METHODISTS. 



445 



that a delegation had been appointed by that body 

 to visit the General Conference of the African 

 Methodist Episcopal Church in 1806, and request 

 admission into the Church. The delegation had 

 not been able to reach the United States before the 

 General Conference adjourned ; and in the emer- 

 gency a special session of the Georgia Conference 

 was held, into which the delegates were admitted 

 as members. The Rev. James M. Dwane, chairman 

 of the delegation, was commissioned to act as 

 superintendent in South Africa, and carry on the 

 organization of the Church till a bishop should 

 arrive there. Bishop Turner sailed in February, 

 1898, and arrived at Cape Town in time to reach 

 Pretoria for a called session of the Transvaal Annual 

 Conference. Thence he went to Queenstown, 

 where he attended the South Africa. Annual Confer- 

 ence. He also visited Cape Town, Johannesburg, 

 and Bloemfontein, and organized several churches. 

 At the request of the two annual conferences, he 

 appointed Mr. Dwane a vicar bishop, to perform 

 the usual functions of a bishop during the long 

 intervals that must elapse between visits of those 

 officers from the United States. The Transvaal 

 Conference returned, including three churches that 

 were added at Johannesburg during the bishop's 

 visit, 7,175 members and probationers. The South 

 Africa Conference had 3,625 members and proba- 

 tioners. The conferences were independent in 

 position, and did not ask for missionary aid ; but 

 they wanted help in building a college or seminary, 

 and desired teachers sent out from America. 



IV. Colored Methodist Episcopal Church in 

 America. The tables in the ' Independent " give 

 this Church, for 1898, 2,187 ministers, 1,800 

 churches, and 199,206 communicants. 



The ninth General Conference met at Columbia, 

 S. C., May 3. The bishops in their quadrennial 

 address advised against the election of any more 

 persons to their office, and the Conference, after 

 some discussion and efforts to overrule their rec- 

 ommendation, sustained it. An epidemic of small- 

 pox prevailing in the city, the Conference, after a 

 session of six days, was compelled to adjourn for 

 want of a quorum, without having completed any 

 legislative acts. Subsequently a called meeting of 

 the General Board was held at Nashville, Tenn., 

 and took action on several matters of importance. 

 In order to provide a nucleus for the immediate 

 establishment of a Sunday-school department, an 

 assessment of one dollar was laid upon each bishop, 

 presiding elder, and pastor, and of one cent upon 

 each child in Sunday school. The Rev. R. A. 

 Carter was chosen secretary of the Sunday-school 

 and Epworth League departments. Provision was 

 made for the publication of a volume of minutes of 

 the Conference, and of the minutes of all the Gen- 

 eral Conferences. Resolutions were passed compli- 

 mentary to the older bishops, and an anniversary 

 meeting was appointed to be held in their honor at 

 the next meeting of the General Board, to be held 

 in Jackson, Tenn., in May, 1899. 



At the annual meeting of the Board of Educa- 

 tion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. South, 

 held in May, Bishop Ilalsey, of this Church, and 

 others, represented their special works. More 

 money had been raised for the current expenses of 

 Paine and Lane Institutes in the past than in any 

 other year except one. The Heywood Memorial Hall 

 fund had realized a considerable amount in cash 

 and subscriptions, and the hall was well under way. 

 The board has money enough to maintain its opera- 

 tions till the fall remittances from the annual con- 

 ferences shall begin to come in, with no outstand- 

 ing obligations. An effort was resolved upon to 

 raise $40.000 for the theological department of 

 Vanderbilt University. 





V. Union American Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. The Union American Methodist Episco- 

 pal Church is a branch of an organization formed 

 in 1813 by Peter Spencer as the African Union 

 Methodist Episcopal Church. Subsequently the 

 denomination was divided, one part retaining tin* 

 old name and the other assuming the name given 

 at the head of this article. The General Confer- 

 ence of this body met at Camden, N. J., Oct. 18. 

 The General Conference was composed of 35 

 elders and 20 laymen. The law of its consti- 

 tution was modified, so that in future an elder 

 must travel ten years before he can be eligible as 

 a clerical member in the General Conference, and 

 to be qualified for the office of bishop he must, 

 have traveled ten years, and be not less than forty 

 years old. Legislation was adopted concerning the 

 trial of members, a four years' course of study for 

 candidates for the ministry, the organization of a 

 Sunday-school union, and fixing the salaries of the 

 bishops at $1,000 a year each. Besides the general, 

 annual, and quarterly conferences already existing, 

 the District Conference was established. This 

 Church has about 3.500 members, and is divided 

 into three episcopal districts. James VV. Wilmore. 

 James C. Cook, and Benjamin T. Ruley being the 

 bishops. 



Other colored Methodist churches are the 

 Union American Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 with 63 ministers, 61 churches, and 2,675 members: 

 the African Union Methodist Episcopal Church, 

 with 80 ministers, 70 churches, and TtOOO members : 

 and the Congregational Methodist Church (colored), 

 with 5 ministers, 5 churches, and 319 members. 



VI. Free Methodist Church. The statistics 

 published in the combined minutes of this Church 

 for 1898 give the number of members in full con- 

 nection as 24,875, and of probationers as 3.259. 

 showing a gain of 363 full members and a loss of 

 364 probationers, as compared with the previous 

 year. The report on Sunday schools shows an in- 

 crease during the year of about 700 pupils, 67 

 officers and teachers, and of nearly $1,000 raised 

 for Sunday-school purposes. The total valuation 

 of church and parsonage property is $1,219,816. 

 The comparative summary for the quadrennium 

 closing with the meeting of the General Conference 

 shows a gain during the four years of 2,763 in full 

 members and a decrease of 771 in probationers, or 

 a net gain of 1,992, or a little more than 7^ per- 

 cent. 



The tenth General Conference met in Chicago, III, 

 Oct. 12. The pastoral address of the general super- 

 intendents was read at the opening of the sessions 

 by Superintendent B. R. Jones, who represented 

 that, during the quadrenninm then just closed, 

 there had been some increase ih members, ministers, 

 and houses of worship, and that 7 new conferences 

 had been organized. The reports of foreign mis- 

 sions showed encouraging improvement at nearly 

 every station. Property had been acquired or title 

 secured in Africa and India; two new missionaries 

 had been sent to India; mission stations had been 

 established in Japan, and 2 societies organized witli 

 35 full members and about twice as many proba- 

 tioners. The receipts for the past quadrennium. 

 $35,513, showed an increase of $14,843 over those 

 of the previous four years. The address spoke also 

 of the orphanages and homes of the Church, the 

 publication house, and the Sunday-school litera- 

 ture furnished by it. Several measures were enacted 

 by the Conference concerning the qualifications 

 of ministers, among which was one recognizing a 

 general desire among the people for a high grade 

 of scholarship among the preachers, in view of 

 which provision was made for the institution of a 

 series of written examinations for preachers in the 



