482 



METHODISTS. 



The British Wesleyan Conference met in 

 Liverpool. July 30th. The receipts of the Aux- 

 iliary Fund were reported at 15,000. The 

 Chapel Committee reported collections of over 

 3,000, and a similar amount given to the 

 Theological Institute. During the year, 126 

 new chapels, with 22,137 sittings, were au- 

 thorized to be built, at an estimated cost of 

 216,515. Two hundred and sixty new build- 

 ings were completed during the year. The 

 Home Mission Committee reported 68 mission- 

 aries, with 11 chaplains in the army. Seven- 

 teen chapels are being built in connection with 

 Home Mission stations, to hold 8,375 persons, 

 at a cost of 34,310. One hundred and forty- 

 three students have attended the two theolo- 

 gical schools at Richmond and Didsbury. The 

 preaching of the students was said to make 

 them in much request in the places which they 

 were in the habit of visiting on Sundays, and 

 the whole retrospect of the year was encour- 

 aging. 



A remarkable letter was received from Dr. 

 Pusey, proposing to the Conference an alliance 

 against the reforms which the Liberal party 

 endeavored to introduce into the ecclesiastical 

 legislation of the United Kingdom. The Con- 

 ference agreed to take no action on the subject 

 for the present, but directed the ex-president 

 to acknowledge the receipt of the letter on be- 

 half of the Conference, stating that it had been 

 laid before it, but no decision had been arrived 

 at on the question. 



X. (BEITISH) PRIMITIVE METHODISTS. The 

 minutes of the Forty-ninth Annual Conference 

 report the following statistics : members, 

 159,798 increase, 4,848 ; travelling preachers, 

 916 increase, 25; local preachers, 14,020 

 increase, 155 ; class-leaders, 9,543 increase, 

 219; connectional chapels, 3,235 increase, 

 117; rented chapels, rooms, etc., 3,034 de- 

 crease, 48; Sabbath-schools, 3,053 increase, 

 119; Sabbath scholars, 247,969; increase, 

 13,175; Sabbath-school teachers, 43,642 in- 

 crease, 2,451 ; reported deaths of members, 

 2,367 decrease, 51. At the Annual Confer- 

 ence held at Sunderland, on the 3d of June, it 

 was reported that premises had been purchased 

 and nearly paid for, for the Theological Insti- 

 tution at Sunderland. Thirteen new chapels 

 have been built, valued at 3,350. 



XL UNITED METHODIST FEEE CHURCHES OF 

 ENGLAND. The members of these bodies for 

 1868 were reported at 68,241, being an increase 

 of 769 from the previous year. The number 

 of chapels was 1,188 ; itinerant preachers, 

 296 ; local preachers, 3,373 ; Sunday scholars, 

 146,910. At the Annual Assembly of this 

 body, held on the 29th of June, a resolution 

 was unanimously passed that the Assembly 

 declared its most unqualified disapprobation of 

 any scheme of general endowment, however 

 modified its form, or by whatever party in the 

 state it may be proposed ; that it regarded the 

 endowment and establishment (by the state) 

 of a sect, whatever its creed and polity, as a 



political injustice and therefore a real griev- 

 ance and an injury to the cause of Christ; 

 declared its approval of Mr. Gladstone's reso- 

 lution to disendow the Irish establishment, as 

 a simple act of justice, and urged upon the 

 churches the thoughtful consideration and sup- 

 port of this movement, "not only for itself, 

 but because its successful issue will be the 

 presage of the universal emancipation of re- 

 ligion from all civil interference," and expressed 

 its decided opposition to the continuance of 

 the Maynooth grant and Begium Donum. The 

 missionary receipts were 1,052 Ss. 2d. The 

 society has missionaries throughout the whole 

 of Australasia, except South Australia, in New 

 Zealand, Jamaica, East and West Africa, and 

 China.' 



XII. THE METHODIST NEW CONNECTION 

 (GEEAT BEITAIN). At the last Conference, 

 held at Layton, June 16, 1868, there were in 

 England 11 districts, 59 circuits, and 10 mis- 

 sions, 151 preachers' and 24,757 members; in 

 Ireland, 7 circuits and stations, 7 missionaries, 

 and 656 members; and in Canada, 87 circuit 

 preachers, and 7,926 members. There has 

 been a total increase of 941 members. The 

 total number of chapels is 650 ; local preach- 

 ers, 1,286; schools, 559; teachers, 11,253; 

 scholars, 72,230. The Annual Conference de- 

 clined to reopen the question of reunion. It 

 voted in favor of "the disestablishment and 

 disendowment of the Episcopal Church in Ire- 

 land, the withdrawal of the grant to Maynooth 

 College, and the discontinuance of the Begium 

 Donum." It pronounced against the traffic in 

 intoxicating drinks on the Sabbath, and framed 

 a petition to Parliament for its total stoppage 

 on that day. 



XIII. THE BIBLE CHRISTIANS. This denom- 

 ination reported, in 1868, 37 circuits and 41 

 home missions in England, and 55 abroad; 

 with 253 itinerant preachers, 1,734 local preach- 

 ers, 26,327 members, 1,080 on trial, 42,455 

 scholars, and 8,713 teachers. 



XIV. CHUECH METHODISTS (PBIMITIVE WES- 

 LEYAN METHODISTS OF IRELAND). The Con- 

 ference of this body was held at Dublin on the 

 24th of June. It is exclusively Irish. It 

 claims to be identical in the character of its 

 constitution and doctrines with the societies 

 as they were originally established by the Rev. 

 John Wesley. It declines to administer the 

 Sacraments, acknowledging the supremacy of 

 the Established Church in that matter, and ob- 

 serves the rule neither to buy, sell, nor drink 

 spirituous liquors except in cases of extreme 

 necessity. The Conference were persuaded that 

 a wide and effectual door of usefulness hafc 

 opened to them. Contributions in the churches 

 to the Superannuation Fund, 535 7*. Td. ; to 

 the Chapel Fund, 40 4s. 4d. The members 

 in this Church have been decreasing within a 

 few years past. In 1845 they had risen to 

 15,414, but had fallen off in 1859 to 9,805, and 

 in 1868 to 9,320. The decrease is principally 

 owing to emigration. 



