546 



METHODISTS. 



Number of local preachers, 12,749; of 

 churches, 16,648; of parsonages, 5,514; of Sun- 

 day schools, 19,931 ; of Sunday-school scholars, 

 1,531,097. 



The "Methodist Advocate," Atlanta, Ga., 

 of March, 1878, published carefully prepared 

 tables of statistics showing the strength and 

 resources of the Methodist Episcopal Church 

 in the Southern States. The white members 

 of this Church in the South are included in 

 fourteen conferences called white conferences, 

 and in the German districts in the South of 

 two other conferences which are not wholly 

 Southern. The following footings show their 

 total numbers and resources: Members, 173,- 

 460 ; probationers, 29,741 ; traveling preachers, 



1,179; local preachers, 1,824; number of Sun- 

 day schools, 2,369 ; of officers and teachers in 

 the same, 22,224 ; of Sunday-school scholars, 

 144,197. Fourteen colored conferences re- 

 turn: Members, 159,076; probationers, 27,382; 

 traveling preachers, 947; local preachers, 2,378; 

 number of Sunday schools, 2,022 ; of officers 

 and teachers in the same, 9,860; of Sunday- 

 school scholars, 96,474. The whole number 

 of members and preachers, white and colored, 

 was 396,007 ; of persons in Sunday schools, 

 272,755 ; of churches, 3,877. Eight high schools 

 are supported among the white people, and 

 twenty-one high schools, colleges, and theologi- 

 cal schools, including one medical college, are 

 supported by the Freedmen's Aid Society, pri- 

 marily for the benefit of the colored people. 



These statistics show that in numerical 

 strength, or the number of communicants, the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church stands third in 

 the South ; and more, that if its numbers are 

 divided, and the white members or the colored 

 members alone are counted, in either case it 

 still stands third, being exceeded only by the 

 Baptist churches and the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, South, in the same section. In refer- 

 ence to Sunday schools it stands second, the 

 MethodistEpiscopal Church, South, alone being 

 in advance of it on the Southern territory. 



The annual meeting of the Freedmen's Aid 

 Society was held in Cincinnati, O., October 

 16th. The financial statement showed that 

 the receipts of the Society for the year ending 

 July 1, 1878, had been $63,402. Of the ex- 

 penditures, $15,669 had been applied to pay- 

 ments for real estate. The indebtedness of 

 the Society had been reduced from $15,000 in 

 1877 to $12,000 in 1878. During eleven years 

 the Society had collected and disbursed the 

 sum of $715,812. The higher schools sus- 

 tained by it in the South were the same as in 

 the previous year, viz., five chartered institu- 

 tions ; three theological schools ; the Meharry 

 Medical College, Nashville, Tenn. ; and thir- 

 teen institutions of the grade of normal schools 

 and acadeMiies. One hundred thousand pupils 

 had been taught by persons educated in the 

 schools of the Society, and the scholarship in 

 the schools had been elevated. It had a quar- 

 ter of a million dollars' worth of school prop- 

 erty in the South. 



The anniversary exercises of the Sunday- 

 School Union and the Tract Society for 1878 

 were held at Buffalo, N. Y., in January, 1879, 

 when it was stated that the Tract Society was 

 out of debt, and had published during the 

 year 7,984,485 pages of tracts. 



The annual meeting of the General Commit- 

 tee of Church Extension was held in Philadel- 

 phia, Pa., November 8th. The receipts of the 

 Board had continued to decline under the con- 

 tinued financial distress of the country, while 

 the demands for aid had increased in number 

 and urgency. The Board had been obliged to 

 borrow money to fulfill its pledges. The re- 

 ceipts for the first ten months of 1878 had 



