t-ere made bv a minority in the IMethodist
Church (f the Xorlh-western States, and the Methodist Protestants of the Southern States. The head-quarters of the former were establLshed at S|iringlicld. C)liio; those of the latter at Baltimore, ild. The numbers of the Methodist Protestant Church were at tliat time scat- tered mainly over the Border States and certain parts of the West ; their jjrincipal strength has since developed in Virginia, jMaryland, and in some portions of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Of late years a union of all non-Epis- copal Methodists having been proposed, the Protestant Methodists North changed their official name to the Meth- odist Church. Tlieir head-quarters were lately removed from Springfield, Ohio, to Pittsburgh, I'a. Each body has a board of foreign and domestic missions and a liook Concern — theProtestant Church South at Baltimore, !Md.;
Episcopal Church to secure the representation of the
laity in the conferences. See Kiliiajiiti:s ; Lay Kkp-
Kiis'tiNTATiON. In 1824 a so-called Union Society was
founded at Baltimore, ]Md., for the purpose of agitating
the question of a change of the Church govenmient,
and a periodical was established called The Mutual
Hiyhts of the Ministers and Members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. In the spring of 182G the Baltimore ^
Union Society initiated a movement to inquire into the i ferences, 700 preachers, and about 7r),000 members, with
sxpediencv o"f making a united petition for a general a Church property of *l,t;()lt,4-2iJ; and (2) the Jlethod-
the Methodists at Pittsburgh, Pa. At the beginning the IMethodist Protestant Church counted 83 niiuislers and about ;j(I(I0 members; and at the seventh (iencral Conference in 18:)8 there were '2000 stationed ministers, 1200 churches, <JO,(l()0 members, and 61,M0,000 worth of property. In tiieir present divided fjrm they figure, according to the New York Ohscrrer Year-book of 1873, as follows: (1) The Methodist Church counts 28 con-
exped
representation to the ticneral Conference of 1828. The convention was held in November, 1827, and the peti- tion was presented, but received an unfavorable reply. The Union Society, persisting in its efforts, a number of individuals were expelled in Tennessee, North Caro- lina, and Baltimore. This provoked many friends of the radicals, and caused the secession of considerable num- bers. A convention which met at Baltimore, Md., Nov
ist Protestant Church, within 25 conferences, employs 423 preachers, and has about 70,000 members.
The Methodist Protestants have three colleges : the Western Maryland, at Westminster, Carroll County, ;Md.; Yadkin College, North Carolina; and one in West Vir- ginia. The Methodist Protestant, a weekly paper, of which the Bev. L. W. Bates, D.D., is the editor, jmb- lished at their Book Concern, is the official organ. The
12, 1828. drew up provisional articles of association ;' and j eleventh General Conference of this body is to be held on Nov! 2, 183(1, another convention, composed of an at Lynchburg, Virginia, on the first Eriday of May,
equal nimiber of clerical and lay delegates from various states of the Union, assembled at the same place, aiul, after a session protracted for three weeks, adopted a Constitution and a Book of Discipline, and formed a new society, under the name of Methodist J'mlestant Church. The Bev. Francis Waters, D.D., of Haltimore, was pres- ident of this convention.
The Jletliodist Protestant Church holds the same doctrinal views as the parent body, and differs from it only in a few points of ecclesiastical government. EoUowing the example of the British Weslcyans, the EjMscopal otHcc is abolished, and a president called to rule over each Annual Conference, elected by the ballot of that body. The laity is admitted to an equal par- ticipation with the clergy in all Church legislation and government. The General Conference, which at first met every seventh, but now congregates every fourth year, is composed of an equal number of ministers and laymen, who are elected by the Annual Conferences at the ratio of one delegate of each order from every one tli()\isand communicants. The General Conference has authority, under certain restrictions, to make such rules for tlic goverimient of the Church as may be necessary to carry into effect the laws of Christ ; to fix the com- pensation and duties of travelling miui>ters and preach- ers, etc.; to devise means for raising money, aiul to reg- ulate the boundaries of Aiunial Conference districts. The Annual Conference, which consists of all tlic or- dained itinerant ministers of the district, has ])ower to elect to orders, station ministers, preachers, and mis- sionaries ; make rules for defraying the expenses of their 8up|»ort, and fix the boundaries of circuits and stations. It elects its own president yearly. The (Quarterly Con- ference is com|(osed of tlie trustees, ministers, preach- ers, exhorters, leaders, and stewards in tlie circuit of which it is the immediate officijil meeting. It examines
1874.
The IMethodist Church issues a we(Jdy newspaper, the Methodist Pecordei; edited by Alexander Clark, and published by the Book Concern at Pittsburgh, Pa. Also a semi-monthly Sunday-school journal, edited by the same. A new Hymn-book, entitled The Voice of Praise, has just been compiled aiul published, which compares favorably with that of any other denomination. Among the recent literary productions of the Church are the following wvTks-.'j'ulpit Echoes, by John Scott, D.D.; Non- Episcopal Methodism, by T. H. Colhouer, A.M.; Wonders of the East, by J. J. Smith, D.D. ; 7'he Impending Cotijlict, by J. J. Smith, D.IX; Recollections of Itinerant Life, by George Brown, D.U. ; The Lady Preacher; by the satiie; 'The Gospel in the Trees, by Alexander Clark, A.M.; Work-day Christianitij,h\- Xhc^mQ; etc. Adrian College, Adrian, ]Mich.. is under their control, and is in a most i)romising condition. Its president is George B. ^IcElroy. D.I). It admits both males and females. The Mii.-ionar>- Board— AVilliam Collier. D.D., president, and C. lI.A\iliiains, corres|)onding secretary — is devis- ing large jilans for the West, and initiating foreign work. Tiie Hoard of Ministerial Education — J. B. Walker, corresponding secretary— is doing a good work for young men iireparing for the ministry. Tliere is a fair' prospect that at an early day an organic reunion with the IMethodist Protestant Church will be effected. The initiatory steps have already been taken, and will probably lead to a imited IMethodist Church of non- ejiiscopal order. The General Conference of the Mi tli- odist Church will meet at Pittsburgh, Pa.. :May 17, 1874, See the lliscipHne if the Methodist Church, ami y//.>.(v- pline of the Methodist Protestant Church; also Stevens, Hist, of Methodism, iii, 4G3 ; Bangs, Hist. Meth. Ch. iii, 432 .sq. : Sprague, Annals Amer. Pulpit, \ol.\ii, Introd. p. 18. Sec Mi:.Tiiui>is.M. (^J.H.W.)