Methodists

a body of Protestants, the leading denomination of which is known formally as the Methodist Episcopal church. Methodism originated in England. Its founders were the brothers John and Charles Wesley. The former organized the first Methodist society in 1739. So far as known, the first Methodist settlers of the New World were a company of Irish emigrants who arrived at New York in 1760. They built a chapel on John Street. Another settlement of Methodists was made at about the same time in Frederick County, Maryland. The first American Methodist conference met in the city of Philadelphia, July 14, 1773. Francis Asbury, the first superintendent of Methodist churches, that is to say, the first American bishop, was present. There were nine preachers in attendance. The churches reported a total membership of 1,060. The Methodist church grew most rapidly in the South. John Wesley, himself, visited Savannah in 1736. The question of slaveholding gave the Methodists much concern. The early church appears to have been nearly unanimous in opposition to slavery. In 1844 a crisis arose. A Southern bishop by the name of James O. Andrew, a man of great popularity and undoubted integrity, was suspended from duty by the general conference until such time as he might disentangle himself from the holding of slaves, acquired, it is said, by marriage. The Southern members of the conference seceded and organized the Methodist Episcopal Church South. The division has continued up to the present time. The two branches are now upon the most amicable terms. There is every expectation that they will reunite at no distant date. The Southern church has (1910) 1,739,614 and the Northern church 3,112,448 members. There are, in addition, colored churches reporting a total membership of about a million and a half.

The parent organization, the Methodist Episcopal church, has become a denomination of great wealth. It maintains in whole or in part, over fifty colleges, besides many academies. Wesleyan University at Middletown, the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ohio Wesleyan at Delaware, Boston University, and Syracuse University are the leading institutions. The Methodist Book Concern is devoted largely to the publication of hymn books, memoirs, reports, Bibles, and Sunday-school books. It also publishes a number of periodicals, notably The Christian Advocate, The Methodist Review, and The Epworth Herald. It has prospered beyond expectation, having now a capital estimated at $3,000,000. The denomination maintains a large number of missions in China, Japan, India, Africa, the various countries of South America, Italy, and northern Europe. There are a million Methodists in Canada, half a million in England, and 10,000 in Ireland.

See Asbury; Epworth League; Wesley