METHODISTS. 



537 



Professor of the English Language in that insti- 

 tution, and he was elected to the position. 



IV. FREE METHODIST CHURCH. This Church 

 includes 271 itinerant ministers, 328 local 

 preachers, and 12,642 members. 



The sixth General Conference of the Free 

 Methodist Church met at Burlington, Iowa, 

 October llth. B. T. Koberts presided. Dele- 

 gates were present from fourteen annual con- 

 ferences. A proposition to extend the pas- 

 toral term for three years was discussed, and 

 defeated. 



V. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANA- 

 DA. This Church has one bishop, three annual 

 conferences (the Niagara, Ontario, and Bay of 

 Qninte Conferences), 265 ministers, and 27,657 

 members. 



The General Conference of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church in Canada met at Hamilton, 

 Ont., August 23d. A plan of lay delegation 

 having been adopted and ratified, went into 

 effect at this Conference, and in accordance 

 with it the lay delegates attended and took 

 part in the proceedings. The most important 

 subject considered was that of the union of 

 the Methodist churches of the Dominion, upon 

 which resolutions were adopted expressing 

 gratification that the proposition for a general 

 union was under consideration, and a willing- 

 ness to make reasonable concessions to secure 

 it. A committee of eighteen members was 

 appointed, to confer with similar committees 

 of other Methodist bodies, and negotiate for a 

 union with any or all of them. A proposition 

 to allot presiding elders to pastoral stations 

 was laid on the table till the next General 

 Conference. 



VI. METHODIST CHURCH OF CANADA. The 

 statistical reports of this Church for 1882 show 

 that it has 1,192 itinerant ministers, 1,338 local 

 preachers, and 125,420 members. 



The third General Conference of the Meth- 

 odist Church of Canada met at Hamilton, Ont., 

 in September. The Kev. Dr. S. D. Price was 

 chosen president. The subjects of establish- 

 ing a general superintend ency for the whole 

 Church, and of introducing lay delegations, 

 were brought forward, in consequence of the 

 pendency of negotiations for union with the 

 other Methodist churches of the Dominion. 

 The Methodist Episcopal Church, while it was 

 ready to surrender the life-term principle, and 

 other particular features of its episcopacy, in- 

 sisted on the preservation in the united Church 

 of the principle of an itinerant general super- 

 intendency. The Primitive Methodist and Bi- 

 ble Christian Churches were willing to accept 

 a general snperintendency, but insisted on the 

 representation, in some form, of the laity in 

 the annual conferences. A proposition was 

 accordingly considered that the President of 

 the General Conference should be ex officio 

 constituted a General Superintendent, the priv- 

 ilege and duties of whose office should be to 

 hold office during the four years from one regu- 

 lar General Conference to another ; to preside 



over all sessions of the General Conference 

 during his term of office ; to be chairman of 

 all stationary committees ; to travel at large in 

 this connection as the General Conference may 

 direct, and be relieved of all circuit duties ; to 

 attend as many annual conferences as possible, 

 and bring before them matters of denomina- 

 tional interest ; to rule on questions of law 

 submitted to him ; to arrange with the presi- 

 dents of annual conferences for transfers of 

 ministers ; and to organize new annual con- 

 ferences when directed by the General Con- 

 ference to do so. A resolution was adopted, 

 proposing an amendment to the provision in 

 the Discipline of the Church respecting the 

 election of the President of the General Con- 

 ference, so as to provide for an itinerant gen- 

 eral superintendency in some form. The Con- 

 ference also resolved that the principle of lay 

 representation in all church courts be so rec- 

 ognized as to admit lay representation into 

 the annual conferences in some form ; and that 

 while the General Conference u is not aware 

 of any general desire among the members of 

 the Methodist Church of Canada for lay rep- 

 resentation in the Annual Conference, yet it 

 agrees, in order to promote union, to concede 

 the principle, provided no change is made in 

 regard to the examination of ministerial char- 

 acter, or the composition of the stationing 

 committee." A committee of twenty-seven 

 ministers and laymen was appointed to meet 

 the committees of the other Methodist churches, 

 with the provision that whatever basis of union 

 might be adopted by the joint committees 

 should be submitted to the Quarterly Boards 

 for approval in February, when, if two thirds 

 of the Quarterly Boards vote in the affirmative, 

 the General Conference shall be convened to 

 give effect to the basis of union. 



PROPOSED UNION OF THE METHODIST 

 CHURCHES IN CANADA. Committees, appoint- 

 ed by the conferences of the Methodist, Meth- 

 odist Episcopal, Primitive Methodist, and Bi- 

 ble Christian Churches of Canada, met in 

 Toronto in September, to consider the ques- 

 tion of a union of the bodies. Seventy-one 

 members were present. The Discipline of 

 the Methodist Church was taken up as the 

 basis with reference to which propositions 

 should be made and objections offered, and was 

 considered in its several features. The Primi- 

 tive Methodist and Bible Christian Churches 

 insisted that the principle of lay representa- 

 tion in the annual conferences should be re- 

 tained, but were willing to make concessions 

 in details and as to forms. The representa- 

 tives of the Methodist Episcopal Church in- 

 sisted upon the retention of a general super- 

 intendency, although they were ready to give 

 up the name of bishop and the life-terra, and 

 they proposed that the term of office of the 

 General Superintendent should be twelve years. 

 The representatives of the Methodist Church 

 were not ready to assent to this proposition, al- 

 though otherwise the features both of a gener- 



