EDUCATION. Though Wesley was obliged to use uneducated men as preachers, he insisted On their diligence in reading and study. He was wont at times to gather them at Kingswood, near Bristol, where he instructed them in Pearson, On. the Crcal, Aldrich's Logic, and rules for action and utterance; but it was not till 1834 that it was decided to open institutions for the training of ministers. and even then amid much opposition, partly on account of fear of loss of the old spirituality, freshness, and independence, and partly on account of the preponderating influ ence of Bunting. In 1834 an institution was opened at Holton, London, removed to Richmond, Surrey, in 1543; another was opened in Stoke Newington in 1839, merged in the Richmond school in 1843. The Didshury institution near Manchester received students in 1842; that at Headingly, near Leeds, in 1868; that at Hands worth, near Birmingham, in 1891. These schools are both academic and theological, and not on the grade of American theological seminaries. These, as well as Wesley College for boys at Shef field, the Leys school in Cambridge, and Trinity College, Taunton. are in connection with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, which also supports a system of day schools haying 159,000 scholars and an annual expenditure of £259,00o, with training colleges for teachers in Westminster and Sonthlands. in Ireland there are Wesley College, Dublin, and the Belfast Methodist College. In Australia and New Zealand there are three theological institutions and ten colleges. The Primitive Methodists have a college for min isters at Manchester, and colleges for youths in York and Birmingham. The New Connection Church has a theological institution at Rannmor, near Sheffield, opened in 1804. The Bible Chris tians have Shebbear College at Highampton, Devon, and a girls' school at Edgehill. The other Methodist churches of England have their own schools, of which there are also many—especially among the \\esleyans—in mission fields.
In America foundations for a college were laid as early as 1785, and in 1787 Cokesbury College was opened at Abingdon, Md. After eight years of prosperous life it was burned. It was rebuilt, but was burned again in 1797. After this Asbury turned his attention to founding humbler schools here and there. In 1817 an academy was built at Newmarket, N. H., closed December 30. 1823, but opened again at Wil braham, Mass., November 5, 1825. The oldest
academy having a continuous existence is at. Kent's Hill, Maine, founded in 1821. Cazenovia Seminary, at Cazenovia, N. Y., was founded in 1825. The oldest college is Wesleyan University (1831), at Middletown, Conn. A regular course of study for probationers for the ministry, con tinuing four years, with annual examinations at the Conference, was marked nut in 1810. Between 1820 and 1847, however, academies and colleges furnished all the education received in school in theological branches by candidates for the nun istry, and that was meagre, as classical and scien tific studies necessarily predominated. There was in fact a deep-seated prejudice against theo logical schools, lest they should become centres of heresy, as well as deprive men of that spiritu ality. earnestness, and self-sacrifice which char acterized early Methodist preaehers. It was not till 1S40 that the first theological institution was opened, that at. Newbury, Vt., removed to Concord, N. H., in 1847, to Boston in 1807, and incorporated in Boston University in 1871. Gar rett Biblical Institute at Evanston, Ill.. now in connection with Northwestern University (the largest university in Methodism), began in 1856. and Drew Theological Seminary at Madi son. N. J., in 1867. Gammon Theological :sem inary. for colored preachers, was founded in South Atlanta. Oa., in 1883, and the (;rant Uni versity School of Theology. for whites, at Chat tanooga. Tenn., began work in 1886. In the Methodist Episcopal Church are 25 theo logical institutions, 56 colleges and universities, 60 classical seminaries, S women's seminaries and colleges. 99 foreign mission schools, and 4 missionary training schools. There is an im portant school for classical and theological in struction at Frankfort-on-the-Main, another at Bareilly, India, and smaller schools of the same kind in other mission fields. The Methodist are many weekly and monthly periodicals. The 'Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, London, was is tablished under the name of the Arminian Maga zine in 1778, the London Quarterly Review in 1853. the Prim itire Methodist Quarterly in 1S51, the Methodist lleriew, New York, in ISIS (quar terly. 1830. hi-monthly. the Methodic! Be riew, Nashville. 1847, and the Canadian Metho dist Quarterly in 1889 (merged in the .1/c/hodist Magazine, Toronto. in 1396).