METHODISTS. 



497 



the first missionaries when the mission should 

 be begun. The article in the " Discipline " on 

 " Entire Sanctification " was amended, so as to 

 be made more definite; and a minister was 

 designated to preach the doctrine on the Pacific 

 coast. The Rev. Joel Martin was appointed to 

 prepare, subject to the approval of the Book 

 Committee, a new edition of the " Wesleyan 

 Manual," to cover the entire history of the 

 denomination down to the present time. Res- 

 olutions were passed reprehending " a deplor- 

 ably increasing tendency on the part of the 

 professed Christian Church to vanity, extrava- 

 gance, and show, especially in the matter of 

 furniture and dress " ; and the people of the 

 church were invited to rebuke the evil by their 

 example. A vote on the measure favoring the 

 ordination of women resulted in an even divi- 

 sion, and it was lost. Attention was called to 

 reports which had been circulated reflecting 

 upon the correctness of the financial report of 

 the Connectional agent of the denominational 

 publishing-house. Upon the report of the com- 

 mittee appointed to investigate the matter, 

 these rumors were condemned. 



V. Methodist (hnreh of Canada. The following 

 is a summary of the statistics of this church, 

 by Conferences, for 1887 : 



The members are classified as probationers 

 (16,847) and lay members'(194,7Gl) ; increase 

 of members during the year, 15,282 ; number 

 of Sunday-schools, 2,720, with 24,206 officers 

 and teachers, and 191,571 pupils; number of 

 baptisms during the year, 14,315 of infants, 

 and 2,498 of adults. 



VI. Wesleyan Methodist Connexion. The whole 

 number of lay members in Great Britain, as 

 returned to the Conference, was 496,623; of 

 whom 412,298 were in society classes, 31,470 

 on probation, and 52,855 in junior society 

 classes. The number of Sunday-schools was 

 6,797, with 127,763 officers and teachers, and 

 895,532 pupils. Number of day-schools, 840, 

 with 178,152 pupils. The receipts to the Con- 

 nectional funds were returned to the Confer- 

 ence as follows: For foreign missions, 185,- 

 260; for theological institutions, 11,161; for 

 the Home Mission and Contingent fund, 34,- 

 960 ; for the General Chapel fund, 9,022 ; for 

 the Education fund, 9,994; for the Auxiliary 

 fund, 23,827; for the School fund, 21,540; 

 for the Extension fund in Great Britain, 9,258; 

 VOL. xxvu. 32 A 



for the Sunday-school Union, 21,562 ; for the 

 Children's Home and Orphan fund, 22,125; 

 for the Metropolitan Chapel fund, 13,470; for 

 the Extension fund in Scotland, 458. The 

 Irish Conference returned a total of 24,983 

 members, with 364 chapels and 1,892 other 

 preaching-places, and 69,662 "hearers"; and 

 314 Sunday schools, with 2,857 officers and 

 teachers, and 24,879 pupils. 



The Chapel Committee reported to the 

 Conference that it had sanctioned 402 erections 

 and enlargements, with 35 organs, involving a 

 total expenditure of 305,169. 



The Committee of the Children's Home re- 

 ported a debt of 5,000, to meet which a 

 special Jubilee fund was being raised. Land, 

 buildings, and a memorial home had been 

 among the special gifts of the year. 



The report of Sunday-schools showed the 

 number of teachers to be 127,763, and of pupils 

 895,532. 



The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Mis- 

 sionary Society was held May 2. Col. Sir 

 Charles Warren presided. Reference was made 

 in the report to the fact that the present Jubi- 

 lee year of her Majesty's reign coincided with 

 the completion of the first century of the work 

 in the society, its first foreign missionary hav- 

 ing landed at Antigua on Christmas-day of 

 1786. The fifty years of the present reign 

 thus coinciding with the second half-century 

 of the society, an appropriate basis was offered 

 for a comparative review. W T hen the society 

 published its first report in 1818, it had 82 

 missionaries in charge of. 109 stations, with 

 23,473 enrolled members, and its income from 

 ordinary sources was 18,434. In 1836 it had 

 306 missionaries, grouped in 180 circuits, with 

 64,691 members. Its total income was 75,- 

 000, and its total expenditure 70,000. Now, 

 the gross income for 1886 had been 143,182, 

 including 7,922 received through the Ladies' 

 Auxiliary fund ; the net amount of contribu- 

 tions for ordinary purposes received at the 

 mission-house for the year had exceeded those 

 of 1885 by 1,386 ; but the debt of the society 

 had grown from 4,000 to 10,863. The mis- 

 sions were represented by 1,959 circuits, 10,- 

 919 chapels and preaching-places, 2,592 minis- 

 ters and missionaries, and (approximately) 

 430,247 members. 



The one hundred and forty-fourth Wesleyan 

 Conference met in Manchester, July 19. The 

 Rev. John Walton was chosen president. 



Great interest was attached to the question 

 of the reunion of the Methodist churches, to 

 the discussion of which a special day was 

 assigned, and with reference to which the fol- 

 lowing resolution was adopted in the Pastoral 

 Conference : 



The Conference, with profound thankfulness to the 

 Divine Head of the Church, recogni/es and heartily 

 reciprocates the Christian and brotherly feeling ox- 

 pressed in recent resolutions of the Methodist New 

 Connection and of other Methodist Churches (which 

 have appeared in the public press). It expresses the 

 confident hope that our own people will, by ull legiti- 



