METHODISTS. 



539 



extinction of the debt. The expenditures had 

 been 146,754, showing a deficiency of 5,031, 

 which, with a previously undischarged indebt- 

 edness of 28,235, made the total deficiency in 

 the accounts of the society 33,266. The Mis- 

 sionary Committee afterward reported, how- 

 ever, to the Conference that the debt had been 

 extinguished. The following is the general 

 summary of the missions under the immediate 

 direction of the Wesleyan Missionary Commit- 

 tee and the British Conference in Europe, In- 

 dia, China, South and West Africa, and the 

 West Indies, which was presented with the 

 report of the society : 



Central or principal stations called circuits 542 



Chapels and other preaching-places, in connection with 

 the above-mentioned central or principal stations, as 



far as ascertained 2,469 



Missionaries and assistant-missionaries, including su- 

 pernumeraries 549 



Other paid agents, as catechists, interpreters, day- 

 school teachers, etc 2,275 



Unpaid agents, as local preachers, Sabbath-school 



teachers, etc 7,868 



Full and accredited church-members 89,345 



On trial for church-membership 12,983 



Scholars, deducting those who attend both the day and 



Sabbath schools 97,754 



Printing establishments 8 



The most favorable reports were made from 

 the South African missions, where all the 

 colonial churches were self-supporting, and 

 were now developing a desire to send mission- 

 aries among the aboriginal tribes ; while the 

 native converts, where opportunity had fa- 

 vored them, were not far behind the colonists 

 in the essential elements of church growth. 

 They had a ministry of great promise ; they 

 were showing themselves capable, under the 

 guidance of the European missionaries, of 

 managing their own affairs, and had displayed 

 during the recent political troubles some rare 

 qualities of Christian citizenship. The com- 

 mittee hoped, after it was relieved of the care 

 of these churches, by setting them upon their 

 own foundations, to extend its missions into 

 the unoccupied territory in the Transvaal, 

 Swaziland, and Pondoland. 



The one hundred and thirty-ninth Wesleyan 

 Methodist Conference met at Leeds, July 18th. 

 The Kev. Charles Garrett was chosen presi- 

 dent. The numerical returns of membership 

 were presented, and showed the number of 

 members of the society to be 393,754, with 

 40,653 on trial; 25,205 persons had ceased 

 to be members during the year. The report 

 showed 32,417 members in junior society 

 classes, and a net increase of 12,798 full 

 members. As at the previous Conference, 

 more candidates made application for admis- 

 sion than could be received, so now twenty- 

 four candidates had to be declined. The most 

 important business was the consideration of 

 the report on the revision of the Book of 

 Offices, which had engaged the attention of 

 committees and the Conference for eight years. 

 The previous Conference had adopted the re- 

 port of the committee, so far as concerned the 

 Order of Morning Prayer and the forms for 

 the administration of the Lord's Supper, the 



solemnization of Matrimony, and the Burial of 

 the Dead, but had referred the form of adminis- 

 tration of Baptism to another committee, with 

 instructions to report to the present Confer- 

 ence. The discussion in the Conference turned 

 upon the form which should be given to the 

 preamble of the service, and bore particularly 

 upon the doctrine of baptismal regeneration 

 all implication of a sanction of which it was 

 decided to exclude. The preamble was finally 

 adopted as follows : 



DEARLY BELOVED : Forasmuch as our Lord Jesus 

 Christ gave commandment to his Church to make 

 disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of 

 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 

 and whereas these persons here present do bring this 

 child, and do now present him for holy baptism, let 

 us, being gathered together in the name of Christ and 

 in obedience to his command, hear for our instruction 

 and encouragement the teaching of his Holy Word 

 concerning this sacrament. 



The new form, as reported by the commit- 

 tee, orders the four collects, which have here- 

 tofore been read immediately before the act of 

 baptism, to be read after it, so that the prayers 

 contained in them should not be interpreted as 

 having reference to any regenerating influence 

 attendant upon the act. Action was taken for 

 the organization of the colonial and native 

 churches of South Africa into a South African 

 Conference, to which the parent conference re- 

 linquishes its missions ; and the Eev. J. Wal- 

 ton was designated as the first president of the 

 new conference. The subject of organizing a 

 West Indian Conference was also considered. 



VIII. PRIMITIVE METHODIST CHURCH. The 

 following is a summary of the statistics of this 

 church as they were presented to the Confer- 

 ence in June : 



Number of members 191,329 



Number of ministers 1,152 



Number of local preachers 15,278 



Number of class-leaders 10,898 



Number of connectional chapels 4,497 



Number of rented chapels 1,851 



The increase in the number of members 

 from the previous year was 6,017. Reports 

 were presented of 3,764 Sunday-schools in the 

 United Kingdom, with 56,337 teachers, 364,- 

 592 scholars, and 62,121 members of the Con- 

 nectional Band of Hope. The increase in Sun- 

 day-school scholars was 9,518. The income of 

 the schools amounted to 50,150. 



The anniversary of the Primitive Methodist 

 Missionary Society was held May 16th. The 

 receipts of the society had been 35,225, or 

 215 more than during the previous year, and 

 an increase of 1,303 members was reported 

 at the home and foreign stations and in the 

 colonial districts. The society had the super- 

 intendence of 65 home-mission stations, 176 

 colonial, and 4 foreign stations, with 100 home 

 missionaries, 205 colonial ministers and mis- 

 sionaries, and 6 foreign missionaries in all 

 245 stations, with 1,227 preaching-places, and 

 311 missionaries. The foreign mission work 

 is represented by stations at Aliwal North, 

 South Africa, and Fernando Po, on the West 



