The Methodist Episcopal Church South.—After the adjournment
of the General Conference of 1844, the representatives of
thirteen Conferences covering the states holding slaves appealed
to their constituents to determine what should be done to prevent
Methodism in the South from being deprived of its influence over
the whites and of the privilege, till then fully accorded, of preaching
the Gospel and teaching its precepts to slaves. In 1845 a
representative Convention was called; this body, with the approval
and participation of Bishop Andrew, organized the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. At its first General Conference,
in 1846, the senior Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
Joshua Soule (1781–1867), offered himself to the Church, which
accepted him in his episcopal capacity. William Capers (1790–1855)
and Robert Paine (1799–1882) were elected to the Episcopacy.
The Church thus founded began with 460,000 members,
of which 2972 were Indians, 124,961 coloured, and 1519 travelling
ministers.
A difficulty arose on the division of the property of the Book Concerns, which the Methodist Episcopal Church maintained involved a change in the Constitution. A vote to authorize the division failed, and the Methodist Episcopal Church South, hopeless of relief, brought two suits, one against the Book Concern in New York, and the other against the Book Concern in Cincinnati. The former was decided in favour of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, and the latter in favour of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the latter case an appeal was taken by the Methodist Episcopal Church South to the Supreme Court of the United States, which body unanimously decided that the Methodist Episcopal Church South was an integral part of the Methodist Episcopal Church which owned the Book Concerns, and ordered that the Southern Church should receive a proportionate part of the property of both Book Concerns. The amount ordered by the Court was in due time received.
The membership of the Church in 1860 was more than three-quarters of a million; but the Church was doomed to feel the force of the destructive elements of the Civil War. In April 1862 New Orleans was in possession of the Federal Government, rendering it impossible to hold the General Conference due at that time and place.
At the close of the war the Missionary Society of the Church was $60,000 in debt, the Publishing House practically in ruins, and of the more than 200,000 coloured members in 1860 there remained fewer than 50,000. The Conference of 1866 convened in New Orleans. Radical changes in polity were effected. Attendance upon class meetings, which, from the origin of the Church had been obligatory, was made voluntary, and the rule was repealed which required a probation of six months before admission into full membership. The time limit on the continuation of pastorates was extended from two to four years. The most radical change was the introduction into the General Conference of a number of lay representatives equal to the number of clerical, and the admission into each Annual Conference of four lay delegates for each Presiding Elder’s district.
The coloured people, with the consent of the Church, withdrew in 1870, and formed a new Church called the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church.
The most striking denominational effort in its history was the maintenance of the solvency of the Publishing House, which was seized by the Federal Troops, and used as a United States printing office; with the damage done, and debts incurred in rebuilding, after a fire, interest, &c., the liabilities were $35,000, with debts $125,000 in excess of assets. The concern was declared insolvent; but the necessary funds were forthcoming, and the honour of the Church was maintained.
Education has received unceasing attention. The titles to 175 institutions are held by the Church, and the list of colleges and their character is a credit to the denomination. The most important is Vanderbilt University, at Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1872, and largely endowed by members of the family whose name it bears. The chief foreign missions are in China, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Korea and Cuba. Its mission in Japan and the mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Methodist Church of Canada were united in 1907 in a new organization entitled the Methodist Church of Japan. A distinguishing feature of this church is a practical veto power possessed by the bishops, to be exercised when the conference adopts any measure which in their opinion is unconstitutional. They have the right to present written objections and should the General Conference, by two-thirds vote adhere to its action, the proposal is sent down to the Annual Conference for ratification; otherwise it is void. Fraternal relations between the two great Episcopal Methodist Churches were fully established in 1876, and have broadened in spirit and scope from that time.
The Methodist Episcopal Church South in 1907 had 6774 ministers, 16,156 churches and 1,631,379 communicants.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church.—This body originated in strained relations between the white and coloured Methodists of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the result of which was, that the coloured people organized themselves, in 1816, into an independent body. hey adopted as their standards the doctrines of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and, with a few modifications, its form of government. The Church steadily prospered, but for several years not proportionately in the department of education. Daniel Alexander Payne (1811–1893), who had studied in the Gettysburg Theological Seminary, led a reform, which involved a marked elevation of the qualifications for ministers, and from that time the body has constantly risen in public estimation. One of its peculiarities is that the bishops are members of the General Conference. It sustains Wilberforce University (at Wilberforce, Ohio) and other educational institutions, and has missions in Africa, South America, the West Indies and Hawaii. Notable orators have risen up among its members, who have added greatly to the respect felt for their race and Church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church, the largest Christian denomination consisting wholly of the Negro race, in 1907 comprised 6190 ministers, 5321 churches, and 842,023 communicants.
The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.—Some of the coloured people in the city of New York, “feeling themselves oppressed by caste prejudice, and suffering the deprivation of Church privileges permitted to others,” organized among themselves, in 1796, and in the year 1800 built a church and named it Zion. For twenty years the Methodist Episcopal Church supplied this church with pastors. Then the members induced three white ministers to ordain as elders three of their brethren, already deacons. Since they had Methodist precedents for such ordination, these proceeded to ordain others, and established churches in Philadelphia and New Hampshire. The elders ordained one of their number a bishop. As late as 1863 the Church had only 92 ministers and 5000 members, but in twelve years it doubled its membership more than five times. In this Church the sexes are equally eligible to all positions. Its educational operations at first were failures, but gradually became successful. Its foreign missions were made a separate department in 1884; This Church had, in 1907, 3871 ministers, 3206 churches and 573,107 communicants.
The Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church.—In 1866 the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South authorized the bishops to organize its coloured members into an independent ecclesiastical body, if it should appear that they desired it. The bishops formed a number of Annual Conferences, consisting wholly of coloured preachers, and in 1870 these Conferences requested the appointment of five commissioners of the Caucasian part of the Church to meet five of their own number to create an independent Church. Two Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church South presided, and ordained to the Episcopacy two coloured elders, selected by the eight coloured conferences. The coloured people by vote named the organization the Coloured Methodist Episcopal Church.
The Union American Methodist Episcopal Church agrees in doctrines and usages with other Methodist bodies. It is divided into Conferences and elects its Bishops for life. It had in 1907, 18,500 members, 138 ministers and 255 churches.
B.—Non-Episcopal Methodist Churches.
The Methodist Protestant Church.—In 1821 ministers and laymen of the Methodist Episcopal Church began to criticize its polity, and when their utterances became aggressive the adherents to the regular order replied with equal vigour. During the General Conference of 1824, held in Baltimore, a Convention of “Reformers” met, and established a periodical entitled The Mutual Rights of the Ministers and Members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and made arrangements to organize Union Societies. Travelling and local ministers and laymen were expelled for schism and spreading incendiary publications; Prior to the Conference those expelled, and their sympathizers, formed themselves into a society named “Associate Methodist Reformers.” These sent memorials to the General Conference of 1828, and issued addresses to the public. After a powerful and painful discussion, the appeals of the expelled members of
