Three parties arose in the Church. One, generally called the Confederalists, under the leadership of Prof. Hengstenberg and Dr. Stahl, maintained that the union consisted in a mere external confederation and subjec- tion to the same general Church government; and that the individual churches remained Lutheran, Reformed, or United. A second party, commonly called the Con- sensus party, took for its doctrinal basis the Bible and the common dogmas of the Lutheran and Reformed con- fessions. It controlled the theological faculties of most of the universities, and had among its leading men Nitzsch, Twesten, Hoffmann, Niedner, Tholuck, Julius Muller, .lacobi, Dorner, Lange, Stier, Herzog, and Rothe. The third, or Union, party rejected the authoritative character of the old symbolical books of both the Lu- theran and the Reformed denomination, and based them- selves on the Bible simply, claiming, at the same time, the right of subjecting the authenticity of the Old and New Tests, to critical examination. This party includ- ed many of the disciples of Tubingen, and liberal divines of different shades of opinion.
The persecution of the " Old Lutherans" was kept up until the death of Frederick William. A milder policy was introduced by his son, who succeeded him in 1840; and in 1845 the Old Lutherans were allowed to organize into a separate community, but did not receive any share of the public funds. In 1873 laws were passed substituting the principle of ecclesiastical self-govern- ment for that of the consistorial administration thereto- fore exercised by the State. In January and February, 1875, provincial synods met in all the eight old prov- inces of Prussia, and in November and December an ex- traordinary general synod met at Berlin, to make all necessary preparations for a transfer of the government
UNITED METHODIST CHURCH 05 0 UNITED SOCIETY OF BELIEVERS
of the Church to a regular general synod. United Evangelical churches were also formed in other Ger- man states; in Nassau, 1817; the Bavarian Palatinate, 1818 ; Baden, 1821 ; and in Wlirtemberg, 1827. In Aus- tria and France a fusion of the Lutheran and IJeformcd churches has also many friends, but nothing practical has been as yet accomplished. In the United States a branch of the United Evangelical Church was estab- lished at St. Louis in 1840, when six German ministers organized an ecclesiastical body called Evangelischer Kir- chenverein des Wesfens (Evangelical Church-Union of the AVest). This body, in 185G, was divided into three districts, and in 18(51) changed its name to " German Evangelical Synod of the West." In 1870 it reported, at the General Assembly held in Louisville, as follows:
Ministers. 162
Congregations. 300
Voting Mem-|f,„„„„„.„„„,„ K?-^ I Communicants.
iibout 20,000
bers.
12,000
Total Population, about 50,000
Another branch of the United Evangelical Church was .constituted in 1818, under the name of " Evangelical Synod of North America." In May, 1859, it split into two independent bodies, one of which a.ssumed the name " United Evangelical Sj'nod of the North-west," and the other "United Evangelical Synod of the East." Both of them united in 1872 with the " German Evangelical Synod of the West," constituting the fourth and tiftli dis- tricts of this body. In 1871 the Church was redistrict- ed by the General Conference held in Indianapolis into seven particular synods. It then numbered about 300 ministers and 40,000 communicants. The Church has a theological seminary in Warren County, Mo.; anoth- er educational institution at Elmhurst, 111.; and three denominational papers. See Bunsen, Sijns of the Times;
to establish a theological- seminarj'. The Wesleyaii Methodist Association retained its separate identity till 1857, when, by uniting with the We.sleyan Reformers, it became merged in the United Methodist Free churches. The union was completed, and the name adopted, in the town of liochdale. This body is the third in numerical importance of English Methodist denominations, having its seat principally in England. Only three of its cir- cuits are in Scotland, and it has no footing in Ireland. It has missionary stations in Jamaica, Victoria, Queens- land, New Zealand, Eastern Africa, and China.
The constitution of the body is democratic, the mem- bers of its annual assembly being freely chosen repre- sentatives. This assembly does not regulate the inter- nal aifairs of circuits, they being independent, except on matters of connectional import. The home circuits are divided into districts; but the district meetings do not wield any important functions. The various schemes, funds, and institutions of the body are intrusted during the year to committees which arc, for the most part, elected annually. It i* so with the Connectional Com- mittee (which may be regarded as the executive of the body), with the Foreign IMissionary Committee, the ChapelFund Committce,the Superannuation Committee, and the Book-room Committee, Ash ville College is gov- erned by a body of trustees elected for life, and a com- mittee of six elected for three years, but so arranged that two retire each year. The Theological Institute is governed by a body of trustees elected for life, and nine others chosen annually. The connectional officers are the president of the assembly, the connectional sec- retary, the connectional treasurer, and the correspond- ing secretary.
In 1877 their statistical report showed as follows :
Itir. Min. 405
3501
Leaders. 4439
Members,
72,997
Chapels. 1539
S. Schools. 1305
Teachers.
26,205
Scholars. Raised for Alissions.
183,364 £lT,7S7 11s.8Jd.
Hering, Geschichte der kii-cklichen Unioiisversuche (Leips. 1836-38, 2 vols.); Kahnis, Hist. Germ. Protestantism; I^IUllcr, Die evangelische Union (Leips. 1854) ; Nitzsch, Urhindenhuch der evangelischen Union (Bonn, 1853); SchaS{,Germani/,its Theolog?/, etc. (Phil.1857); Sta.h\,Die lutherische Kirche und die Union (Berlin, 1858).