434 



METHODISTS. 



In accordance with the provisions of the 

 plan which was adopted by the General Con- 

 ference of 1868, of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, the vote of the laity on the question 

 of the adoption of lay representation was 

 taken during the month of June, and the vote 

 of the clergy was taken in the conferences 

 which subsequently met during the year. The 

 vote was much smaller than either party had 

 anticipated it would be, calling out hardly a 

 fourth of the voting strength of the Church, 

 although men and women among the laity, who 

 had attained the age of majority, were alike 

 admitted to vote. Owing to the fact that only 

 a part of the conferences have yet held their 

 session, through which only the complete offi- 

 cial returns of the vote could be obtained, the 

 full statement of the vote has not yet been 

 made. It is known, however, to be over- 

 whelmingly in favor of lay representation. In 

 November the full vote of 42 conferences 

 footed up for lay delegation, 108,571 ; against 

 it, 53,025. The fall vote of the whole Church 

 is estimated at over 200,000, of which the pro- 

 portion of votes in favor of and against the 

 new rule maintains about the proportion ob- 

 served in the above footing. 



The plan submitted by the General Con- 

 ference called for approval, not only by the 

 vote of a majority of the laity voting on the 

 question, but also by three-fourths of the minis- 

 ters voting in the annual conferences. The 

 following is the statement of the voting in the 

 conferences which met previous to the close 

 of the year : 



This gives, so far, three-fourths and 172 votes 

 to spare. 



The fiftieth anniversary of the parent Mis- 

 sionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church was held in the city of Washington, 

 D. C., on Sunday and Monday, January 10th 

 and llth, and was an occasion of universal in- 

 terest. Appropriate discourses were preached 

 in all the Methodist churches. 



The Rev. Bishop Ames, reviewing the his- 

 tory of the Society, in his address, said : 



There is much in the past history of our missionary 

 organization that calls for thankfulness. Just about 

 fifty years ago this society was organized. Its income 

 for the first year was only eight hundred dollars. 

 "We have collected and expended from the commence- 

 ment about eight millions, and not one dollar has 

 been paid into the treasury that has not been satis- 

 factorily accounted for. No draft has ever been pro- 

 tested, nor has the society ever lost a dollar by the 

 dishonesty of any agent. This great revenue for it 

 is now the largest revenue collected by any religious 

 organization in the United States is collected by the 

 voluntary action of the pastors of the churches. We 

 have no financial or soliciting agents. In virtue of 

 his office as pastor, the minister is charged with the 

 responsibility of looking after the interests of the 

 missionary cause, and making collections to sustain 

 it, and in the administration of the affairs of the so- 

 ciety hardly three cents out of a hundred are expended 

 to pay those who perform executive duties. We have 

 three secretaries at New York, and we pay a book- 

 keeper, for keeping the accounts of the general treas- 

 ury, five hundred dollars a year. That, with the ne- 

 cessary incidental expenses connected with the office, 

 is the sum total of the charge brought against the 

 general treasury for the administration of the affairs 

 of this great society. 



The General Conference of 1868 appointed 

 a commission of ministers and laymen, with 

 full authority to purchase grounds and erect 

 on it suitable buildings, to afford more spacious 

 accommodations for the use of the Book Con- 

 cern, Missionary Society, and other connec- 

 tional institutions in the city of New York, at 

 a total cost not to exceed a million of dollars. 

 The commission, after a careful survey of sites 

 and buildings, purchased a building, just erected 

 on the corner of Broadway and Eleventh Street. 

 The building is a very large and elegant one. 

 The price paid was $900,000. 



The Church Extension Society of the Meth- 

 odist Episcopal Church was organized by direc- 

 tion of the General Conference of 1864, and 

 incorporated during the following year by the 

 Pennsylvania Legislature. It depends for its 

 income on annual collections in the churches, 

 which go to form a general fund, subject to 

 annual distribution, and on donations and be- 

 quests, which are applied to create a perpetual 

 loan fund, to be loaned without interest to 

 church societies, in sums not exceeding $5,000. 

 The receipts and disbursements from the or- 

 ganization of the society till November, 1868, 

 were about $125,000. The receipts for the 

 year ending November 16, 1869, were $66,- 

 592.93, and the disbursements $59,741.34. 

 During that year aid was extended by dona- 

 tion to sixty-five churches, in twenty-three 

 different States and Territories, and by loans 

 to fourteen churches in eight different States 

 and Territories. 



