cess of the first Representative Conference, four months after its close the Thanksgiving Fund was inaugurated, which has now reached in promises £292,000, but it is hoped the fund will reach £300,000. The conferences of all the offshoots of Methodism have from their origin consisted of ministers and laymen. The parent society was the last to try the experiment, and some persons were surprised that it was not a failure. This action on the part of the Wesleyan Conference was the first really aggressive step towards the union of universal Methodism. The (Ecumenical Methodist Congress of 1881, to be held in London, will be the next important step towards tlie accomplishment of that object.
There are many minor points of Methodist historj', which the limited scope of this article cannot include.
II. Doctrines. — The following brief outline contains a summary of the principal doctrines believed and taught by the people known as Wesleyan Methodists.
1. That there is one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things.
2. That the Scriptures of the Old and New Tests, are given by divine inspiration, and form a complete rule of faith and practice.
3. That three Persons exist in the Godhead — the Fa- ther, the Son, and the Holy Giiost — undivided in essence and coequal in power and glory.
4. That in the person of Jesus Christ the divine and human natures are united, so that he is truly and prop- erh' God, and truly and properlv man.
5. That Jesus Christ has become the propitiation for the sins of the whole world ; that he rose from the dead ; and that he ever liveth to make intercession for us.
6. That man was created in righteousness and true holiness, but that by his disobedience Adam lost the purity and happiness of his nature, and in consequence all his posterity are involved in depravity and guilt.
7. That repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ are necessary to salvation.
8. That justification is by grace through faith; and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself, and that it is our privilege to be fidly sanctified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
9. That man's salvation is of (lod, and that if he is cast into hell it is of himself; that men are treated by God as rational, accountable creatures; tliat it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure ; and that we are to \vork out our own salva- tion with fear and trembling; that it is possible for man to fall finally from grace.
10. That the soul is immortal, and that after death it immediately enters into a state of happiness or mis- ery.
11. That the observance of the Christian Sabbath is of perpetual obligation.
12. That the two sacraments, baptism and the Lord's supper, are institutions of perpetual obligation.
The doctrines of Methodism are explained in Mr. Wesley's Sermons, and in his Notes on the New Test., which, with the small volume known as the Large Min- utes, form the authorized standards of both doctrine and discipline. The doctrines preached by Mr. Wesley were those of the Church of England. When it became necessary for him to make a selection of them for the use of his followers, he printed them in a tract with the title Appeals to Men of Reason and Religion. The most complete summary^ of^ them, with Scripture proofs, wiU be found in the catechism used by the Methodists.
III. Constitiitum and Poliltj. — The Members of Socie- ty are the basis of Methodism. From among them are selected the preachers and all the officers of the Cinirch. The preachers may be classed under the following heads: the president and secretary of the Conference, chair- men of districts, financial secretaries, official or located ministers, superintendents of circuits, ministers in full connection, ministers on trial, supernumeraries and su- perannuated ministers, local preachers and exhorters.
WESLEYANS
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WESLEYANS
Official lay members are classified under the following heads: trustees, local preachers, class-leaders; circuit, society, chapel, and poor stewards ; treasurers, secreta- ries, and members of committee of various institutions, superintendents and teachers of Sunday -schools, mis- sionary collectors, and others.
The various meetings or assemblies recognised by the Methodists are: the Conference, which is Connec- I ional ; district and minor district meetings ; and the fol- lowing local or circuit meetings: namely, quarterly, leaders', local preachers', band, class, society, and prayer meetings, and love -feasts. These in addition to the usual public worship.
(I.) Ojficers. — 1. Ministerial. — (1.) The president of the Conference is chosen annually. The names of three (ir more preachers who are members of the legal hun- dred are [)laced before the Conference, a ballot is taken, and the preacher having the highest number of votes is named to the legal hundred, by whom the choice is confirmed. The secretary is elected in the same man- ner. Both retain office till the next Conference, when the secretary may be re-elected. The president can- not be re-elected until after the lapse of eight years. The Kev. John Farrar is the only president re-elected during the past thirty years. The president is invest- ed with the power of two members; he presides at all official meetings, supplies vacancies in the ministry, sanctions changes in appointments, and exercises a similar authority when the Conference is not sitting to that of a bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church of America. He is the chairman of the district where he is located, a member of the (Stationing Committee, and has an assistant appointed by the Conference to aid him in any possible duty.