Originated by a movement for a certain and specific alteration in the constitution of Wesleyan Methodism, the New Connexion differs from the parent body only with respect to those ecclesiastical arrangements which were then the subjects of dispute. In doctrines, and in all the essential and distinctive features of Wesleyan Methodism, there is no divergence: the Arminian tenets are as firmly held by the New as by the Old Connexion; and the outline of ecclesiastical machinery—comprising classes, circuits, districts, and the Conference—is in both the same. The grand distinction rests upon the different degrees of power allowed in each communion to the laity. It has been shown that, in the “Original Connexion,” all authority is virtually vested in the preachers: they alone compose the Conference—their influence is paramount in the inferior courts—and even when, as in financial matters, laymen are appointed to committees, such appointments are entirely in the hands of Conference. The “New Connexion,” on the contrary, admits, in all its courts, the principle of lay participation in Church government: candidates for membership must be admitted by the voice of the existing members, not by the minister alone; offending members cannot be expelled but with the concurrence of a leaders’ meeting; officers of the body, whether leaders, ministers, or stewards, are elected by the Church and ministers conjointly; and in district meetings and the annual Conference lay delegates (as many in number as the ministers) are present, freely chosen by the members of the Churches.

The progress of the New Connexion since its origin has been as follows, in the aggregate, comprising England, Ireland, and the colonies:

Year.Members.
17975,000
18035,280
18138,067
182310,794
183314,784
184021,836
184620,002
185321,384

At present (1853) the state of the Connexion, In England and Wales, is reported to be as follows:

Chapels301
Societies298
Circuit preachers95
Local preachers814
Members16,070
Sabbath schools273
Sabbath-school teachers7,335
Sabbath-school scholars44,337

Returns have been received at the Census Office from 297 chapels and stations (mostly in the northern counties) belonging to this Connexion, containing accommodation, after an estimate for 16 defective returns, for 96,964 persons. The number of attendants on the Census Sunday was: Morning, 36,801; Afternoon, 22,620; Evening, 39,624: including an estimate for three chapels, the attendance in which was not stated.

In 1847 the Jubilee of the Connexion was celebrated, and it was resolved to raise a fund of £20,000, to be appropriated to the relief of distressed chapels, to the erection of a theological institution, the extension of home and foreign missions, and the provision for aged and retired ministers.

PRIMITIVE METHODISTS.

About the commencement of the present century, certain among the “Wesleyans (and conspicuously Hugh Bourne and William Clowes) began to put in practice a revival of those modes of operation, which had by that time been abandoned by the then consolidated body. The Conference of 1807 affirmed a resolution adverse to such unprescribed expedients; and the consequence of this disapprobation was the birth of the Primitive Methodist Connexion,—the first class being formed at Standley in Staffordshire in 1810. The following table, furnished by the Conference itself, will show the progress made by the Connexion since that period.

Period. Chapels. Preachers. Class Leaders. Members. Sabbath Schools.
Connexional. Rented Rooms, &c. Travelling. Local. Schools. Teachers. Scholars.
1810 10
1811 2 260
1820 202 1,435 7,842
1830 421 240 2,719 35,733
1840 1,149 487 6,550 73,990 11,968 60,508
1850 1,555 3,515 519 8,524 6,162 104,762 1,278 20,114 103,310
1853 1,789 3,565 568 9,594 6,767 108,926 1,535 22,792 121,394