METHODISTS. 



541 



together with the Rev. James M. Thoburn, 

 D. D., as missionary bishop in India. An invi- 

 tation was offered to other evangelical denomi- 

 nations to co-operate in the formation of a Na- 

 tional Sabbath Committee. In response to the 

 resolutions of the House of Bishops and the 

 House of Deputies of the Protestant Episcopal 

 Church on the subject of the organic unity of 

 the Church, the Conference expressed itself 

 ready to fraternize and co-operate with that 

 Church as with all other churches of the Lord 

 Jesus Christ, and to extend to it and accept 

 from it Christian courtesies ; and appointed a 

 commission of three persons one bishop, one 

 member of an annual conference, and one lay- 

 man to confer with other bodies on the increase 

 of Christian and Church fraternity. 



H. Methodist Episcopal Chnrch Sonth. The 

 whole number of traveling preachers in this 

 Church on May 1, 1888 was 4,530; whole 

 number of preachers and members, 1,107,456, 

 showing an increase of 41,079 from the previ- 

 ous year; number of churches, 11,364, havinga 

 total probable value of $15,204.883 ; of parson- 

 ages, 2,199, valued at $1,269,734. The year's 

 receipts for home missions had been $92.420 ; 

 for foreign missions, $219,649. Appropria- 

 tions were made for missions for 1888-'89, of 

 $208,820, with $25,610 additional as contin- 

 gent. The receipts of the Woman's Foreign 

 Missionary Society for the year ending April 1 

 had been $69,729, and its expenditures $63,088. 

 The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church has, 

 by the last published reports, 1,729 itinerant 

 ministers, 4,024 local preachers, and 165,000 

 lay members. 



III. African Methodist Episcopal Chnrch The 

 Church includes, according to its latest pub- 

 lished statistical reports, 2,550 itinerant minis- 

 ters, 9,760 local preachers, and 405,000 lay 

 members. 



The report of the Publishing House to the 

 General Conference showed that the business 

 of the quadrennial had amounted to $229,014, 

 or $49,159 more than the business of the pre- 

 vious quadrennial. The indebtedness had been 

 diminished by more than $5,000 ; and the house 

 made a return of $23,033 of assets, against 

 which were $3,946 of liabilities. 



The quadrennial educational report repre- 

 sented that the educational institutions of the 

 Church were increasing in number and power. 

 "Wilberforce University had been granted by 

 the Legislature of Ohio an appropriation of 

 $10,000 for an industrial department. Allen 

 University, Columbia, S. C., returned 200 stu- 

 dents, and a debt of $4,000. Paul Quinn Col- 

 lege, Waco, Tex., had in four years enrolled 

 272 students. It had a fine industrial school. 

 Morris Brown College. Atlanta, Ga., a young 

 institution, had made a fine start, and now reg- 

 istered 200 students. Funds had been raised 

 for it to the amount of $13,000. 



The collections and contributions for the 

 Missionary Society in four years since the last 

 General Conference were nearly $40,000. 



General Conference. The General Confer- 

 ence of the African Methodist Episcopal Church 

 met at Indianapolis, hid., May 7. The proc- 

 lamation which had lujcii made since the last 

 General Conference of the accomplishment of 

 a union between the African Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church in the United States and the 

 British Methodist Episcopal Church in Canada 

 and the West Indies, was ratified and con- 

 firmed ; and the present Conference was de- 

 clared to be the legitimate successor of both 

 the uniting bodies. Delegates from the con- 

 ferences of the British Methodist Episcopal 

 Church were present and were received as 

 members of the General Conference. Ques- 

 tions relating to property and the state of in- 

 dividual churches were referred to the annual 

 and quarterly conferences. Bishop Payne an- 

 nounced that the church history authorized by 

 the General Conference of 1848, upon which 

 he had been engaged for forty years was com- 

 pleted. Four new bishops were elected, viz., 

 W. J. Gaines, B. W. Arnett, D. D., B. T. Tan- 

 ner, D. D., and A. Grant. 



IV. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Chnrch. 

 The latest published statistics of this Church 

 give the number of itinerant ministers as 2,110 ; 

 of local preachers, 7,710 ; and of lay members, 

 314.000. 



The expenditures of the Book Concern dur- 

 ing the past four years were reported to the 

 General Conference to have been $8,363. The 

 amount of its indebtedness was returned at 

 $3,980. 



A rapid growth was reported for Livingstone 

 College, Salisbury, N. C. While six years pre- 

 viously it had had only three teachers and the 

 same number of students, it had been attend- 

 ed during the term just closed by 210 students, 

 in whose instruction 11 professors were em- 

 ployed. The institution occupies an estate of 

 50 acres, with several buildings, and returns 

 a total valuation of property and funds of 

 $100.000. 



The African Mission returned at Brewer- 

 ville, Liberia, 1 elder, 3 deacons, 1 exhorter, 

 100 members, 67 pupils in the Sunday-school, 

 and church property valued at $800 ; at Cape 

 Palmas 50 persons, with 2 local preachers, who 

 have called upon the missionary superintend- 

 ent to be admitted into the connection. The 

 missionary, the Rev. Andrew Cartwright, was 

 empowered by the General Conference, to se- 

 lect six native African boys and girls to be 

 educated at Livingstone College at the expense 

 of the conferences. A plan was approved by 

 the General Conference for sustaining one or 

 more woman teachers in connection with the 

 African missions by means of contributions to 

 be taken in the Sunday-schools. The Ladies' 

 Home and Foreign Missionary Society returned 

 to the General Conference receipts amounting 

 to $914. 



General Conference. The General Confer- 

 ence of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion 

 Church met in Newbern, N. C., May 2. The 



