Mr. Wesley and the Conference, we shall receive them; but if they walk contrary to the above directions, no ancient right or appointment shall prevent their being excluded from our connection."' The War of Independence was over and the Treaty of Peace had been signed, and the new understanding was needed, in view of the probable incoming of other preachers. This action of 1784 shows that, at this time, the recognized standards were "the doctrine taught in the four volumes of Sermons and Notes on the New Testament," written and published by John Wesley, and in the English and American Minutes. This is what is phrased by the Rev. Jesse Lee, one of the early preachers then in the Conference, as "the Methodist doctrine," when he says, in his "History of the Methodists": "We agreed that if any European Methodist preachers should come over, recommended by Mr. Wesley, and would be subject to the American Conference, preach the Methodist doctrine," etc." These facts clearly show that early American Methodism, in its earliest form, and as the organism matured, down into 1784, held the same doctrines, and officially, formally, legally, and actually affirmed those which were then recognized by the Wesleyans on the other side the Atlantic Ocean, and the doctrines of Wesleyan Methodism were everywhere the same, in America as well as in Europe. 1" First Printed Minutes of American Conferences," 1773-1794. Philadelphia: 1795, pp. 72, 73. 46 'Jesse Lee: History of the Methodists," 1810, p. 85. Thomas B. Neely: "Governing Conference in Methodism," New York, 1892, pp. 213, 214, X AMERICAN METHODISM REORGANIZED— A MERICAN Wesleyanism prospered in its initial form as an outcropping of British Methodism, and then as more directly under the Reverend John Wesley and those he designated to represent him, and even during the War of Independence, when the Americans were left mainly to themselves, all the British preachers, save one, having returned to their own country, their Methodism continued to spread throughout the new nation, and preserved the old doctrinal characteristics. There was, however, a growing feeling that something more was needed, and, especially, as to the rank and functions of the ministry, for in every particular the American Wesleyans were a Church with the exception of an ordained clergy. The sacraments they received when possible but not from the preachers in their conference. There was a preaching ministry, but it left the people without the sacraments from the men who imparted the living word, and under whose preaching they were convinced and converted, and to whom they looked as their pastors and spiritual guides. After bringing their converts into the Church of Christ, these ministers of the Word, because they had not been ordained, did not give their flocks the symbols of the Church in Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and to many it seemed an anomaly which their logic could not explain. Repeated appeals were made to Mr. Wesley asking that he would secure for their preachers and the people a complete ministry, or perfect the ministry they had, by empowering the preachers to minister the sacra ments. At last Mr. Wesley perceived that circumstances had so changed that he could consistently and ought to meet the needs of his American followers in this particular. Previously Wesley had hesitated because heretofore the Church in the Colonies was under English law, and the Anglican bishop in England had jurisdiction, according to the State Church, but, through the independence of the Colonies, the authority of the Church of England no longer controlled. So to speak the English State Church had ceased to exist in the United States of America, and there British church law no longer was in force. So, shortly after the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the new Republic, by which the independence of the United States was duly recognized, Mr. Wesley planned the reorganization of his followers in the new nation, so that they would become a complete Church in themselves, with a complete ministry of their own, including ordination and the sacraments. Wesley's provision for the reorganization of American Methodism was arranged in the year 1784, though, doubtless, it had occupied his mind for some years. Wesley decided to create a regularly organized, and duly recognized, Church to succeed the Church of England in the new Republic, which Church would have resemblances to the Anglican Church, for example, in such features as an Episcopal organization, with a high supervisional system; certain formal services which would be similar to those of the State Church of England, though modified; and also a Service Book based on the English Book of Common Prayer, which book of forms of service he called "The Sunday Service of the Methodists in North America. With other Occasional Services." In Wesley's plan there was no withdrawal of the American Methodist Societies from the Church of England, for the Church of England no longer existed in the new Republic, and so that they could not withdraw from it, and, further, the American remains of the Church of England had not yet been organized into "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America," and so they could not withdraw from it. Furthermore the Wesleyan Societies never withdrew from the Church of England, for never, in Great Britain, or America, or anywhere else, had they belonged to the Church of England. Individuals may have been in the State Church, and many had been, but the Societies never were under the control of Anglican Bishop, Archbishop, Convocation, or of the Church of England in any way, so that the Societies could not withdraw from that of which they never were a part. From the beginning the Wesleyan Societies were independent bodies, and, in addition, through the independence of the Republic, there ceased to be any English State Church in the United States, but, if 1London: Printed in the Year MDCCLXXXIV. there had been, it would have had no authority over the Wesleyan Societies. When the Protestant Episcopal Church was formed, it said in the preface to its Prayer Book, which was ratified on the 16th of October, 1789: "When in the course of divine Providence these American States became independent with respect to civil government, their ecclesiastical independence was necessarily included; and the different religious denominations of Christians in these States were left at full and equal liberty to model and organize their respective Churches and forms of worship and discipline, in such a manner as they might judge most convenient for their future prosperity, consistently with the Constitution and laws of their country." That was just what John Wesley thought, and why, in this particular time, and in this particular way, he planned for the reorganization of his American followers, so that they would have all necessary Church privileges, when they "were left at full and equal liberty to model and organize" "consistently with the Constitution and laws of their country." So in his letter of September 10, 1784, addressed to his American disciples, Mr. Wesley wrote: "The English government has no authority over them (the American States), either civil or ecclesiastical, any more than over the States of Holland. But no one either exercises or claims any ecclesiastical authority at all. As our American brethren are now totally disentangled, both from the State and the English hierarchy, we dare not entangle them again, either with the one or the other. They are now at full liberty simply to follow the Scriptures and the prim |