508 



METHODISTS. 



Methodist Connection, as published in connec- 

 tion with the minutes of the British Confer- 

 ence for 1880 : 



429 



2,599 



445 



The tables give also 328 ministers on trial, 

 viz., 164 in Great Britain, 21 in Ireland, and 143 

 in the foreign missions; and 321 supernume- 

 raries. 



The anniversary of the Wesley an Mission- 

 ary Society was held in London, May 3d. 

 The receipts of the Society for the year had 

 been 165,498, of which 118,808 were de- 

 scribed as " home receipts," or contributions 

 from the stations and auxiliaries within the 

 United Kingdom, 9,068 as "foreign re- 

 ceipts," or contributions from the mission-sta- 

 tions, and 37,622 had been received through 

 the Wesleyan Methodist Thanksgiving fund. 



The general summary of the statistics of the 

 missions is as follows : Missions under the im- 

 mediate direction of the Wesleyan Missionary 

 Committee and British Conference, in Europe, 

 India, China, South and West Africa, and the 

 West Indies, as far as ascertained : 



Central or principal stations called circuits 



Chapels and other preaching-places in connection with 

 the central and principal stations 



Missionaries and assistant missionaries, including su- 

 pernumeraries 



Other paid agents, as catechists, interpreters, day- 

 school teachers, etc 



Unpaid agents, as Sunday-school teachers, etc 



Full and accredited church-members 



On trial for church-membership 



Scholars, deducting for those who attend both the day 

 and Sunday schools 



Printing establishments. 3 



In Western Africa explorations had been 

 made with a view of extending the missions 

 into the interior as soon as the resources of the 

 Society should permit such an experiment. A 

 Proprietary High School for Girls had been be- 

 gun at Freetown, Sierra Leone. A Zenana 

 mission had been begun prosperously in Ben- 

 gal. Much medical relief had been given in 

 China. Arrangements had been recently made 

 to put the missions in the West Indies upon a 

 better basis, with a view to the development 

 of local resources, which should result in self- 

 support and self-government, and satisfactory 

 progress had already been made in carrying 

 them out. 



The number of Sunday-schools was reported 

 to be 6,376 121 more than were reported in 

 the previous year. Of these, 2,629, or rather 

 more than one third, belonged to the Connec- 

 tional Sunday-school Union. The whole num- 

 ber of officers and teachers was 119,911, and 

 of scholars 787,143. These returns showed an 



* Exclusive of the French ministers who are employed in 

 the Channel Islands. 



1,924 



7,806 

 86,753 

 11,079 



increase of 1,151 officers and teachers and 20,- 

 386 scholars. The total cost of Wesleyan Sun- 

 day-schools during the year had been 66,574. 

 The Wesleyan Conference met in its one 

 hundred and seventh session, in London, July 

 20th. The Rev. E. E. Jenkins, one of the mis- 

 sionary secretaries of the Connection, was elect- 

 ed President. The numerical returns showed 

 that a net decrease of 934 had taken place in the 

 number of members during the year, while the 

 number of persons on trial had increased by 

 1,840. It appeared by comparing the details 

 of the statistical report that while more than 

 43,000 new members had been received, 5,572 

 had died, and 37,000 persons who had been 

 members were no longer represented on the 

 class-rolls. This number was made up of 14,- 

 000 persons who had removed, and more than 

 23,000 persons who had ceased to contribute 

 and attend class-meeting. The decrease was 

 greatest in Cornwall, and was attributed there 

 to financial depression. This was the third year 

 in which a decrease was reported. The pro- 

 ject for holding an (Ecumenical Conference of 

 Methodist Churches was finally approved, and 

 full arrangements were made for calling and 

 holding the Conference at the City Road Chap- 

 el in London, in September, 1881. It was de- 

 cided that the meeting should be called a Con- 

 gress rather than a Conference. The Executive 

 Committee of the Thanksgiving fund which 

 was instituted by the Conference of 1878, and 

 which the Conference of 1879 had resolved to 

 make 244,975 if that amount could be raised, 

 reported that the subscriptions to the fund 

 amounted on the 15th of July to 287,155, of 

 which 134,007 had been paid in, and that 

 subsequent subscriptions had raised the amount 

 promised to 289,000. The committee had re- 

 solved to increase the fund to 300,000 guineas, 

 or 315,000. Meetings had been held in be- 

 half of the fund in all the districts, and in all 

 but fifty of the circuits. The Sabbath Com- 

 mittee, after a detailed statement of what had 

 been done, especially with reference to the 

 closing of public-houses and the opening of 

 museums on Sunday, reported that "upon a 

 review of the events of the year bearing upon 

 the Sabbath question, we can not but think, 

 notwithstanding discouraging circumstances, 

 that, all things considered, an advance favor- 

 able to our most cherished aims and hopes has 

 been made." A declaration was adopted in ref- 

 erence to the use of trust property for amuse- 

 ments and other purposes not contemplated in 

 the formation of the several trusts, by which 

 the members and officers of churches were re- 

 minded that such properties can be legally used 

 only for such purposes as are in accordance 

 with the provisions of the deeds, which are 

 religious worship and "public and other meet- 

 ings and services held according to the general 

 rules and usages of the people called Method- 

 ists as they appear in the Annual Minutes of 

 Conference from time to time published." The 

 Home Mission Committee was authorized to 



