532 



METHODISTS. 



(2.) In communities where there are two societies, 

 one belonging to the Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 and the other to the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 South, which have adversely claimed the church 

 property, it is recommended that, without delay, 

 they amicably compose their differences irrespective 

 of the strict legal title, and settle according to Chris- 

 tian principles the equities of the particular case, 

 and, so far as 'practicable, according to the principle 

 of the foregoing rule. 



But if such settlement cannot he speedily made, 

 then the question shall be referred for equitable deci- 

 sion to three arbitrators, one to be chosen by each 

 claimant from their respective societies, and the two 

 thus chosen shall select a third person not connected 

 with either of the said churches ; and the decision 

 of any two of them shall be final. 



(3.) In communities in which there is hut one 

 society, Rule 1 shall be faithfully observed in the 

 interest of peace and fraternity. 



RULE 3. Whenever necessary to carry the forego- 

 ing rules into eifect, the legal title to the church 

 property shall be accordingly transferred. 

 RULE 4. These rules shall take effect immediately. 

 In order to further promote the peaceful results 

 contemplated by this Joint Commission, and to re- 

 move as far as may be all occasion, and especially 

 to forestall all further occasion for hostility between 

 the two churches, we recommend to members of 

 both, as a wise rule of settlement where property ia 

 in contest, and one or both are weak, that they com- 

 pose their differences by uniting in the same com- 

 munion ; and in all cases, that the ministers and 

 members recognize each other, in all relations of 

 fraternity, and as possessed of ecclesiastical rights 

 and privileges of equal dignity and validity. They 

 should each receive from the other ministers and 

 members in good standing with the same alacrity 

 and credit as if coming from their own church, and, 

 without interference with each other's institutions 

 or missions, they should nevertheless cooperate in all 

 Cliristian enterprises. 



It is not to be supposed in respect of some matters 

 of mere opinion that all ministers and members in 

 either church will be in accord; but we trust and 

 believe that a spirit of fellowship and mutual regard 

 will pervade the reconciled ranks of the entire min- 

 istry and membership of both churches. We be- 

 lieve, also, that their allegiance to the cause of the 

 great Master will triumph over all variation of per- 

 sonal sentiments, and will so exalt the claims of 

 brotherly affection that from this auspicious hour a 

 new epoch in Methodism will begin its brighter his- 

 toryj so that we shall know no unfraternal Method- 

 ism in the United States, or even in this wide world. 

 To all we commend the wise counsels given in 1820 

 to missionaries and members of the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church and of the Wesleyan Connection in the 

 Canadas by Bishop McKendree and" the Wesleyan 

 committee namely : " Feel that you are one with 

 your brethren, embarked in the same great cause, 

 and eminently of the same religious family, and if 

 any warm spirits rise up and trouble you, remember 

 that you are to act on the principles now sanctioned 

 and avowed by the two connections, and not upon 

 looal prejudices." 



III. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. The 

 Maryland Annual Conference of the Methodist 

 Protestant Church of 1876 invited the other 

 conferences of that Church to join with it in a 

 call for a convention of the Church to meet in 

 Baltimore, Md., on the second Friday in May, 

 1877, to consider certain amendments to the 

 constitution of the Church suggested by it. 

 On the 21st of December, twenty annual con- 

 ferences had voted upon the call, of which 

 sixteen conferences voted in favor of the con- 



vention and four conferences against it. All 

 the conferences voting in the negative, how- 

 ever, complied with the call to the extent of 

 electing full delegations to the convention. 

 More than the requisite number of conferences 

 having united in the call, the convention has 

 been definitely appointed. 



IV. AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

 The Christian Recorder, the official newspa- 

 per of that Church, gave in March, 1876, the fol- 

 lowing summary of the statistics of the Afri- 

 can Methodist Episcopal Church in the United 

 States : Conferences, 25 ; church-schools, 2 ; 

 publishing-house, 1 ; paper, 1 ; bishops, 6 ; 

 preachers, 1,334; local preachers, 2,664; ex- 

 horters, 2,158 ; members, 172,292 ; probation- 

 ers, 28,389; churches, 1,642; estimated value 

 of the same, $3,129,196; parsonages, 134; es- 

 timated value of the same (partial), $34,885 ; 

 Sunday-schools, 1,974; superintendents, 1,646; 

 teachers, 6,625; scholars, 98,008; volumes in 

 Sunday-school libraries, 135,691 ; contingent 

 money for 1875, $2,902.28; dollar-money, $21,- 

 789.98 ; presiding elder's support, $283,072.38 ; 

 Sunday-school money, $16,537.11 ; missionary- 

 money, $3,748.97; church-building, $149,364.- 

 59; traveling expenses, $7,368.43 ; total mem- 

 bers, probationers, and preachers, 206,730 ; to- 

 tal of moneys raised for the year, $507,395.55. 

 The sixteenth General Conference of the Af- 

 rican Methodist Episcopal Church met at At- 

 lanta, Gra., May 1st. The six bishops of the 

 Church presided in alternation. The quadren- 

 nial episcopal address began with a mention of 

 the death of the senior bishop, the Rev. Wil- 

 liam Paul Quinn, which had occurred since the 

 adjournment of the previous General Confer- 

 ence. It spoke of the increase in the number 

 of young men who were preparing for the 

 ministry, several of whom were supported by 

 the Church at Wilberforce University, and one 

 at Oberlin. The Wilberforce University, at 

 Xenia, Ohio, had done a good work, and in 

 that respect, the bishops said, if the institu- 

 tion were now closed, its history would be re- 

 corded a success. But the institution was la- 

 boring under financial embarrassment, from 

 which it depended upon the members of the 

 African, not of other churches, to relieve it. 

 Attention was also called by the bishops to the 

 following other institutions of the Church : 

 Payne Institute, Cokesbury, S. 0. ; Campbell 

 Institute, Hagerstown, Md. ; the school at Ba- 

 ton Rouge, La. ; the school at Austin, Texas ; 

 and Brown's University in Florida. The man- 

 agement of the Book Concern during the quad- 

 rennium had been wise. Its debts were nearly 

 canceled, and its character and business were 

 greatly improved. The Christian Recorder, the 

 newspaper of the Church, had been enlarged 

 and improved, and was prepared entirely by 

 colored men. The management of the finan- 

 cial department of the Church had been at- 

 tended with great success. A Parent Home 

 Missionary Society had been organized thir- 

 ty two years before, and auxiliaries formed, 



