WESLEYANS
944
WESLEYANS
£216,000. The objects to be benefited by the fund were : the erection of two Theological Institutions; the pur- chase of a Centenary Hall and Mission-house in Lon- don ; the relief of distressed chapels ; the better sup- port of worn-out jireachers and their widows; the build- ing of a Centenary Cliapel in Dublin ; and to make pro- vision for promoling ilay -school education. The Cen- tenary Conference, 1839, reported an increase of mem- bership of over 10,000, and 118 candidates for the min- istry. The year after the death of !AIr. Wesley, i. e. in ]7;>l', the Methodist family numbered ooO itinerant preachers and 140,000 members in Creat Britain and America: in 18o9 these figures were raised to 5200 itin- erant preachers and 1,171,000 members in society. In 1880 the total number of itinerant ministers through- out the Methodist world was ol,4()7; the total of min- isters and members, 4,707,472. This record may be very appropriately closed with the memorable words of the dying Wesley — " What hath God wrought !"
In 1841 the Centenary grant of £2500 for educational purposes was made available for the founding of a train- ing institution for elementary teachers and the estab- lishment of primary schools throughout the Connec- tion. The necessary funds for developing the work came in slowly. Tiie Normal Training Institution and practicing schools in Westminster were opened in 1848. In 1857 there were 434 day-schools connected with Meth- odism, in which 52.G30 scholars were taught. Ten years later there were 640 schools and 100,000 scholars. In 1880 there existed 851 schools and no less than 179,900 scholars. An additional training institution has also been established at Shortlands, Battersea, for females. The first principal of the Westminster institution was the IJev. John Scott, and the present principal is the Rev. Dr. Kigg. The principal at Shortlands is the Rev. G. W. Olver, A.B.
The disruption which took place at the IManchester Conference of 1849 was the most sad and painful event that ever occurred in Methodism. A growing feeling of discontent had for some years been manifested by some of the preachers at what was considered by them a policy of dictation by some of the senior preachers, more especially by Dr. Bunting; and certain fly-sheets were printed and circulated throughout the Connection, in which the causes of complaint and dissatisfaction were embodied. The flv -sheets were anonymous. About the same time there was published a volume entitled Centenary Slcetches of One IJinidred of the Prominent Jlinisters of the Connection. That also was anonymous. The Conference of 1849 resolved to ascer- tain, by a s_vstem of rigid questioning, who among the preachers were the authors of the said publications. Several of the preachers refused to answer the question, Are you the author of the fly-sheets? Suspicion was mainly fixed on the Rev. James Everett, one of the senior preachers. He most resolutelj' declined to an- swer to the question of authorship of the delinquent publications, and he was excluded IVom the Connection for contumacj'. The Rev. Samuel Dunn, another min- ister of about thirty years' standing, had commenced in 1849 a new monthly magazine, with the title of The Wesley lianner. He had not complied with an obsolete Methodist Conference rule which requires every preach- er to publish works only through the book-room. The question of the authorship of the fly-sheets was put to him, and .ilso the question whether he would discon- tinue The Wesley Banner. For refusing to answ'er those questions, he also was excluded from the Connection. The Rev. William Griffith, Jr., also refused to answer the question of authorship of tlie fly-sheets, and he also declined to promise that lie would not report the pro- ceedings of the Conference to a Wesleyan newspaper. For those offences he also was excluded. To those three ministers were afterwards added the Rev. James Burn- ley, the Rev. Thomas Rowland, and others. One result of those proceedings was that within two or three vears more than 120.000 members of societv Iiad left the Con-
nection, and had formed a new one under the designa- tion of Wesleyan Reformers. During the same time the funds of the Comiection had suffered so severely tliat the arrears three or four years afterwards amount- ed to about £100,000. The total membership of Eng- lish Methodism in 1850 was reported at 358,277. It was not until twenty- five years afterwards that the raembershiii again reached those figures, so that it re- quired the labors of over one thousand paid ministers to recover the ground lost by those expulsions. Such a painfid and costly experiment as was that of the Con- ference of 1849 is not likely to be ever again repeated. The Wesleyan Reformers had a separate existence until the year 1857, when they united with those who sepa- rated in the Warrenite division of 1835, and formed to- gether the United Methodist Free Churches, having a membership in 1880 of 79,477. A few societies, which refused to amalgamate, form the Wesleyan Reform Union, with a membership of 7728. Two of the origi- nally expelled ministers in 1849 — Mr. Dunn and Mr. Griftith — still survive, enjoying a contented and happy old age. Thousands of members were altogether lost to Methodism and to the Christian Church in conse- quence of that disruption. The Reformers have uni- formly laid the chief blame of the expulsions to the Rev. Dr. Bunting, but other prominent preachers were equally concerned in the business. One of the difficul- ties arising from the disruption was owing to so many trustees of chapels being severed from the society, and, further, the withdrawal of so large a sum of money from Connectional objects. To meet that emergency, the Conference of 1854 inaugurated what is now known as the Connectional Relief and Extension Fund. One hundred thousand pounds Avas jiromised to that fund in 1854, and the money was to be appropriated as loans to trustees of such chapels as were in difficulties, as gifts and Toans to improve Church property, and to aid in the erection of new Methodist churches. The fund is now known by the title of Extension of Methodism in Great Britain, and at the Conference of 1880 the com- mittee reported having assisted ninety-one chapels either in their erection or enlargement.