The Conference has also assumed to itself the power of making new laws for the government of the Connexion: provided that, if any circuit meeting disapprove such law, it is not to be enforced in that circuit for the space of one year. Any circuit has the power of memorializing Conference on behalf of any change considered desirable, provided the June quarterly meeting should so determine.
The doctrines held by the Wesleyans are substantially accordant with the Articles of the Established Church, interpreted in their Arminian sense. In this they follow Mr. Wesley rather than Arminius; for although the writings of the latter are received with high respect, the first four volumes of Wesley’s Sermons, and his Notes on the New Testament, (which they hold to be “neither Calvinistic on the one hand nor Pelagian on the other,”) are referred to as the standard of their orthodoxy. The continued influence of their founder is manifested by the general adherence of the body to his opinions on the subject of attainment to Christian perfection in the present life—on the possibility of final ruin after the reception of Divine grace—and on the experience by every convert of a clear assurance of his acceptance with God through faith in Jesus Christ.
The Census Accounts show 6579 chapels in England and Wales, belonging to this Connexion in March 1851; containing (allowance being made for defective returns) accommodation for 1,447,580 persons. The number of attendants on the Census Sunday was: Morning, 492,714; Afternoon, 383,964; Evening, 667,850: including an estimate for 133 chapels, for which the number of attendants was not stated.
The following table shows the principal societies and institutions for religious objects supported by the Wesleyan Original Connexion. Others, in part supported by Wesleyans, are mentioned in the General List at page cxvii. of the Report.
| Name of Society or Institution. | Date of Foundation. | Annual Income. |
|---|---|---|
| A.D. | £ | |
| Contingent Fund | 1756 | 10,065 |
| Auxiliary Fund | 1813 | 7,163 |
| The Children’s Fund | 1818 | 3,280 |
| Wesleyan Theological Institution | 1834 | 4,688 |
| General Chapel Fund | 1818 | 3,984 |
| Wesleyan Seamen’s Mission | 1843 | 160 |
| Wesleyan Missionary Society | 1817 | 105,370 |
| Kingswood and Woodhouse Grove School | 1748 1811 | 8,048 |
| Education Fund | 1837 | 2,800 |
In 1839 was celebrated the Centenary of the existence of Wesleyan Methodism; and the gratitude of the people towards the system under which they had derived so much advantage was displayed by contributions to the large amount of £216,000, which sum was appropriated to the establishment of theological institutions in Yorkshire and at Richmond—the purchase of the “Centenary Hall and Mission House” in Bishopsgate Street—the provision of a missionary ship—the discharge of chapel debts—and the augmentation of the incomes of the Methodist religious societies.
Of late years a considerable agitation (to be more particularly mentioned when describing “Wesleyan Reformers”) has diminished to a great extent the number of the members in connexion. It is stated that by this division the Original Connexion has sustained a loss of 100,000 members.
THE METHODIST NEW CONNEXION.
For some time after Mr. Wesley’s death in 1791, considerable agitation was observable throughout the numerous societies which, under his control, had rapidly sprung up in every part of England. The more immediate subjects of dispute had reference to, (1.) “the right of the people to hold their public religious worship at such hours as were most convenient, without being restricted to the mere intervals of the hours appointed for service in the Established Church;” and, (2.) “the right of the people to receive the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s supper from the hands of their own ministers, and in their own places of worship;” but the principal and fundamental question in dispute concerned the right of the laity to participate in the spiritual and secular government of the body. Wesley himself had, in his lifetime, always exercised an absolute authority; and after his decease the travelling preachers claimed the same extent of power. A vigorous opposition was, however, soon originated, which continued during several years; the Conference attempting various unsuccessful measures for restoring harmony. A “Plan of Pacification” was adopted by the Conference in 1795, and was received with general satisfaction so far as the ordinances were concerned; but the question of lay influence remained untouched till 1797, when the Conference conceded that the leaders’ meetings should have the right to exercise an absolute veto upon the admission of new members to the Society, and that no member should be expelled for immorality, “until such immorality had been proved at a leaders’ meeting.” Certain lesser rights were at the same time conceded to the quarterly meetings, in which the laity were represented by the presence of their stewards and class leaders. But this was the extent of the concessions made by the preachers; and all propositions for lay delegation to the Conference and the district meetings were conclusively rejected.
Foremost amongst many who remained unsatisfied by these concessions was the Rev. Alexander Kilham, who, singularly enough, was born at Epworth in Lincolnshire, the birth-place of the Wesleys. Mr. Kilham, first acquiring prominence as an assertor of the right of Methodists to meet for worship in church hours, and to receive the sacraments from their own ministers, was gradually led to take an active part in advocacy of the principle of lay participation in the government of the Connexion.