question of union, but the overture ended in friendly expressions only. In 1870 the 
     
     Methodist New Connexion made overtures to the Bible Christians, and in 1874 the 
     
    
   
   
    
     former were absorbed by the Wesleyan Methodists of Canada. The Bible Christians 
     
     announced as their policy —— a policy consistently held since organization —— ‘that 
     
    
   
   
    
     any basis of union to be acceptable to this Conference must secure to the laity their 
     
     full share of privileges in the government of the Church.’ In 1882, a committee, 
     
     represented the Wesleyan Methodist, the Primitive Methodists, and the Methodist 
     
     Episcopal Church in Canada. This committee was explicitly instructed to reaffirm 
     
     ‘That no union would be possible for their Church that did not provide for a 
     
     representation of the laity in all church courts.’ A basis of union was provided ac- 
     
     ceptable to all parties, voted upon by every society, and in 1884 union was fully and 
     
     legally perfected. The uniting churches chose as a name “The Methodist Church of 
     
     Canada.” The parent body graciously consented to the separation, which affected 
     
    
   
   
    
     the work in Canada and the United States only. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The energy and resources of the English and Australian conferences were now 
     
     devoted to an enlargement of home missions and the establishment of a foreign 
     
     mission in China, which was successful. A union of the Australian Conference with 
     
     other Methodist sects in that colony left but the parent body bearing the name; and 
     
     in August, 1906, this Church voted unanimously to unite with the Methodist New 
     
     Connexion and the United Methodists, the union to be formally and legally consum- 
     
    
   
   
    
     mated in 1907. The name of “United Methodist Church” was chosen for the new 
     
     organization. At the time of approving the union the Bible Christians had 638 
     
    
   
   
    
     chapels, 202 ministers, and 37,000 members.”22 
     
    
   
   
    
     22 “Methodists,” The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge (1953 ed.), 
     
     Vol. 2, p. 85. 
     
    
   
   
    
     1 1. THE STRUGGLE FOR UNITY CONTINUED 
     
    
   
   
    
     Today, the United Church of Canada is composed largely of the laity or lay 
     
     people. They occupy the pews on Sunday, sing in the choirs, teach in the Sunday 
     
     School and make up the committees and boards of the congregation. Most of the 
     
    
   
   
    
     money to finance the work of the church comes from the laity. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Historically, the laity were excluded from such courts of the Church as districts 
     
     and conferences. These were considered preserves of the ministers. In 1792, in the 
     
    
   
   
    
     Wesleyan Methodist Church in England, Alexander Killam, one of its ministers, 
     
     argued in conference for lay representation in the Church Courts. He was regarded 
     
    
   
   
    
     as a radical, a dangerous agitator. In 1766, he was expelled. With three other 
     
     ministers and 5,000 lay members, Rev. Killam founded a breakaway Methodist 
     
    
   
   
    
     Church, the New Connexion. From its beginning, laymen had equal voice with 
     
     clergy in its church government. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some years later, the New Connexion Church was brought to Canada to preach 
     
     its two gospels — the gospel of Christ and that of lay representation. Another body 
     
     of former Methodists, the Bible Christians, had fought bitterly with the Methodists 
     
     in 1815 as well as with their own leader, Rev. William O’Bryan, in 1829 over the 
     
    
   
   
    
     48