544 



METHODISTS. 



The receipts of the Wesleyan Missionary So- 

 ciety for the year had been 140,623. The mis- 

 sionary force included 343 missionaries, 2,128 

 catechists, interpreters, and other paid agents, 

 and more than 4,000 unpaid agents, with 1,582 

 chapels and preaching stations, more than 34,- 

 000 church members, and 63,335 pupils. 



Unfavorable criticisms having been published 

 in the journal called the " Methodist Times " 

 concerning the conduct of mission affairs in In- 

 dia and the manner of living of the missionaries, 

 a sub-committee was appointed by the executive 

 committee of the society to inquire into the 

 matter and make such suggestions as they might 

 deem expedient. The committee made its re- 

 port in June. Two charges had been especially 

 investigated, viz., that the missionaries were liv- 

 ing in" "luxury," and that the effect of their 

 mode of living was inevitably to separate them 

 from the people instead of bringing them into 

 close contact with them, whereby their useful- 

 ness was crippled and their influence lessened. 

 The sub-committee found that the missionaries 

 in India had not the means to live and did not 

 live in luxury, as the English middle classes un- 

 derstand the word ; that stipends in India were 

 not the equivalent of 1,000 in England; that 

 there was no substantial difference between the 

 purchasing power of stipends expended in India 

 and the same sums expended in England ; and 

 that owing to the recent depreciation of the In- 

 dian currency the remuneration of the Indian 

 missionaries did not exceed the stipends and al- 

 lowances paid to Wesleyan ministers in Eng- 

 land. In regard to the charge of separation 

 from the natives, the sub-committee found that 

 while attendance upon the levees of the Viceroy 

 or of the Lieutenant-Governor was comparative- 

 ly rare, there was nothing in the fact of such at- 

 tendance to hinder the work of the missionaries 

 among the native population or to prejudice 

 their mutual relations ; and, as a whole, that the 

 assertion that the manner or the place of their 

 living tended to alienate them from the native 

 population or hindered their success in the na- 

 tive work was not sustained- The sub-committee 

 recommended, however, some changes in the com- 

 pensation and allowances of Missionaries. Its 

 report was adopted as constituting a complete 

 exoneration of the missionaries from all the 

 charges. 



The Wesleyan Conference met in its one hun- 

 dred and forty-seventh session at Bristol July 

 22. The Rev. Dr. W. P. Mpulton was chosen 

 president. The questions which had been raised 

 in the Missionary Society concerning the admin- 

 istration of the missions was discussed in the 

 pastoral session under the examination of char- 

 acter. The session recorded its satisfaction that 

 the confidence which it had placed in the Indian 

 missionaries had been " more than vindicated " 

 by the recent inquiry and its regret that they 

 should have been exposed to newspaper articles 

 and humiliating charges, "injurious alike to 

 their personal character and to their influence 

 as missionaries." which " on investigation proved 

 to be wholly without foundation." While once 

 again assuring " its missionaries in India," the 

 resolutions continue, "of the strong affection 

 and entire confidence with which they are re- 

 garded by their brethren at home, the Confer- 



ence feels bound to express its grief and dis- 

 pleasure that imputations at once so grave and 

 so undeserved should have been made with so 

 little regard for the facts of the case and for the 

 reputation of men deservedly esteemed, the effect 

 of which has been to inflict lamentable injury on 

 the work of God." The report of the Missionary 

 Committee was also adopted, and the committee 

 was directed to consider during the year the 

 several suggestions embodied in it and report to 

 the next conference. An increase of 2,633 mem- 

 bers was reported. A committee was appointed 

 to consider how the legal difficulties might be re- 

 moved that stand in the way of extending the 

 term during which a minister may serve the 

 same congregation beyond the three years to 

 which it is now limited. (This committee met 

 in December and was not able to reach any con- 

 clusion.) The rule respecting appointment to a 

 circuit which a minister had once served was 

 modified so that the minister could be returned 

 after an interval of three years instead of hav- 

 ing to wait six years as formerly ; and the rule 

 was rescinded under which a minister could be 

 stationed in the same town for only six years in 

 succession. A reply was adopted to the letters 

 of the Archbishop of Canterbury in connection 

 with the resolutions of the Lambeth Council on 

 home reunion. In it the Conference says, after 

 expressing its concurrence in the prayer of the 

 Archbishop for the unity of the Church : 



It appears to the Conference that very much might 

 be done by all the Christian communions to promote 

 that unity of spirit without which corporate unity is 

 impossible, and if possible would be of little worth, 

 by frankly acknowledging the Christian character of 

 members of the several churches by recognizing cor- 

 dially and practically the status and work of their 

 ministers, and by abstaining from everything in pub- 

 lic teaching and in our more private ministries \vhich 

 would injure the influence or destroy the fruit of godly 

 labor beyond their own communions. We might ap- 

 proach much nearer to that state of heart and mind 

 on which the Divine Head of the Church Universal 

 would doubtless look with approval. In your Grace's 

 efforts and those of your right reverend brethren to 

 promote this happier state of feeling the Conference 

 would desire very heartily to co-operate, for it is the 

 traditional policy of Methodism to be in its relation 

 to other Christian churches "the friend of all, the 

 enemy of none." 



The Conference, while deploring needless divis- 

 ions, and still more a schismatical spirit, is of opin- 

 ion that the true unity of the Church of Christ does 

 not necessarily require the corporate union of the 

 several churches, nor their acceptance of any one form 

 of polity and government. 



And while fully recognizing the spirit which ani- 

 mated the Committee on Home Keunion appointed by 

 the bishops, the Conference is of opinion that the 

 articles presented as a hasis of possible " reunion " 

 (especially the fourth, which relates to the historical 

 episcopate), do not, in the absence of fuller informa- 

 tion and more exact definition, provide a practical 

 ground for the discussion of the subiect. 



A representative committee was appointed to * 

 be called together in the event of any educa- 

 tional proposals being submitted to Parliament 

 during the connectional year. Resolutions passed 

 respecting the " Methodist settlement," or colo- 

 ny, which it has been attempted to form in Lon- 

 don declare that its object is religious, educa- 

 tional, and social work ; authorize the appoint- 

 ment as vice-presidents and as committeemen of 



