education of ministers and for commercial life. It has other funds in common with the Methodisms, special attention being given to its "Temperance League." Its statistics are as follows: 417 ministers, 1608 chapels and preaching-places, with a roll of 85,461 members. There are also 3341 local preachers, 3889 class leaders, 1367 Sunday-schools, 26,689 teachers, and 203,883 scholars. The value of church property is about 2,037,384. "Such is Free Methodism as at present organized and administered. It constitutes the fairest and fullest opportunity ever given in Great Britain for testing the problem, whether the peculiar genius of Methodism can be successfully worked on purely democratic principles. At present Free Methodism is robust and vigorous."
It is proper for a better understanding of the origin of the Free Methodists that notice in more detail should be taken of the expulsion of Messrs. Griffith, Everett, and Dunn at the Manchester Conference, August 3, 1849. Several years before suspicion was aroused among not a few of the prominent ministers and laymen of the Wesleyan body that the management of the temporalities of the denomination, specially in the Mission House, was not as careful and judicious as might be, and under the reasonable checks which business affairs always demand. The proceedings had been conducted after the genius of paternalism, with a degree of secrecy deemed impolitic by those who wished the conduct of affairs to be above suspicion. It will be remembered that even the proceedings of the Wesleyan Conference itself were still conducted with closed doors, as had been the fashion from Wesley's day, and as to the internal management through committees and secretaries little was ever disclosed except in the annual reports. Inquiries were met with brusque answers, only serving to heighten the suspicion of the wide-awake investigators. Finding themselves thwarted at every turn, they began to issue anonymous circulars and pamphlets, which were widely distributed and extensively read, thereby arousing the connection and bringing the subject-matter to the immediate attention of the laity. Great excitement was created by the accusations on the one hand and the denials on the other, the controversy waxing warmer as it became acrimonious and personal. All the efforts of the Conference authorities proved abortive in discovering the authors of the circulars, which came to be called "Fly-sheets," those engaged in the work proving themselves as capable of keeping a secret as those managing the close corporation concerns of the Conference in the Mission House, etc. A Mr. Osburn was designated by the Conference to ferret out the authors, and with much