476 



METHODISTS. 



you believe in woman's ordination?" The vote 

 resulted against ordination 35 affirmative and 

 65 negative. Three general superintendents 

 were elected, viz., the Rev. E. P. Hart, to suc- 

 ceed the Rev. B. T. Roberts, deceased, the Rev. 

 G. W. Coleman, and the Rev. B. H. Jones. The 

 conference decided to establish the publishing 

 house permanently in Chicago, 111., and to un- 

 dertake the publication of a full line of Sunday- 

 school literature. A resolution was adopted 

 with a view of promoting harmony between the 

 associations called Pentecostal bands and the 

 members of the Church generally, between 

 whom there had been some friction. An amend- 

 ment proposed to the General Rules concerning 

 the wearing of gold having been rejected, an 

 explanatory resolution was passed, to the effect 

 that the rejection " should not be construed by 

 any one as encouraging the wearing of gold, but 

 only as in opposition to changing anything in 

 our present rule." An amendment was adopted 

 providing that when satisfactory evidence is re- 

 ceived that a conference minister has united 

 with another Church he shall be considered as 

 having withdrawn, and a record of the fact shall 

 be entered on the conference journal. The 

 American Bible Society was commended to the 

 support of the Church. An address was voted 

 to the general superintendents expressing ap- 

 preciation of the excellent service they had ren- 

 dered to the Church during the four years termi- 

 nating with the adjournment of the General 

 Conference. 



IV. Organizations of Colored Methodists. 

 The following statistics of the several African 

 and Colored Methodist Churches in the United 

 States are published by the " Independent " (news- 

 paper), as compiled by Bishop B. W. Arnett, of 

 the African Methodist Episcopal Church, from 

 the latest reports of those denominations : 



1. African Methodist Episcopal Church, 1894. 

 Number of itinerant preachers, 4.252: of local 

 preachers, 14,575 ; of full members, 497,350 ; of 

 probationers, 26.427 ; total, 542.604. Amount of 

 moneys raised, 1892-'94, $1,346,813, besides $204,- 

 204 spent in various ways for educational pur- 

 poses. 



2. African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. 

 Number of pastors, 3,650; of local preachers 

 and exhorters, 7,926 ; of members and proba- 

 tioners, 425,000; of adherents, 1,253,750; of 

 Sunday schools, 3,200, with 30,566 officers and 

 teachers and 300,000 pupils ; of churches, 3,500 ; 

 value of church property, $5,000,000. 



3. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in 

 America, 1893. Number of traveling preachers, 

 1,224: of local preachers, 2,354; of members, 

 128,817; of Sunday schools, 1,885, with 6,577 of- 

 ficers and teachers and 68,923 pupils ; of churches 

 reported, 3,672, having a total estimated value of 

 $1,000,000; of schools of learning, 4. with 750 

 students, endowments of $25.000, and total value 

 of property returned at $87,000; number of bap- 

 tisms during the year, 5,527 of infants and 10 - 

 988 of adults. 



4. Union Methodist Episcopal Ch urch. Num- 

 ber of ministers, 115 ; of local preachers, 75 ; of 

 members, 3,869; of adherents, 14,475; of Sunday 

 schools, 115. with 1.151 teachers and officers and 

 9.200 pupils; of churches, 115; valuation of 

 church property, $50,000. 



Other organizations of colored Methodists: 

 Number of ministers, 92; of local preachers, 50: 

 of members, 7,031; of adherents, 25,000; of Sun- 

 day schools, 75, with 740 teachers and officers 

 and 6,000 pupils; of churches, 82; valuation of 

 churches, $30,000. 



Total of colored Methodists : Number of pas- 

 tors, 14,983 ; of local preachers and exhorters, 

 28,205, making a total of 43,188 preachers; of 

 members, 1,362,760, making a total of 1,405,548 

 ministers and members; of Sunday schools. 13,- 

 145, with 105,780 teachers and officers and 959,- 

 303 pupils. 



Colored Methodist Episcopal Church. The 

 General Conference of the Colored Methodist 

 Episcopal Church in America met in Memphis, 

 Tenn., in May. The reports showed that the 

 work of the denomination was advancing 

 smoothly. The Rev. H. S. Williams, of Georgia, 

 and the Rev. Dr. E. Cottrel, of Tennessee, were 

 elected additional bishops. This Church was 

 organized soon after the civil war under the 

 direction of the General Conference and bishops 

 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 

 which arranged for the transfer of all its col- 

 ored members to it, and that Church has contin- 

 ued to maintain a kind of pateinal and advisory 

 interest in it. The bishops of the Methodist 

 Episcopa] Church, South, spoke of it in their 

 quadrennial address as a body whose peculiar 

 claims on their sympathy and aid they con- 

 tinued to recognize. " Our brethren of this 

 Church," they said, "commend themselves to 

 our confidence and approval by their modest, 

 prudent, and Christian conduct, arid we are per- 

 suaded that they are doing a good work, in 

 which they should be encouraged and assisted 

 by their white brethren. They have gratefully 

 received what has been contributed to their 

 Payne and Lane Institutes for the training of 

 teachers and ministers, and, though not large in 

 amount, it has proved a valuable and timely 

 service." The bishops expressed the hope that 

 the General Conference might devise some plan 

 by which more efficient aid might be afforded in 

 maintaining these important training schools. 

 The General Conference referred this subject to 

 its Board of Education. The General Confer- 

 ence of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 

 was addressed by Bishop Isaac Lane, as a fra- 

 ternal delegate of the Colored Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church, who also made an appeal for aid 

 to its institutions of learning; whereupon a col- 

 lection of $600 was taken up in the conference 

 for that object. 



T, Methodist Church in Canada. The 

 statistical reports of this Church for 1894 give 

 the following numbers: Of members of Church, 

 260,953, showing an increase during the year of 

 8.772: of ministers. 1,563; of ministers on trial. 

 433; of superannuated and supernumerary min- 

 isters, 286. The fourth General Conference met 

 in London, Ont., in September. Facts were 

 presented in the opening address of the gen- 

 eral superintendent showing what had boon 

 the growth of the Church since its formation, 

 in 1883, by the union of the several distinct 

 branches of Methodism in the Dominion. In 

 1883 the number of members was 169.803: it 

 was now 260,692, showing an advance of more 

 than 60 per cent. The number of ministers 



