From this time on the Church grew in num bers, annual conferences were created, the itiner ancy firmly established, a publishing house set up for denominational literature, schools opened, provision made for training ministers in a course of conference study, and the insti tutions of an aggressive denomination, includ ing a Church press, home and foreign missions, Church extension, a fund for superannuated ministers, etc., gradually developed.
The peculiar features of the Methodism of Wesley were also those of the Methodism of Asbury: itinerant preachers, whose appoint ments were changed every year or oftener, then every two years; local preachers from whose ranks the itinerants were recruited; class-lead ers for 12 or more members, for prayer, testi mony and advice; probation for six months for new converts; Gospel preaching of a fervent type designed to convict of sin and bring re pentance and faith in God for salvation and sanctification; a ministry of two orders, deacon and elder, and circuits connecting several socie ties under one preacher. American Methodism differed from English Methodism in its confer ence system — quarterly, for the societies, held by the presiding elder; district, for all the societies under the care of the presiding elder; annual, for the itinerants, and general, for legis lation and administration and judicial decision; bishops for the whole church, not diocesan, but itinerant. The General Conference, character istic of all branches, meets once in four years. Lay delegates were admitted in 1872. They equal in number the ministerial delegates.
Its missionary enterprise has been wide spread and extensive. It had from 1819 to 1905 one society for home and foreign missions. Since the latter date, it has had a Board of Foreign and a Board of Home missions and Church Extension. The home operations in clude all classes of population, English and foreign-speaking, also Indian and Negro. For this work the expenditure in 1917, including the Woman's Home Society, was more than $2, 400,000. The Foreign Board, together with the Woman's Foreign Society, expended in 1917 $3,716,000. The foreign work, is in Europe — Russia, Finland, Scandinavia, Germany (two annual conferences), Austria-Hungary, Bul garia, Switzerland, France and Italy —aggre gating 74,488 communicants; in Mexico and South America, 18,422 communicants; in India, Burma, Malaysia and the Philippines, 279,646 communicants; in Japan, China and Korea, 82,424; and in Africa, 20,332.
The grand total of Foreign mission communi cants is 475,212. The growth of the Church in the United States was almost without parallel. At Asbury's death in 1816 it had 214,235 members; at the end of 1916, 100 years later, it had had, including missions on all continents, save Aus tralia, 4,128,064, notwithstanding losses by re peated division, with 20,503 itinerant ministers, 15,239 local preachers and 30,738 churches, with 4,579,029 in its Sunday schools, and 596,629 in its Epworth Leagues, not including junior mem bers. The estimated value of its church and parsonage property was upward of $250,000,000 Its universities, colleges, seminaries, academies, etc., are numerous, strong, well-endowed and prosperous. Its hospitals, homes for aged and
children have come into existence in the last half-century, and are found throughout its boundaries.. It is a polyglot Church, having services in German, French, Bohemian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek, Swedish, Nor wegian, Danish and other European tongues and also in various Indian dialects.
Division has disturbed the Methodist Episco pal Church almost from the first; O'Kelly led out a small company of dissidents in 1793; several organizations were formed before 1820 by withdrawing colored members; a large num ber were alienated in 1830 as the result of controversy over what was characterized as autocratic rule; later the slavery question be came a dividing factor, resulting in a separa tion in 1841-43, and in 1844-45 in the largest division of all, taking away nearly half of the members reported at that time. Some of the divisions have disappeared, but of those remain ing all but one, the Primitive, grew out of differences in government, administration and discipline.
2. Methodist Episcopal Church, South.— The existence of slavery in the South after it had ceased in the rest of the States, the struggle to expand it to the border States, and the enforce ment of the Fugitive Slave Law sharply accen tuated and divided American opinion, and in evitably drew the Churches into the contro versy. Anti-slavery sentiment became vigorous and outspoken in the North and roused strenu ous opposition in the South. The Methodist Church tried to repress abolition agitation in its ranks, on the one side, and to avoid complicity with the institution, on the other. When Bishop Andrew became a slave holder, through inherit ance by his wife, the opposing opinions forced a solution upon the General Conference of 1844. The sentiment of the Northern delegates supported a resolution advising Bishop Andrew to 'desist from the exercise of office' so long as he continued to hold slaves. The other bishops united in suggesting that the matter be postponed to the conference of 1848, and that. meantime, the work of the bishops be so ar ranged that Bishop Andrew be given oversigh: in that section of the country where his services would not meet with objection. But this and other compromises were put aside, under the fear that otherwise the Church would be broken up in portions in the North, and the resolution was adopted by a vote of 110 to 68. The next day the General Conference refused to say that the action was simply advisory. Thereupon Southern delegates, who had refused to allow Bishop Andrew to resign, entered a protest, and a special committee was appointed to see what could be done. This committee re ported a plan of separation which was adopted by a large majority. In the event of the forma tion of a separate body in the South, the plan provided for an equitable division of the book concern accounts, stock, funds, etc., if the annual conferences should agree to the neces sary change in the constitution; those in the South did so agree, but the Northern confer ences refused. The General Conference of 1848 declared the °plan)) null and void; but meantime the Southern conferences had orgari ized the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.