480 



METHODISTS. 



is seventy-one, being an increase of twelve 

 from the previous General Conference of 1864. 



The report presented to the General Confer- 

 ence, on the subject of lay delegations, showed 

 that eleven of the annual conferences had de- 

 clared in favor of lay representation without 

 qualification, and twenty "if it is desired by 

 the people," and that 25,519 members of the 

 church had signed petitions in favor of it, and 

 1,223 had signed remonstrances against it. 

 After discussing several schemes, the General 

 Conference adopted a plan of lay representation 

 in the General Conference, subject to approval 

 by the Church, by which the General Confer- 

 ence is to consist of one ministerial delegate for 

 every thirty members of each annual confer- 

 ence, and two lay delegates from each annual 

 conference, except from those entitled to but 

 one ministerial delegate, which shall send also 

 but one lay delegate each. The lay delegates 

 are to be chosen by an electoral conference of 

 laymen, which is to assemble for the purpose 

 on the third day of the session of the an- 

 nual conference, at its place of meeting, at its 

 session immediately preceding the General 

 Conference. Lay delegates to the electoral 

 and General Conference must be twenty-five 

 years of age, and have been five years in full 

 connection in the Church. Two-thirds of the 

 whole number of ministers and lay delegates 

 shall be required to constitute a quorum of the 

 General Conference. When demanded by one 

 third of either order, the two bodies shall meet 

 separately, in which case the concurrent vote 

 of both shall be required to make action valid. 

 This plan is to be submitted to the vote of the 

 laymen in their Quarterly Conferences in June, 

 1869, when all members in full connection, of 

 suitable age, shall be entitled to vote upon it. 

 Upon being approved by. a majority of the 

 votes cast by the laity, and by three-fourths of 

 all the members of the annual conferences vot- 

 ing upon it, and its indorsement by the next 

 General Conference, the plan will become a 

 part of the constitution of the Church. 



The subject of a union with the African 

 Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was favora- 

 bly considered, and a committee of conference 

 on the subject was appointed. Bishop Jones, 

 of this body, in an address he delivered, de- 

 manded exact equality as the condition of union. 

 A committee was also appointed to confer with 

 a committee of the Evangelical Association, on 

 the subject of a closer union with that body, 

 and a general committee was appointed to 

 confer with the Methodist branches in relation 

 to union. Communications looking to union 

 were received from members of the Protestant 

 Episcopal Church, and referred to a special 

 committee. 



As the year 18G9 will be the semi-centennial 

 of the establishment of the Missionary Society 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the 

 hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Richard 

 Boardman and Joseph Pillmore the .first 

 Methodist preachers in the United States 



in America, a missionary jubilee was deter- 

 mined upon, with services and memorials to be 

 held in honor of those ministers. 



A remarkable feature of the proceedings 

 was the repeal of the resolutions of the Gen- 

 eral Conference of 1836, censuring certain of 

 its members for participating in antislavery 

 meetings. 



II. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHTJEOH SOUTH. 

 The statistics of this Church, in 1867, were as 

 follows : 



The collections made for the Home Mission- 

 ary Society amounted to $44, 672. The Church 

 supports a foreign mission in China. 



III. THE METHODIST PROTESTANT AND THE 

 METHODIST CHURCHES.* The former has a 

 membership of about 72,000 ; the Maryland 

 Conference has 10,500 members, the North 

 Carolina, from 9,000 to 10,000. The Metho- 

 dist Church has about 50,000 members, 624 

 itinerant, and 444 local ministers. 



IV. THE WESLEYAN CONNECTION AND PRIM- 

 ITIVE METHODISTS. The former has 11 annu- 

 al conferences, and (November, 1868) about 

 15,000 members. The latter, an offshoot of an 

 English Methodist denomination, has about. 

 2,000 members. 



V. FREE METHODIST CHURCHES. This body 

 reported, in 1868, 94 preachers, about 6,000 

 members, 49 church edifices, and church prop- 

 erty to the value of $170,000. 



VI. EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. The al- 



* See ANNUAL AMERICAN CYCLOPEDIA for 1867, for an 

 account of the historical relation of these two Churches 

 to each other. 



