other acts of religious worship; provided, that the persons so appointed preach no other doctrines than are contained in Mr. Wesley's Notes upon the New Testament, and his four volumes of Sermons, by him published.* By this "deed" Wesley's Notes and Sermons are made the legal as well as the ecclesiastical standards of the doctrines expounded in the Church edifices settled on Trustees for the use of the Wesleyan Methodists. The "Large Minutes" themselves, as well as the Sermons and Notes of Mr. Wesley referred to therein, may fairly be classed with the doctrinal standards of Wesleyan Methodism. Prior to the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1784, the doctrinal standards of American were avowedly the same as those of European Methodism. At the first Conference, held in Philadelphia, June, 1773, the following queries were proposed to every preacher, and answered affirmatively : Quest. 2. Ought not the doctrine and discipline of the Methodists as contained in the Minutes, [which specify Wesley's Notes and Sermons as the standards of doctrine,] to be the sole rule of our conduct, who labor in the connection with Mr. Wesley in America? "Ans. Yes. "Quest. 3. If so, does it not follow, that if any preachers deviate from the Minutes, we can have no fellowship with them till they change their conduct? "Ans. Yes." t Again, in the Minutes of 1781 the first question recorded is: What preachers are now determined, after mature consideration, close observation, and earnest prayer, to preach the old Methodist doctrine, and strictly enforce the Discipline, as contained in the Notes, Sermons and Minutes published by Mr. Wesley, so far as they respect both preachers and people according to the knowledge we have of them, and the ability God shall give; and firmly resolve to discountenance a separation among either preachers or people? Ans. [Here follow the names of thirty-nine, (probably all who were present save one,§) out of fifty four preachers.] "Minutes of Several Conversations between the Rev. John Wesley, A.M., and the Preachers in Connection with him. Containing the form of Discipline established among the Preachers and People in the Methodist Societies." P. 65. These minutes are commonly known as the "Large Minutes." Emory's "History of the Discipline," p. 10. Ibid., p. 16. § Stevens' "History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," vol. ii, p. 91. 66 In this practical unanimity the preachers were further strengthened by a letter from Mr. Wesley, dated at Bristol, October 3, 1783, and designed to guard the American preachers against foreign and domestic intruders who might attempt the bringing in" of "new doctrines, particularly Calvinian." "Let all of you," he exhorted, " be determined to abide by the Methodist doctrine and Discipline, published in the four volumes of Sermons, and the Notes upon the New Testament, together with the "Large Minutes" of Conference.* With this advice the May Conference, held at Baltimore in 1784, hastened to comply. Quest. 21 asks, How shall we conduct ourselves toward European preachers? Ans. If they are recommended by Mr. Wesley, will be subject to the American Conference, preach the doctrine taught in the four volumes of Sermons and Notes on the New Testament, keep the circuits they are appointed to, following the directions of the London and American Minutes, and be subject to Francis Asbury as general assistant, whilst he stands approved by Mr. Wesley and the Conference, we will receive them.t The establishment of national independence had not, at that time, impaired the doctrinal and ecclesiastical unity of Methodism. But in the fall of the same year Mr. Wesley, pursuant to the indications of Providence and the desires of the American Societies, took measures to organize the latter into a distinct and independent Church. Assisted by presbyters of the Anglican Church he ordained Richard Whatcoat and Thomas Vasey to act as elders among them, by baptizing and administering the Lord's Supper. He also ordained Dr. Coke as superintendent "over our brethren in North America," and signified his wish that Francis Asbury should be ordained as deacon, elder, and superintendent, and that he should be associated with Thomas Coke in the general oversight of the prospective Church. He further prepared an expurgated and abridged edition of the Anglican Liturgy, Ritual, and Articles of Religion, and submitted it to the American Methodists for adoption. Hitherto what are called the "Large Mi been recognized as the authoritati societies, with the special enactments of the American Conference superadded. The "Large Minutes" were a compilation made by Wesley from the Annual Minutes of the British Conference. In the preliminary deliberations at Perry Hall they were revised and adapted to the new form of the American Church, and being adopted by the Christmas Conference, were incorporated with the "Sunday service" and hymns, and published in 1785 as the Discipline of American Methodism. In this volume, therefore, we find the enactments of the Christmas Conference.* But Wesley's Sermons and Notes "were never legally accepted" as standards of doctrine, Dr. Curry insists. What there was that was illegal in the acceptance of them by the Conferences of 1773, 1781, and 1784 he fails to point out. The legality of these Conferences and of their actions has not hitherto been impeached. The words of Asbury about the Conference of 1792, which he styles "the first regular General Conference," are construed by Dr. Sherman to mean that "the Conference of 1784 was irregular, partaking of the nature of a convention rather than of an established body. It was convened for the purpose of organizing the Church, and its recurrence not anticipated."+ Irregular and unconventional as those assemblages might be, their decisions had all the binding force of law, and have received the sanctions of the great Head of the Church. They were not composed of constitutional lawyers, but of godly, sincere Methodist preachers, who knew what they intended and what they were doing, although comparatively unlearned in the science of ecclesiastical jurisprudence. Their actions have been acknowledged as legal by the tsent and by the uniform procedure of their success actments in relation to the essentials of Metho discipline have neither been repealed nor vi antagonistic legislation. All laws imposed are valid until repealed by rightful auth repeatedly accepting certain specified doctrinal standards repealed. it follo that it, though containing the clause requiring all Methodist preaching to be in concord with the doctrine of his Notes and Sermons, was left out by the revisers at Perry Hall. That the primary doctrinal standards of Methodism were wholly unchanged when the American societies formed themselves into an Episcopal Church is obvious in the light of the minutes of the Christmas Conference of 1784. Quest. 2 reads: What can be done in order to the future union of the Methodists ? Ans. During the life of the Rev. Mr. Wesley we acknowledge ourselves his sons in the gospel, ready, in matters belonging to Church government, to obey his commands. And we do engage, after his death, to do every thing that we judge consistent with the cause of religion in America, and the political interests of these States, to preserve and promote our union with the Methodists in Europe.* Could the pledge, unwise as it was in relation to Church administration, have been voluntarily made by those heroic and truthful men if they had not intended to embrace doctrinal matters within its scope? Could their engagement "to preserve and promote union with the Methodists in Europe" be construed in any other sense than that of continuous adherence to "our present existing and established standards of doctrine?" The subsequent lives of the itinerant fathers demonstrated their own understanding of this solemn and artless pledge. They persisted in preaching the distinctive Wesleyan doctrines of prevenient grace, the salvability of all men, the direct witness of the Holy Spirit, and Christian perfection; none of which are incorporated with the articles, although always enumerated among the most precious possessions of Methodism, and as such very carefully discussed in the "Large Minutes," Notes, and Sermons. Again, the venerable Wesley himself, who never ceased to display the keenest interest in the Church indirectly organized by himself to spread Scriptural holiness over these lands, and who was not a little grieved when his name was left off its minutes for prudential reasons, never suspected—what in fact did not exist that his expositions of Christian doctrine had ceased to be the primary doctrinal standards of American Methodism. Emory's History of the Discipline," p. 27. In a letter to the Rev. Ezekiel Cooper, written only twentynine days before his death, after mentioning his growing infirmities, he says: Probably I should not be able to do so much, did not many of you assist me by your prayers. See that you never give place to one thought of separating from your brethren in Europe. Lose no opportunity of declaring to all men that the Methodists are one people in all the world, and that it is their full determination so to continue, "Though mountains rise, and oceans roll, This proves that he did not consider us [in any thing essential to The same sentiment has been since officially avowed both by the British and American Conferences. Of this state of unity and affection every friend of this great work will cordially say, May it be perpetual.* The notes to the Discipline appended to the edition of 1796, and which received the implied sanction of the General Conference of 1800, contain the following statement, which certainly implies the doctrinal unity of universal Methodism: "We are but one body of people, one grand society, whether in Europe or America; united in the closest spiritual bonds, and in external bonds as far as the circumstances of things will admit." + The conclusion reached by this review of our Church history is, that the primary doctrinal standards of the American Methodists were not revoked, altered, or changed in any particular when they passed from the status of societies in a Church to that of distinct and independent churchhood. When the American Methodists were organized into a separate and distinct Church, they did not cease to be what they had previously been, namely, Methodists; but they did become what hitherto they had not been, namely, the Methodist Episcopal Church. As persistent Methodists, they retained the old doctrinal standards; and, as newborn ecclesiastical Episcopalians, added to them twenty-four other standards abridged by Wesley from the standards of the Anglican Church, and purified from every vestige of Popery and Calvinism; and * "Emory's "Defense of our Fathers." p. 132. |