METHODISTS. 



457 



ferences of this Church which made returns of 

 their meml.crs to the General Conference, give 

 tin- following footings: Number of itinerant 

 ministers, 1,307; of unstationed ministers and 

 (trenchers, 987; of members, 131,184; of proba- 

 tioner^ :!,882 ; of churches, 2,083. 



Tin- sixteenth General Conference met in 

 \Ve-t mincer, Md., May 20. Dr. J. \V. Ilering 

 loaen president. A question arose on the 

 admission of :5 women who had been chosen as 

 lay delegates by the Iowa, Indiana, and West 

 Virginia Conferences, respectively, and of Mrs. 

 I-!. I'. St. John, who appeared as a ministerial 

 delegate from the Kansas Conference. Two re- 

 ports were brought in on the question by the 

 Committee on Certificates. The majority report 

 recognized the credentials of Mrs. St. John as a 

 ministerial delegate as regular In form, but, re- 

 garding it as contrary to the constitution and 

 laws c,f the Church to recognize the validity of 

 the ordination of women, recommended that she 

 should not be recognized as entitled to mem- 

 bership. It also recognized the credentials of 

 the women elected as lay delegates as regular 

 in form, but regarded their election as null, be- 

 cause in violation of the constitution and laws of 

 the Church. The minority report found that the 

 credentials of the woman delegates were regu- 

 lar, that the elections had all been constitution- 

 ally held and returned, and that the applicants 

 were entitled to seats. The friends of the ad- 

 mission of the women held that by the constitu- 

 tion of the Church the matter of suffrage and 

 eligibility was left to each annual conference to 

 define for itself, and the conferences, having acted 

 according to their wisdom, the General Confer- 

 ence should not interfere. This view prevailed, 

 and the women were admitted. Subsequently, 

 two overtures were submitted to the annual con- 

 ferences calling f or constitutional determinations 

 whether a woman can be elected to the office of 

 elder, and whether a woman can be elected as 

 a representative to the General Conference. Re- 

 ports were made by the Board of Ministerial 

 Education, which had received $16,420 during 

 the past four years, with $3,628 returned by 

 beneficiaries, had a permanent fund of $5,479, 

 and had aided 98 students; and reported that 

 $8,000 had been subscribed toward a memorial 

 fund of $10,000 of the Rev. J. B. Walker ; from 

 the Committee on Sunday Schools, which de- 

 clared union schools impracticable, and advised 

 that each pastor be required to organize all 

 schools under his charge into Methodist Protes- 

 tant schools ; from the Board of Foreign Mis- 

 sions, showing that its receipts for the past four 

 years had been $52,029, being an average of 32| 

 cents per member ; and from the Woman's For- 

 eign Missionary Society, which had received 

 more than $20,000 in four years. The question 

 of union with the Primitive Methodist Church 

 was informally brought up, and provision was 

 made for sending a fraternal delegate to the next 

 general meeting of that body. A committee was 

 appointed to receive any propositions for union 

 coming from other denominations. The article in 

 the Discipline concerning the control of churches 

 by the trustees was amended by adding a provision 

 that the use of the Church should not be forbid- 

 den to any branch of Christian work recognized 

 by the General Conference. The temperance reso- 



lution insisted upon total abstinence for the in- 

 dividual and the entire suppression of the liquor 

 traffic for the State, and defined the signing of 

 petitions for license and participation in the use 

 of spirituous or malt liquors by a minister to be 

 immorality. Measures were taken for the incor- 

 poration of the General Conference under the 

 laws of Maryland. The word " obey " was strick- 

 en from the marriage service. Reports were re- 

 ceived from Western Maryland College, West- 

 minster, and Adrian College, Mich. The offer of 

 a gift of 150 acres of land for the establishment 

 of a college in Kansas City, Kan., provided a 

 building is erected costing not less than $25,000, 

 and an offer of land for the establishment of a 

 college at West Lafayette, Ohio, were approved 

 and accepted. A proposition for the establish- 

 ment of a college in Texas was favorably consid- 

 ered, and recognition was given to the proposed 

 Lipscomb College, Waco, Ga. 



The receipts of the Board of Missions for the 

 year were $14,296, besides a number of contribu- 

 tions sent directly to the missionaries, and the 

 disbursements amounted to $12,038. 



The Board of Home Missions elected by the 

 General Conference met in Pittsburg, Pa., and 

 organized June 15. A conference of 5 preach- 

 ers and 1,200 members (colored) had been or- 

 ganized in South Carolina, and sent up an ap- 

 peal for help in education. Arrangements were 

 made for a visitation of the Southern colored 

 conferences and the establishment of an institu- 

 tion of learning among them. 



The Board of Foreign Missions returned its 

 receipts for the year, not including contributions 

 sent directly to the missionaries, at $14,296, and 

 its expenditures at $12,038. 



VII. Primitive Methodist Chnrch in the 

 United States. The reports of the meetings 

 for 1892 of the three annual conferences of this 

 denomination were hopeful as to its prospects. 

 Action was taken to promote the interests of 

 the Book Room. The missionary collections 

 were unusually large. Woman's Missionary So- 

 cieties were formed, and sanction was given to 

 the organization of "Young People's Wesley 

 Leagues." 



Till. American Wesleyan Chnrch. The 

 Missionary Society of this Church returned an 

 income for the year ending in June, 1892, of 

 $2,407. The work in the recently established 

 foreign mission in Africa had made an encour- 

 aging advance. The Superannuated Ministers' 

 Aid Society returned its receipts at $4,921, and 

 the Education Society at $1,450. The Publish- 

 ing Association, with assets of $64,150, and a 

 year's receipts of $23,939. reported a gain from 

 the year's business of $2,434. 



IX. Methodist Church in Canada. The 

 receipts of the Missionary Society for the year, 

 as returned to the annual meeting in October, 

 1892, were $249,385, showing an increase of 

 $6,000 over the previous year ; the expenditures 

 were $233,624. From the mission in Japan 

 were returned 35 ministers at work, with 1,928 

 members. Cities and towns were reached by the 

 mission having a total population of at least 

 4.000.000. The evangelistic work was developing 

 rapidly, and the educational work was being 

 more and more turned to the training of young 

 men for the ministry. A mission had been 



