They were strict in very

for a pure and spiritual church. small matters. Everything that savored of or tended to worldly conformity in dress or social custom was frowned upon. They tithed mint and anise and cummin, but they did not neglect the weightier matters of the law. Under their administration law and authority were respected because they were enforced.

These things we believe are the chief reasons for their success in building up a church which has, as its chief characteristics, insistence upon conversion, spiritual worship, and holy living.

CHAPTER IV.

HISTORY OF LEGISLATION.

As we have already seen, Jacob Albright naturally loved method and order. At that time a spirit of ecclesiastical independency was rampant, to which many good and pious men yielded. But Mr. Albright had no sympathy with

it.

Accordingly, so soon as the work of his hands began to assume an organized shape, he saw and felt the need of firm, regular administration. Hence also steps were at once taken to prepare a code of rules and system of doctrine.

The first conference, in 1807, formally adopted the episcopal form of government. That conference elected Albright bishop, and instructed him to prepare a book of discipline. He at once began the task, but his early death. the following year left the work incomplete. In December, 1808, Mr. George Miller, yielding reluctantly to the urgent appeals of his brethren, took up the work where Albright had left it. In a most remarkable manner Miller, about the same time, became seriously ill; so that he was physically unable to preach or travel regularly, but was still able to do literary work. This has always been regarded as a special providence. The compilation of the discipline caused him much anxiety. He prayed most fervently for help and guidance, and not in vain.

At last, when the second conference met in April, 1809, in his own house, he was able to present the completed draft of the discipline, which was adopted. In its preparation he had made use of a German translation of the

Articles of Faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which had been made by one Ignatius Romer, at the instance of the German Methodist preacher, Henry Boehm, in 1808.1

This first discipline was a small book of seventy-five pages, and contained not only Articles of Faith and rules of discipline, but certain disquisitions upon doctrinal points, drawn from the writings of Wesley and Fletcher. These disquisitions treated of "Christian Perfection," " Election," "The Final Perseverance of the Saints," and a warning against" Antinomianism." It was thus a brief theological compendium, which was of great value to the ministry.

The adoption of this book of discipline resulted in great good. It served to introduce uniformity and order, and contributed greatly to the connectional unity of the church in doctrine, mode of worship, and manner of life.

The first General Conference in 1816 adopted the second edition of the discipline, revised and improved by John Dreisbach and Henry Niebel. Some changes were made; the book was rearranged and divided into chapters and sections, and contained substantially the book of discipline as it is to-day. The lengthy doctrinal dissertations, however, were discontinued. This may, therefore, be the proper place to define more specifically the doctrines and principles of government.

The Articles of Faith are twenty-one in number, and strictly embody the Arminian system of doctrine in its Wesleyan form. There is nothing erratic in our creed; we hold to the common faith of orthodox Christians. We believe in the spirituality and trinity of God, the divinity as well as perfect humanity of the Son of God, and the true divinity of the Holy Ghost. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament "contain the will of God so far as it is necessary for us to know for our salvation."

1 Asbury's "Journal," vol. iii., p. 293.

CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

421

The Articles of Faith cannot be altered by the General Conference, except Article xix., according to the first restriction under Section 73. This restriction was adopted

by the General Conference itself in 1839.1

Chapter iii. is devoted to an elucidation of “the doctrine of Christian Perfection," which, however, is not classed with the Articles of Faith. It is in the main a plain direction to believers how to attain this state of grace. Christian perfection is defined as a state of grace in which we are so firmly rooted in God that we have instant victory over every temptation the moment it presents itself, without yielding in any degree; in which our rest, peace, and joy in God are not interrupted by the vicissitudes of life; in which, in short, sin has lost its power over us, and we rule over the flesh, the world, and Satan, yet in watchfulness. Entire sanctification is the basis of this Christian perfection. It is the elimination of all moral evil from the heart, and is a definite experience, limited by the point of perfect cleansing by faith through the blood of Jesus. Yet no perfection of experience is attainable that does not admit of higher and deeper and fuller participation in the infinite fullness of divine peace, life, and power, but a constant expansion of spiritual capacity and enlargement of faith. The former is limited, the latter unlimited. The former is a definite experience, signalized by a powerful effusion of the Holy Spirit; the latter is, in the nature of the case, the result of constant progress in the development of the positive virtues of the Christian character.

The organization of the Evangelical Association is connectional, the government episcopal. The organizing and governing bodies consist of Quarterly, Annual, and General Conferences. The first is held quarterly on each charge. It consists of all itinerant and local preachers,

1 Yeakel's " History of the Evangelical Association," p. 279.

class-leaders, exhorters, stewards, Sunday-school superintendents, and a representative of each board of trustees. It is presided over by the presiding elder of the district. Its jurisdiction is confined to the charge which it represents. It watches over the moral and official conduct of the official and private members of the charge. Composed almost entirely of laymen, it has "to examine candidates for the ministry in reference to their moral character, doctrinal views, and other abilities," and may recommend them to the Annual Conference for license.

The Annual Conference meets annually, is presided over by a bishop, and consists of "all itinerant preachers who have traveled, and also, by ordination, stand in full connection with the ministry." Its function is principally administrative, and, upon occasion, judicial. It has no legislative power as such. Its jurisdiction is limited to the geographical territory assigned to it by the General Conference. At the session of the Annual Conference the bishop, with the assistance of the presiding elders (the latter are officers elected by the conference and by it assigned to districts for the purpose of superintendence), "assigns the preachers their respective fields of labor, for one year. In this power he is restricted by the rule that no preacher can remain more than three years successively upon the same charge. The proceedings of the conference must be signed by each member "as a testimony of acquiescence and obedience as in the sight of God."

The General Conference meets quadrennially, and consists of the bishops, the senior book agent, the editors of the official organs of the church, and the corresponding secretary of the missionary society, as cx-officio members, and one delegate, elected by the respective Annual Conferences, for every fourteen or surplus of seven of their members. It was made a delegated body by the General