RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Methodists
estant Methodists. In Leeds alone 1,040 members were lost, and elsewhere the depletion was even more serious. As a separate body they have long ceased to exist.
6. The.Wesleyan Methodist Association: The Wesleyan Methodist Association began in the determination of the Wesleyan conference to establish a theological seminary. Two days before the conference of 1834, a number of ministers and laymen met to discuss the project of such an institution, to be presided over by Dr. Jabez Bunting. In the progress of the controversy, Samuel Warren found himself in a minority; and as soon as the conference adjourned he began a general agitation. The Manchester district meeting suspended him, and Robert Newton was requested to undertake the superintendency. Warren applied to the court of chancery for an injunction against Newton and the trustees of the Oldham Street Chapel. The vice-chancellor sustaining the district meeting, Warren appealed to Lyndhurst, the lord chancellor, who, after a thorough review of the Methodist polity, as established by Wesley's deed of declaration, and of the chief events in the history of the conference, affirmed the decision of the vice-chancellor. Warren was expelled, as were two others on charges of lawlessly abetting him. Circulars had been distributed denouncing the action of the conference, as well as the leaders who directed the acts. All who had anything to do with the distribution were under censure, and others under suspicion. The disruption of 1849 began with the expulsion of James Everett, Samuel Dunn, William Griffith, James Bromley, and Thomas Rowland, suspected of connection with the " fly-sheets." No formal and general secession took place until after the conference of 1850. Within five years after that date the original Wesleyan connection was depleted by 100,469, and " some of the fairest and most fruitful circuits in Methodism were laid waste." But, less than half of those who left the Wesleyan connection entered the new denomination.
7. The United I"ree Churches: The Protestant Methodists, the Wesleyan Methodist Association, and the " Wesleyan Reformers " (the title taken by those who organized after the expulsion of Everett and his companions), certain societies calling themselves " Arminian " Methodists, and others styling themselves Welsh Independent Methodists, united in the year 1857 under the name of the United Free Churches. This body at once became the third in numerical importance of the Methodist denominations in England. When consolidated it had 39,986 members and 2,152 probationers. At the end of twenty years the church included 72,- 997 members and 6,984 on probation. The government is democratic. The home circuits are divided into districts, but district meetings are not possessed of remarkable powers; the annual assembly controls only matters of connectional interest. The connectional officers are the president of the assembly, elected annually, the connectional secretary, treasurer, and the corresponding secretary. The church has shown commendable interest in foreign missions, continuing those which came in with the union, and establishing others in the West Indies,
Africa, and China. Among the most eminent of British Methodists in his day was Marmaduke Miller, heard on religious and civic questions with great interest. At the end of 1907 it had 84,464 members and probationers at home, and in the foreign field 18,739 members and probationers.
8. Bible Christians: The denomination known as " Bible Christians " originated in Cornwall. William O'Bryan was one of its founders, and in May, 1810, was formally excluded from the Methodist society, " in the chapel of which he had given the freehold beside one-half the cost of the building, for no crime except irregular attempts to save souls." In 1814 he retired from business in order " to be ready to go whithersoever providence directed his steps." He sought out parishes in which there was no evangelical preaching and wrought much good. After a few years of independent action he reunited with the Methodist society, but subsequently his " ticket " was withheld on the ground that he had not been excluded, but that he had excluded himself. He then began to form his own plan of appointments, and a new society resulted. James Thorne was an associate founder of the " Bible Christians." During 1815 and 1816 throngs were converted, O'Bryan being so active that the converts were characterized as " Bryanites." Societies were formed in various parts of England and adjacent islands. The first conference consisted of twelve of the itinerant brethren. Every circuit was empowered to send one of its stewards to the annual district meeting, " and, to prevent priestly domination, every fifth year additional representatives were to be so appointed as to make the number of the itinerant preachers and representatives equal." A contention began in 1827 as to the authority of conference, and O'Bryan developed a spirit similar to that of those Wesleyans who had disfellowshiped him. In the struggle both O'Bryan and those who formulated their demands used the iron hand without the velvet glove. In the end O'Bryan migrated to America and had no further connection with the Bible Christians. The work had spread throughout the outlying provinces of England. The first chapel was built in 1818; in 1859 the connection occupied 453 chapels at home, and in 1900 the number had increased to 607. Between the years 1851 and 1860 separate conferences were established in Canada, South Australia, and Victoria. The enterprising spirit of the society was apparent in the fact that, in 1821, a missionary society was established for sending missionaries into dark parts of the United Kingdom and other countries, " as divine providence might open the way." In 1831 two missionaries were sent to British North America; and in 1850 James Rowe and the devout James Way were set apart to open a mission in South Australia, which prospered exceedingly and extended into the neighboring colony of Victoria. Missions were established later in New Zealand, Queensland, and China. In the report to the ecumenical conference in 1881 its number of communicants had reached 31,542. At home it had long maintained a force of missionaries working among the lowest stratum of London's popula-
Methodists