506 



METHODISTS. 



the body, was had for the first time on a propo- 

 sition to discontinue the official papers pub- 

 lished at Atlanta, Georgia, and New Orleans, 

 Louisiana. The papers were continued, con- 

 ditionally. Amendments were made to the 

 phraseology of certain sections of the Disci- 

 pline for the purpose of obviating the inference 

 of an intention to exclude women from the 

 offices of class-leader,steward,or superintendent 

 of the Sunday-school. Two cases of appeal 

 came up against the decision of the bishop : in 

 the one case, that the law of the Church does 

 not authorize the ordination of women, and his 

 refusal to submit to the Conference a vote to 

 elect women to orders ; and in the other case, 

 that the Discipline does not contemplate the 

 licensing of women as local preachers, and that 

 the action of a district conference in licensing 

 a woman was unauthorized. The action of the 

 bishop was sustained in both cases, as being in 

 accordance with the law of the Church, and 

 with the uniform course of administration un- 

 der it. The Conference refused to authorize a 

 provision for compelling members of the Church 

 to contribute to the support of the gospel. A 

 committee of German ministers was appointed 

 to translate the Book of Discipline into German. 

 A plan was presented for the celebration of the 

 centennial anniversary of the organization of 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1884 by ap- 

 propriate exercises to be arranged by the ap- 

 pointment of a commission for the purpose, 

 and the collection of funds for various objects 

 of the Church ; it contemplated also the ap- 

 pointment of a Centennial Educational Com- 

 mission to devise plans for endowing and mak- 

 ing secure the educational institutions of the 

 Church, and enlarging the funds under the 

 charge of the Board of Education for the assist- 

 ance of needy students. The subject was re- 

 ferred to the bishops, who are to report a plan 

 of action. The bishops were recommended to 

 report to the General Conference all decisions 

 on questions of law which should be made by 

 them. The organization of an Annual Confer- 

 ence in Italy was recommended, on condition 

 that the bishop presiding at the meeting of 

 the Italian mission shall approve the measure. 

 Resolutions were adopted declaring it to be the 

 duty of the Government to enforce all the 

 rights guaranteed by treaty to the Chinese 

 upon American shores, and to afford them the 

 protection which is accorded to citizens of 

 the United States residing within the bounds 

 of the Chinese Empire; instructing the offi- 

 cial papers " to speak boldly and explicitly " 

 on this subject and to this purpose; and ad- 

 vising the people to exercise charity toward 

 Chinese immigrants, and seek to allay the 

 hostility which has been stirred up against 

 them. 



II. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 this Church for 1879, as they were published 

 in 1880. It shows the number of preachers 

 and members. 



Number of Sunday-schools, 8,941, with 8,- 

 528 teachers and 42,137 scholars; number of 

 baptisms during 1879, 28,011 of children and 

 49,798 of adults; amount of collections for 

 conference claimants, $66,823; for missions, 

 $129,713. The lay members are classified as 

 follows: White members, 816,294; colored 

 members, 1,251 ; Indian members, 4,931. 



The Board of Missions had missions among 

 the North American Indians, including an In- 

 dian Mission Conference, with 5,723 preachers 

 and members, and a mission among the Echota 

 Indians in North Carolina, with 135 members; 

 in China, where there were 5 missionaries, 8 na- 

 tive preachers, 2 woman missionaries, 6 Bible 

 women, 19 Sunday-school teachers, 11 day- 

 school teachers, 97 members, 186 scholars in 

 Sunday-schools and 105 in day-schools; in 

 Central Mexico, with 30 stations, 14 preachers, 

 10 teachers, 11 day and night schools, a school 

 for young preachers, 15 Sunday-schools, and 

 531 members; on the Mexican border (Rio 

 Grande), with 13 stations, 14 imssionaries,^651 

 members, 4,800 in congregations, and 25 Sun- 

 day-schools, with 472 scholars ; and in Brazil, 

 with stations at Rio Janeiro and Piracicaba, 

 with 2 missionaries and 36 members. 



