456 



METHODISTS. 



the " Christian Recorder." the official newspaper 

 of the denomination : the Rev. M. B. Salters, of 

 Georgetown, S. C. ; and the Rev. J. A. Handy, of 

 Washington, D. C., financial secretary during the 

 past four years. Nine new conferences were 

 established. The bishops were requested to see 

 that papers were prepared to represent the 

 Church in the World's Parliament of Religions 

 in Chicago, and to appoint representatives to 

 that assemblage. Resolutions were adopted ac- 

 knowledging the action of the General Confer- 

 ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, de- 

 nouncing barbarities in the treatment of colored 

 Christians in the South, and declaring that when 



the white professed Christians of our land exert 

 their influence against a wild and savage disregard of 

 law and an evil which to-day dominates the South, in 

 our opinion, the end of a brutality overshadowing the 

 worst oft'enses of the King of Dahomey will have been 

 reached. 



A memorial was presented from the Haytian 

 Conference, with reference to the distribution by 

 President Hippolyte of $20,000 among the Prot- 

 estant missions in the republic for church build- 

 ing and repairs, of which the African mission 

 would receive a share ; expressing thanks for it ; 

 urging that in view of it the Church make still 

 stronger efforts to establish itself on a firm foun- 

 dation ; and particularly asking assistance in the 

 conduct of the educational work of the Confer- 

 ence, and in the establishment of a high school 

 at Port au Prince. 



The Missionary Board reported the whole 

 amount of the collections for the four years 1889 

 to 1892 as $27,450. The expenditures $16,465 

 included $14,291 for home work, and $2,175 

 (special) for African work. The missions are in 

 Africa, Hayti and San Domingo, Demarara, and 

 certain places in the twelfth episcopal district. 



IV. African Methodist Episcopal Zion 

 Church. The General Conference of the Afri- 

 can Methodist Episcopal Zion Church met in 

 Pittsburg, Pa., May 4. The financial report 

 showed that more money had been collected dur- 

 ing the past quadreunium than in previous 

 years. The collections for the General fund had 

 been $69,181, showing an increase of $11,695. A 

 report was made of the organization of a Sun- 

 day school department in accordance with the 

 action of the General Conference of 1888, with a 

 chief office at Montgomery, Ala. The receipts 

 on its account had been $5,506, and the expendi- 

 tures $5,158. The income of Livingstone College, 

 Salisbury, N. C., during the four years had been 

 $56,000. Its property was valued at $100,000. 

 Gifts had been received by the college of 60 acres 

 of land near Gainesville, Pla., $2,500 for the in- 

 dustrial education of girls, and $500 for the libra- 

 ry, with $800 worth of new books. Commission- 

 ers were appointed to meet commissioners of the 

 African Methodist Episcopal Church at Harris- 

 burg, Pa., on the subject of organic union. The 

 work of this commission was reported to the Con- 

 ference before it adjourned, and approved by it 

 (see above, African Methodist Episcopal Church). 

 The report embodied a declaration that in all 

 constitutional elements the two Churches are 

 virtually one. and that all statutory provisions 

 should be referred to the United General Con- 

 ference for adjustment. Bishop Hood presented 



his history, in the course of preparation, entitled 

 " One Hundred Years of the African Methodist 

 Episcopal Zion Church ; or, Centennial of African 

 Methodism." An encyclopaedia of the African 

 Methodist Episcopal Zion Church was approved. 

 The Rev. I. C. Clinton, D. D., and the Rev. A. 

 Walters, D. D., were elected bishops. A board 

 of education and the office of educational secre- 

 tary were instituted. Prof S. G. Atkins was 

 elected to the office. A " correspondence school " 

 which had been established by the Board of 

 Bishops was approved, and regulations were 

 adopted for its management. A report on Church 

 extension called attention to the need of the 

 Church's following the rapid flow of emigration 

 toward the West, especially into Oklahoma Terri- 

 tory, and of the zealous prosecution of work in 

 the South, Southwest, extreme West, and Africa ; 

 and recommended the establishment of a general 

 board for that enterprise. This was approved. 

 The report on the state of the Church committed 

 the Church to uncompromising hostility to the 

 liquor traffic, and to an advanced position on all 

 humanitarian and ethical reforms ; mentioned 

 the increasing importance of city evangelization ; 

 recommended the enlistment of women in the 

 work of the Church ; deprecated Sabbath dese- 

 cration ; and recognized the growth and useful- 

 ness of the Young People's societies. Provision 

 was made for the celebration of the one hun- 

 dredth anniversary of the organization of the 

 Church at a general conference to be held in 

 Mobile, Ala., in 1896, and for the collection of 

 commemorative funds ; also for a grand central 

 celebration to be held in New York city. Direc- 

 tions were given for the preparation of a liturgy 

 for Sunday morning services. 



The Board of Education held its first meeting 

 for organization in Washington, D. C., Aug. 30. 



Union of African Methodist Churches. 

 A joint meeting of the bishops of the two 

 Churches was held in Washington, D. C., July 

 27, which agreed on a plan of organic union to be 

 sent down to the several annual .and quarterly 

 conferences for their approval. " Finding that 

 the two Churches have the same form of govern- 

 ment, and the same ordinances, articles of re- 

 ligion, and doctrines, it provides for a complete 

 union on the proposition receiving the affirma- 

 tive vote of a majority of all the annual confer- 

 ences and of three fourths of all the quarterly 

 conferences and churches or worshiping con- 

 gregations. On its being approved in both bod- 

 ies, a joint board or council of bishops is to be 

 called to provide and arrange for a meeting of a 

 united general conference of the " African and 

 Zion Methodist Episcopal Church." 



V. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. 

 The Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in 

 America has 4 bishops (one, Bishop Miles, has 

 died since the return was made out), 22 annual 

 conferences, 1.111 traveling preachers, 8,219 

 churches, 2,409 local preachers, 126,893 mem- 

 bers, and 2,061 Sunday schools, with 9,731 offi- 

 cers and teachers and 78,928 pupils. Its four 

 institutions of learning are Payne Institute, 

 Augusta, Ga. ; Lane Institute, Jackson, Tenn. ; 

 Haygood Seminary, Washington, Ark. ; and 

 Beebee Institute, New Orleans, La. 



VI. Methodist Protestant Church. The 

 statistical reports of 36 out of the 47 annual con- 



