METHODISTS. 



The number of effective preachers in 1865 

 was 6,121, of superannuated 872, of local preach- 

 ers 8,113. The contributions received by the 

 Missionary Society amounted to $607, 607; those 

 by the Sunday-School Union to $19,389; those 

 by the Tract Society to $22,581. There were 

 in connection with the Church 22 colleges and 

 universities, and four theological institutions, 

 at Evanston, 111. ; Concord, TS. H. ; Bremen, 

 Germany ; New Orleans, La.* The " foreign 

 missions " of the Church in Liberia, South Amer- 

 ica, China, Germany, India, Bulgaria, Scandi- 

 navia, embraced in 1865 161 missionaries and 

 7,022 members, and the "domestic missions" 

 among the Germans, Indians, Scandinavians, 

 French, and Welsh of the United States, 286 mis- 

 sionaries and 26,138 members. In addition to 

 those employed in the above work, there are 

 nearly a thousand ministers who are engaged 

 on the frontiers or in destitute localities, in city 

 missions, among the freedmen, and as mission- 

 aries to the South, in charges that cannot sup- 

 port themselves. Besides the missions enumer- 

 ated above, there has been established a third 

 class, designated as "Missions in the United 

 States and Territories, not included in the bounds 

 ef any Annual Conference." This class in- 

 cludes all the missions in Arizona, New Mexico, 

 Utah, Eastern Idaho, Montana, and the South- 

 ern States where the war broke up or put an 

 end to all religious organizations existing before 

 its commencement. The General Missionary 

 Committee, at their session in November, 1865, 

 appropriated for the year 1866, $1,000,000, 

 namely: Foreign Missions, $275,657.83; foreign 

 populations of the U. S., $15,550; Indian Mis- 

 sions, $4,550; American Domestic Missions, 

 $321,150 ; Third Class of Missio'ns, $301,092.17 ; 

 French Methodist Conferences, 12,000 ; Contin- 

 gent Fund, Incidental and Office Expenses, 

 $70,000. 



The statistics of the "Sunday-School Union" 

 in 1865, as given in the annual report published 

 in January, 1866, are as follows : Schools, 13,365 ; 

 Officers and Teachers, 153,039; Scholars, 914,- 

 587; Volumes in Library, 2,542,087; Bible 

 Classes, 16,987; Infant Scholars, 136,337; Ex- 

 penses, $285,829; Contributions for Sunday- 

 School Union, $17,738; Conversions, 25,122; 

 Copies of "Sunday-School Advocate" taken, 

 230,386. 



The receipts of the " Tract Society," accord- 

 ing to the 18th annual report published in Jan- 

 uary, 1866, were $13,566. Average monthly 

 issue of the " Good News," 74,600. The So- 

 ciety's list of Tracts now numbers 578. 



Aboard of "General Conference Trustees" 

 was elected by the General Conference in 1864, 

 and incorporated under the laws of the State 

 of Ohio in 1865. This board is authorized to 

 receive and apply, under the General Conference, 

 all donations, bequests, grants, etc., to the M. 

 E. Church. 



* In February, 1866, a new "Biblical Institution" was or- 

 ganized at Charleston, 8. C. 



A new Methodist Church Society was or- 

 ganized by the last General Conference, under 

 the denomination of "The Church Extension 

 Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church." 

 The object of the organization is to enable the 

 several Annual Conferences to establish and 

 extend theij Christian influence and power 

 throughout the United States and Territories, 

 by aiding, wherever necessary, to secure suitable 

 houses of public worship, and such other Church 

 property as may promote the general design. 

 The society is controlled by a Board of Mana- 

 gers, consisting of twenty-five laymen and as 

 many clergymen not exceeding that number 

 as shall be determined at each annual meeting ; 

 and by a General Committee of nine members, 

 chosen by the bishops from nine districts into 

 which the Annual Conferences are divided. 

 The annual meetings of the Society are held in 

 the city of Philadelphia, in November. The 

 first meeting was held in November, 1865, and 

 appropriated, for purposes of Church extension, 

 the sum of $200,000. 



The following table shows the number of 

 members of the M. E. Church in every State 

 and Territory of the Union, in 1864 : 



The bishops of the Methodist Church had, on 

 June 15th, a meeting at Erie, at which it was 

 resolved to occupy, as far as practicable, those 

 fields in the Southern States which may be 

 opened and which give promise of success. 

 The bishops declared themselves, however, to 

 have no authority to originate any plans of 

 union, and to be bound to adhere strictly to the 

 provisions of the discipline and the directions 

 of the General Conference. 



Early in 1865 the bishops received informa- 

 tion that a number of ministers and members 

 of the "Methodist Episcopal Church" in East 

 Tennessee, desired to attach themselves to the 

 "Methodist Episcopal Church," and Bishop 

 Clark was solicited to visit that section of the 

 State to receive them formally to the fellowship 

 of the Church. He went, accordingly, and in 

 Athens, Tenn., on the 1st day of June, 1865, or- 

 ganized the Holston Conference of the Method- 

 ist Episcopal Church. At this organization the 

 preachers reported the following statistics from 

 the several charges, namely : members, whites, 

 5,284, colored, 128, giving 5,412; probationers, 

 695 ; local preachers, 55 ; total, 6,462 ; Church 

 property valued at $31,250; Sunday-Schools, 



