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This branch, which has only 610 communicants, consists of those who are opposed to Sunday-schools and evening meetings and other practices, which they regard as innovations. They are represented by 15 congregations, in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio.

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IO. DER BRUEDER-GEMEINDE.

This body originated in Russia half a century ago, and emigrated to this country in 1873-76. They baptize by immersion and emphasize the importance of evidence of conversion. They are very active and zealous in the performance of their religious duties. They are represented

in Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota by 12 congregations, with 1388 communicants.

seating capacity of 40, is reported.

One hall, with a

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The Defenseless Mennonites, sometimes called Eglyites, are really a branch of the Amish. They lay particular stress upon the importance of conversion and regeneration. Henry Egli was the leader of this movement. It is repre

sented in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, and Ohio, by 9 congregations, with 856 communicants.

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This body, which originated about 1878, is Methodistic in its form of organization, in its usages, and its discipline.

Applicants for baptism are baptized in any form they may prefer. It has two annual conferences in the United States, and there are also a number of churches in Canada. There are 45 churches, with 1113 communicants. Eight halls, with a seating capacity of 660, are occupied as places of worship.

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CHAPTER XXIX.

THE METHODISTS.

METHODISM, which counts many branches in Great Britain, America, and elsewhere, is the result of a movement begun at Oxford University, England, as early as 1729, by John and Charles Wesley. Their own account of its origin is given in these words:

"In 1729 two young men in England, reading the Bible, saw they could not be saved without holiness, followed after it, and incited others so to do. In 1737 they saw likewise that men are justified before they are sanctified, but still holiness was their object. God then thrust them out to raise a holy people."

The Wesleys, with two others, began to meet together at Oxford for religious exercises in 1729. In derision they were called the "Holy Club," "Bibl Bigots," "Methodists," etc. The last term was intenced to describe their methodical habits, and it seems to ha re been accepted by them almost immediately, as the movement they led was soon widely known as the Methodist movement.

John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield were ordained ministers of the Church of England, and it was as Church of England clergymen that they began and carried forward their stirring evangelistic work. Being excluded, as preachers of "new doctrines," from many of the pulpits of the Established Chi rch, they held meet

ings in private houses, halls, barns, and fields, receiving many converts, who were organized into societies for worship. As their work expanded they introduced an order of lay preachers and established class-meetings for the religious care and training of members. In 1744 the first conference was held, and thereafter Wesley and his helpers met together annually. Thus was organized the annual conference, one of the distinctive institutions of Methodism. Wesley grouped together several appointments and put them in charge of one of his helpers. This was the beginning of the circuit system. He then conceived the idea of increasing the efficiency of his preachers" by frequent changes in their appointments. This is how the itinerancy came into existence. The itinerancy is maintained in nearly all the branches of Methodism throughout the world, though it has been greatly modified in many cases.

Though the Wesleyan movement was a movement within the Church of England, and the Wesleys lived and died in full ministerial relations with it, serious differences arose between the Church and the Methodists. In 1745 John Wesley wrote that he was willing to make any concession which conscience would permit, in order to live in harmony with the clergy of the Established Church, but he could not, he said, give up the doctrines he was preaching, dissolve the societies, suppress lay preaching, or cease to preach in the open air. For many years he refused to sanction the administration of the sacraments by any except those who had been ordained by a bishop in the apostolic succession, and he himself hesitated to assume authority to ordain; but the Bishop of London having refused to ordain ministers for the Methodist societies in America, which were

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