CONCLUSION-RECENT HISTORY. 379 to its traditional attitude of extreme conservatism. But the sentiment which from 1865 had, through ample discussion and much untoward experience, been steadily gaining both among ministers and people, was not to be turned back. The church desired more liberal legislation and a broader freedom, and so declared in a most emphatic way. In the General Conference of 1889, held in the city of York, Pa., matters were brought to a decisive issue. The church having given its voice, nothing remained for the General Conference to do except to inquire whether all the steps taken had proceeded in proper form, and whether the several amendments to the constitution and the Confession of Faith had been duly supported by the vote of the church. This question being affirmatively determined, the conference approving by a vote of 110 to 20, the bishops so announced to the conference, declaring at the same time that thenceforth the conference would act under the Amended Constitution and the Revised Confession of Faith. This announcement was followed by the immediate withdrawal of 14 delegates and I bishop from the conference room. The conference at the time consisted of 126 delegates and 6 bishops. The withdrawing members, whose plan of action had been previously arranged, proceeded at once to another building which had already been secured for their use, and organized what they claimed to be the true General Conference of the church. Under this assumption they held elections for bishops and all other general officers and the various general boards of the church, and proceeded to transact such other business as is usual to a General Conference. As might be expected, they drew after them a following in the church, yet not of such extent as to impair in any considerable degree the efficiency of any of its working departments. The entire membership of the church at that time was 204,982. Of this number, according to the most careful comparison of statistics, those withdrawing within the first year after the sitting of the conference can scarcely have exceeded 16,000, if indeed it reached that number. The seceding members of the General Conference having thus set up the claim that they were the true General Conference, and that they and their followers were the true Church of the United Brethren in Christ, it was to be expected that a movement would soon follow to gain possession of the church property. Accordingly, before long suits for church houses and other property began to be instituted in different States. Many of these suits have gone through the lower courts, the right of the church to the possession of its property being in every instance sustained. In a number of cases appeal has been made by the seceders to the Supreme Courts. The first appeal decided in a court of last resort was that for possession of a church house in Indiana. The lower court had decided in favor of the church. Appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, and the latter unanimously affirmed the decision in terms of great clearness and strength. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in a similar case, also gave a strong decision for the church, the seven judges agreeing in the rendering. In Oregon a suit for the possession of a college property, decided in favor of the church, was carried to the Supreme Court. The court in this instance reversed the rendering of the lower court, giving the property to the seceders, but has since reopened the case for a second hearing. At the present writing the decision is yet pending. In Michigan the Supreme Court, divided in its verdict, a minority decision being also rendered, has given a case, that of a church house, to the seceders. A motion for a rehearing is pending. In Illinois a case is awaiting a decision in the Supreme Court. CONCLUSION-RECENT HISTORY. 381 The most important case that has come into the courts is that of the publishing-house at Dayton, O. The circuit court, a body intermediate between the Court of Common Pleas and the Supreme Court, after a long and very full hearing, gave a strong decision for the church. The case was carried by the seceders to the Supreme Court, where it is still awaiting a hearing. In the form in which it has gone to that court it is believed that only a verdict affirm. ing that of the court below is possible. The ground upon which the seceders base their entire claim is that the church, by the revision of its constitution and Confession of Faith, has lost its identity, and has ceased to be the United Brethren Church, and that they, the seceders, holding to the earlier Confession of Faith and the constitution of 1841, are the true church. The limitations of space do not here permit following the argument by which it is sought to support this claim. In this very condensed view of this exciting period the writer has deemed it proper to state, as clearly as possible, only a few of the leading facts, a fuller presentation being here impracticable. It may, however, be said that while the withdrawal of any considerable number of persons from the church is sincerely regretted, the working power of the church is in no sense impaired. In numbers the church has already regained more than it lost by the defection, the statistics for 1893 showing a total membership of 208,452, while an issue that for a period of many years was a source of heated debate in the General and Annual Conferences, and often of trouble in the local churches, has been practically eliminated from further consideration. As a closing word it will surely not be amiss, in this time of growing amity and friendly coöperation between churches of different names, to express the hope that |