51b 



METHODlSTb. 



Methodist Protestant Church adopted a resolu- 

 tion expressing it as the sense of the Conference 

 that " our interests as an Annual Conference 

 will be best subserved by a union with the Gen- 

 eral Conference of the M. P. Church, embracing 

 the northern, eastern, and western portions of 

 the United States all our sympathies and views 

 being in harmony with the loyal people com- 

 posing said General Conference." Provisions 

 were made for taking a vote in all the stations 

 and circuits upon the proposed union. It was 

 also resolved to have no official connection with 

 the Maryland Conference, as the latter body had 

 refused to define its position with regard to the 

 Government of the United States. 



The twentieth session of the "Western Primi- 

 tive Methodist Annual Conference was held at 

 Shullsburg, Wis., commencing May 19th. The 

 statistics show an increase in the membership of 

 between one hundred and two hundred. The 

 appointment includes thirteen circuits and eleven 

 missions, chiefly in Iowa and Wisconsin ; though 

 there are one or two appointments in New York 

 and Pennsylvania. The Conference published 

 two papers, one monthly magazine and a child's 

 paper. 



The Free Methodist Church now contains 

 three Annual Conferences, the Illinois, the 

 Genesee, and the Susquehanna. The total of 

 all the Conferences is thirty-three churches, 

 sixty-six travelling preachers, and 3,555 mem- 

 bers and probationers. The total value of the 

 church property is $64,653. 



The Conference of Independent Methodist 

 churches held their third annual session in 

 New York City on Oct. 21. Ministers and 

 delegates were present from New York, Wil- 

 liamsburgh, Brooklyn, Amsterdam, Eome (N. 

 Y.), Hartford, Patterson (N. J.), Boston, and Cin- 

 cinnati. Three additional churches were re- 

 ceived into the connection. The Conference 

 unanimously adopted the following resolutions, 

 looking to a union of the various dissenting 

 Methodist bodies : 



Resolved, That we appoint a committee of three 

 members of this body, to confer with similar com- 

 mittees from other Methodist bodies, with a view to 

 the union of all the Methodist churches in this coun- 

 try who repudiate episcopacy, and recognize the 

 rights of the laity, and that we respectfully invite 

 churches and conferences who favor such a union to 

 send delegates to such a convention, to be held (if 

 generally concurred in) in the city of Syracuse, N. 

 i ., on the second Wednesday in June, 1865. And 

 we hereby invite all churches, conferences, and indi- 

 viduals favorable to such a convention, to communi- 

 cate as soon as convenient with the chairman of this 

 body for the time being, Kev. H. Mattison, No. 16 

 West Forty-first street, New York. 



Resolved, 2d, That the Secretary of the Conference 

 be instructed to furnish copies of these resolutions to 

 all the papers of the different non-episcopal Method- 

 ist churches, with the request that they give them 

 one or more conspicuous insertions ; and that these 

 resolutions, as thus furnished for publication, be 

 signed officially by the president and secretary of the 

 Conference. 



The proposition was favorably received by 

 the American Wesleyan Methodist, the Protes- 



tant Methodist, and the Free Methodist churches, 

 and a movement toward a union began in all 

 these organizations. 



The statistics of the British "Wesleyan Con- 

 ference, with its foreign and missionary de- 

 pendencies, were, in 1864, as follows : 



There are also 85,404 probationers, 1,951 

 ministers in full connection, and 541 on trial, 

 with 287 supernumeraries. These figures when 

 compared with the reports of the past years 

 seem to indicate a progressive decline in num- 

 bers. Last year there was an increase of num- 

 bers in the whole connection of 6,585; there 

 was an increase of 9,500 in 1861, of 17,500 in 

 1860, and of 15,700 in 1859. 



The membership in the other Methodist 

 denominations of England was, in 1864, as 

 follows : The New Connection Methodists had 

 24,112 members in England; 733 members in 

 Ireland, and 7,918 in Canada (a total increase 

 of 51 members) ; the Bible Christians, 25,089 

 (a decrease of 287 members) ; the Primitive Meth- 

 odist Connection, 148,690 members; the United 

 Methodist churches, 64,331 ; the Wesleyan Ee- 

 form Union, 10,139 members (increase 1,201). 



On the subject of the union of "liberal" 

 Methodist bodies, the New Connection Con- 

 ference adopted the following resolution : 



That this Conference has much satisfaction in 

 learning that the expressions of Christian affection 

 toward all evangelical denominations, and especially 

 of our fraternal sympathy and relations with the 

 several sections of the Methodist family, as embodied 

 in the fourteenth resolution of our last Conference, 

 have been cordially reciprocated by the Annual As- 

 sembly of the United Me_thodist Free Church; by the 

 Conference of the Primitive Methodists; by the 

 Primitive Wesleyan Methodists ; by the Bible Chris- 

 tians, and the Methodist Keform Union ; and this 

 Conference indulges the hope that this interchange 

 of friendly sympathy will be followed by more fre- 

 quent intercourse, and also by mutual cooperation 

 as far as this may be found practicable. 



Outside of the United States and Great 

 Britain the most important event in the history 

 of Methodism during the past year is the organ- 

 ization of an Annual Conference in India. The 

 General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church of the United States, at its session in 

 Philadelphia, in May, 1864, organized the mis- 

 sions in the northwest province? of India into 



