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WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 533 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WESLEYAN METHODIST See also:

CHURCH , one of the See also:chief branches of See also:Methodism (q.v.). On the See also:day of See also:John See also:Wesley's See also:death the preachers in See also:London sent a brief See also:note to those stationed in the See also:country: " Dear See also:Brother, The See also:melancholy See also:period we have so See also:long dreaded is now arrived. Our aged and honoured See also:Father, Mr Wesley, is no more! He was taken to See also:Paradise this See also:morning, in a glorious manner, after a sickness of five days. We have not See also:time to say more at See also:present relative to his See also:Demise. Only what respects out future Oeconomy. This See also:injunction he laid upon us, and all our Brethren on his death-See also:bed, That we each continue in our respective Station till the time appointed for the next See also:Conference at See also:Manchester. We have, therefore, no doubt but you will, with us, readily comply with his Dying See also:Request. The more so, as this is consonant with the determination of the Conference held at See also:Bristol when he was supposed to be near death there, and confirmed in succeeding Conferences." In 1790 there were 294 preachers and 71,668 members in See also:Great See also:Britain, 19 missionaries and 5300 members on the See also:mission stations; 198 preachers and 43,265 members in the See also:United States. The 6th of See also:April was kept as a day of See also:fasting and See also:prayer, and the 1st of See also:July was thus set apart in See also:order to seek divine guidance for the approaching conference. The crisis was serious. The large proportion of Wesley's members had been gathered by the labours of himself and his helpers.

They had been taught to observe the sacraments and naturally desired that See also:

provision should be made for their See also:administration in their own chapels. Some See also:felt that they could not go to the See also:Lord's Table where the clergyman was a worldly See also:man; others went, but with much fear and doubt. The Church party was influential and resolute to maintain See also:close relations with the Church of See also:England. Their See also:object was to prevent Methodism becoming See also:independent. There was also a small but determined party that leaned to dissent. The struggle between these conflicting tendencies soon began. On the 3oth of See also:March 1791 nine preachers. sent out the famous See also:Halifax circular making suggestions as to the choice of See also:president and other matters that must come before the conference. The first See also:signature to this circular was that of See also:William See also:Thompson who was afterwards elected as the first president. On the 4th of May eighteen See also:lay-men met at See also:Hull and expressed their conviction that the useful-ness of Methodism would be promoted by its continued connexion with the Church of England. They would not consent to the administration of the sacraments by the preachers in Hull, nor to Methodist See also:preaching at the time when services were held in church. A trenchant reply to this circular was prepared by See also:Alexander See also:Kilham (q.v.), one of the younger Methodist preachers. The conference met in Manchester on the 26th of July 1791.

A See also:

letter from Wesley (dated See also:Chester, April 7, 1785) was read, beseeching the members of the Legal Conference not to use their See also:powers for selfish ends but to be absolutely impartial in stationing the preachers, selecting boys for See also:education at Kingswood School, and disposing of connexional funds. The conference at once resolved that all privileges conferred by Wesley's See also:Poll See also:Deed should be accorded to every preacher in full connexion. To See also:supply the lack of Wesley's supervision the circuits were now grouped together in districts. At first the preachers of the See also:district elected their own chairman, but they were after-wards appointed by the conference. Regulations as to its business were issued in 1812. As to the sacraments and the relations of Methodism to the Church of England the decision was: " We engage to follow strictly the See also:plan which Mr Wesley See also:left us." This was ambiguous and was interpreted variously. Some held that it forbade the administration of the sacraments except where they were already permitted; others maintained that it left Methodism See also:free to follow the leadings of See also:Providence as Wesley had always done. During the See also:year the difficulties of the situation became more apparent. Wesley had given the See also:sacrament to the See also:societies when he visited them and this See also:privilege was greatly missed. The conference of 1792 was so much perplexed that it resorted to the casting of lots. The decision was thus reached that the sacraments should not be administered that year. This was really shelving the question, but it gave time for See also:opinion to ripen, and in 1793 it was resolved by a large See also:majority that " the societies should have the privilege of the Lord's Supper where they unanimously desired it." In 1794, this privilege was definitely granted to ninety-three societies.

The feeling in Bristol was very strong. The trustees of Broadmead, who were opposed to the administration of the sacrament by the preachers, forbade See also:

Henry See also:Moore to occupy that See also:pulpit. Nearly the whole society thereupon withdrew to See also:Portland See also:Chapel. The conference of 1795 had to See also:deal with this controversy. It prepared a " Plan of Pacification " which was approved by the conference and by an See also:assembly of trustees, and was welcomed by the societies. The Lord's Supper, See also:baptism, the See also:burial of the dead and service in church See also:hours were not to be conducted by the preachers unless a majority of the trustees, stewards and leaders of any chapel approved, and assured the conference that no separation was likely to ensue. The consent of conference had to be given before any See also:change was made. In 1796, Alexander Kilham, who refused to abstain from agitation for further reform, and accused his brethren of See also:priest-See also:craft, was expelled from their ranks and the New Connexion was formed with 5000 members (see METHODIST NEW CONNEXION). The conference of 1797 set itself to remove any ground for distrust among the societies and to enlist their hearty support in all branches of the See also:work. See also:Annual accounts were to be published of various funds. The See also:Circuit Quarterly See also:Meeting had to approve the arrangements for the support of the preachers. The preachers had long been accustomed to consult the See also:leader's meetings of their societies, but it was now clearly decided that stewards and leaders should be appointed in connexion with the leaders' meeting, and certain rights were granted to that meeting as to the See also:admission and See also:expulsion of members.

See also:

Local preachers had to be accepted by the local preachers' meeting, and the powers of trustees of chapels were considerably extended. The constitution of Methodism thus practically took the shape which it retained till the admission of lay representatives to conference in 1878. No period in the See also:history of Methodism was more See also:critical than this, and in none was the prudence and See also:good sense of its leaders more conspicuous. Advance was quietly made along the lines now laid down. The preachers had agreed in 1793 that all distinction between those whom Wesley had ordained and their brethren should cease. In the minutes of conference for 1818 " Rev." appears before the names of preachers who were members of the Missionary See also:Committee. Jabez See also:Bunting (q.v.), who had become the acknowledged leader of the conference, wished to have its See also:young ministers set apart by the See also:imposition of hands, but this scriptural See also:custom was not introduced till 1836. Meanwhile, Methodism was growing into a great missionary church. Its work in the See also:West Indies was firmly established in Wesley's lifetime. In 1786 eleven See also:hundred negroes were members of the society in See also:Antigua. The See also:burden of superintending these See also:missions and providing funds for their support rested on Dr See also:Coke, who took his See also:place as the missionary See also:bishop of Methodism. In 1813 he prevailed on the conference to See also:sanction a mission to See also:Ceylon.

He sailed with six missionaries on the 3oth of See also:

December, but died in the following May in the See also:Indian Ocean. To meet these new responsibilities a See also:branch Missionary Society had been formed in See also:Leeds in See also:October 1813, and others soor sprang up in various parts of the country. The See also:Centenary of the Missionary Society falls in 1913, but Methodist Missions really date from 1786 when Dr Coke landed at Antigua. The See also:area of operations gradually extended. Missions were begun in See also:Madras, at the Cape of Good See also:Hope, in See also:Australia, and on the west See also:coast of See also:Africa. Two missionaries were sent to the Friendly Islands in 1826, and in 1835 a mission was undertaken among the cannibals of See also:Fiji, which spread and deepened till the whole See also:group of islands was transformed. The work in See also:China began in 1851; the See also:Burma mission was established in 1887. The rapid progress of the See also:Transvaal and Swazi-See also:land missions has been almost embarrassing. The Missionary See also:Jubilee in 1863—1868 yielded £179,000 for the work abroad. As the growth of the missions permitted conferences have been formed in various countries. Upper See also:Canada. had its conference in 1834, See also:France in 1852, Australia in 1855, See also:South Africa in 1882. The missionary revival which marked the See also:Nottingham Conference of 1906 quickened the See also:interest at See also:home and abroad and the See also:Foreign See also:Field (monthly) is prominent among missionary See also:periodicals.

The See also:

Women's See also:Auxiliary, founded in 1858, kept its jubilee in 1908. It supports See also:schools and medical missions, homes and orphanages. In 1828 the erection of an See also:organ in See also:Brunswick Chapel, Leeds, led to a violent agitation and a small See also:body of " See also:Protestant Methodists " was formed. A more formidable See also:division was led by Dr See also:Warren, a preacher of ability and See also:influence, who was disappointed because no place was found for him in the newly-formed Theological Institution. He tried to awaken See also:general opposition to the Institution See also:scheme, and being suspended from his See also:office as See also:superintendent by a See also:special district meeting, appealed to the See also:law courts, which sustained the See also:action of the district meeting. He was expelled from the conference and joined the Wesleyan Methodist Association in 1836, but shortly afterwards became a clergyman in Manchester. In his first conference in 1744 Wesley asked, " Can we have a See also:seminary for labourers ?" The See also:answer was: " If See also:God spare us to another Conference." Next year the subject was broached with the reply: " Not till God give us a proper See also:tutor." The See also:idea was not realized in his lifetime, but Wesley did everything in his See also:power to See also:train his preachers. He gathered them together and read with them as he had done with his pupils at See also:Oxford; he urged them to spend at least five hours a day in See also:reading the best books. He made this See also:challenge, " I will give each of you, as fast as you will read them, books to the value of £5." In 1834 Hoxton See also:Academy was taken as a training place for ministers; and in 1839 the students moved to Abney See also:House, Stoke Newington. Didsbury See also:College was opened in 1842, See also:Richmond in 1843. Headingley was added in 1868, See also:Handsworth in 1881. The Centenary of Methodism was celebrated in 1839 and £221,939 was raised as a thank-offering: £75,609 was devoted to the colleges at Didsbury and Richmond; £70,000 was given to the missionary society, which spent £30,000 on the site and See also:building of a mission-house in Bishopsgate Within; £38,000 was set apart for the removal of chapel debts, &c.

Methodism was now recognized as one of the great moral and spiritual forces of the See also:

world. Its progress was rapid, but in 1849 there came a disastrous check. 'There was much See also:jealousy of Dr Bunting, the See also:master mind 'of Methodism, to whose foresight and See also:wisdom large See also:part of its success was due. See also:Fly-sheets were issued attacking him and other eminent ministers. See also:James See also:Everett, See also:Samuel Dunn and William See also:Griffith were expelled from the See also:ministry, and an agitation began which robbed Wesleyan Methodism of See also:Ioo,000 members. Those who now left the Connexion joined the reformers of 1828 and 1836 and formed the Methodist Free Churches. In 1852 the constitution of the Quarterly Meeting was clearly defined, and the See also:June Quarterly Meeting obtained the right to approach conference with memorials. Various other provisions were made which increased confidence. It was not till 1856 that the Connexion began to recover from the loss caused by this agitation. Methodism began its work for popular education in a very modest way. In 1837 it had nine See also:infant schools and twenty-two schools for See also:elder See also:children. A See also:grant of £5000 was made from the Centenary Fund for the provision of Wesleyan day-schools.

The conference of 1843 directed that greater See also:

attention must be given to this See also:department, and a committee met in the following October which resolved that 700 schools should be established if possible within the next seven years, and an Education Fund raised of £5000 a year. In 1849 the Normal Training College for the education of day-school teachers was opened in See also:Westminster, and in 1872 a second college was opened in See also:Battersea for school-mistresses. Westminster provides for 120 and Southlands for IIo students. They supply teachers not only for Wesleyan, but for See also:council schools all over the country, and no colleges have a higher reputation. Besides its day-schools, Methodism possesses the See also:Leys School at See also:Cambridge, Rydal See also:Mount at Colwyn See also:Bay and prosperous boarding-schools for boys and girls in many parts of the country. Methodism has from the beginning done much work in the See also:army. Dr William See also:Harris See also:Rule (1802–189o), who was appointed See also:chaplain at See also:Gibraltar in 1832, won for it See also:fuller recognition from the authorities. See also:Charles H. See also:Kelly, his colleague at See also:Aldershot, and R. W. See also:Allen had a large See also:share in the struggle by which Methodist work both in the army and the See also:navy was See also:developed. Capitation grants have made it possible to organize the work at every station at home and abroad.

No homes for soldiers and sailors are more efficient or better liked by the men. The service done by Methodist chaplains in See also:

war time, and especially in the See also:Boer War, won the warmest recognition from the authorities. In 1878, laymen were introduced into the Wesleyan conference. They had been members of the committee appointed in 1803 to " guard our privileges in these perilous times, " and had gradually taken their place on the missionary and other committees. Circuit stewards had attended the district meetings before 1817 but in that year their right to attend was established. The See also:Financial District Meeting of which they were members was created in 1819 and the financial business of each district soon came under its See also:control. Out of the Annual Home Missionary gathering sprang a See also:system of committees of See also:review which, in 1852, James H. See also:Rigg suggested might be enlarged and combined into a See also:kind of See also:diet composed of ministers and laymen who should consider reports from the various departments. The time was not ripe for such a scheme, but in 1861 the principle of See also:direct See also:representation was introduced into the committees of review. The Representative Session which met in 1878 consisted of 240 ministers and 240 laymen. The See also:Pastoral Session of ministers met first to deal with pastoral affairs. In 1891 the Representative Session was sandwiched between the two parts of the Pastoral Session.

In 1898 it met first and its See also:

numbers were enlarged to 300 ministers and 300 laymen. In 1892 the district meeting became known as the District See also:Synod, and in 1893 the circuits began to choose representatives to the Synod in addition to the circuit stewards. The great advance in organization made with such See also:peace and See also:goodwill was commemorated in 1878 by the Thanksgiving Fund which reached £297,500. Dr Rigg, the president of that year, put all his strength into the See also:movement, and every department of Methodist work at home and abroad shared in the benefits of the fund. The Forward Movement in Methodism See also:dates from that period. A bolder policy won favour. Methodism realized its strength and its obligations. In 1885 the Rev. S. F. See also:Collier was appointed to Manchester and the Rev. See also:Peter Thompson was sent to work in the See also:East End, Next year the Revs.

See also:

Hugh See also:Price See also:Hughes and See also:Mark See also:Guy Pearse began the West London Mission. Every succeeding year has witnessed development and growth. Large mission-halls have been built in the See also:principal towns of England, See also:Scotland and See also:Ireland. Great congregations have been gathered, and the work done for up-lifting the fallen and outcast has, earned the gratitude of all good men. The Manchester mission is regarded as one of the glories of that See also:city. The Forward Movement will always be associated with the name of Hugh Price Hughes (q.v.). See also:Village Methodism shared in the quickening which the Forward Movement brought to the large towns. Chapels which had been closed were reopened ; an entrance was found into many new villages. Weak circuits were grouped together and gained fresh See also:energy and hope by the See also:union. No work has been dearer to Methodists than that of the See also:National Children's Home and Orphanage founded by Dr Bowman See also:Stephenson in 1869. Its headquarters are in Bethnal See also:Green, but it has branchee in various parts of the country and an See also:emigration See also:depot in Canada. It cares not only for waifs and strays, but for cripples and delicate children.

Orphans of respectable parents have a home at See also:

Birmingham, and the reformatory school has done splendid service for lads who have committed a first offence. Dr A. E. See also:Gregory, who in 1900 succeeded Dr Stephenson, has seen remarkable progress in all departments of the great institution under his care. " Sisters of the See also:People " and deaconesses, for whom there is a training home at See also:Ilkley, founded by Dr Stephenson in 1902, have also done much to help in these See also:modern developments of Methodism. The Chapel Committee, which has its headquarters in Manchester, has general oversight of 9070 See also:trusts with See also:property valued at about twenty-five millions. The number of Methodist chapels in 1818 was 2000; in 1839, 3500; in 1910, 8606. The sitting increased from a million in 1851 to about 2,375,000 in 1910. The outlay on See also:trust property in that period was more than fifteen millions. Debts amounting to £3,266,013 have been paid off since 1854. More than See also:half a million has been advanced in loans and of this nothing has been lost. In 1907 and 1908 £1,292,282 was spent on trust property, and of this £892,114 was contributed.

London Methodism owes more than can be told to the See also:

Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund which was founded in 1861. The names of the Rev. William See also:Arthur, See also:Sir See also:Francis Lycett, Sir W. McArthur, will always be associated with this fund which has promoted the erection of some hundred new chapels. The See also:Extension Fund, established in 1874, largely by the help of Sir Francis Lycett and Mr Mewburn, has done similar work for country towns and villages. About two thousand chapels have been assisted with grants and loans. Similar work has been done in Scotland by a fund established in 1878. See also:North and South See also:Wales also have their Chapel Funds. A secretary and committee were appointed in 1910 to carry out various developments of work in London. The work of the Metropolitan Chapel Building Fund and the London Mission is taken over by this new committee. John Wesley felt a lively interest in the See also:Sunday schools which began to See also:spring up all over England in the last years of his See also:life. The first rules for the management of Methodist Sunday schools were issued by the Conference in 1827.

In 1837 there were 3339 Methodist Sunday schools with 59,297 teachers and 341,443 scholars. A See also:

quarter of the preaching places, however, had no schools. The Education Committee was formed in 1838 to take oversight of the work in day and Sunday schools. The Methodist Sunday School Union, founded in 1873, was formed into a department in 1907 and is doing much to See also:guide and develop the work. The See also:Temperance Committee was formed in 1875; a temperance secretary was set apart in 1890. The department has its monthly organ and has its offices in Westminster. The Wesley Guild Movement, established in 1901, has its headquarters in Leeds and is doing a great work for the young people of Methodism. The centenary of Wesley's death was kept in 1891. Memorable services were held in City Road Chapel, which was restored and rendered more worthy of its historic position. Wesley's statue was placed in the forecourt. In 1898 the rooms in Wesley's house, where he studied and where he died, were set apart as a Methodist Museum. The first Methodist See also:Oecumenical Conference was held in London in 1881, the second in See also:Washington in 1891, the third in London in 1901, the See also:fourth being fixed for See also:Toronto in 1911.

The Methodist Assembly which met in Wesley's Chapel, London, in 1909 brought the branches of See also:

British Methodism together with good results. A considerable extension of the three years' See also:term has been secured in certain cases by a legal See also:device for escaping the provisions of the See also:eleventh clause of Wesley's Deed Poll, but some more satisfactory method of dealing with the subject is under See also:consideration. The great event of See also:recent Methodist history was the Twentieth See also:Century Fund inaugurated by Sir See also:Robert W. Perks in 1898. To his unwearying zeal and business ability the See also:triumph secured was chiefly due. The Rev. See also:Albert See also:Clayton, the secretary of the fund, lavished his strength on his vast task and the See also:total income exceeded £1,073,782. The grants were: General Chapel Committee, £290,617; Missionary Society, £102,656; Education Committee, £193,705; Home Missions, £96,872; Children's Home, £48,436. The Royal See also:Aquarium at Westminster was See also:purchased and a central See also:hall and church house as the headquarters of Methodism erected. For this object £242,206 was set apart. Histories of Methodism.—Dr See also:George See also:Smith, Dr See also:Abel See also:Stevens, J. See also:Telford, W.

J. Townsend, H. B. Workman and G. Eayrs, A New History of Methodism (1909); Poetical See also:

Works of J. and C. Wesley; Wesley's Works (1771-1774, 1809-1813; ed. See also:Benson, 1829-1831; ed. See also:Jackson 1856-1862). See also:Standard ed. of :Wesley's See also:Journal (ed. N. Curnock, 1910); Cambridge Modern History, vol. vi.; See also:Luke Tyerman, Life of George See also:Whitefield (1876) ; J. H.

Overton, The See also:

English Church in the Eighteenth Century; J. H. Overton and F. Relton, The English Church (1711-1800); J. S. See also:Simon, Revival of See also:Religion in England in the Eighteenth Century; W. E. H. See also:Lecky, History of England in the Eighteenth Century; J. H. Rigg, The Living Wesley, The Churchmanship of John Wesley; R. Green, Bibliography of the Works of J. and C.

Wesley; Wesley's Veterans; Lives of See also:

Early Methodist Preachers (See also:Finsbury Library). (J. T.

End of Article: WESLEYAN METHODIST CHURCH

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