THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tion, and in other parts of England. See Bible Christians.
9. The United Methodist Church: In 1902 the United Free Churches had 83,803 members, and raised more than £104,000 for the twentieth-century fund. The organization declared that its denomination was a practical illustration of the advantages of union, and that it believed that those who are nearest to each other in their foundation principles should unite. The United Free Churches, the Methodist New Connection, and the Bible Christians in 1905 prepared a basis of union. Substantial agreement was reached; and in Sept., 1907, at Wesley's Chapel, City Road, London, the adjourned conferences of these three churches met as a " uniting conference," and by permission of an act of parliament formed the United Methodist Church. The total membership of the three amalgamating bodies is 186,905.
Methodism in Great Britain and Ireland now consists of three large bodies, Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodist Church, and the United Methodist Church.
Besides these are two smaller societies, the Wesleyan Reform Union, 8,489, and the Independent Methodist Churches, 9,442. There are in all these bodies 969,078 members, exclusive of members of the foreign missions.
II. In Australasia: The Rev. Samuel Leigh, the first Methodist preacher to go to Australia, arrived in Aug., 1815, and began his work in New South Wales. By Mar., 1816, an address of the Methodist societies in New South Wales was sent to the Wesleyan mission committee in Loni. History, don. The history of his subsequent work and that of his successors is as interesting as the civil and personal history of the country and its inhabitants. Thirty years after Mr. Leigh began his work, the Primitive Methodists appeared; and later the Bible Christians, United Methodist Free Churches, and the Methodist New Connection planted missions. The Wesleyan spread among the English in the seven colonies, and established missions in Fiji, Tonga, and New Guinea. The Primitive Methodists were also at work in all the colonies save West Australia. The Bible Christians labored in South Australia, Victoria, and New Zealand, maintaining a few circuits in New South Wales. The United Free Methodists were represented in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, and New Zealand. The Methodist New Connection had established but two circuits in Australia. About 1888 these circuits were incorporated with the Wesleyan and Bible Christian churches. In 1895 the Wesleyan Methodists had in Australasia 51,702 members, and there were in the missions 34,691 members. According to the number of members at that time the Bible Christian denomination was twice the size of the United Methodist Free Churches, and the Primitive Methodist body double the size of the Bible Christians. These smaller bodies were two-fifths the size of the Wesleyan Church in Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania, and one-fourth that of Wesleyan Methodism in the whole southern world. Methodist union in Australasia was agitated for a long time before
effective steps were taken. In New Zealand, after prolonged negotiation, the ministers and members included in the Wesleyan conference, the United Free Methodist Churches, and the Bible Christians formed a union in the year 1896. The only section of Methodism in that island which declined to enter into the union was the Primitive Methodist. Two years later a union of the denominations was effected in Queensland. The Primitive Methodists and the Bible Christians in South Australia came together, and later the Methodist New Connection; and in 1900 the Wesleyan Methodists, the Primitive Methodists, and the Bible Christians, joined by the United Free Church, were consolidated into one body in South and West Australia. By this time preparations for the complete union of all Methodists in Australia reached a culmination, and from Dec. 31, 1902, Methodism became one in Australia, a continent nearly as large as Europe, and almost one in New Zealand, about as large as the British Isles; there was, therefore, a united Methodism throughout Australasia, except the Primitive Methodists in New Zealand, who represented only one-eightieth in numbers of the Methodism of Australia.
The Methodist Missionary Society of Australasia supports missions in Samoa, Fiji, and New Britain. Tonga was formerly connected with the board of
missions. The latest mission is that
2. Agencies to Solomon Islands. The list of na-
and tive ministers is long, and includes
Activities, such names as Philemon Waqaniveit-
agavi, Ananias Tagavi, Tychicus Noke, Moses Mamafainoa, and Zephaniah Bilavucu. The Fiji district synod has reached such a degree of development that the conference resolved that the principle of lay representation be brought into operation in 1908. It is also under contract to accept from the Wesleyan Missionary Society of England a definite field of work in India, and a complete plant in one of the presidencies in that country. A recent conference recorded its gratitude to God for the signal success which he has given to its missions in the South Seas; for the islands which have been won from savagery and cannibalism and that are now Christian; for the thousands of men and women savingly converted to God, and for the native ministers, local preachers, and teachers raised up, by whose labors, in conjunction with those of the missionaries sent from England and Australia, so great a work has been done. These incontestable statements constitute a pillar of defense against attacks upon missionary effort in behalf of the uncivilized races. The Australasian Methodist Church is devoting itself to education. It supports a theological college and other institutions for trainingpurposes and a number of high and village schools. The progress of Australasia, though unequally distributed in the various colonies, of recent years has been extraordinary, and not only the British Empire but all leading nations have watched with interest its various experiments in legislation which have dealt with the burning questions of the age. As in other continents Methodism has shown in Australasia its ability to stem a dangerous tide or swell a beneficent one. Many able ministers and