542 



METHODISTS. 



bequests, for procuring homes for itinerant 

 preachers, and otherwise aiding the cause of 

 Christ." An additional secretary was given to 

 the Board of Missions, making the number of 

 these officers three. Two new bishops were elected 

 the Rev. Atticus G-. Haygood, D. D., and the 

 Rev. 0. P. Fitzgerald, D. D. The bishops were 

 authorized to appoint, and appointed, a commit- 

 tee to revise the statutes and report to the Gen- 

 eral Conference of 1894. 



III. Free Methodist Church. This Church 

 was organized at a Convention held on a camp- 

 ground at Pekin, N". Y., in 1860, when a polity 

 was framed incorporating the distinctive features 

 by which the Church has been known, and the 

 Rev. B. T. Roberts was elected superintendent. 

 In 1862 the name Convention, as designating the 

 general meeting, was changed to General Confer- 

 ence. The organization of the Church was based 

 on the Methodist discipline, in which such 

 changes were made as seemed required to meet 

 the views and purposes of those members who 

 had withdrawn from the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, and to secure larger powers and more 

 freedom to the laity and the local societies. The 

 prerogatives of the episcopal office, the presiding 

 elder, and the minister in charge were curtailed. 

 Regulations were adopted to promote plainness 

 of dress. Opposition to secret societies was made 

 a principle. Religious experience was made the 

 first and most essential condition of church 

 membership. Conferences or General Confer- 

 ences have met every four years since. 



The eighth General Conference met in Chicago, 

 111., Oct. 8. Statistics were presented showing 

 that there were now connected with the body 28 

 annual conferences, 600 itinerant preachers,- 600 

 local preachers, and more than 20,000 members. 

 The Committee on Missions reported that during 

 the past four years the Church had contributed 

 $9,410 to the foreign work, which had bee.n ap- 

 plied, all but a balance of $779, to purposes of 

 the mission in Africa. This mission had suffered 

 much, and was still suffering from the deadly 

 influence of the African climate. The sum of 

 $4,528 had been raised for " general mission 

 work," and had been expended in twelve States 

 and the Dominion of Canada. A proposition in 

 favor of the ordination of women called out a 

 spirited debate. It was lost, and the Conference 

 adopted a resolution declaring that " We, the 

 General Conference of 1890, disapprove of the 

 ordination of women " ; but it decided that a 

 woman who is a member of a society and the 

 wife of the preacher in charge is eligible as a 

 delegate to an annual conference. A change 

 was made in the marriage service by which the 

 woman's promise to obey and serve is omitted, 

 and the questions which the woman is required 

 to answer are made substantially the same as 

 those which are asked of the man. A paragraph 

 was inserted in the discipline under which mem- 

 bers living at a great distance from the class- 

 meeting to which they belong, and unable to 

 attend, shall once a quarter send to the leader 

 or preacher testimony as to their religious state. 

 Failing to do this, or to pay their conference 

 claims, they may be at the end of the year regis- 

 tered as removed without letter. A new chapter 

 was inserted authorizing and regulating the or- 

 ganization, under chairmen of districts or licensed 



evangelists, of bands for evangelistic work. A 

 resolution was passed disapproving of " the so- 

 called independent" missionary work that ap- 

 peals to the Church for its support, " and at the 

 same time antagonizes the proper board work." 

 The three general superintendents B. T. Rob- 

 erts, E. P. Hart, and G. W. Coleman were elect- 

 ed for another term. A report on reforms, which 

 was adopted, declared it a " privilege and duty " 

 to give influence and votes to the party that 

 takes its stand strongly and unequivocally for 

 the prohibition of the liquor traffic ; approved of 

 national Sabbath reform, ballot reform, the work 

 of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, 

 and of the Society for the Suppression of Vice ; 

 suggested reforms in dress, diet, and matters re- 

 lating to health ; and reiterated the testimony of 

 the Church against secret societies. Another 

 series of resolutions expressed apprehension over 

 the progress of the Roman Catholic Church in 

 the United States, and recommended a thorough 

 discussion in all the Church periodicals of Ro- 

 manism in its relation to our civil and religious 

 institutions. An increase was noticed in the 

 Sunday-schools. The reports showed that there 

 were more pupils in Sunday-schools than there 

 were church members, the proportion being 1-3 

 pupils to one member, and the ratio was increas- 

 ing. There were now 26,940 members of the 

 Church, and 35,181 pupils in Sunday-schools^ 

 an increase of 19,573 pupils in four years. 



IV. Methodist Church in Canada.-The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 body as they were presented to the General Con- 

 ference in September: Number of ministers and 

 probationers for the ministry, 1,798; of local 

 preachers and exhorters. 3,142 ; of leaders, 7,143 : 

 of members, 233.868 ; of baptisms, 1886 to 1890, 

 73,374; of Sunday-schools, 3,173, with 28,411 

 officers and teachers, and 226,050 pupils ; of 

 churches, 3,092 ; of parsonages, 967 ; total value 

 of property, $11,597,491. 



The present income of the Education Society 

 was $20,345/against $11,954, four years previous r 

 ly. During the four years the amount of the fund 

 had increased from $11,000 to more than $200,- 

 000. Subscriptions of $270,000 had been ob- 

 tained for the Federation fund, to which should 

 be added a bequest of $200,000 from Mr. Wil- 

 liam Goodesham. An expense account of only 

 $10,572 was to be charged against the latter 

 fund. Two thousand five hundred and twenty- 

 two students were registered in the Methodist 

 colleges ; the total assets of the institutions were 

 returned at $1,048,700, and their income at $190,- 

 209. The Book Committee reported that, al- 

 though $42,000 had been taken off in valuation, 

 and $29,000 had been paid by order of the Con- 

 ference to the Superannuation fund, $53,000 had 

 been added to the capital of the Book Room. 

 Three hundred and forty-eight new Sunday- 

 schools had been established since 1886. The con- 

 tributions of the schools had been $201,881, or 

 nearly $1 for each pupil. The total income of 

 the Board of Missions for four years had been 

 $857,155. The income for 1889-'90, $220,026, 

 was the largest in the history of the Church. 

 The board had employed during the last year 

 623 paid agents, who ministered to a member- 

 ship of 45,205. The number of members in the 

 Japan mission had increased from 591, in 1886, 



