ize some other form and they modeled their future organization mainly after the pattern of the synagogue. There is no specific form of Church government to be found anywhere in the New Testament. Nevertheless, there was a Church. There were religious institutions. They were accepted. They were implied. And the moment the apostles began to preach outside of Judea, where there was no temple, and where there were no synagogues, they were organized, they were officered; and there came to be laws and methods and usages, and the apostles commanded them, interpreted them, and ranked them. This was known as the "Christian Church." This Church had a history of conflict through the centuries.

Rise of Protestant Christianity

In the sixteenth century the Christian Church centered at Rome and was called the Roman Catholic Church, or the Roman Universal Church. "This Church claimed to be the vicegerent of Christ on earth; that the grace of God is ministered through this Church alone by its pope or priest." Martin Luther, a native of Germany, was ordained a priest in this Church. Seeing the selfish ambition of the leaders of the Church and being convinced of the error of its doctrines, he raised a protest against the wickedness and errors of the Roman Catholic Church and started what is historically known as the Great Reformation of the sixteenth century. This Reformation was the beginning of a new era in the Christian Church, and out of it originated what is known as the Protestant Christian Church.

The Wesleys

This Protestant Church has since divided into various denominations-Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, and others. One of the branches of the Protestant Church adopted an episcopal form of government, became the recognized Church of England, was called the Anglican Church, and was supported by the government. The father of John and Charles Wesley was a clergyman in the

Church of England, and their mother was a devout member. The sons were sent to Oxford University, and while there John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and other students formed a religious band for prayer and study of the Scriptures. This little college group was so regular and systematic in Bible study and devotion that they were called "Methodists" in derision. After leaving Oxford University, these consecrated men began to preach. They were so earnest and reproved sin so sharply that they were forbidden the use of Anglican churches. However, they remained members of the Established Church and continued their preaching in the open air and organized their converts into groups called "Societies." This is almost an exact analogy of the relation the lonely Christian Church sustained to the Jewish Church.

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The Rise of Methodism

The first Methodist Society was organized in Bristol, England, in 1739. The first building called a Methodist Church in England was what was known as the old Foundry Church in London. This has been termed the cradle of Methodism." It was in this church that Mr. Wesley called the first "Methodist Conference." This new movement grew so rapidly and offered so many opportunities that Mr. Wesley found need of "advice respecting the best method of carrying on the work of God." He, therefore, invited the clergymen and lay preachers who were in sympathy with his movement to meet him in the old Foundry Church for a conference. This conference decided several important questions. It opposed secession from the Church of England and agreed to obey the bishop "in all things indifferent; and on this ground of obeying them to obey the canons as far as possible with a safe conscience."

After determining their relations to the Church of England, they settled two other questions: "What shall we teach?" and "What shall we do?" They decided to confine themselves to the doctrines relating directly to

personal religion, without which one cannot be saved. The Conference, therefore, carefully defined repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, and the witness of the Spirit. All their doctrinal discussions were confined to these five points and these five points have continued to this day in Methodism as her specific doctrines.

General Rules and Articles of Religion

At this first Conference they also approved what are known as the "General Rules," which have been preserved substantially as then adopted. Later, John Wesley took the Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith of the Established Church of England, reduced them to twenty-five, and they were adopted as the Methodist "Articles of Religion." These twenty-five Articles of Religion remain unchanged, and changeable only through process of constitutional amendment. The first limitation of the General Conference is: "The General Conference shall not revoke, alter, or change our 'Articles of Religion."

Foundation of Methodism

This first Conference established the plan on which Methodism has since proceeded. They decided that their work was not at that time to organize a distinct ecclesiastical body; that they should remain in the Established Church and continue to lead men to Christ; to organize sincere believers into societies; to teach them to do practical Christian work and to leave the future to Providential guidance. They decided to emphasize first the fundamental doctrines of repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, and the witness of the Spirit; second, "to transact business in a free and open conference, and in every practical point so far as it can be done without wounding conscience, each would cheerfully submit to the decision of the majority"; third, "that they would develop the organization through these Conferences for efficiency and service as God himself might direct"; and thus Methodism from the first Conference to this day has been a providential development.

Methodism in America

John Wesley came to America as a missionary to the American Indians but did not stay long. Later, other ministers and members of his societies came and organized Methodist Societies in America. The first Methodist Societies in America were organized in New York and Maryland about 1766 by Philip Embury and Robert Strawbridge. The former organized a congregation in his own home in New York. The latter established a society at Sams Creek, Frederick County, Md. These societies were considered a part of the Anglican Church up to the Revolutionary War. After the Revolutionary War, Mr. Wesley decided that there should be organized in America an independent Methodist Episcopal Church. Accordingly, in 1784 he ordained and sent over from England Thomas Coke as general superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. Thomas Coke ordained Francis Asbury at the first General Conference, which met in Baltimore in 1784, and these two, the first bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church took charge of the American work. The inhabited part of America was divided up into sections called "circuits," and the preachers went on horseback to the various preaching places. The preachers were called "circuit riders." The "circuit riders" moved West with the population. The work grew rapidly. In 1784 there were 15,000 Methodists in America; in 1800 there were 65,000.

A Divided Methodism

In 1844, when all sections of America were agitated over the abolition of the slavery of the negro, the General Conference convened in New York City. Bishop Andrew, one of the leading bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America, had become connected by marriage with slavery. After a long and heated discussion in the General Conference, a resolution was passed requesting Bishop Andrew to act no longer as bishop "so long as this impediment remains." This resolution caused a division in the Church. A plan of friendly separation

was adopted by which the Conferences in the slaveholding territory became the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the other Conferences the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Methodist Episcopal Church, South

The following year, 1845, a convention of the Southern Conferences was held in Louisville, Ky., and the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was organized. The doctrines of both branches of the Methodist Church have remained practically the same. Other branches of Methodism have arisen also.

Younger members of our Church are frequently occasioned some concern by reason of the fact that since and pursuant to the division of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States (General Conference, 1844) the Southern branch of the Church has been known as the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, while the Northern branch, for reasons best known to itself, retained the name, Methodist Episcopal Church, the implication being to those without definite knowledge of the facts in the case that the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, separated itself from the original Church and became merely a branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Any question as to the relation of the two branches of Methodism to the mother Church would seem to have long since been set at rest by the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of William A. Smith, et als., vs. Leroy Swormstedt, et als., decided in 1853 and reported in the published opinions of that court in 16 Howard, page 288, 14 Law Edition, page 942. This case involved the relative interests of the two Churches in an institution known as the Book Concern, founded by the Church, whose capital at the time of the suit in question amounted to nearly a million dollars. The contention of the Northern branch of the Church was that the property belonged to "the mother Church," that the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, had separated itself from "the mother Church" and was, therefore, entitled to no interest in the property. It