Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-07-16
FIRST EDITION.
The Growth of Methodlsm.


| THE ESTABLISHMENT or THE CONFERENCES FROM
1773 To 1S73-PAPEn READ BY Rtv dGo. a
PuoEBus.
At the celebration, in Philadelphia, of tho Gem
tennal of the tirst American Methodist Epsco-
pal Conference Rev George A. PhWbu-, of the
Wilmington Conference, road an interesting Ca
say on tho Conferences formed during the Cen
tury.
lie said that from 1773 when the first Confer
ence was organic sd, all the preachers in conneo
ton with the Chmch belonged to tho one. which
| as yet had obtained no local name, but was from
time to time held at such places as WAS most
suit able for the general work Their doiibesa-
tions during the first IL years were wholly under
the direction of Rev John Wesley, who held an
arbitrary right of control aud govcrnance Any
departure from his declared will involved sepa-
ration from the societies under his control
Measures for action were presented i'll Confer
ence not by motion, but in the form of short
questions by Worley's assistant, and the min
utes betore published were subject to Lis revis-
ion. The titIe deeds for chapel lands requige ed
the trustees to bGild chapel in which Methodist
ministers, aud none others SHOULD preach and
prov led that the ministers should preach only
the doctrines in Mr.. Wesley's notes on the New
Testament aud in his sermons in four Volumes
Rev. DIR. Coke aud Mr. Asbury becLmn the first
Superintendents (afterwards called Bishops) in
1854 aud they considered themselves vested with
in Great Britain.
In 1880 partial separation from the Virginia
NJ thndists occurred by reason OF dispute on
church policy In 1881 reunion took place and
the names of the preachers appeared as one
body On the 10th of April conference was
held at Mr.. Asbury'a home at Choptank, State
OF Delaware, twenty miles away from Forest
Chapel, near the town now called Greensboro.
Here for the first time the work OF the CON
ference sessions was divided and from this date
there than session yearly,
The first Conference OF l773 sent cut preach
ers from New York to Petersburg Va. AT the
second in l77l, there was the Same ontline OF
territory but the societies within those bounds
had been developed At the third Conference,
in ITS no territory had been added. but in l77G
North Carolina was included From that time
uutil 1888 there was no increase, Gin conse-
qucnce Of tho Rovoiution). but the number OF
charges had grown from ii in 1916, to 90 in
1882, the number OF itinerauts from ii to 81 and
the number OF members from 1921 to 10, 530 In
1888 the lines were moved to Tennessee /; in l7Si
TO Western Pennsylvania and Maryland, and in
1855 to South Carolina and Georgia. Sheburne,
in Nova Scotia. and Antigua in the West Indies,
In 1856 Kentucky was added; in 1897 Olio; in
1883 Connecticut in 1000 Massachusetts ; i'll
1892 Rhode Island in 1913 Maine, and in 1874
New Hampshire with tho Upper and Lower Can
adls
In 1881 tha members wore 7d lj3 and in 1896,
sc 6Gi This loss of 30 900 members was due to
the pronounced views ON slavery of Asbury and
the conferences, anu TO tine CuhfhGteT OF ASUufN
personal administration, which was alleged to
have been arbitrary. Tho chief losses were in
the Iuthern States, there being loss of 1000
members in Georgia in one year. Iu 1192 the
first regular General Conference was held. 1t
the first one organic sd under the rules of
Legislative bodies and all others preceding it
had been general conference sessions of anuth-
er order. Aabury arranged fot general council
for the government of the Church but it only
assembled twice, the last time in 1791 when it
aHi. odt ~ mat in MI
however, a different torn Of church legislation
had been provided. The deliberations of tho Con
ference of 1872 gave offence to James o. alley
who withdrew from the Church, an carried
with him many Virginia Methodi1ta The defec-
ton in the South was very consderab o, hut IN
few years the agitation subsIIed. From the
general Conference of 1875 the record is COM
plete. AT that Conference the bOGn lares of
six ABnual Conferences were laid down, a I'd they
wete caod New England. Philadelphia Balti-
mora, Virginia, South Carolina. aud Western
Conferences. The Philadelphia Conference
comprised New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania
east of the Susquehanna river, Delaware and
the pArts of Maryland and Virginia lying east OF
the Chesapeaks Bay. There were three elders'ds-
icta ia this Conferences 81 charges G2 preachers,
, aud Is 232 members. The totals wore Confer.
Gncps, Is eders dis 'rctn, 2G5 preachers, aud I'll ,
325 members. There were four classes of Annu-
al Conferences during the one hundred years OF
the Church history
The first consisted of those held under the i'm
me d ate direction and control of Mr. John Wos-
ley, extending from the organization OF the Coz
fel ence in 1913 to 1884 This was followed by
independent General Conferences under the au-
thority of the Methodist Episcopal Church. but
! still in imitation of British Conferences without
any well defined boundaries. Then followed
| from 1888 to 1916 district annual Conferences,
which dIvested of Legislative functions that in
| hered in their predecessors laid the foundation
| for the annual Conferences at present organ
lied, this latter being first formally presente d
BY the action of the General Conference Of 1906.