METHODISTS. 



to time adopt, with power to elect annually a chair- 

 man, to meet once a year for consultation, to ap- 

 point an executive committee to consider matters 

 that may arise during the intervals between council 

 meetings; to designate the particular field of each 

 missionary and appoint or reappoint him thereto ; 

 to consult on matters of common interest with na- 

 tive pastors appointed by the annual Conference 

 for the purpose; to meet annually with the council 

 of the Woman's Missionary Society; to regulate 

 matters pertaining to the property of the society ; 

 to review the work of each year ; to plan for evan- 

 gelistic work; to adjust, in the absence of the super- 

 intendent, differences or conflicts of authority be- 

 tween a foreign missionary and a native pastor; 

 and to receive quarterly reports from the foreign 

 missionaries and send annual reports to the General 

 Board. The powers and duties of the superintend- 

 ent of the mission were also defined, and amend- 

 atory provisions -were adopted concerning mission 

 conferences. Where the number of missionaries in 

 in the field is less than five, their power is limited 

 to the making of recommendations. The Confer- 

 ence ordered that lawyers appearing either as coun- 

 sel or representatives of parties in interest shall not 

 be admitted to Church courts. While expressing its 

 thankful realization of the important work that wo- 

 men were doing in the Church, the Conference, find- 

 ing that very few desired official positions, decided 

 that no change be made in the present policy. The 

 beginning of an aggressive evangelistic campaign 

 throughout all the circuits and missions of the 

 Church during the opening weeks of the year 1901 

 was advised, and the general superintendent was 

 requested to associate with himself a representative 

 from each Conference in the Connection for the 

 preparation of a scheme for such a movement, to 

 be submitted to the annual conferences in 1900. 

 The Conference authorized a memorial to be ad- 

 dressed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies 

 praying her Majesty's Government to abolish the 

 present order of precedence for the clergy in state 



Church and in the Methodist Church of Canada : 

 these are given in the minutes of their respective' 

 conferences. The young persons, 76,484 in number, 

 enrolled in junior society classes, are also not in- 

 cluded in the English returns. During the year the 

 German Methodists, numbering 2,414, were trans- 

 ferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Ger- 

 many. 



The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary 

 Society was held in London, in May. The total 

 annual income, home and foreign, had been 132,- 

 227, and the expenditure 131,266. The extra in- 

 come, including special plant account, donations to 

 the Indian Famine fund, and special contributions 

 for extension, had been 12,907 ; and, in addition, 

 the Women's Auxiliary had expended 13.083. The 

 ordinary income was 3,000 in advance of that of 

 the previous year, which in turn had been rie.-irly 

 2.000 more than that of the year preceding. The 

 history of the year had been marked by a wide- 

 spread 'desire for extension, which had led to the 

 erection of a special fund, resulting in the sending 

 out of additional missionaries to Hyderabad and 

 Lucknow. The sum of 7,732 had been raised to 

 relieve distress caused by the Indian famine. A 

 church membership of 44,457 was returned in the 

 missions under the direction of the society, with 11,- 

 893 on trial. Allowing for the disappearance from 

 the returns of the German district, which had been 

 transferred to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 

 Germany, and now formed part of it, the figures 

 showed an increase for the year of 2,298. In the 

 missions under other conferences than the British, 

 which were still assisted by the society in France, 

 South Africa, and the West Indies, there were 

 nearly 180,000 souls in the fellowship of the churches. 



The Conference met at Hull, July 19. The Kev. 

 Hugh Price Hughes was chosen president. A scheme 

 was adopted for raising a " Wesleyan Methodist 

 Twentieth - Century fund" of 1,000,000 guines, 

 under which each member of the Church is to aim 

 at giving or collecting a guinea or more, and the 



functions in Canada, and directed its special com- first day of the twentieth century is to be observed 

 mittce to proceed with all diligence to secure the 

 co-operation of other churches in the proposed me- 

 morial, and of the press, " for the removal of a pro- 

 cedure which is offensive in its unjust discrimina- 

 tion, and is utterly opposed to the constitutional 

 relations of Church and state in the Dominion. 



as a day of prayer and thanksgiving. The roll of 

 contributors, opened on Jan. 1, 1899, to be kept open 

 for two years, is to be preserved among the histor- 

 ical documents of the Church. A committee was 

 appointed to make provisions for carrying the 

 scheme into effect. The president of the Confer- 



The duty of the Church to consider social prob- ence was authorized, upon his own request, to spend 

 lerns was recognized in the appointment of a com- two days in each of the principal towns throughout 

 mittee on sociological subjects, to which memorials " ' "" 

 on prison reform, single tax, and other topics coming 

 within the sphere of sociology were referred. The 

 report of this committee admitted the influence of 

 heredity and environment, alfirmed the sovereign 

 freedom of the individual, and urged co-operation 

 in efforts of various kinds for the improvement of 

 the condition of thfl people in different directions. 



IX. Wesleyan Methodist Church. The fol- 

 lowing is the summary of the statistics of this 

 Church in the British and affiliated conferences as 

 they are given in the volume of the annual min- 

 utes for 1898. 



The returns do not include the number of minis- 

 ters and members in the Australasian Wesleyan 



Great Britain for the purpose of promoting spiritual 

 work among the Methodist churches by holding 

 united gatherings of their people. A change in the 

 order of sessions of the Conference was decided 

 upon, whereby the representative session (of which 

 the lay members are a part) will precede the pastoral 

 session. A proposition to exclude persons directly 

 interested in the sale of intoxicating liquors from 

 all official positions in the Church was disposed of 

 by the adoption of a resolution declaring "thai, 

 while not interfering with the constitutional meth- 

 od of appointing the officers of our Church, the 

 Conference recommends our people to keep free 

 from a traffic the results of which are injurious to 

 the interests of religion, morality, and social life.'' 

 The senior secretary of the Missionary Society an- 

 nounced that 12 or 14 new men were to be sent out 

 to the foreign field. It was represented that tin- 

 provision for the creation of a "Welsh Methodist 

 Assembly of Wales " adopted by the previous Con- 

 ference had been unanimously approved by both the 

 \VeIsIi synods. The chairman of this body is to be 

 oflicially known as the President of the Assembly. 

 The house which was occupied by John \\Csle\. 

 on City Road, London, was dedicated March 1 as a 

 Methodist Connectional center, museum, and home 



