514 



METHODISTS. 



Resolved, That while we deplore the evils of war 

 that has filled our land with mourning, we rejoice in 

 the sublime manifestations of benevolence it has 

 developed, as seen in the Sanitary and Christian 

 Commissions, and in the associations formed to aid 

 the vast multitudes who have recently become free- 

 men, and that we pledge to these institutions our 

 hearty cooperation and support. 



A committee, consisting of Bishop Ames, Dr. 

 Cummings, Dr. G. Peck, Dr. Elliott, and Rev. 

 G. Moody, was appointed to wait on the Presi- 

 dent, and convey to him the loyal sentiments 

 of the Conference, and of the Church represent- 

 ed hy it. 



The delegates proceeded to "Washington, and 

 presented to President Lincoln the address, in 

 which the Conference express to him the assur- 

 ance of the loyalty of the Church, her earnest 

 devotion to the interests of the country, and her 

 sympathies with him in the great responsibili- 

 ties of his high position in this trying hour. 

 They honor him for his proclamations of liberty, 

 and rejoice in all the acts of the Government 

 designed to secure freedom to the enslaved. In 

 conclusion they say : " Actuated by the senti- 

 ments of the loftiest and purest patriotism, our 

 prayer shall be continually for the preserva- 

 tion of our country undivided, for the triumph 

 of our cause, and for a permanent peace gained 

 by the sacrifice of no moral principles, but 

 founded on the word of God, and securing 

 righteous liberty and equal rights to all." To 

 this address the President replied as follows : 



GENTLEMEN : In response to your address allow me 

 to attest the accuracy of its historical statements, 

 endorse the sentiments it expresses, and thank you, 

 in the nation's name, for the sure promise it gives. 

 Nobly sustained, as the Government has been, by all 

 the churches, I would utter nothing which might in 

 the least appear invidious against any. Yet, without 

 this, it may fairly be said that the Methodist Episco- 

 pal Church, not less devoted than the best, is by its 

 greatest numbers the most important of all. It is no 

 fault in others that the Methodist Church sends more 

 soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals, and 

 more prayers to heaven than any. God bless the 

 Methodist Church. Bless all the churches, and 

 blessed be God who, in this our great trial, giveth us 

 the churches. 



Subsequently Eev. Dr. Thornton, delegate 

 from the English Conference to the Methodist 

 General Conference, with Dr. Scott, from the 

 Irish Conference, was presented to the Presi- 

 dent by the Hon. M. F. Odell. These delegates 

 expressed to the President their earnest and 

 hearty sympathy of the Methodist membership 

 of England and Ireland in the present national 

 struggle, and desire for our success. 



Dr. Thornton stated in connection, that he 

 had held no official intercourse with the Meth- 

 odist Church South during the rebellion. 



At the meeting of the General Missionary 

 Committee, which took place in Nov. 1864, 

 $622,910 were appropriated for the support of 

 the foreign and domestic missions during the 

 coming year. The receipts of the Missionary 

 Society, in 1863, were $429,768, an increase of 

 $157,245 over 1862. The missions of the 

 Church, in 1864, were as follows : 



The extension of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church in those seceded States which were re- 

 covered by the armies of the United States 

 made considerable progress. The membership 

 of the Missouri and Arkansas Conference in- 

 creased from 4,387 in 1863, to 6,691 in 1864, 

 mostly by accessions from the Methodist Episco- 

 pal Church South. Several Methodist churches 

 were organized in Louisiana, especially in New 

 Orleans, where there were, in July, 1864, as many 

 as 500 scholars in the Methodist Sunday schools. 

 Still more important were the movements in 

 East Tennessee. At a convention of Union 

 ministers and laymen of the Holston Annual 

 Conference, held at Knoxville on the 17th of 

 August, it was resolved, that the loyal members 

 of the Conference have a just claim to all the 

 church property; that they really constitute 

 the Southern Methodist Church within tho 

 bounds of the Holston Conference ; that they 

 propose, at the earliest day practicable, to trans- 

 fer the same to the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in the United States, and that the ministers be 

 instructed to propose to their congregations to 

 go en masse to the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in the United States. 



On April 6th a convention of ministers of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church South, from States 

 within the Federal lines, met at Louisville, Ky., 

 for the purpose of adopting measures for the 

 preservation of their church property. The St. 

 Louis, Missouri, Memphis, Kentucky, Tennes- 

 see, Louisville, Western Virginia, and Kansas 

 Mission Conferences, were represented by an 

 average delegation of about two ministers from 

 each, excepting the Louisville Conference, which 

 had more. Eev. C. B. Parsons, D.D., was pres- 

 ident; Eev. P. M. Pinckard, vice-president; and 

 Eev. T. M. Finney, secretary ; both of the latter 

 from St. Louis. The Convention adopted the 

 following preamble and resolutions with regard 

 to the Book Concern of the Methodist Episco- 

 pal Church South at Nashville, Tenn. : 



Whereas, An information has been filed in the 

 United States Circuit Court for the Middle District 

 of Tennessee for the confiscation of the Southern 

 Methodist publishing house at Nashville, Tennessee, 

 on sundry specifications unknown to us, but gen 

 erally on the ground of disloyalty ; 



