Christians, Bible, Also Called Bryanites

Christians, Bible, Also Called Bryanites, after their founder, William Bryan, a Methodist local preacher in Cornwall, who left the Wesleyan body in 1815. He rapidly gathered churches in Devon and Cornwall, but left the party which he had formed in 1819. The denomination commenced its operations in Canada in the year 1831, and was organized there under a separate Conference in 1854. In 1866 the Bible Christians had 37 circuits and 43 home missions in England and 53 abroad, with 245 itinerant preachers, 1691 local preachers, 25,138 members, 1050 on trial, 39,249 scholars, and 8272 teachers. Their creed is Wesleyan, and so is their government, only more popular. SEE METHODISTS.