METHODISTS, a numerous religious body both in this country and in America. They are divided into several distinct sects; but from the minute shades by which these arc distinguished, and the extreme obscurity of some of their numbers, it is difficult to furnish a perfectly accurate account of them. We shall describe those which are best known.

The first in order of time, as well as in point of numbers, is that of Wesleyan Methodists. This body derives its name from its principal founder, the Rev. John Wesley. Whilst a student at Christ-Church College, Oxford, and engaged in the pursuit of theology, as preparatory to his entering into deacon’s orders, Wesley’s mind had become strongly imbued with that peculiar asceticism which colours the writings of Thomas a Kempis, Fenelon, William Law, and occasionally of Jeremy Taylor, of whose works he had been a diligent and admiring student. On his assuming the sacred office, this tendency was increased rather than diminished; and when, after officiating as curate to his father, who was a clergyman in Lincolnshire, for about two years, he returned to Oxford to resume his duties as a fellow of Lincoln College, it was apparent that it had acquired the complete ascendency over his mind. His condition at this time was distressing. He felt himself burdened under a sense of guilt in the sight of God, and ignorant of the only way in which that burden could be relieved. Sympathy of feeling and unity of opinion led him to enter into an association which had been formed during his absence among a few of his former friends, in whom a similar course of discipline had produced similar effects. Of this society he soon became the leader and most active member, employing the resources of his comprehensive mind for the regulation of their meetings, and setting an example of diligence in the discharge of every office, and of patience in the endurance of every penance, which in their misguided zeal they had instituted among them, in the hope of thereby obtaining the divine favour. The regulations which they had adopted for the guidance of their conduct were unusually severe: they were in the habit of partaking of the sacrament every week; they were abstemious in their diet, and plain in their clothing; they had set hours for reading Thomas a Kempis, with meditation and prayer, and for musing on the Passion; they spent much of their time in visiting the prisons and the hospitals; they observe^ rigidly all the fasts of the English church, besides a constant abstinence on Wednesdays and Fridays; and in several other respects they exhibited the hold which a morbid asceticism had acquired over their minds. By such conduct, while they commanded the respect of a few, they became the object of ridicule and derision to the many, and had to run the usual gantlope of jokes and nicknames which is destined for all, especially at an university, who are audacious enough to be guilty of innovation either in politics or religion. Of the various titles which the wits of the university devised for them, the only one that has adhered to them is that by which they are now distinguished, viz. Methodists. The author of this appellative is said to have been a fellow of Merton College, who, observing the regularity with which they divided their time among their different pursuits, exclaimed, “Here is anew sect of Methodists sprung up;” alluding to the ancient Methodici, or College of Physicians, at Rome, of whom an account is given by Celsus in the preface to his work De Medicina. At this time their members amounted to fifteen, most of whose names Wesley has preserved in his journal. Among the rest are those of James Hervey, the author of [7:14:752]the Meditations; and George Whitefield, for some time the most efficient assistant, and subsequently the most powerful rival, of Wesley.

The regular formation of this society took place in the year 1729. During the three following years it maintained its ground under the energetic guidance of its head, and increased to the number of twenty-five. In the course of the year 1733, however, Wesley being frequently absent from Oxford, his associates began to lose heart, and to shrink from the persecution which continued to assail them; so that, on his return from a visit he had paid to Manchester and other places in that year, he found the members reduced to five. Grieved, but not disheartened, he immediately set himself to repair the loss, but with what success does not appear. His exertions, however, were so great, that, combined with his abstemiousness, they began seriously to affect his health. It is probable that this, together with other circumstances of a private nature, combined with his religious zeal to induce his acceptance of an offer made to him by the trustees of the new colony of Georgia, to go out as one of the chaplains of that settlement. This offer was made about the middle of 1735, and towards the close of that year be left' England, accompanied by his brother Charles and two other of his Oxford associates, in order to enter upon the duties of his office. On his voyage out he became acquainted with David Nitschman, a Moravian bishop, who, with a party of bis followers, was proceeding in the same vessel to join a colony of their brethren already established in the new settlement. From this individual he derived no small advantage in a religious point of view; nor was the insight which he thus obtained into the Moravian institutions and polity without service to him, when, in subsequent years, he had to assume the office of arranging and legislating for a party of his own.

But Wesley’s connection with the Georgian colony was not of long continuance. It was dissolved in 1737, and, in the month of February of the following year, he arrived in London, a wiser if not a better man than when he had set out. A few months of irregular occupation followed his return; but in September of that year he commenced that course of life in which he persevered till his death, and in the pursuit of which he visited personally the principal places, not only in England, but also in Ireland and in Scotland. The example of his friend Whitefield first induced him to commence field-preaching; a practice which he followed ever afterwards with great success. His brother Charles, who had followed him from America, became a zealous and able coadjutor; and others were speedily added to them. No systematic plan of itinerant preaching seems to have been at first contemplated by them; but their exertions in one place led to their visiting another, and thus a regular course of occasional ministrations was gradually adopted. At first both Wesley and his brother were decidedly opposed to lay-preaching; but the difficulty, or rather the impossibility, of finding individuals who had received orders to supply their rapidly increasing stations, combined with the evidence furnished by one or two remarkable examples, of the possibility of successfully employing individuals who had not been regularly educated for the ministry, in itinerant preaching, led to the ultimate adoption of this as a part of their ecclesiastical machinery. An extensive agency was thus called into operation, by which the Wesleys were enabled to bear in upon the mass of the people throughout the country, and in consequence very widely to diffuse their principles, and augment the number of their adherents. By what steps they advanced it is impossible accurately to detail; but in a very few years they had succeeded in overcoming the persecution by which at first they were everywhere assailed, and in forming societies in all the principal towns and larger villages of England. Over all these Wesley maintained a vigilant watchfulness; and though in general lenient and patient, he yet visited with rigorous discipline those communities or preachers by whom any flagrant departure from the accredited doctrines or practices of the body had been committed. His influence among the societies was maintained partly by frequent visitations, and partly by the power which was concentrated in an annual convention of the preachers, called the Conference, of which he was the moving spring. The first meeting of conference was held in 1744, and this body has regularly held its meetings ever since.

Before Wesley’s death, Methodism had obtained a considerable footing not only in England and Wales, but in Ireland, America, the West Indies, and to a limited extent also in Scotland. At the time of his death “the number of members in connection with him in Europe, America, and the West India Islands, was 80,000."^[1. Watson’s Life of Wesley, p. 378. ] Since that time this denomination has been making a steadily increasing progress. At the Conference of 1836, the numbers returned were, in Great Britain 293,132; in Ireland 26,434; in the Foreign Missions 61,803; in Upper Canada 16,092; under the care of the American Conferences 652,528; total 1,049,989. The number of preachers throughout the world is 4273. Foreign missions have been established in various parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, including the West Indian, Polynesian, and Australasian Islands. An important branch of these missions is the schools which are attached to the different stations, and which are conducted by the missionaries themselves, or under their immediate superintendence. The sum raised for these purposes at the close of the year 1835-36 was L.70,996. Is. lid.

The doctrines taught by Mr Wesley and his preachers may be technically described as those of Evangelical Arminianism. In regard to all the positive doctrines of Christianity, he assented, with a few modifications, to the standards of the reformed churches. He maintained the depravity of human nature; the necessity of an atonement for sin before it can be forgiven; the doctrine of a divine influence to lead men to Christ; justification by faith alone; and the importance of good works, not as the ground of acceptance with God, but as the evidence of faith, and the measure of the final reward. He differed from the system of Calvin chiefly in regard to the extent of the atonement, which he maintained was for all men; to the doctrine of a common grace, which he supposed was given to all, though in various degrees and in different ways;^[2. See this tenet defended at length in Watson’s Theological Institutes, vol. ii. p. 258-263. ] to the opinion that a man who had once believed the gospel might relinquish his belief, and so perish; and to the notion that Christians might obtain salvation from all sin, or entire sanctification, before death. He also held that repentance, which he defined to be “conviction of sin, producing real desires and sincere resolutions of amendment,” and fruits meet for repentance, preceded faith; and that the believer has not only the testimony of his own consciousness to persuade him that he is justified, but also the direct testimony of the Spirit of God. These opinions are still retained by the Methodist body.^[3. Watson’s Life of Wesley, p. 168-199. ]

Of the polity of Wesleyanism, the fundamental principle is, that all power is centred in the Conference or annual convention of the clergy. From this body all authority emanates, and by them all regulations to be observed throughout the society are devised and appointed. In [7:14:753]their name also are levied all the funds that are required for carrying on the operations of the society, of appointing the individuals who are to superintend the different sections into which the denomination is divided, of assigning to each preacher the station he is to occupy, and of suspending or excluding any member of the community, whom a subordinate jurisdiction, entitled a Leader’s Meeting, may have found guilty of certain faults. All their deliberations being carried on with closed doors, the people at large have no check on their decisions, nor any means of controlling their power: the results of their discussions, however, are published, after each meeting, under the title of Minutes. The management of the body is thus vested entirely in an oligarchy of clergymen, self-elected, and all but entirely uncontrolled. The security of this system is perpetuated by the careful gradation of rank which obtains throughout the whole body of functionaries. The supreme power being vested in Conference, the whole field of Methodism is divided into distinct departments, to which is given the name of Circuits. To each of these as many preachers are appointed as its exigencies may require, and at their head is placed one whose experience and reputation, but especially his fidelity to the cause of Conferential supremacy, entitle him to the distinction, and to whom, under the name of Superintendent, the charge of the whole circuit is committed, The appointment of these functionaries is made annually; and no preacher or superintendent can be rc-appointed to the same place for more than three years successively. Besides these, each circuit has its local preachers, who are generally persons engagedin secular business, but who, having by zeal and ability obtained for themselves the approbation of a Local Preacher’s Meeting, are permitted by the superintendent to preach, throughout the vicinity of the place where they reside, in private houses and small country chapels. Out of the number of these the regular preachers are generally chosen, as they have been themselves for the most part chosen from amongst the Classleaders or superintendents of the portions into which each congregation is divided. These classes consist generally of twelve members, and it is the duty of the leader to visit, instruct, and exhort them, as well as to collect their contributions to the funds of the society, and to watch over the correctness of their general conduct. At the meetings of these classes the members state their religious experience, and confess their faults to one another. This, however, is more particularly the object of another subdivision (connection with which, however, is not deemed imperative) called Bands: the members of these are all of one condition in life; that is, the married males meet in one Band, the married females in another, and so on. In these Bands, which are also under the charge of Leaders, there is, in consequence of this arrangement, more freedom of communication, especially in regard to besetting sins and peculiar temptations. Another portion of the members are engaged in the duties of Sunday-school teachers, and are also under the superintendence of a leader. Over all these different agencies’jtis the duty of the circuit superintendent to watch; and to all of them his word is law. An appeal, indeed, lies from his decisions to Conference, but experience has so abundantly shown the uselessness of all such appeals, except in cases of the most glaring nature, that they are hardly ever made.

Whatever objection may be brought against the complication of the machinery of Methodism as opposed to the simplicity of the New Testament, this should not prevent our doing justice to Wesley and his followers, by admitting the importance of the services which they have rendered to the cause of religion, education, and morality, through out the empire. By no denomination of Christians, perhaps, have greater benefits been conferred, in these respects, on the nation at large, than by the Wesleyans. Impelled by an undaunted zeal, they have visited the most abandoned, and instructed the most ignorant, of the population. Wherever they have gone they have carried the elements of a renovated state of society with them, in the doctrines they have taught and the duties they have inculcated. In many parts of England, where, before they commenced their labours, the truths of Christianity were as little known as they are in heathen countries,^[4. "He (Wesley) found thousands of his countrymen, though nominally Christians, yet as ignorant of true Christianity as infidels or neatnens. (Bishop Coplestone, as quoted in Watson’s Life of Wesley, p. 313.) ] they have succeeded in raising large and active communities, amongst which the effects of Christian teaching are apparent, in the good conduct, comfortable circumstances, and increasing respectability of those by whom they are composed. Their zeal has also operated beneficially on other denominations, and has called forth energies that, but for the stimulus of their example, might have continued to lie dormant. In short, it must be confessed, that England and America owe an immense debt of gratitude to the illustrious founder of this powerful society; and that the loss of Methodism would be a loss to the world.

Next in order to the Wesleyan Methodists are the Calvinistic Methodists. Under this term are included three distinct connections, all of which, however, either arose from, or were greatly strengthened by, the exertions of Whitefield, the original companion of Wesley; and from that circumstance they are sometimes ranked under the name of Whitefieldians. Whitefield separated from Wesley shortly after the time when the latter commenced his regular labours as a preacher, upon his return from America. The cause of their separation was their having espoused opposite sides of the Arminian and Calvinistic controversy; Wesley ranking himself with the adherents of the former class of opinions, and Whitefield with those of the latter. This led to their carrying on their itinerant labours independently of each other, though without any attempt on either side to interrupt the peace or the usefulness of the other. Whilst Wesley, however, was skilfully availing himself of his success for the purpose of forming a sect, Whitefield, with less worldly wisdom, contented himself with merely preaching from place to place, and associating himself with any who would acknowledge him as a minister of Christ. At several places, indeed, where he had attracted much attention by his powerful and (to judge from the effects) unparalleled eloquence, he erected chapels, or tabernacles as he called them; but these he invariably left to the care of any evangelical clergymen, whether in the establishment or among the dissenters, whom he saw raised up to occupy them. Since his death, the members of these congregations have been nominally, and only nominally, classed together as a distinct body, under the name of the Tabernacle Connection. In some of these congregations the service is conducted according to the ritual of the church of England, whilst in others the order of worship is more in accordance with that observed by the Independents. They all, however, agree in this, that whether there is a settled minister in the place or not, a succession of supplies from the country is kept up throughout the year, each minister being engaged for a month or six weeks at a time. Where there is no settled pastor, the “supply” for the time being discharges the whole duty of the place; where there is a settled pastor, the duties are divided between them. The members of this connection have of late years been gradually verging towards the Independents, and it is probable that in a short time both bodies will coalesce.

Amongst the most zealous and devoted of Mr White-field[7:14:754]’s adherents was Selina,’countess of Huntingdon, in whose family he at one time officiated as chaplain. After the death of her husband she employed her ample resources in the erection of chapels in different parts of the country, to the occupation of which she invited at first none but regularly ordained clergymen of the Episcopal Church. Many such accepted her invitation, and laboured in the places she had erected; but finding the supply from this source not adequate to the demand, she founded a college at Trevecca, in South Wales, for the education of pious young men of talent for the university. By these means a distinct party was formed, which assumed her name, and is known as Lady Huntingdon’s Connection. They have about sixty congregations, in all of which the service is conducted strictly according to the ritual of the established church. The college has been removed, since the death of its foundress, to Cheshunt in FI ertford shire, where it is now in a flourishing state.

Another body, which, though not founded by Mr Whitefield, was much strengthened through his means, is that denominated the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. The original founder of this body was Mr Howel Harris, of Tre-vccca. This gentleman had intended to take orders in the church of England, but was turned from his purpose by what he witnessed amongst the students at Oxford, who seemed to him wholly given to folly and impiety. On his return home he began to preach to his neighbours and in the surrounding parishes. This took place in 1735, and excited no small attention; numbers collected in every place where he preached, to hear him; and, ultimately, societies were formed, which were placed under the superintendence of experienced individuals. The preaching of Mr Harris was not only successful among the people at large, but was also followed by several clergymen, who at length gave up their livings, and united themselves with him. To this party Mr Whitefield lent the aid of his powerful eloquence, and in return received from it many of his most zealous preachers. It was not, however, till the year 1785, when it was joined by the Rev. Thomas Charles of Bala, that, owing mainly to the exertions of that individual, it was organized into a regular body. Since that time its numbers and resources have been steadily increasing, both in North and South Wales. It is said that there is hardly a village in the principality where one of its chapels is not to be found. The doctrines held by its members are those of high or hyper-calvinism. Their form of church government inclines to the presbyterian, though many practices are encouraged among them that presby-terians in general would condemn, such as the utterance of exclamations of desire or exultation on the part of the audience during public prayer, jumping and throwing themselves into violent postures under the excitement produced by the preacher’s address, and others of a similar kind. They admit also of lay-preaching, and some of their most popular orators are of this class. The sermons of their preachers are generally delivered in a slow recitative, interrupted by quick and startling appeals and interrogations. Even upon those who arc ignorant of the language in which the address is uttered, this peculiar mode of delivery is productive of a powerful sensation. It is not surprising, therefore, that on those by whom the whole is understood, and who can enter fully into the highly figurative and impassioned style of sentiment in which the Welsh preachers generally indulge, the most singular effects should be produced. It is no unusual thing to see whole congregations convulsed, and thrown into the most violent agitation, almost instantaneously, by some well-managed appeal to their feelings on the part of the preacher; and this once accomplished, it is not very difficult to keep up the excitement, until both speaker and hearers are ready to sink to the ground from pure exhaustion. The prevalence of this habit cannot but be regretted; but it is characteristic of the people, and though it is doubtless productive of much that is injurious to true piety, it cannot be questioned, that, upon the whole, the labours of these preachers have told most beneficially, as well as extensively, upon the religious and moral improvement of their countrymen.

The other classes of Methodists have been produced by secessions from the great body of Wesleyan Methodists. The reason assigned for these secessions has been nearly the same for all, viz. thearbitrary and unconstitutional power assumed by the Conference. The only exception to this is in the case of the Primitive Methodists, or Panters, whose ground of secession was, that the true spirit of Methodism was no longer kept up in the body. By this they meant that too much attention was paid to order and decorum in the conduct of public worship; and that sufficient zeal was not manifested in obtruding religion upon the minds of the people by street-services, field-preaching, &c. They are fond of doing nothing in a corner, and, accordingly, often parade the streets, singing hymns and inviting the populace to their places of worship. They also admit of females being allowed to preach. The number of their chapels is about 400; that of their preachers 2700; and that of their members 33,720.

The first secession upon the ground of the unscriptural power exercised by the Conference (and the “earliest in point of time of any of the secessions), was made by a party in 1797, very soon after Mr Wesley’s death. At the Conference held at Leeds that year, delegates appeared from many of the societies throughout the country, who were instructed to request that the people might have a voice in the formation of their own laws, the choice of their own officers, and the distribution of their own property. These reasonable demands having been refused, the petitioners agreed to secede from the Conference connection, and to form themselves into a distinct party, upon a more liberal basis. The person who took the largest share in prompting and providing for this step was Mr Alexander Kilham, and from him the body thus formed have taken the name of Killiamites. They also style themselves the New Connection Methodists. Their doctrinal views arc those of Wesley, but in their polity they seem to have followed in a good measure the forms of presbyterianism as exhibited in Scotland. The people choose their officers, and appear by representatives at all the synodical meetings of the denomination. This party is not very numerous. In 1829 they had 162 chapels, fifty-nine circuits, 492 local preachers, and about 11,7 ’ 80 members. .

Of late there have been several considerable secessions from the general body of the Wesleyans. At least four distinct parties have been formed within a few years. These are the Bryanites, so called from a Mr Bryan, their founder; the Independent Methodists ; the Wesleyan Protestant Methodists; and the Warnendes, or followers of Dr Warren. A proposal has, it seems, been made to unite these parties under some common name, all having seceded on nearly the same fundamental grounds, and all holding the same leading principles.

See Southey’s Life of Wesley; Watson’s Life of Wesley ; Gillies’s Life of Whitefield ; Bogue and Bennet’s History of Dissenters, vol. iii.; and Buck’s Theological Dictionary, by Henderson.