HISTORICAL STATEMENT. THE doctrine and spirit of Primitive Christianity have existed at different times and in different degrees in all branches of the kingdom of Christ among men. They were embodied in a new form on this wise: "In 1729 two young men in England, reading the Bible, .saw they could not be saved without holiness, followed after it, and incited others so to do. In 1737 they saw, likewise, that men are justified before they are sanctified; but still holiness was their object. God then thrust them out to raise a holy people." This was the rise of Methodism, as given in the words of its founders, John and Charles Wesley, of Oxford University, and Presbyters of the Church of England. Their evangelical labors were accompanied by an extraordinary divine influence; other Ministers and many Lay Preachers were raised up to aid them; and throughout England and in Scotland and Ireland arose United Societies of men having the form and seeking the power of godliness. These subsequently became the Wesleyan Churches of Great Britain. In the year 1766 Philip Embury, a Wesleyan Local Preacher from Ireland, began to preach in New York city and formed a Society, now the John Street Church. Another Local Preacher, Thomas Webb, captain in the British army, soon joined him, and also preached elsewhere in the city and its vicinity. About the same time Robert Strawbridge, from Ireland, settled in Frederick County, Maryland, preaching there and forming Societies. In 1769 Mr. Wesley sent to America two Itinerant Preachers, Richard Boardman and Joseph Pilmoor, and in 1771 two others, Francis Asbury and Richard Wright. The work thus begun was signally owned of God, so that, at the close of the Revolutionary War, the number of Traveling Preachers was about eighty, and of Members in Society about fifteen thousand. When the independence of the United States was acknowledged by the treaty of 1783, the American Methodists, most of whom had been members of the Church of England, were, according to the express declaration of Mr. Wesley, "totally disentangled both from the State and the English hierarchy." He added: "They are now at full liberty simply to follow the Scriptures and the Primitive Church, and we judge it best that they should stand fast in that liberty wherewith God has so strangely made them free." The parish clergy had mostly returned to England. The Methodist Societies were without ordained Pastors, and "for hundreds of miles together" were destitute of the Christian Sacraments. As his children in the Gospel, they appealed to Mr. Wesley for advice and help. He responded by ordaining the Revs. Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey as Presbyters (or Elders) for America; and also (since he preferred the Episcopal form of Church government) by setting apart, by prayer and the imposition of hands, the Rev. Thomas Coke, Doctor of Civil Law, and a Presbyter of the Church of England, to be a Superintendent, "to preside over the flock of Christ" in America. In these services he was assisted by other ordained ministers. He also commissioned Dr. Coke to ordain, as joint Superintendent with himself, 66 the Rev. Francis Asbury, then General Assistant for the American Societies. Mr. Wesley also prepared "Articles of Religion" and а Sunday Service," both abbreviated from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. In the "Sunday Service were included forms for the Administration of the Sacraments and for the ordination of Ministers. At the "Christmas Conference," begun in Baltimore, Maryland, December 24, 1784, sixty Preachers met Dr. Coke and his companions. The plan of Mr. Wesley was submitted to them, and was unanimously and heartily approved. Thereupon they organized the METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, and adopted the Articles of Religion and the Sunday Service prepared by Mr. Wesley, adding to the Articles one containing a recognition of the new Civil Government, and inserting in the Ritual a prayer for the Supreme Rulers of the United States. They also enacted all laws necessary for the government of the new Church. Mr. Asbury was elected to the Episcopal office conjointly with Dr. Coke, by whom, with the assistance of several Presbyters, he was duly consecrated a Bishop. Others were ordained Deacons, and thirteen were elected, and either then or soon thereafter were duly ordained Elders, two of them for missionary work in Nova Scotia and one for like work in Antigua, in the West Indies. Such was the origin of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the first with an Episcopal form of government to attain an independent existence in the new Republic. While its polity and administrative rules have from time to time been modified to meet changing conditions and opportunities, it remains unchanged in doctrine and in ministerial offices. Coeval with the Republic, it has expanded with it, and ministered to its moral and religious life. At this date (1900) its communicants, not including |