METHODISTS. 



489 



more than 600,000, of which the fund had 

 contributed and promised 170,000. The Theo- 

 logical Institutions made a return of 140 stu- 

 dents at the four schools. The Fund for the 

 Extension of Methodism had received and con- 

 sidered 126 applications for aid, and had paid 

 8,738 for sites and grants for chapels. The 

 income of the Educational Fund had heen 

 7,150. Two hundred and twenty-four stu- 

 dents were returned in the training-colleges at 

 Westminster and Southlands, and in the 849 

 day-schools an attendance of 177,496 pupils. 

 The income of the day-schools had been, from 

 school pence, 38,720; from Government 

 grants, 104,914; and from subscriptions and 

 other sources, 23,948. The Oonnectional 

 Sunday-School Union returned 6,601 Sunday- 

 schools, with 125,013 officers and teachers, 

 and 852,459 scholars, and 2,737 Bands of 

 Hope, with 277,530 members. The Committee 

 of the Thanksgiving Fund reported that it had 

 received in promises 303,000, and in actual 

 cash payments, 296,740. Adding accrued 

 interest, the total receipts had been 297,518. 

 Arrangements were made for closing the ac- 

 counts of this fund, which had been instituted 

 for a special occasion and for special purposes 

 during the ensuing year. A net increase for 

 the year of 3,281 members was returned in the 

 British districts. 



Wesley an Methodist Conference. The one 

 hundred and forty-first Conference of Wesleyan 

 Ministers met in Burslem, July 22. The Rev. 

 Frederic Greeves, D. D., was chosen president. 

 A scheme for the organization of a West Indian 

 Conference, which had been under considera- 

 tion for two years, was presented and adopt- 

 ed. It provides for the institution of two 

 West Indian Annual Conferences ; the Western 

 Conference to include the Jamaica and the 

 Hayti districts, and the Eastern Conference to 

 include the Antigua district and the British 

 Guiana district ; the two conferences together 

 to constitute the West Indian General Con- 

 ference, which shall meet every three years, 

 and be affiliated with the British Conference. 

 The Rev. George Sargeant was appointed the 

 first President of the new Conference. A 

 statement was made by a delegate from the 

 newly constituted South African Conference, 

 which had held its first meeting during the 

 present year, showing that while the churches 

 constituting it had returned, in 1873, 85 minis- 

 ters, 13,718 church-members, with 4,118 on 

 trial, and 13,081 Sunday-school scholars, they 

 now returned 174 ministers, 21,993 church- 

 members, with 9,529 on trial, and 24,069 Sun- 

 day-school scholars. Several ministers and 

 circuits had also been transferred to the dis- 

 tricts beyond the Transvaal, which, had they 

 been included in the present enumeration, 

 would have shown a larger growth for the 

 Church. A library, containing 10,000 volumes, 

 15,000 unbound dissertations, and 10,000 dis- 

 sertations in German, was offered by a gentle- 

 man, who desired his name to remain un- 



known, and was accepted by the Conference 

 to constitute a Conference library ; and meas- 

 ures were taken to institute regulations for its 

 care and use. The attention of the Conference 

 was called to the case of a minister who held 

 the doctrine of " conditional immortality," in 

 which is involved the belief that the wicked, 

 after suffering a period of punishment for their 

 sins, will eventually pass out of existence ; a 

 doctrine contrary to the standards of the 

 Methodist Church. The minister had been al- 

 lowed to exercise his ministry in the Church, 

 in the hope that he might come into accord 

 with its views on the subject, but he had not 

 done so. His case was disposed of by a de- 

 cision of the Conference to retain him as a 

 " supernumerary," on condition that he should 

 not preach in its pulpits or disseminate his 

 opinions among the Methodist people. 



South African Conference. The South Af- 

 rican Conference was held in April. The re- 

 port of the Educational Committee showed that 

 there were connected with the Church 8 Eng- 

 lish and 264 native schools, with a total of 

 14,977 scholars, or 261 more than were re- 

 turned in the previous year. Of these, 560 

 were white, and 14,422 African or colored 

 children. The Sunday-School Committee re- 

 turned 832 English and 167 native Sunday- 

 schools, with 6,664 European and 11,504 native 

 scholars. A committee to consider the ques- 

 tion of higher education among the natives 

 was continued. Provision was made for the 

 formation of a South African Missionary So- 

 ciety. The question of establishing a mission 

 press and a Connectional Book Concern was 

 referred to a committee for consideration. 



VI. United Methodist Free Churches. The fol- 

 lowing is a summary of the statistics of this 

 body, as they were reported to the Annual 

 Assembly in July, 1884: 



Number of itinerant preachers, 373 ; of local 

 preachers, 3,330; of leaders, 4,068; of mem- 

 bers, 75,841 ; of members on trial, 8,628 ; of 

 chapels, 1,350; of preaching -rooms, 184; ot 

 Sunday-schools, 1,350, with 26,631 teachers 

 and 196,509 scholars. The total income of the 

 United Methodist Free Churches Home and 

 Foreign Missions for the year ending May 1, 

 1884, was 17,688, and the expenditures were 

 19,311. The annual report mentioned, as one 

 of the most important events in the year's his- 

 tory of the foreign department!?, the opening 

 of the Galla Mission, in East Africa, for which 

 1,000 had been secured. The churches of 

 Sierra Leone, Western Africa, had contributed 

 330 to the General Missionary Fund; The 

 subject of Methodist union was under consid- 

 eration with the churches in Australia and 

 New Zealand. An increase of 226 church- 

 members was reported in Jamaica, where also 

 1,500 names were registered on the rolls of the 

 day-schools. Report was also made of the 

 mission in China, where three English mis- 

 sionaries were employed. 



The Annual Assembly of the United Method- 



