METHODISTS. 



The number of members in full connection 

 was 28,895 greater, and the number of "pro- 

 bationers" was 7,382 less, than in 1882. 



The agents of the Eastern Book Concern 

 (New York city) reported to the Book Com- 

 mittee that the establishment, at the end of 

 1883, possessed a capital, clear of all obliga- 

 tions, of $1,202,593, and that the profits for 

 the year had been $77,169. The agents of the 

 Western Book Concern (at Cincinnati) returned 

 a net capital of $412,233, the gain during the 

 year having been $45,775. 



The General Committee of Church Exten- 

 sion met in the city of New York, November 

 loth. The treasurer of the board reported 

 that the sum of $333,879 had been available 

 for use during the year, and the disbursements 

 had been $229,284. The receipts for the year 

 showed an increase of $13,217 on the general 

 account, and of $25,504 on account of the loan 

 fund. The board had aided, by loan or gift, 

 or both, 442 churches, and had applications on 

 file, which were granted on conditions, from 

 240 churches, and other applications from 29 

 churches. If all these applications were grant- 

 ed, there would still be a balance in the 

 treasury of $914. On the special appeal for 

 means to aid in the erection of 400 churches 

 on the frontiers, 185 churches had been' pro- 

 vided for. The committee decided to ask the 

 churches for contributions during 1884 of 

 $159,550. 



The receipts of the Freedmen's Aid Society 

 for the year 1883 were $118,153, or $18,761 

 than the receipts of the previous year, 

 'he pupils taught in the schools of the society 

 ire enumerated and classified as follow : Bibli- 

 students, 304; medical, 51; collegiate, 145; 

 lemic, 410; normal, 1,387; intermediate, 

 T67; primary, 473 total, 3,537. The schools 

 iclude seven chartered colleges, three of which 

 ive theological departments, one biblical insti- 

 ite, one medical college, and fourteen semi- 

 laries, academies, and normal schools not char- 

 ?red. In accordance with the action of the 

 General Conference of 1880, the society is aid- 

 ng in the establishment of schools for white 

 pils in the South. A college has been found- 

 in Little Rock, Ark., another is to be opened 

 Chattanooga, Tenn., rnd several academies 

 lave been aided. During sixteen years, 80,000 

 )upils have been instructed in the schools of 

 the society, 950,000 children have been taught 

 ')y its teachers and its pupils who have become 

 _ ihers, and $450,000 have been expended by 

 it in school property. 



The General Missionary Committee of the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church met in New York 

 city, November 7th. The treasurer of the 

 Missionary Society reported that its receipts 

 tor the year had been $751,469, and its expen- 

 ditures $794,506. The indebtedness of the 

 society had been reduced from $102,579, in 

 1882, to $88,198. Appropriations were made 

 tor missions during the ensuing year as fol- 

 low : 



VOL. xxui. 34 A 



1. Foreign Mission*: 



Africa (Liberia) $4,000 



South America (Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, etc ) '22,781 



China 81,990 



Germany and Switzerland 24,000 



Denmark 10,000 



Norway 14,846 



Sweden 22,1)8:4 



India 06,820 



Bulgaria and Turkey 15 4S3 



Italy 89.750 



Mexico 84,000 



Japan 86,648 



Total foreign missions $870,898 



2. Missions in the United States and Territories 



to be administered as Foreign Mission* (in- 

 cluding missions in Arizona, the Black Hills, 

 Dakota, the Indian Territory, Montana, Utah, 



and West Nebraska) $63,490 



8. Domestic Missions : 



Welsh and Scandinavian $25,500 



German 48,100 



French 12,500 



American Indian 6,700 



English-speaking 17'2,000 



Total appropriations for foreign and Ameri- 

 can missions $700,188 



II. American Wesleyan Connection. The Gen- 

 eral Conference of the American Wesleyan 

 Connection met at Syracuse, N. Y., October 

 18th. The book agent represented the aggre- 

 gate amount of the assets of the Publishing 

 House, including the building in Syracuse, as 

 $45,975. The circulation of the literature of 

 the Connection had increased with great regu- 

 larity during the preceding four years. The 

 educational institutions had quadrupled. The 

 work of domestic missions had been prose- 

 cuted with so much success that two addi- 

 tional conferences had ,been formed as results 

 of it. Resolutions were adopted declaring the 

 Connection to be historically and traditionally, 

 by its standard authors and doctrinal precepts, 

 committed to the work and experience of holi- 

 ness "including in holiness both justification 

 and regeneration, and, subsequent to their re- 

 ception, entire sanctification" ; rejoicing over 

 the progress that had been made in the doc- 

 trine, and enjoining upon the ministers faith- 

 fully to present it before their people. A rule 

 was adopted forbidding the division of any 

 annual conference, on the ground of color or 

 nationality, in any case where all the parties 

 speak the same language. An effort was made 

 for the enactment of a rule forbidding the use 

 of instrumental music in worship, but it failed, 

 and the Conference decided to retain the pres- 

 ent disciplinary provisions on the subject. The 

 previous General Conference had refused to 

 receive a delegate who had been appointed in 

 behalf of the General Conference of the Meth- 

 odist Episcopal Church as its fraternal repre- 

 sentative, on the ground that he was a mem- 

 ber of a secret order, a fact that constitutes 

 disqualification for membership in the Wes- 

 leyan Connection. A similar question was 

 presented on the present occasion, when the 

 General Conference refused to recognize a 

 delegate from the local annual conference of 

 the Methodist Episcopal Church who declared 

 himself a member of two secret societies. A 



