608 



METHODISTS. 



Two delegates were appointed to attend the 

 Council. A minister was elected to serve as a 

 general connectional evangelist for the ensuing 

 four years, and have charge of the evangelistic 

 and missionary work of the Connection. A 

 committee was appointed to take measures for 

 the incorporation of an Educational Associa- 

 tion at Syracuse, for the purpose of receiving 

 pledges, funds, and bequests for educational 

 purposes in the Wesleyan denomination. A 

 report accepting the principles of the so-called 

 national reform movement was adopted, in 

 pursuance of which the following article was 

 added to the Discipline of the Church : 



It shall be the duty of the ministers and members 

 of the Wesleyan Methodist Connection to use their 

 influence, in every feasible manner, in favor of a more 

 complete recognition of the authority of Almighty 

 God in the secular and civil relations both of society 

 and of government. We therefore require 



1. That all our ministers and members shall favor 

 the use of the Bible in our public schools. 



2. That chaplaincies in the army and navy, and in 

 the State and national Congress, be not abolished. 



3. That the Sabbath day be observed by cessation 

 of all labor and the permission of no excursions on 

 the Lord's day. 



4. That the name of Almighty God as the basis of 

 authority in civil government shall be considered as 

 one of the fundamental principles of the Wesleyan 

 Methodist Connection of America, and that it is the 

 bounden duty of our ministers and members to use all 

 feasible means to secure such amendments in the na- 

 tional and State Constitutions, as that the name of 

 God shall be inserted in these instruments, which lie 

 at the foundation of civil government ; as it is Christ 

 by whom kings reign and princes decree justice. 



A committee was appointed to take measures 

 for the establishment and endowment of an 

 institution of learning in the West. Three 

 new Conferences, the North Carolina, Western 

 Iowa, and Nebraska, were admitted ; and au- 

 thority was given for the organization of a 

 Conference in Dakota. 



IV. THE METHODIST CHURCH. A new de- 

 nomination has been formed within the year, 

 which has taken the name of the Methodist 

 Church. The churches and members of the 

 body are as yet mostly at or near Philadelphia. 

 It is not a secession or an offshoot from any 

 Methodist body, although many of its members 

 have been members of the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church, and it holds to many of the usages of 

 that Church. The doctrines of the new body 

 are the same as those of the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church, but its system is different in 

 many respects. It recognizes but one order 

 of ministers, that of elders, to which women 

 are eligible as well as men. It has no presid- 

 ing elders and no bishops, but the President of 

 the Annual Conference exercises the powers 

 of a superintendent. It is like the majority 

 of the other Methodist bodies in having class- 

 meetings, attendance on which is made a test of 

 membership, quarterly meetings, local preach- 

 ers, and exhorters. It encourages plainness, 

 opposes display and raising money by church 

 fairs, and attaches importance to the pro- 

 motion of holiness. It had at the end of 



1879 eleven preaching appointments and nine 

 churches. 



V. METHODIST CHUBCH OF CANADA. The 

 following is a summary of the statistical re- 

 ports of this Church, as returned to the several 

 Annual Conferences of 1879 : 



The figures show an increase of 408 over the 

 number returned in 1878. Of the whole num- 

 ber of members, 8,317 are classed as " on trial." 

 Number of Sunday-schools, 1,762, with 16,145 

 teachers and 123,609 scholars. 



The Missionary Society reported that its re- 

 ceipts for the year had been $135,234, and its 

 expenditures $140,089. It supports missions 

 among the Indians and among the half-breeds 

 in British America, among the French in Que- 

 bec and the Germans of the Dominion, do- 

 mestic missions in the several Conferences, and 

 a mission in Japan, with a total of 414 stations, 

 400 missionaries, 75 native assistants and teach- 

 ers, and 36,538 members. Of the members, 

 3,149 are Indians, 1,412 in the missions to set- 

 tlers and half-breeds, 488 in the French-Cana- 

 dian, 199 in the German, and 200 in the Japan- 

 ese mission. 



VI. WESLEYAN METHODIST CONNECTION. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics of 

 the Wesleyan Methodist Connection, embra- 

 cing the British and affiliated Conferences, as 

 given in the minutes of the Conference for 

 1879: 



The itinerant preaching work of the Con- 

 ference is divided into thirty-four districts, 

 with 712 circuits in Great Britain, 135 circuits 

 in Ireland, and 426 circuits abroad. 



The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Mis- 

 sionary Society was held in London, May 5th. 

 Mr. Eichard Haworth of Manchester presided. 

 The receipts of the Society, as shown by the 

 report, had been 124,359, of which 8,974 

 were contributed from the mission districts; 

 the expenditures had been 157,217. The 

 Ladies' Central Committee for female educa- 

 tion in foreign countries and other benevolent 

 purposes had furthermore expended 2,261, 

 besides furnishing school materials, clothing, 

 etc., to many parts of the mission-field. The 



