METHODISTS. 



487 



eral Conferences. The District Conference is 

 composed of "delegates duly elected and au- 

 thorized by the churches in the district ;" 

 the State Conference of delegates similarly 

 accredited by the districts within the bounds 

 of the State ; and the General Conference of 

 delegates elected and authorized by the State 

 Conferences. The last body has jurisdiction 

 over the general aft'airs of the Church. Its 

 powers are carefully restricted under the op- 

 eration of eight general rules. The District 

 and State Conferences meet every year ; the 

 General Conference every four years. In elect- 

 ing delegates to the conferences, no distinction 

 is made between ministers and laymen. 



The General Conference met at Mount Jef- 

 ferson, Ala., May 8, 1873. The Eev. J. J. N. 

 Huddelston, of Misissippi, was reelected presi- 

 dent. Twenty -four delegates were present; 

 but little business was transacted. Provision 

 was made for the publishing interests of the 

 Church. 



The Congregational Methodist, published at 

 Opelika, Ala., is the organ of this Church. 



V. FBEE METHODIST CIUTBCH. The number 

 of ministers connected with the Free Meth- 

 odist Church is ninety ; the number of mem- 

 bers is estimated at 6,000. The Church was in- 

 corporated under the name and style of "the 

 Free Methodist General Conference of North 

 America " by an act of the Legislature of the 

 State of New York, passed April 30, 1878. 



VI. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHTJHCH. 

 The British Methodist Episcopal Church is 



an organization for British America affiliated 

 with the African Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in the United States. It was formed in Chat- 

 ham, Ontario, in 1856. It has a flourish- 

 ing Conference in Canada. It has one bishop, 

 Willis Nazrey. In 1872 Bishop Nazrey visited 

 Nova Scotia, and there collected the African 

 Methodists and organized them. He then 

 visited British Guiana, and, as a result of his 

 efforts, the British Guiana Conference of the 

 British Methodist Episcopal Church met at 

 Georgetown, April 8, 1873. Reports were re- 

 ceived at this meeting from five circuits, five 

 stations, and three out-stations. 



The Eev. J. G. Stewart, corresponding sec- 

 retary of the Missionary Society of the Af- 

 rican Methodist Episcopal Church, visited 

 Hayti during 1873 in the interest of the work 

 of his society. He found there a congregation 

 of one hundred members still in existence at 

 Port an Prince. 



VII. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHUKOT IN 

 CANADA. The numbers of members attached 

 to this Church were reported at the sessions 

 of the Conferences in 1873 as follows : Niagara 

 Conference, 7,946 ; Ontario Conference, 6,380; 

 Bay Quinte Conference, 7,492 : total, 21,818. 

 The increase from 1872 was 489. The num- 

 ber of traveling preachers in the three confer- 

 ences was 225; of local preachers, 209. 



VIII. WEBLEYAN CONNECTION. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of the 

 Wesleyan Connection in Great Britain, Ire- 

 land, the colonies, etc. : 



The Conference of the Wesleyan Methodist 

 Connection met at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and 

 was formally opened July 30th. The Rev. 

 George T. Perks was elected president, and 

 the Rev. Gervase Smith secretary. Deputa- 

 tions were present from the Conferences of 

 Canada and of Eastern British America, and 

 offered a report of the action which had been 

 taken by their respective conferences for sepa- 

 ration from the parent body and nnion under 

 a new and independent organization. The 

 Conference sanctioned the action of the two 

 provincial conferences by the adoption of a 

 minute, the principal points of which are as 

 follows : 



1. This Conference formally rescinds the Articles 

 of Union which now subsist between the Connec- 

 tion in Great Britain and the Conferences of Canada 

 and Eastern British America respectively, and rives 

 to those Conferences the right to conclude such, ar- 

 rangements for their own consolidation into one 



body, and for their entering into terms of union 

 with other Methodist bodies, as shall be in accord- 

 ance with the doctrines of Methodism contained in 

 Mr. Wesley's first four volumes of " Sermons," and 

 his " Notes on the New Testament," and with a 

 system of discipline which, while adapted to the 

 altered circumstances of Canadian Methodism, shall 

 preserve the fundamental principles of a connec- 

 tional form of Church government. 



2. This Conference also confers upon the two Con- 

 ferences now existing, and through them, and by 

 such arrangements as they shall agree to, upon the 

 Connection to be consolidated in the Bommion of 

 Canada, all such rights and interests as it may now 

 possess by virtue of the existing Articles of Union, 

 or by virtue of any deeds or instruments relating to 

 any trust-property secured for the benefit of either 

 of the present Conferences. 



8. This Conference further directs that the offi- 

 cial seal of the Conference be affixed to any docu- 

 ment which may be necessary for declaring its full 

 concurrence in any application which the Canada 

 Conference, or the Conference of Eastern British 



* Exclusive of missionaries in Ireland. 



