542 



METHODISTS. 



bishops in their quadrennial address, reviewing 

 the condition and growth of the Church during 

 the past four years, represented the progress 

 of the conferences and churches in the United 

 States and Ontario as having been very en- 

 couraging. Two new conferences the Texas 

 and South Georgia had been added. A still 

 more favorable report was made of the im- 

 provement in the spiritual and temporal inter- 

 ests of the churches. There had been a marked 

 advance in the addition of energetic and work- 

 ing young men to the ministry; also in the in- 

 crease and improvement of places of worship 

 and a manifestly greater interest in the col- 

 lection of the general fund. The ministers 

 seemed to be seeking the fullest qualification 

 for their offices. A special report was made 

 by the bishops on the subject of the negotia- 

 tions for union with the African Methodist 

 Episcopal Church, lamenting that the scheme 

 had received a serious check, and that the basis 

 that had been agreed upon by the committees 

 at Washington had gone no further than to 

 receive their approval. But the Church could 

 wait till its sister-church should be ready To 

 consummate a union. The report was adopted. 



A board of commissioners having been ap- 

 pointed by the Colored Methodist Episcopal 

 Church on the organic union of the two 

 churches, a like board was appointed to meet 

 them and arrange terms. A provision was 

 made, for the first time in the history of the 

 churches, for sending fraternal delegates to the 

 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church South. The bishops were authorized 

 to appoint delegates to the (Ecumenical Confer- 

 ence of Methodist Churches, which is to be held 

 in the United States in 1891. 



Resolutions were passed approving the ac- 

 tion of various temperance societies and urging 

 ministers to organize local societies and in 

 every way to practice and teach temperance 

 in the communities where they may be called 

 upon to labor ; and to preach several sermons 

 on the subject during each year. A financial 

 plan was adopted, which is based upon the as- 

 sessment of fifty cents a year upon adult mem- 

 bers, with encouragement to children under 

 fifteen years of age to contribute according to 

 their ability to the general fund. The " Hand- 

 book of the Discipline," which the General 

 Conference had authorized Bishop Jones to 

 prepare, being submitted, was approved, and 

 an edition of it was ordered published. A 

 course of study for candidates for the minis- 

 try, to occupy four years, was adopted. A 

 committee was appointed to visit the Book- 

 Rooms in New York and select the best and 

 cheapest works on theology, church history, 

 and other subjects pertaining to the work and 

 qualifications of the ministry. To the question 

 presented to it, whether a class-leader, con- 

 ductor of a prayer-meeting, and a superintend- 

 ent in the Sunday-school may, in the absence 

 of the minister, pronounce the benediction, 

 the Conference replied " Yes ; if he is fit to 



open the meeting, he is fit to close it." The 

 bishops were made a committee on criticism 

 to pass upon all literary work intended for 

 publication by the Church, their decision to 

 be final. Two additional bishops were elected 

 the Rev. Charles Calvin Pettey, who was 

 General Secretary of the Connection, and the 

 Rev. Prof. C. R. Harris, of Salisbury, N. C. 

 A collection was called for of one cent from 

 each member in the several pastoral charges, 

 for the support of the General Conferences. 



V. Methodist Protestant Church. The statistics 

 of this Church, as returned to the General Con- 

 ference in May, show the whole number of 

 members to be 145,500 ; value of church prop- 

 erty, $3,342,500 ; net increase of members dur- 

 ing four years, 12 per cent.; of property, 13 

 per cent. 



The Book Directory at Pittsburg returned 

 the net value of its assets as $31,492. The 

 receipts for the last four years had been $133,- 

 703, and the disbursements $127,116. The 

 periodical publications include the "Methodist 

 Recorder" (weekly) and six papers for chil- 

 dren and Sunday-schools. The "Methodist 

 Protestant," Baltimore, is also under the con- 

 trol of the Board of Publication. 



Adrian College reported to the General 

 Conference that it had been attended during 

 the last four years by an average of 200 stu- 

 dents ; that its endowment funds amounted to 

 $97,500; that its property was valued at $118,- 

 000; its museum, at $15,000 ; and that its in- 

 debtedness was $21,765. 



Missions The receipts of the Board of Mis- 

 sions for the year ending April 30 had been 

 $14,900, and the expenditures $12,158. The 

 receipts for the four years had been $34,130, 

 and the disbursements $29,388. Eight home 

 missionaries had been employed; seven mis- 

 sionaries had been sent abroad ; three churches 

 were returned in Japan, having in all 159 

 members, with 565 pupils in day and Sunday 

 schools. The property of the mission was 

 valued at $12,000, while $30,000 had been 

 spent upon it. A chapel was in course of 

 erection at Yokohama. 



General Conference. The fifteenth quadren- 

 nial General Conference of the Methodist Prot- 

 estant Church met in Adrian, Mich., May 18. 

 The Rev. David Jones, of Pittsburg, Pa., was 

 chosen president. The commission appointed 

 at a previous General Conference to confer 

 with a similar commission of the Cumberland 

 Presbyterian Church, reported that no differ- 

 ence of creed or polity stood in the way of the 

 organic union of the two bodies. A report 

 was also presented of a conference that had 

 been held with the Congregational Methodists 

 of Alabama, on the subject of union, which 

 had been attended with no practical result. 

 Both reports were referred to a special com- 

 mittee, which subsequently made an adverse 

 report on the subject, in which, while recog- 

 nizing the fraternal character of the communi- 

 cations as a favorable indication, it affirmed 



