VOLUME 2 — BOOK III — CHAPTER IV
ORGANIZATION OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH — CONTINUED

Legislative Proceedings of the Conference — Its Records — Wesley's "Large Minutes" — Wesley's Prayer Book for American Methodism — Gowns and Bands — The Articles of Religion — Wesley's continued Superintendence recognized — The "Slavery Question" — The Functions of Bishops, Elders, and Deacons defined — Printing of the Minutes — Salaries, or "Allowance" — "Fees"— "The Preachers' Fund" — "The General Fund" — Baptism — The Lord's Supper and Class-Meetings

The further and more specifically legislative proceedings of the Christmas General Conference were highly important.

Though no "Journal" of the doings, in the usual form, was published or preserved in manuscript, its enactments were embodied in a volume "composing a form of Discipline for the ministers, preachers, and other member's of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America," [1] published in Philadelphia in 1785, and bound up with the "Sunday Service," and "Collection of Psalms and Hymns," which Wesley had prepared for the American Societies, and had sent over in sheets. [2] In 1786 a new edition of the whole, in one book, was printed in London, under Wesley's eye. [3] Hitherto, what are called the "Large Minutes" of Wesley had been recognized as the authoritative Discipline of the American Societies, with the special enactments of the American Conferences superadded. The Large Minutes were a compilation, made by Wesley from the Annual Minutes of the British Conference. [4] In the preliminary deliberations at Perry Hall they were revised and adapted to the new form of the American Church, and being adopted by the Christmas Conference, were incorporated with the "Sunday Service" and Hymns, and published in 1785 as the Discipline of American Methodism. In this volume, therefore, we find the enactments of the Christmas Conference. [5]

It has been seen that Wesley sent over by Coke a Liturgy abridged from that of the English Establishment, and entitled "The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America. With other Occasional Services. London: Printed in the year 1784." It contained a form of Public Prayer, "The Form and Manner of Making and Ordaining of Superintendents, Elders, and Deacons," and "The Articles of Religion." Another part of this Liturgy or "Service" was "A Collection of Psalms and Hymns for the Lord's Day. Published by John Wesley, M.A., late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford; and Charles Wesley, M.A., late Student of Christ Church, Oxford. London : Printed in the year 1784." The General Conference of 1784, organizing the Church, adopted these, and, therefore, in the emphasized language of Whatcoat, "agreed to form a Methodist Episcopal Church, in which the Liturgy (as presented by the Rev. John Wesley) should be read." This organic provision has never been formally repealed. The General Conference has, indeed, at a later session, directed that for the "establishment of uniformity in public worship," "the morning service shall consist of singing, prayer, the reading of a chapter out of the Old Testament, and another out of the New, and preaching." [6] But it has not directed what the two lessons shall be, nor what the norm of prayer; its prescription would nearly correspond with the original "Sunday Service," and as the latter has never been formally abrogated, any Methodist Society could legally adopt it. Public opinion has, however, silently but effectually rendered it obsolete, and few Methodists now know that their Church was organized with a Liturgical Service by the direction of Wesley himself. It was used for a few years, in both cities and country, in the principal Churches; but Sabbath love-feasts, or other extra services, frequently preoccupied the time allotted to it, and, from being occasionally omitted, it at last fell into entire disuse. [7] It was published in but two editions, both printed in London. [8] In 1787 the General Minutes, or Discipline proper, was published in a separate pamphlet; the "Articles of Religion," the Sacramental, Ordination, and other administrative forms of the Ritual, or "Sunday Service," were subsequently copied into the Discipline, and the collection of Psalms and hymns were changed into "The Hymn Book." But there are traces of the recognition of the Liturgy down to 1792, when all allusions to it disappear. [9] Many, if not most of the early Methodists, had been brought up in the English Church; to these the Prayer Book was not unacceptable; but the later extension of Methodism comprehended, doubtless, a majority of members whose early education had given them no such predilections. [10] Gowns and bands were also used for some time by the superintendents and elders, but passed away in like manner.

The Articles of Religion prepared by Wesley, and adopted by this Conference, are an abridgment of the Thirty-nine Articles of the English Church, omitting the third, eighth, thirteenth, fifteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-third, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, and thirty-seventh of the latter, also parts of the sixth, ninth, and nineteenth, and introducing verbal emendations of others. Of course the alleged Calvinistic article entirely disappears.

The Conference declared that "during the life of the Rev. Mr. Wesley we acknowledge ourselves his sons in the Gospel, ready in matters belonging to Church government to obey his commands. And we do engage, after his death, to do everything that we judge consistent with the cause of religion in America, and the political interests of these states, to preserve and promote our union with the Methodists in Europe."

The institution of slavery was again considered, and stringent and comprehensive measures were adopted for its "extirpation." The Conference declared that "We view it as contrary to the golden law of God, on which hang all the law and the prophets, and the inalienable rights of mankind, as well as every principle of the Revolution, to hold in the deepest debasement, in a more abject slavery than is perhaps to be found in any part of the world except America, so many souls that are all capable of the image of God. We therefore think it our most bounden duty to take immediately some effectual method to extirpate this abomination from among us." They then require every Methodist to "execute and record within twelve months after notice from the assistant" a legal instrument emancipating all slaves, in his possession, at specified ages. Any person concerned who should not concur in this requirement had liberty to leave the Church within one year, otherwise the preacher was to exclude him. No person holding slaves could be admitted to membership, or to the Lord's supper, till he had complied with this law; but it was to be applied only where the laws of the state permitted. Methodists in Virginia were allowed two years "to consider the expedience of compliance or non-compliance." Buying, selling, or giving away slaves, unless to free them, was forbidden on penalty of expulsion from the Church. These rules produced much hostile excitement, and were suspended in less than six months. Not a few emancipations, however, occurred before their suspension.

The duties of the ordained preachers were defined. Those of the superintendent were to ordain superintendents, elders, and deacons; to preside as a moderator in the Conferences; to fix the appointments of the preachers for the several circuits; and, in the intervals of the Conference, to change, receive, or suspend preachers, as necessity might require, and to receive appeals from the preachers and people, and decide them. No person could be ordained a superintendent, elder, or deacon, without the consent of a majority of the Conference, and the consent and imposition of the hands of a superintendent. The superintendent was made amenable for his conduct to the Conference, "who have power to expel him for improper conduct if they see it necessary." If he cease to travel without the consent of the Conference, "he shall not thereafter exercise any ministerial function whatsoever in the Church." If by death, expulsion, or otherwise, there be no superintendent, "the Conference shall elect one, and the elders, or any three of them, shall ordain him." The office of an elder "is to administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper, and to perform all the other rites prescribed by the Liturgy." The office of a deacon "is to baptize in the absence of an elder, to assist the elder in the administration of the Lord's supper, to marry, bury the dead, and read the Liturgy to the people as prescribed, except what relates to the administration of the Lord's supper." No person was to be employed as a traveling preacher unless his name were printed in the Minutes, or a certificate given him by a superintendent or the circuit "assistant." It was therefore ordered that the Minutes should be annually printed. Hitherto they had remained in manuscript; in 1785, and ever after, they were regularly published, and in 1794 [11] John Dickins issued, in a volume, all these documents, including those which had been in manuscript down to 1785.

The Conference defined the salary or allowance of preachers and their families. It amounted to sixty-four dollars to each, the same sum to each wife of a preacher, sixteen dollars to each child under the age of six years, and about twenty-two dollars to each over six and under even years. No provision was made for children above eleven years old. All allowance for children was repealed in about two years from this date, and no regular provision was made for them till 1800. These bald facts are not without historical and striking significance. The laborious but poorly supported ministry were prohibited by this Conference (that is to say, by themselves) from taking any fee or "present" for marriages, baptisms, or funeral services. After some years they were allowed to accept "presents" for performing the marriage ceremony; but all money thus received was credited to the circuit stewards toward the preacher's allowance. If the latter were otherwise fully provided, (a rare fact,) the marriage fees were taken to the Annual Conference to aid in making up the deficient allowances of other preachers. Not till the year 1800 were marriage fees the private property of the preachers to whom they were given. The ministry was yet one family, with common privations and common reliefs. Their destitution was, however, often so severe that the present Conference devised a plan of relief for "superannuated preachers, and the widows and orphans of preachers." It was called the "Preachers' Fund," and was to be provided by the preachers themselves paying, at their admission to the Conference, a sum equivalent to two dollars and sixty-seven cents in Federal money, and afterward two dollars annually. These receipts were held by three treasurers, who with three clerks (each keeping a separate account) and three inspectors, (who were to present to the Conference annually an exact account of the fund,) were a committee for its management. Out of the fund provision was to be made, first, for the worn-out preachers, and then for the widows and orphans. " Every worn-out preacher," say the rules, "shall receive, if he wants it, $64 a year; every widow, if she wants it, $53.33; every child shall receive once for all, if he wants it, $53.33. But none shall be entitled to anything from the fund till he has paid $6.67; nor any who neglects paying his subscription for three years together, unless he be sent by the Conference out of the United States." Lee says that "this fund afforded relief to a good many of our preachers in the time of distress, and most part of the preachers were subscribers to it. The regulations were changed afterward, in some particulars, but the fund continued in operation until we established the Chartered Fund, in 1796. Then all the stock of the Preachers' Fund was thrown into the Chartered Fund, which was incorporated in 1797, in Philadelphia. After that time there was some alteration made in the application of the money given annually by the preachers. The annual subscriptions of the traveling preachers to the Preachers' Fund was to be reserved for extraordinary cases, which the Chartered Fund might not reach. Some time afterward the subscriptions were dropped altogether, and have never since been revived." Annual collections, however, have been generally given by the Churches for such "necessitous cases," and though untold privations have been suffered by the ministry and its families, some of the Annual Conferences, in our day, fully meet their claims as now allowed in the Discipline.

The Conference ordained that a "General Fund for carrying on the whole work of God" should be provided by "a yearly collection, and, if need be, by a quarterly one, in every principal congregation." It was a contingent fund, chiefly for the expenses of preachers sent into new or distant fields of labor.

It was further enacted that it should be recommended to communicants to receive the Eucharist kneeling, but they were to be allowed to receive it standing or sitting. None but members of the Church, or such persons as received "tickets" from the preacher, were to be "admitted to the communion." Baptism was to be administered according to the choice of the candidate, or, if a child, of his parents, either by sprinkling or immersion. Rebaptism of such as had scruples respecting their baptism in infancy was to be allowed. Persons who continued to attend divine service, and to receive the Lord's supper in other Churches, were to "have full liberty as members" of Methodist Societies while they "comply with our rules." Members who should persistently neglect their class-meetings were to be excluded from the Church, after suitable warning. Members marrying "unawakened persons" were also to be expelled — a rule which was modified in 1804 by changing the penalty to "putting back on trial for six moths." Subsequently all penalty was abolished, and the Church pledged only to "discourage" such marriages.

Such are the most important additions to, or modifications of; the previous American Minutes and Wesley's "Large Minutes," made by the Christmas Conference.

It remains for us to consider more comprehensively the theological and ecclesiastical character now assumed by American Methodism, as indicated not only in these new measures, but in the prior documents which still constituted the chief portion of its law or discipline.

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ENDNOTES

1 Its complete title is, "Minutes of Several Conversations between the Rev. Thos. Coke, LL.D., the Rev. Francis Asbury, and others, at a Conference begun in Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, on Monday, the 27th of December, in the year 1784. Composing a Form of Discipline for the Ministers, Preachers, and other Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America." Bangs (Hist., vol. i, p. 175) gives a quotation from the Discipline of nearly forty pages, nearly the entire book, supposing it to be "the rules as they were then adopted," that is to say, at the Christmas Conference. To save my own citations from impeachment I have to remark that my late venerated friend fell into an important error. He gives not the Discipline of the Christmas Conference. His quoted edition is in the form of sections, etc.; this was not the form of that of the Christmas Conference; the sectional form was not introduced till 1787, and no copy of the edition of this year is extant. (Emory's Hist. of Dis., p. 82.) Nor could he have quoted from this later edition, for Lee (Hist., pp. 127, 128) says it contained thirty-one sections, whereas that given by Dr. Bangs has thirty-five. Moreover, his quotations show that he must have used a copy which could not have been issued before 1789, for they include a law respecting local preachers which was first inserted in the latter year. This correction is the more important, as the doctor intimates that he could not find, "either in the printed Minutes or the Discipline," the important passages I give, in the present chapter, on slavery, but gives them from Lee, as "the substance" of what this Conference did in reference to this subject, and supposes, in a note, that they were never printed. They were printed in 1785, forming a part of the original Discipline or Minutes of 1784. They were not omitted till the London edition of 1786, though suspended as a law in 1785. If any further proof that he quoted a later edition is necessary, it will be seen in the fact that his quotations use the word "bishop," which was not inserted as a personal title of the superintendent till 1787. Substantially the Minutes of 1784 (first published in 1785) have always been the Discipline of the Church; but those modifications, which have been made from time to time, had already begun when the edition from which Dr. Bangs quotes was issued. As above shown, not only important omissions and additions, but an entire change of its form had taken place.

2 Bishop Emory's "Defense of our Fathers," sec. 8. New York. 1840.

3 Emory's History of the Discipline, p. 80.

4 Their title reads: "Minutes of several Conferences between the Rev. Mr. Wesley, and others," etc. They were several times revised and enlarged from 1744 to 1789, when the last revision before Wesley's death was made. They are the Discipline of the Wesleyan Methodists of England.

5 The younger Emory has given, in his History of the Discipline, p. 96, the whole of the "Large Minutes" as adopted in 1784, discriminating the enactments of the American Conference.

6 Discipline, Part I, chap. 2, paragraph 1.

7 The old preachers, in whose day it was still used, in John Street Chapel, New York, have thus described its failure there.

8 The edition of 1784 was bound with the first edition of the Discipline, published in Philadelphia in 1785. The Discipline was bound in the London edition of 1788.

9 Emory, Hist. of the Discipline, p. 80.

10 Wesley's abridgment of the Common Prayer was exceedingly well done; superior to that adopted by the Protestant Episcopal Church. It includes the very quintessence of the English Liturgy in the best possible form. I am not aware that any effort has ever been made, in the General Conference or otherwise, to revive its use. The expedience of its restoration has occasionally been discussed in the Church papers. Some Methodists have supposed that its use in our large communities might be desirable, and that, as the Methodist Episcopal Church, rather than the Protestant Episcopal Church, was, by its precedent organization as well as its Articles of Religion, its Ritual forms, and its numerical preponderance, the legitimate successor of the English Church in the United States, its continued use of the Liturgy would not only have attracted to it most immigrant communicants of the parent Church, as well as other persons and families who prefer Liturgical services, but would have enabled it to supersede more effectually than it has the Protestant Episcopal Church in this country. It cannot be questioned, however, that a large majority of Methodists believe that any such advantage would have been more than counterbalanced by many disadvantages.

11 Preface to bound Minutes. New York. 1840. Lee (p. 89) says 1795. All the Annual Minutes from the beginning have been published in bound volumes by the Methodist Book Concern: a large mass of vague but invaluable materials for the historian.

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