The Conference of 1752 agreed that the preachers should receive a stipend of £12 per annum to provide themselves with necessaries. Previously no money sal- arv was given, the stewards supplying the preachers with what thej' wanted. In the \-ear 1800 the finances had improved suflScientlj- to allow the preachers £4 each quarter. Ten j'ears later that amount was doubled in some circuits, and by the end of the first hundred years (1839) most of the preachers received £\. per week or more, besides a residence rent-free. In 1880 single young preachers receive as a minimum salary £80 a year, while some of the leading ministers receive a total annual salary which ranges from £250 to £350 from their circuits. Many excellent preachers left Mr. Wes- ley during his lifetime because no provision could be made for their wives and children, or for men worn out in the service.
In August, 1755, Mr. Wcslcj' held the first covenant service in London. The form of service used is that written by that eminently holy Puritan Kichard Al- leine. The sacrament of the Lord's supper formed the closing part of the service. It has for many j'ears been the custom to hold the covenant service in the after- noon, or during some part, of the first Sunday in each year, in all societies belonging to English Methodism, it has usuallj' been a solemn but very interesting and profitable service.
The Conference of 1756 ordered a collection to be made yearly in all the societies, which for a century was known as the yearly collection, to assist in paying chapel debts, to help poor circuits, to pay the preachers' small salary, to encourage the opening of new preach- ing stations, and to pay legal costs when Methodists had to defend their rights against men who interfered with them. The debts on chapels in 175G were £4000, and in 1812 they reached £100,000. Regulations made during the last quarter of a century provide against any such accumulations of debt. The yearly collection is made in the society classes among members onlj', and in 1880 it realized more than £8000. The General Fund, as first originated, has changed its name into Contingent Fund, or Home Jlission and Contingent Fund. " The several objects at first to be assisted by the fluid have now each a separate collection for their sup- port.
On several occasions evil-disposed persons had spoken against the moral character of some of the preachers. Blr. Weslev, hearing of these complaints, caused each preacher to be examined at the Conference of 1759, and such examination has been continued at each successive Conference. The punishments for offenders are a re- buke from the president before the whole Conference, being put back on trial, suspension for a year, or expul- sion. One result of the first examination of character was a great revival of religion, which spread over most parts of England and into Ireland.
In 17G2 Tliomas Maxficld and George Bell separated
WESLEYANS
940
WESLEYANS
from Mr. Wesley, and took with them a large number of members in the London societj-. This led Jlr. Wes- ley, in 17G3, to devise a plan for the union of all the so- cieties in England, and to establish a Connectional prin- ciple which should be a bond of union and mutual help. The duties of assistants and helpers were defined, and the twelve rules of a helper written and published. The same year the preachers received instructions to sell the books issued from the book-room, and the first preach- er in each circuit has acted as Connectional bookseller ever since.
The Conference of 1763 observing that some of the preachers were almost worn out and unable to itinerate, it was recommended that a fund be established to re- lieve the urgent needs of such as were obliged to rest. Each travelling preacher was desired to contribute ten shillings yearly to that fund. For forty years the pro- vision thus made was utterly inadequate for the pur- pose designed. In 1807 the Conference reported that tlie fund was not sufKcicnt to provide the superannu- ated preachers and their widows with even the neces- saries of life. Dr. Adam Clarke drew up a plan that year for increasing the fund. Subsequent conferences improved upon that plan, and for a time it was known as the Supernumerary Preachers and Preachers' Wid- ows' Fund, then it was named the Auxiliar}' Fund, and in 1838 it was further im|)roved and called the New Auxiliary- Fund. The preachers contribute liberally to it, and a collection is made once a year in all the classes, so that the fund now yields a sum which enables each preacher and widow to receive from it a yearh^ sum that fully meets all the necessaries of life and places each above want. The Kev. John Rattenbury devoted the last years of his valuable life to perfecting the re- sources and administration of that fund. In 1793 the Conference resolved that a preacher unable longer to itinerate should become a supernumerary, and at the end of four years he should be superannuated. Eules were afterwards made for permitting some supernumer- aries to enter into business, in which case their names were removed from the list of [jreachers belonging to the Conference. In this way the Kev. Thomas Rankin, who presided over the first Methodist Conference held in America, having entered into business, had to suffer the removal of his name from the Conference roll, and his death was not recorded in the Minutes when he died.