METHODISTS. 



485 



Churches in 1784 and 1883 was printed in the 

 official programme of the Conference: 



1784. 



14,933 



197 



METHODISTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Itinerant preachers 



Local preachers 



Lay members 



METHODISTS IN CANADA. 



Itinerant preachers 



Local preachers 



Lay members 



TOTAL METHODISTS IN THE WORLD. 



Itinerant preachers 



Local preachers 



Lay members , 



Total Methodist population 25,489,745 



1883. 



25,839 



84,714 



8,993,820 



1,683 



1,979 



171,903 



83.385 



77,935 



5,064,564 



Bishop J. 0. Granberry, of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church, South, presided at the open- 

 ing session, while the presiding officers of the 

 several succeeding sessions were chosen so that 

 the several ecclesiastical organizations partici- 

 pating in the Conference should be represented 

 in that office. 



The programme of the subjects discussed and 

 the papers read is as follows : 



First Day." The Work of the Christmas Confer- 

 ence," Prof. John Miley, D. D. ; "The Personnel 

 of the Christmas Conference," Prof. H. B. Ridgaway. 



Second Day "The Superintendcncy of Asbury, 

 and what it did for Methodism," Jesse Boring, D. 

 D. ; " The Relations of John Wesley to American 

 Methodism," Alfred Wheeler, D. D. ; " Statistical 

 Results Membership, etc.," D. Dorchester, D. D. ; 

 "Statistical Results Educational and Financial," 

 J. H. Carlisle, LL. D. 



Third Day." Methodism in 1784 and its Outlook," 

 J. D. Blackwell, D. D. ; " Methodism in 1884 and its 

 Outlook," 0. H. Warren, D. D. ; " Causes of the 

 Success of Methodism," B. F. Lee, D. D. :" Dan- 

 gers to Future Methodism," J. H. Vincent, D. D. 



Fourth Day. " Rise and Progress of Methodism in 

 Canada," J. A. Williams, D. D. ; " Methodist Pio- 

 neers and their Work," Prof. C. J. Little; "Is Meth- 

 odism losing its Power over the Masses ? " Bishop S. 

 T. Jones. 



Fifth Da'/. "The Aim and Character of Meth- 

 odist Preaching," A. S. Hunt, D. D. ; "Methodist 

 Means of Grace," Bishop L. H. Holsey ; " The Doc- 

 trinal Unity of Methodism," Anson West, D. D. ; 

 " Guards to" the Purity of our Doctrinal Teachin<V 

 R. N. Davies, D. D. 



Sixth Day." The Four Points of Methodism- 

 Heart Conversion, Assurance, Christian Experience, 

 and Sanctification," J. E. Evans, D. D. ; " The Influ- 



to Methodism," 0. P. Fitzgerald, D. D. 



Seventh Day." What Methodism owes to Wom- 

 en," J. M. Buckley, D. D. 



Public meetings were held in the evenings 

 in the several Methodist churches of the city, 

 at which were discussed in addresses from 

 the platform the topics of "Missions," "The 

 Educational Work and Spirit of Methodism," 

 " Temperance," " The Sunday - School," and 

 " The Mission of Methodism to the Extremes 

 of the South." A special paper was read by 

 the Rev. J. H. Vincent, D. D., on " The Meth- 

 odist Church and its Growth ; or, the Objects of 



the Oxford League " (the name of a club for 

 the study of the Scriptures, and for religious 

 exercises and improvement, of which John 

 "Wesley was a member, while a student at the 

 University of Oxford). The Conference recom- 

 mended the establishment of leagues in the 

 various churches, under the ex-officio presi- 

 dency of the pastor, for the purposes of the 

 promotion of a thorough knowledge of the 

 Bible, the cultivation of Christian character, 

 and the gaining of a knowledge of the Christian 

 classics, and kindred objects. A report on mor- 

 als was adopted, in which intemperance, di- 

 vorce, except for cause prescribed in the Script- 

 ures, and irreligious popular amusements were 

 condemned, the sanctity of the Sabbath was 

 insisted upon, and a general expression was 

 made in favor of all proper and legitimate 

 measures having in view the progress of edu- 

 cational institutions. A pastoral address was 

 adopted and sent out. 



II. Methodist Protestant Church. The following 

 is a summary of the statistics of this Church as 

 they are given in the "Methodist Protestant 

 Year -Book" for 1884. Number of annual 

 conferences, 48 ; of itinerant ministers, 1,409 ; 

 of local ministers, 977 ; of lay members in full 

 membership, 121,853, with 3,758 probationers, 

 making a total of 125,611 lay members; num- 

 ber of Sunday-schools, 1,624, with 14,222 offi- 

 cers and teachers and 83,222 scholars ; number 

 of churches, 1,318 ; of parsonages, 300 ; value of 

 churches and parsonages, $2,988,490. Collec- 

 tittns for missions, $7,475 ; for ministerial edu- 

 cation, $3,183. Ninety -five churches and 22 

 parsonages were built during the year. 



Reports from the Book Concerns were pre- 

 sented to the General Conference, showing 

 that the net assets of the house in Baltimore 

 were $9,401, and those of the house in Pitts- 

 burg, Pa., were $20,865. The Board of Min- 

 isterial Education reported that its receipts for 

 the past four years had been $11,017, and its 

 expenditures $9,914; and that its net assets 

 were $5,021. Eighty- three young men had 

 received assistance from the board, 55 of whom 

 were engaged in the work of the Church. 



General Conference. The General Confer- 

 ence of the Methodist Protestant Church met 

 in Baltimore, Md., May 16th. The Rev. W. S. 

 Hammond, of Maryland, was chosen president. 

 The General Conference of 1880 had adopted 

 a proposition for holding a convention for the 

 consideration of constitutional changes, upon 

 the ratification of which by two thirds of the 

 annual conferences, the present General Con- 

 ference would be empowered to constitute it- 

 self into such a convention. The committee to 

 which the subject was referred reported that 

 twenty-five conferences had voted for a con- 

 vention without limitations, or according to 

 the resolutions of the General Conference, and 

 six conferences had voted for a convention 

 with special instructions ; making thirty-one 

 conferences in all, or more than two thirds, 

 which had voted favorably upon the proposi- 



