Nevertheless, Wesley continued to perfect the organization of these societies. He printed a constitution called The Nature, Design, and Rules of the United Societies.61 He sought to give each Methodist a spirit of unity by explaining at society meetings the contents of the minutes of the conferences, letters from the Methodist preachers in America, etc.62 He saw that this organization gave new converts strength and unity; and those not so united grew faint hearted.63 For this reason, he urged all Methodists to join them, and reproached any who stayed outside of a society because it was humble in its nature. He insisted upon a public, clear-cut stand for the society, on the part of every individual Methodist. Anything less than this was not satisfactory.64 As he said in a letter to a friend, "one thing gave me great pain; you are not in the society." And when one urged Wesley to dissolve his societies; to renounce all lay assistance; to leave off field preaching; and then intimated that he would gain honorable preferment in the Church; Wesley answered such a temptation by laboring more industriously for his societies. He well knew that with well organized societies, those practices, such as field preaching, the using of lay preachers, and ordination, which were the hope of Methodism, would be protected and furthered.66

"65

SECTION II. THE BEGINNING OF THE METHODIST
CONFERENCES

Further development of organization within Methodism came out of these societies. On the one hand, the societies were further divided into classes, bands, etc., on the other, they were further united into one larger group called the "Conference." Both types of these developments had for their purpose the more effective carrying out of Methodist practices.

The first Conference of the Methodists convened June 25, 1744. The place of meeting was London, and the purpose for

Eayrs: Letters of Wesley, p. 116.

the gathering was simple: many of the preachers desired the better to know how to save their own souls, and those about them. It was a very modest gathering which lasted for five days.67 The first Conference in Ireland took place in 1752— eight years later-and on an equally humble scale.68 Ordained men and lay preachers attended the early Conferences; but as the ordained clergy withdrew from the Methodists, Conferences tended to be made up more and more of these lay preachers. There was no hard and fast rule in the beginning. "Most of the preachers in the kingdom were present" at the Irish Conference in 1769.69 The question was raised at the Conference of 1746 as to who were "the properest persons to be present at these Conferences." The opinion rendered, was that the preachers, earnest band-leaders, and any other "pious or judicious stranger" were proper attendants upon the Conference.70 As late as 1778, Thomas Taylor in his diary recorded, "To-day we permitted all sorts to come into the Conference, so that we had a large company." Thus these Conferences were most democratic at the beginning, and many besides the itinerant preachers were admitted.71

The reason for establishing these Conferences can best be understood from a member, Henry Moore: "For some years the preachers moved round the kingdom as Mr. Wesley thought best, from time to time, without any regular plan. But he now found it necessary to divide the whole work into circuits. This plan was attended with many difficulties, and it seemed at first that the unity of the body could not be preserved, on account of the clashing interests of circuits. But a remedy was soon found for this threatening evil, viz., to summon annually a considerable number of preachers, in order to consult together concerning the affairs of the societies. The preachers thus met with him [Wesley] at their head, he termed, The Conference." 72

Quoted from Tyerman: vol. iii, p. 271.

From this, it would appear that difficulties in administering the system of itineracy had made desirable a body to have better oversight of Methodism and conduct its fortunes more efficiently. Therefore one can say, that the purpose of the Conferences was to promote a unity of action and feeling among the Methodists. To this end the Conference undertook to supervise the circuits; it established them as definite units in 1767. In that same year the total membership of Methodism reached the number of 25,911 persons. 73 It kept oversight of the rules governing the societies; they were read over and reaffirmed yearly.74 The members of Conference expressly agreed not to act independently of each other, but to cooperate.75 In 1773, the Conference drew up a set of rules which were to establish more firmly this unity. These rules were: a. The members of the Conference were to be entirely consecrated to God; b. They were to preach the old Methodist doctrine; c. They were to enforce the Methodist discipline as it was in the minutes. Forty-seven preachers signed the minutes, making this spirit of cooperation a definite factor.76

Since the purpose of Conference was to promote efficiency and unity among the Methodists, it considered that anything directly or indirectly pertaining to Methodism, was of concern to itself. It was careful to see that the doctrines of the Church were clearly set forth and at the very first Conference, the question of "justification" was examined and set forth in detail." Other Conferences discussed the problems in connection with: three orders in the Established Church; field preaching; those who took the sacraments unworthily; the purging of the "bands"; the plan for watch-night services; and the regulation of the itineracy.78 Conference carefully looked over the young men who were proposed for preaching and outlined the discipline for itinerants.79 It even decided matters of personal conduct, and on

Minutes, Works, vol. v, p. 194.

78 Jour., vol. iii, p. 302, note i.

one occasion the question was formally asked of the Conference, "Is it right to employ hairdressers on Sunday?" The answer of Conference was, "We are fully persuaded it is not"; and doubtless those Methodists who went for their Sunday morning shave, ceased, when Conference spoke against it.80

Not only in doctrinal matters; but also in economic affairs Conference interested itself. Again and again, financial questions were brought before the Conference, and Conference outlined the policies that were to be followed.81 The first scheme for raising money was brought before the Conference of 1767 and involved the raising of £5000-at that time a large sum. Conference undertook it.82 Later New York sent over an appeal for more help, and Conference decided against this appeal.83 It also kept in mind the conduct of financial matters within each of the local societies.

It insisted that the books of each society be accurately kept, and that the wives and children of the many preachers be provided for. This was a heavy task; but the Conference, year after year attended to it as best it could.84

By keeping thus in close touch with the business of Methodism, the Conference was able to prevent any movement in Methodism from going to extremes. One of the efforts of Wesley in connection with his activities at Conference, was to hold this radicalism in check. He usually opened Conference with prayer, and either he or Charles Wesley preached.85 Wesley himself did the major share of the preaching at Conference and in this way kept control of the situation.86 He spent a fortnight in London at the time of the Conference of 1761, "guarding the preachers and the people against running into extremes on the one hand or the other." 87 These efforts were not only aimed at the preachers assembled in Conference; but also at any other Methodists

'Jour., vol. iv, p. 175.

who might live near the place where Conference met. These were often invited in to spend a day in fasting and prayer with the preachers.88 From this, there can be no doubt but that Conference was in a large measure responsible for the sanity of procedure that usually marked early Methodism.

Conference carried the major share of the responsibility for Methodism and so claimed a certain directing power. It outlined the duties of Wesley's assistants and these men were instructed to keep the loyalty of the people firmly fixed in the Established Church.89 The many details connected with the itineracy were reviewed by the Conference. It claimed the authority to station the preachers where it would. John Edwards, one of the preachers, wished a permanent appointment to Leeds, but this was refused him, and he was appointed to that place for six months only. When his time expired, he refused to give up his appointment and for this cause was ejected from the Methodists. Conference succeeded in this instance in supporting its claim to the absolute right to appoint its preachers.90 But this power did not go unchallenged. The trustees of the chapel at Birstal had it in mind to elect their own preachers monthly, and all such preachers were to preach twice each Sunday before the people of Birstal. Wesley was urged to sign to this. Such a plan as this took all the power away from the Conference and vested it in a body of trustees.91 This matter of authority was brought before the Conference and Wesley was instructed by the Conference to interview the trustees of Birstal and present to them the claim of Conference, that the said Conference alone should have the authority to appoint the preachers and conduct the affairs at Birstal.92 Wesley did as instructed. He requested these trustees to settle their chapel on the "Methodist Plan." Only five out of nine approved of this plan; but the chapel was eventually settled upon the Methodist Plan and the centralized authority was upheld. A little later the authority of Conference was questioned

Tyerman: vol. iii, p. 373ff.