History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

so relegated to the rear the Coke party and their Episcopal Church. It never successfully revived in
British or Irish Methodism. The temporal and the spiritual concerns of the societies were separated,
the latter put under the control of the laity and the former under that of the ministry. The power of
the keys was severely limited, in that it was determined that "No trustee, however accused, or
defective in conforming to the established rules of the Society, shall be removed from it, unless his
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crime or breach of rules be proved in the presence of the trustees and leaders." The sacraments
were allowed to be administered wherever the society preferred. A list of such was published in the
minutes and numbered forty-eight. Dr. Coke was appointed to attend the next Irish Conference,
reported disaffection not proving true. It was a prosperous year despite the disputatious and broils.
A net increase of 8343 in the British Islands.
One cannot but pause and inquire as to the source of this prosperity in such circumstances. It is
the fancy of those who espouse the governmental Parentalism of Methodism, both in Wesley and
Asbury, to attribute a special providential blessing upon it, — God was in the machinery as much
as in the doctrine and the means of grace. But the spectacle just presented is a Methodism prospering
amid almost revolutionary inroads upon Parentalism, and Providence seems to smile upon it. The
truth is, the vitality and power were in the doctrines and the means of grace, the unifying feature of
Methodism the world over. Atmore, one of the leading preachers, says of this Conference, "It was
the most painful I ever attended." He refers to the severe disputations, while the concessions made
did not pacify, but were merely concessions to the liberal party. Extremes beget extremes. The
conservatives, perceiving that what they had yielded had no effect, retracted, and soon the societies
were again thrown into "one continued scene of turmoil and strife" down to the Conference of 1795.
It broke out in Bristol, where the trustees were opposed to the Conference measures to pacify. The
preachers took sides, and the conflict raged. Henry Moore was in charge at Bristol, and, armed with
the authority of the Legal Hundred, he took steps that eventuated in a division. A new chapel was
built. Finally Thompson devised a Plan of Pacification for the whole Connection, which was
approved by the contending parties and the matter referred to the ensuing Conference. Kilham waded
into the fray up to his lips. He issued pamphlet after pamphlet, dealing in invective and scoring the
conservatives without stint. They were signed under pseudonyms and scattered broadcast.
The fifty-second Annual Conference was at Manchester, July 27, 1795. Joseph Bradford was
elected President, and Dr. Coke, as usual, Secretary. Never before had it met under such prayerful
anxiety. A whole day was spent in devotions. A delegated meeting of trustees was held at the same
time in Manchester, and Stevens says: "It was an imposing assembly, both by its numbers and the
respectability of many of its members. Thomas Thompson, a man of commanding influence, was
their president." A committee of nine was appointed, composed of the president, Pawson, Mather,
Coke, Thompson, Bradburn, Benson, Moore, and Adam Clarke. It was found to be about equally
divided in sentiment on the pending questions. For six nights the committee met, and finally
Thompson's Plan of Pacification, after some amendments, was adopted, referred to the Conference,
and agreed to by the preachers and most of the trustees. Its principal features Stevens cites briefly:
"The sacraments, the burial of the dead, and divine service in 'Church hours' must be determined,
thereafter, in any society, by a majority of its trustees, stewards, and leaders, the consent of the
Conference being also necessary; that the Lord's Supper must not be administered in the chapels on
Sundays on which it is administered in the National Churches; that it must be administered according
to the National ritual; that the Liturgy, Wesley's abridgment of it, or at least the lessons appointed