486 



METHODISTS. 



tion. The General Conference accordingly 

 constituted itself a General Convention. The 

 purposes of the organization in this form were 

 to consider verbal alterations in the constitu- 

 tion of the Church, and such changes as might 

 be recommended by two thirds of the annual 

 conferences ; and to consider questions con- 

 cerning the modification of the rules bearing 

 on the time for which a pastor may serve a 

 single charge. Upon the last subject, an article 

 was adopted as an amendment to the restrict- 

 ive rules, declaring that " no rule shall be 

 made to abolish an efficient itinerant ministry, 

 but each annual conference shall have author- 

 ity to determine for itself whether any limit, 

 or, if any, what limit, shall be to the renewal 

 of the annual appointments." The Convention 

 resolved that it had no jurisdiction in deciding 

 the qualifications for admission to the Church, 

 as that matter was left to individual churches, 

 or to annual conferences. The attention of 

 the Conference was called to a case in which a 

 woman had been ordained elder by one of the 

 annual conferen3es, and a resolution was adopt- 

 ed, declaring the act unauthorized, and refusing 

 recognition of it. An article was adopted, pro- 

 viding that alterations in the Constitution may 

 in future be made on the recommendation of 

 the General Conference, by overtures to the 

 annual conference, the measures proposed in 

 which overtures shall be valid when approved 

 by two thirds of the annual conferences. A 

 proposition to separate the home and foreign 

 departments of the Board of Missions was neg- 

 atived. The Woman's Foreign Missionary So- 

 ciety was adopted, to have charge of the work 

 for women and girls in all the missions of the 

 Church that shall be established in the foreign 

 field. The President of the Convention was au- 

 thorized to appoint a committee to correspond, 

 having union in view, with the Congregational 

 Methodist Church. The subject of union with 

 the Cumberland Presbyterian Church was con- 

 sidered, and the President of the Convention 

 was authorized to appoint five commissioners 

 to correspond with commissioners from that 

 body upon a plan of union, with instructions to 

 report progress to the annual conferences. A 

 committee was appointed on the subject of a sec- 

 ond (Ecumenical Council of Methodist Church- 

 es, to be held in the United States in 1887. To 

 a communication, inviting the Methodist Prot- 

 estant Church to participate in the centennial 

 celebration of the organization of the Method- 

 ist Episcopal Church in the United States, to be 

 held within the current year, the Conference 

 replied that, "being duly impressed with the 

 Christian courtesy and good-will which this 

 invitation implies, we would respectfully state 

 that, while as a denomination we could not feel 

 free to appear as participants in the celebra- 

 tion, it nevertheless affords us much pleasure 

 to return our Christian acknowledgments for 

 the invitation so kindly extended " ; and a fra- 

 ternal commission was appointed to convey to 

 the Centennial Conference, to be held in Balti- 



more, the greetings of the Convention, and its 

 grateful recognition of " what God has wrought 

 in this land through organized Methodism, both 

 Episcopal and non-Episcopal." 



III. African Methodist Episcopal Church.' -The 

 Budget," published by the financial secretary 

 of the General Conference, gives the following 

 general summary of the statistics of the Afri- 

 can Methodist Episcopal Church for 1884: 



Number of bishops, 9 ; of annual confer- 

 ences, 41 ; of ministers, 2,540 ; of church or- 

 ganizations, 3,978, under whose control are 

 2,742 church-buildings; of members, 390,000; 

 of probationers, 15,000, making in all 405,000 

 members and probationers ; number of persons 

 studying in the conference classes, 1,413. The 

 "Budget" also gives the following estimate of 

 the numbers of full members in all the African 

 and colored Methodist churches in the United 

 States : 



African. Methodist Episcopal Church 



African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 800 



Colored Methodist Episcopal Church 155,000 



Methodist Episcopal Church (colored members) . . . 186,189 



Union Methodist Episcopal Church 3,500 



Total 1,034,689 



Adding to these the colored communicants 

 other churches (Baptist, 661,358; America 

 Missionary Association, 4,961 ; Presbytern 

 freedmen's churches, 11,108; Methodist Eph 

 copal Church, South, 1,245 ; other denomi] 

 tions, 20,000, etc.), we have the whole numl 

 of colored communicants in the churches 

 the United States not far from 1,700,000, x 

 one for 3 T 9 f tne whole colored population. 



The whole number of Sunday-schools in 

 African Methodist Episcopal Church is returnc 

 at 3,417, with 26,420 officers and teachers, ai 

 178,284 pupils. The Financial Board report 

 to the General Conference that its receipts foi 

 the year ending April 24, 1884, had been $52,- 

 852, and its disbursements $50,652. Its re- 

 ceipts for the four years since the preceding 

 General Conference had been $179,854, and 

 its expenditures $177,653. Of the receipts, 

 $169,389 were from contributions in the form 

 of " dollar-money." The receipts in the 

 lication department for four years had 

 $63,121, and the expenditures $63,064. The 

 department returned a net capital of $24,578. 

 The educational interests of the Church are un- 

 der the care of a Board appointed by the 

 General Conference. The institutions are as 

 follow : Wilberforce University, "Wilberforce, 

 Ohio, 5 departments, 7 in faculty, 609 stu- 

 dents; Johnson High School, Raleigh, N. C., 

 2 departments, 5 instructors,' 333 students; 

 Allen University, Columbia, S. C., 5 depart- 

 ments, 9 instructors, 349 students; William 

 Paul Quinn College, Waco, Tex., 5 depart- 

 ments, 4 instructors, 190 students; St. James 

 Academy, New Orleans, La., 1 instructor, 150 

 students; Divinity and High School, Jackson- 

 ville. Fla., 2 instructors ; Ward Normal Colle- 

 giate Institute, Huntsville, Tex., 2 depart- 

 ments, 3 instructors, 164 students ; Turner 



