394: 



METHODISTS. 



1900, a commission of 15 members was ap- 

 pointed by the bishops to consider whether it is 

 advisable to consolidate the benevolent societies 

 of the Church, and if so, to report a practicable 

 method of doing it so as to lessen the number of 

 collections without diminishing the support of the 

 causes represented. This commission met in 

 Ocean Grove, X. J., July 2 and the following 

 days of the same week. All the aspects of the 

 subject were discussed ; but inasmuch as many 

 questions were started the decision of which re- 

 quired careful investigation and expert legal coun- 

 sel, it was found impossible to reach a final con- 

 clusion. A subcommittee was appointed to col- 

 late matt-rial facts and compare the various 

 propositions and report to a subsequent meeting. 



Bishop Simpson Memorial. A memorial 

 window of Bishop Matthew Simpson, who was a 

 bishop of this Church from 1852 to 1884, which 

 was procured by means of money contributed by 

 American Methodists, was unveiled in Wes- 

 ley's Chapel, City Road, London, Nov. 14. Ad- 

 dresses were made on the occasion by the Hon. 

 Joseph H. Choate, ambassador of the United 

 States to the court of St. James, and the Rev. 

 Herbert Welch, D. D., of the New York East Con- 

 ference, representing the Methodist Episcopal 

 Church. The window represents St. Paul preach- 

 ing at Athens, and bears in one corner a medallion 

 of Bishop Simpson. At the bottom is the inscrip- 

 tion : " Erected by American Methodists to the 

 memory of Bishop Matthew Simpson. He was 

 born 21st June, 1811, and died 18th June, 1884. 

 He was a holy man, an eloquent and mighty 

 preacher, and a great bishop." 



II. Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 

 The following are the statistics of this Church as 

 given in its Year- Book for 1903: Number of 

 bishops, 13; of annual conferences embraced in 

 the plan of episcopal visitations, 48; of traveling 

 preachers, 6,293; of local preachers, 4,982; of 

 members, 1,516,516; of Sunday-schools, 14,133, 

 with 103,486 teachers and 884,329 pupils; of Ep- 

 worth Leagues, 3,234, with 115,099 members; of 

 educational institutions, 77, with 11,983 students, 

 and buildings and endowments valued at $7,522,- 

 583. The years' receipts of the Missionary Society 

 were $357,248 ; of the Woman's Home Missionary 

 Society, $725,946: of the Woman's Foreign Mis- 

 sionary Society, $104,018; contributions for the 

 American Bible Society, $10,424. The publishing 

 house returned assets of $926,095, 4 connectional 

 publications, and 8 Sunday-school periodicals. 



The General Conference met in its fourteenth 

 quadrennial meeting at Dallas, Texas, May 7. 

 The episcopal address, read at the opening session, 

 reviewed in full all the various interests of the 

 Church, showing their progress and tendencies 

 during the past four years, and pointing to or 

 suggesting such modifications or reforms as the 

 conditions and the times seemed to make desir- 

 able. In reference to the action of the Joint Com- 

 mission of Federation with the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church, which had been ratified in full by 

 the General Conference of 1898, the address re- 

 ferred to the action of the General Conference of 

 the latter body in 1900, which modified these 

 agreements at one important point, but accepted 

 all the rest, and continued: "Here the matter 

 of federation stood till a few weeks ago. A meet- 

 ing of the joint commissioners was held in Balti- 

 more, March 21, 22, 1902. After the most brother- 

 ly conference the commissioners from the Method- 

 ist Episcopal Church expressed their sincere regret 

 that the original plan had not been adopted with- 

 out alteration by their General Conference, and 

 agreed to report it a second time with an urgent 



recommendation that it be passed. The joint 

 commission also, in the exercise of the authority 

 bestowed upon it, advised that the bishops of the 

 two Churches proceed to appoint the committees 

 to prepare the common hymn-book, common 

 order of worship, and common catechism for the 

 two Churches. As all the steps were authorized 

 at our last General Conference, it is not necessary, 

 we think, that any further action should now be 

 taken in the premises, except that the commission 

 should be continued for another four years." In 

 reference to the disquiet which the Church had 

 suffered for several years past on account of the 

 controversy concerning the collection of what was 

 known as the " publishing house war claim " 

 (see Annual Cyclopaedia for 1898, pp. 443, 444), 

 the bishops represented that their relation to the 

 questions involved in the matter began with the 

 meeting of the college of bishops at Nashville, 

 Tenn., July 4, 1898, when, while reaffirming the 

 justice of the claim, they insisted that the Church 

 could not afford to accept payment of it as a 

 gratuity or on conditions that reflected on its 

 honor. " Inasmuch, therefore, as some Senators 

 have affirmed on the floor of the Senate that they 

 were induced to support the claim by misleading 

 statements on the part of representatives of the 

 Church statements, however, which did not affect 

 the merits of our claim we hereby give this as- 

 surance: that if the Senate by affirmative action 

 declares that the passage of the bill was due to 

 such misleading statements, we will take the 

 proper steps to have the entire amount returned 

 to the Government." This was communicated to 

 the president of the Senate, to be laid before that 

 body. On May 5, 1899, the bishops made a state- 

 ment that having found that the Senate after full 

 investigation had exonerated the Church from all 

 censure, " we transfer to our record that official 

 action : ' Resolved, That the report of the com- 

 mittee made July 8, 1898, be approved, and that 

 no censure should rest upon the Methodist Epis- 

 copal Church, South, for the misstatements and 

 concealments of the book agents in connection 

 with the passage of the bill for the payment of 

 the claim referred to in the letter of the bishops 

 now under consideration; that the injury result- 

 ing therefrom affected only the beneficiaries of 

 the fund and not the United States; and that the 

 Senate should take no further action in the mat- 

 ter.' The Senate having thus declared that the 

 United States sustained no injury in the passage 

 of the bill, and declined to take any further ac- 

 tion in the matter, we have no occasion to make 

 further communication to that body. . . . That 

 your bishops correctly interpreted the action of 

 the United States Senate, we have the personal 

 and authoritative assurance of a large majority 

 of the Senators." The last sentence referred to a 

 correspondence which had taken place between 

 Bishop Candler and Senators A. O. Bacon and A. 

 S. Clay, of Georgia, which was laid before the 

 General Conference. Bishop Candler wrote to 

 Senator Clay, who had been a member of the 

 Senate committee having consideration of the 

 matter, March 24, 1902, saying that he had in- 

 terpreted the final action of the Senate as entirely 

 exonerating the Church from blame in the case, 

 and as eliminating the question of returning the 

 money to the Government, " but I find some ex- 

 treme men still insisting upon the necessity of 

 returning the money to the Government. Such a 

 course appears to me to be entirely impracticable, 

 not to say impossible, and as being open to many 

 objections of both right and propriety. ... I am 

 jealous for the honor of the Church, and I earnest- 

 ly desire that the final action of the General Con- 



