(4) The Doctrines. The doctrines of the new church cannot, of course, be stated here with any fullness, yet since they have been one of the main elements, if not chief of all, in its growth, a para graph must be devoted to them. Calvinism was vigorously repudiatcd from thc start. The doc trines of election, predestination, limited atone ment. irresistible grace, and final perseverance of the Saints as set forth by those who accounted themselves the only orthodox, were stoutly op posed in every Methodist pulpit, and the common sense of the people soon ranged itself with them. On the positive side Methodism gave emphasis in its preaching to the doctrines having closest connection with the spiritual life, and this also powerfully appealed to the people, meeting their needs and capturing their asscnt. It promoted re v ivals by prcaching strongly the lost condition of humanity without Christ, the frcedom of his grace to all who seek and the assurance of present salvation by simple faith in thc Savior. It se cured thoroughness of religious experience in vast numbers of cases by urging its converts on to complete consecration, which they were taught would be accompanied by a corresponding purifi cation from sin. A bright, joyous, active type of religion was thus produced, very attractive to the multitudes and very effective as a means of church advancement. A free, a full, and a present salva tion, which was the early rallying-cry of the Methodist hosts, proved amazingly productive of extensive as well as permanent results. A reason able religion, being joined with a very earnest re ligion, swept the country. The freedom of thc human will was emphasized rather than the abso lute sovereignty of God. God's love was dwelt upon rather than his justice, though by no means to the exclusion of the latter. The depravity of man was not regarded as being total in any or dinary sense of that word, since God's spirit works in all and gracious ability to accept thc of fers of mcrcy is freely supplied to all. Methodism is not sacramentative or sacerdotal, liut takes a moderate view of the ordinances. It believes that the baptism of infants should be retained in the church, and it offers in theory to all its converts who have not been baptized in infancy their choice as to sprinkling, pouring or dipping; but in prac tice nearly all are sprinkled.
(5) The Polity. Another large clement in the growth of Methodism has been its form of church government. This, therefore, must be briefly sketched. It has a marvelous system of confer ( nces and a complete set of officials carefully graded, all interlocking in a way to secure close supervision and great efficiency of movement, without seriously or needlessly infringing personal liberty. The General Conferencc, which has su preme jurisdiction over the entire denomination, and is the only legislative body in it, meets on the first Wednesday of May in every fourth year and continues in session about a month. Since 1812 it has been a delegated body, at first wholly of minis ters, but since [872 a part of the delegates have been laymen. It makes such laws, rules and regu lations as the interests of the church seem to re quire, elects the Bishops and other general officers. such as publishing agents, editors and secretaries, supervises all the connectional societies and main tains fraternal relations with other churches. Its powers are somewhat restricted by a constitution, but in most matters it has a free hand. The an nual conferences, meeting once a year, are next in order of importance. Including mission confer ences and missions, they number now one hundred and forty-five, and arc in almost all parts of the world. They are composed entirely of traveling preachers, have only administrative functions, and are presided over by the Bishops. In most An nual Conferences there are several District Con ferences, held by the Presiding Elders and com posed of the preachers and lay officials of all churches in the districts. Finally, each church or
pastoral charge (where several small churches are under one man) has its own Quarterly Conference (consisting of local preachers, exhorters, class leaders, stewards, trustees, Sunday-school superin tendents and presidents of Epworth Leagues), which supervises the interests of the charge. The duties of these various lay officers cannot be here specified; but since the most distinctive character istic of the Methodist economy is the itinerancy of its ministcrs, a word should be said as to this feature. It sprang up providentially through the necessities of the early days, but it has proved a marvelous labor-saving arrangemcnt. At first the preachers were moved, as a rule yearly, in some instances every six months, though there was no law against their indefinite reappointment to the same place. Then (in 18o4) a rule was made that no preacher should bc allowed to remain in one station morc than two years successively; in 1864 it S changed to three years; in 1888 to five years ; and at the General Confcrence held in Chicago in 19w the time limit was removed. The Bishop presiding at the annual conference is au thorized to fix the appointments, but he is aided in this arduous duty by information furnished him from both churches and ministers, chiefly through the Presiding Elders, whose business it is to travel all the year, having general oversight, each one of a District comprising front twenty to seventy churches. This system distributes evenly, with very little friction, the talents of the ministry, and supplies every church with a preacher and every preacher with a church all the time.
(6) Grov7th. After being fully organized, as described, the church proceeded on its widening way, not without difficulties, perplexities, and oc casional dissensions, but on the whole with mar velous success. In 1789, Methodism, under the leadership of Jesse Lee, was introduced into New England, it having previously been con fined to the Middle and Southern States. It pushed westward with great vigor, by means of its itinerant, circuit-riding preachers, with their headquarters in the saddle, who kept pace with the advancing tide of emigration. It was the first religious body to congratulate Washington on his inauguration to the presidency in '789. It was the first to establish, develop and recognize the vast importance of Sunday-schools. It very early laid great emphasis on camp-meetings, and has been more largely identified with this useful means of grace than any other church. Its first literary institution, Cokesbury College, in Mary land, opened in 1787, was burned dawn in 1795. It was some time before the church, in its poverty, rallied from this blow, but after a while attention was turned anew in this direction, colleges and academies began to be founded, and in the last fifty years (especially the last thirty years) great strides have been made. There are now not far from one hundred and fifty high-class institu tions in this country under the various names of university, college, Institute, seminary, academy, together with about eighty more of diverse grades in the foreign mission fields. The total value of grounds, buildings and endowments is put in the last reports at $31,385,920, with 46,545 students in attendance. Chief among these institutions are the American University at Washington, the Northwestern University at Chicago, the Boston University at Boston, the Wesleyan University at Middletown, Conn., the Syracuse University at Syracuse, N. Y., the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware, Ohio, De Pauw University at Green castle, Ind., and Dickinson College at Carlisle, Pa. A general Board of Education, chartered in 1869, looks after this interest.