denomination closed the last century, after more than thirty years of labors and struggles."
2. Methodism among the French. — In the year 1790 Methodism was introduced among the French by Eng- lish Wesleyan preachers, and in 1791 Dr. Coke ordained in a small village of Normandy the first French Methodist preacher. The work was successful, and a society of ' 100 members had been gathered when the storm of the Revolution prevented further progress, and in 1817 the work had to be begun anew. In 1819 Methodism was introduced into the south of France by Charles Cook, whose labors were eminently successful among the Prot- estants, who were then in such a state of ignorance and religious indifference that, out of some 400 ministers, not ten could be found who knew and preached the Gospel. Revivals ensued, classes were formed, societies were organized, preachers were raised, and in 181-i there was in France a Church of nearly 1500 members, with 21 travelling preachers. During the progress of the work the other churches had profited, however, by the reviving influence, and Methodism, being regarded as a " foreign importation," began gradually to lose in mem- bership, so that by 1852 there were only 900 actual ad- herents to the Methodist Church, notwithstanding that the work of evangelization had progressed as usual. These circumstances prompted the Wesleyans to counsel the independent establishment of French Methodism in a distinct French Church, dependent upon the " parent body" for an annual stipend only. The first French Conference was held at Nismes in 1852. I"rom that mo- ment the tide turned again in favor of Methodism ; and, notwithstanding the organization of other churches, some of which, it must be owned, have grown more rapidly, the Conference of 1870 reported 2216 members, 184 chapels and preaching-rooms, 53 Sunday-schools, 2539 Sunday-scholars, 101 local preachers, and 30 minis- ters, and some 9000 regular hearers at the public ser- vices. The official title of tlic ^Mcthddist body in France is The EcangeUcal M(thn,ll<f rlii:r<-h of France and Switzerland. The French ;\li'tli(j(lists sustain a publish- ing-house at Paris, and issue a ;veekly paper, entitled L' Evangelist. The "Methodist Episcopal Church" sus- tains one missionary in the suburbs of Paris, but he is a member of the Swiss Mission Conference, and his labors are intended to benefit only the German residents of the French metropolis.
?}. Afif/inilism among the Germans. — The Germans were lust 1 in night into direct contact with the Methodists in the United States of America. The United Breth- ren, who have always been in close communion with the Methodists, may really be said to have paved the way for the success of the work among the Germans. The labors of the Rev. William Otterbein, the founder of the United Brethren Church, and a warm personal friend of bishop Asbury, were thorough!}'' Methodistic, and the United Brethren Church was for many years considered by the Methodists a co-ordinate branch of their own Church, having a special mission to labor and spread tlie doctrines of Methodism among the Germans. Turn- ing their attention to the young generation and its wants, the United Brethren came to drop the tongue of the Fatherland, and thus alienated themselves from the field which jNIethodism anxiously sought to supply. A helper offered in the hour of need in the person of Jacob Albright, who, having been converted, and feeling him- self called of God to preach the Gospel among the Ger- mans of Pennsylvania, prayed for the sympathies of the Methodist Episcopal Church for his project. Failing to secure the aid asked for, he finally struck out for him- self, organized the converts God had given him into & Church, which he called the Evangelical Association, a work that has since been owned of God to the salvation of thousands upon thousands of Germans throughout the land. The Evangelical brethren have always claimed to be Methodists, are known as such among the Germans, and were in former years verj' much in the habit of stylmg themselves " The Evangelical Assooia-
METHODISM
162
METHODISM
tion, commonly called Albrights, or Albright IMethod- ists." With but slight moditication, they have adopted the Metliodist Discipline and Methodist usages. In the matter of doctrine they are ^Methodistic tliroughout, laying peculiar emphasis upon those experimental doc- trines of Christianit}^ — reiientancc, faith, regeneration and adoption, growth in grace, and the duty and privi- lege of entire sanctilication. Wesley, Watson, and Clarke are their standard authorities. They lay claim to the fathers of ^lethodism, thus priding themselves in a common origin with ^lethodists. At a very early date of their hisinry. when tliey numbered but a few hundred meml)ers. iljiy prii]iused organic union with the ^letli- odist Kpiscoiial Clinrch upon the sole condition of being permitted to use the German language in the ])ublic worship of their congregations, and of laboring exclu- sively among the Germans. Strange as it may now seem, the otler was rejected, under the erroneous im- pression which then prevailed that the German lan- guage would necessarily die out in a generation or so. Of course emigration had not then attained its present gigantic dimensions, nor were there any indications of results in this direction such as we witness in our day. Efi'orts looking to organic union between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Association have since been renewed.
In l^oG the conversion and call to the ministry of Wil- liam Nast, a highly-educated German, a graduate of Tii- bingen University, moved the leading men in the Meth- odist Church to establish a domestic mission among the Germans, and it was intrusted to the newly-made con- vert. He travelled extensively through Ohio and Penn- sylvania, and was eminently successful in impressing his countrymen with the need of a "higher" life. The j)rogress of forming a congregation, however, was verj' sli^w. Thus after a whole year's labor at Cincinnati, among its thousands of Germans, subjected to the gross- est insults, and in constant danger of bodily harm, preaching in the streets and market-places, distributing tracts and talking about Jesus and his salvation in the beer saloons and the tenement houses, he went up to Conference and reported the receptit)n of three members, all told. Hut the final result was, after all, great and glorious. The influence of Nast's examj)le gradually spread among the Germans, and converts came in inim- bers. From the little congregation, in the old Burke cha])el on Vine Street, in Cincinnati, Methodism has made its inroads among the Germans of the United States with such a force that this branch of the Church now presents the results given in the tables below.