METHODISTS. 



523 



The number of white members is 600,909, 

 an increase of 39,322 : colored members, 

 7,841 ; decrease, 5,422 : Indian members, 

 4,^433 ; increase, 481. The decrease of colored 

 members is caused by their going over into the 

 Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, in ac- 

 cordance with provisions made by the General 

 Conference of 1870. One hundred and ninety- 

 nine superannuated preachers are reported. 

 The number of infant baptisms is 23,221 ; of 

 adult baptisms, 41,289 ; Sunday-schools, 6,520 ; 

 teachers, 45,417 ; scholars, 300,523 ; amount 

 of collections for Conference claimants, $60,- 

 082.51 ; collections for missions, $78,831.58. 



The annual meeting of the Board of Mis- 

 sions was held in Nashville, Tenn., in May. 

 A favorable report was presented of the mis- 

 sion in China. Two missionaries, with their 

 families, had labored in that country during 

 the year. The Board advised that a third mis- 

 sionary should be sent there. One of the 

 present missionaries is connected with an in- 

 stitution of learning, supported by the Gov- 

 ernment, and is editor of the Chinese Chris- 

 tian Advocate and other publications. The 

 Domestic Missions and the Indian Missions 

 were represented as prosperous. Provision 

 was made for the enlargement of the work 

 among the Germans in Texas, Louisiana, Vir- 

 ginia, and Maryland. An increase which af- 

 forded encouragement had taken place in the 

 memberships among the four Indian tribes 

 which are served by the missionaries the 

 Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. 

 The Board appropriated $43,050 for the ensu- 

 ing year. Of this amount $7,000 were allot- 

 ted to China, $12,000 to the Indian Mission 

 Conference, $5,450 to the German work and 

 German publishing interests, $900 to the new 

 mission in Mexico, and the remainder to the 

 domestic work and incidental expenses. 



III. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The General Conference of the African Meth- 

 odist Episcopal Church met at Nashville, Tenn., 

 May 6th. A rule was adopted requiring the 

 bishops to reside within the limits of the re- 

 spective districts to which they may be as- 

 signed for each four years. Their salaries were 

 fixed at $2,000 a year. Another rule was 

 adopted, requiring those bishops who may be 

 hereafter elected, to wear a surplice, or robe, 

 when in the exercise of their official functions, 

 if time and place do not forbid. No new bish- 

 ops were elected. A court of appeals was 

 constituted to hear cases of appeal previous to 

 the assembling of the General Conference. It 

 is to be composed of members selected from 

 each Annual Conference. Provision was made 

 for the appointment of State missionaries, to 

 visit the people, organize societies, and dis- 

 seminate information respecting the African 

 Methodist Episcopal Church, with a view of 

 counteracting the efforts and correcting the 

 misrepresentations of persons hostile to it. 

 The General Conference recommended that a 

 metropolitan church be built at Washington 



City, and that each Annual Conference be re- 

 quested. to contribute $100 to the object. Con- 

 ferences giving more than $100 will have the 

 privilege of naming pews in the church, those 

 giving the largest amounts in excess of this 

 sum having the first choice of pews to be 

 named. Much interest was manifested in a 

 proposed mission to San Domingo, for which 

 a young man, a native of St. Thomas, West 

 Indies, offered himself as a missionary. The 

 Book Concern was reported in debt some 

 $6,000. Its removal to Washington was di- 

 rected to be made as soon as the debts are 

 paid. An address on Church Union, which was 

 adopted, expresses the belief that the African 

 Church has a work to perform, not only in 

 the elevation and religious training of the 

 colored people in the United States, but in the 

 more perfect evangelization of Africa and the 

 isles of the sea, and that its mission as a sep- 

 arate organization will not be at an end till 

 prejudice on account of color shall have been 

 swept from the Chnrch. It feels the impor- 

 tance of all colored Methodists uniting in one 

 common band. The Eev. Morris Hamilton 

 was appointed to complete a statistical report 

 of the denomination and to attend to its pub- 

 lication. Mr. Hamilton died before accom- 

 plishing this work, and nothing has been done 

 since regarding it. 



IV. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION 

 CHURCH. An account of the progress of nego- 

 tiations for a union of the African Methodist 

 Episcopal Zion Church with the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church was given in the ANNUAL 

 CYCLOPEDIA for 1868. The commissions of 

 the two bodies, which met that year and ac- 

 cepted the preliminaries for union, adjourned 

 to meet in the city of New York, May 15, 1872, 

 concurrently with the meetings of the Gen- 

 eral Conferences of the two bodies. Before 

 the time came for this meeting, however, a 

 strong opposition to the union had arisen in 

 the African Zion Church, with which four of 

 the bishops participated. As a means of pre- 

 venting the consummation of the proposed 

 union, the majority of the Board of Bishops 

 of this Church determined to change the time 

 and place of holding the General Conference, 

 which had been appointed to be held at New 

 York on May 1st. They accordingly called 

 the General Conference to meet at Charlotte, 

 N. C., on the third Wednesday of June. Bish- 

 op Jones, who was most prominent in the 

 negotiations for union in 1868, adhered to the 

 original appointment, and called the General 

 Conference to meet in New York in May. 

 For this action he received the censtfre of the 

 New York Annual Conference, which met in 

 April. A small number of delegates met with 

 Bishop Jones in New York on the 1st of May. 

 The session was a stormy one. The only ac- 

 tion undertaken was the attempt to remedy a 

 defect in the tenure of the episcopal office, by 

 which the Church was likely to be left for a 

 time without bishops. The four years for 



