NUMBERS IN SOCIETY. Members. Probationers. Total this Year. 86,831 884 1,971 23,132 11,396 44,431 80,716 2,559 32,525 2.730 10,907 20,979 2,590 41,491 11,910 19.243 7,970 14,552 2.090 14,630 3.314 25,039 2,501 1,916 203 Columbia River.. 24 1,587 Delaware.. 25.037 8.116 East German. 44 3.229 538 East Maine. East Ohio.. 23,459 2.257 Georgia.. 36 Germany and Switzerland. Holston... Illinois 80,959 2,968 Iowa... 130 Kentucky. 98 Lexington. Liberia.. Louisiana. Maine.. 2,611 Minnesota.. 157 12,549 21.775 Missouri.. 131 14,706 Montana. 243 27,549 New York. 274 42,624 New York East. Nebraska. Nevada. Newark New England. New Hampshire Providence. Rock River.. Saint Louis.. 8,723 The traveling preachers are classified as follows: Preachers on trial, 1,065; in full connection, 8,292; supernumerary, 719; superannuated, 1,193. The footings of other items of the statistics are as follows: Number of local preachers, 12,537; of Sunday-schools, 19,868; of teachers in the same, 216,902; of Sundayschool scholars, 1,493,718; of baptisms of children, 55,834; of adults, 76,248; number of churches, 16,2001, valued at $70,239,441; number of parsonages, 5,355, valued at $9,175,480. The Theological Institutions of the Methodist Episcopal Church include 4 regular theological schools in the United States, viz.: the Boston University School of Theology, founded at Concord, N. H., as the Methodist General Biblical Institute, in 1847, and removed to Boston, Mass., in 1867, which had, in 1877, 6 professors, 108 students, and 5,000 volumes in its library; the Garrett Biblical Institute, Evanston, Ill., founded in 1855, which had 5 professors, and several non-resident lecturers, with a working2,244 library of 3,500 volumes, and a reference-li11,170 brary of 30,000 volumes; Drew Theological 30,283 Seminary, Madison, N. J., founded in 1867, which had 6 professors; and the Scott Centenary Biblical Institute, Baltimore, Md., 264 opened in 1872. Theological classes are also 9,195 taught in several of the colleges and academies 39,911 of the Church. Two theological schools are in 31,325 successful operation in connection with the 86,-93 missions of the Church, viz. : the Martin Mission 6,080 48.704 Institute, Frankfort-on-the- Main, Germany, 4,153 43,755 founded at Bremen in 1858, and removed to 28,536 Frankfort in 1868, having 2 professors and 13 2,038 students, and property valued at $30,000; and 24,513 the India Conference Theological Seminary, at 6.054 Baruilly, India, having a principal, or director, 5,960 property valued at $15,000, and a scholarship endowment of $55,000. Other theological in3599stitutions are in contemplation, to be connected 4,378 with various missions, and nearly all of the mis45,205 sions already report small classes who receive 22,358 theological instruction from the missionaries. The fifty-ninth annual meeting of the General Committee of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held in New York City, beginning November 14th. treasurer of the Society reported that his total receipts for the year ending October 31, 1877, had been $628,977.25, showing an increase of $34,788.87 over the receipts of the previous year, and his total expenditures had been $560,055.40. Of the expenditures, $258,781.27 were on account of foreign missions, and $254,927.60 on account of domestic missions. The amount 18,659 of the indebtedness of the Society had been 6,825 diminished by $92,979.70 during the year, and 5,549 stood on November 1, 1877, at $169,375.86. 80.908 The total amount of appropriations for the en28,297 suing year was fixed at $676,907. 5,093 1,279 10,007 4,681 757 596 33,756 27,104 4,111 44,394 82,546 28,308 15,098 67 10,950 3,221 14.171 4,512 29,544 1,661 26,407 1.761 15.235 Savannah.. South Carolina. 87 25,032 Southeast Indiana. 26,158 Southern California.. Southern German. Southern Illinois.. South India... 80 1,275 486 South Kansas.. 114 12,141 8,094 Southwest German. Sweden... Tennessee... 6,261 11,639 Texas... 77 7,874 1,512 Troy Upper Iowa Utah... Vermont. 129 11.443 12 225 26.244 6,079 10,864 9,356 36,648 22,533 155 27,040 18,506 15,824 82,328 5,030 11,269 1,471,777 199,881 1,671,608 The The tenth anniversary of the Freedmen's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held at Springfield, Mass., December 10th. The total receipts of the Society for the year ending July 1, 1877, were $70,269.44, and its total expenditures for the same period were $70,442.65. The amount of $652,449.55 had been collected and disbursed during the ten years of operation. The annual meeting of the General Committee of Church Extension was held in Philadelphia, Pa., November 21st and 22d. The corresponding secretary of the Society reported that his receipts for the first ten months of the year 1877 had been $109,003.15 of funds available for use, against $85,499.64 received during a similar period in 1876. The estimates for the ensuing year were fixed at the sum of $137,000. From a report officially published by the Book Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, it appears that the bishops, book-agents, and the principal editors of the Church papers at New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, receive each a salary of $3,000 a year, with an additional allowance for house-rent, varying according to locality; and that the editors of the other Church papers receive salaries ranging from $1,500 to $3,000, with allowances for house-rent to the editors at Syracuse, N. Y., and Atlanta, Ga.; but not to those at Pittsburg, Pa., San Francisco, Cal., and Portland, Oregon. The eighth annual meeting of the Executive Committee of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church was held at Minneapolis, Minn., May 10th. The New England, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Northwestern, and Western branches of the Society were represented. The total receipts for the year had been, as far as was reported, $67,688.37. The periodical of the Society, the Heathen Woman's Friend, had a circulation of 13,312 copies, and reported a balance in hand of $1,826.62. II. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTH. -The annual meeting of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was held at Nashville, Tenn., May 4th. The collections for Foreign Missions for the last twelve months had amounted to $69,000. The sum of $78,662 was appropriated for the ensuing year-June 1, 1877, to June 1, 1878. The sum of $100,000 was assessed upon the Conferences for the purpose of meeting their estimates. The following is a summary of the statistics of the Indian, German, and Foreign Missions of the Board: Indian Mission Conference, embracing the Cherokee, Muskogee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and St. Paul districts: white meinbers, 482; Indian members, 4,142; colored members, 181; local preachers, 90; adults baptized, 438; infants baptized, 459; Sundayschools, 44; teachers in the same, 149; Sunday-school scholars, 972; amount of contributions for missions, the support of preachers, and other purposes, $1,620,82. Two prosperous schools are situated at New Hope, Choctaw nation, and Eufala, Creek nation. German Mission Conference of Texas and Louisiana: missions, 20; churches, 22; value of the churches, $78,850; members, 1,012; infants baptized, 156; members received during the year, 130; Sunday-schools, 23, with 774 scholars; missionary money collected, $941.80. The German missions in Richmond, Va., and Baltimore, Md., reported 101 members, 2 local preachers, 3 Sunday-schools, with 30 teachers and 365 scholars, and 39 baptisms. Cuban Mission (Spanish) at Key West, Fla.: 69 members; 35 Sunday-school scholars. China Mission-four districts, the Shanghai, Naziang, Karding, and Soochow districts, with another, the Chingpoo district, about to be formed: 3 missionaries, 6 native preachers, 6 other native helpers, 5 churches, and 5 rented preaching-places, 104 members, 141 Sundayschool scholars, $61.40 contributed to missions. Mexico City Mission: 2 native traveling preachers, 1 church, 70 members, 30 children in the Sunday-school, and 65 in the day-school. Mexican Border Mission (of the West Texas Conference): 11 stations, or circuits, 10 native missionaries, 253 members, 208 Sundayschool scholars. Brazil Mission: 2 American missionaries; 1 church of English-speaking American emigrants, at Santa Barbara, with 38 members. Preparations are making to prosecute the mission work among the Portuguese. III. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH.-The Methodist Protestant Church was founded, in 1830, by a number of ministers and members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who withdrew from that body on account of dissatisfaction with its polity in not admitting the laymen to representation in the Annual and General Conferences, and with the Episcopal form of government. The articles of religion and order of worship were similar to those of the Methodist Episcopal Church, except that the laymen were given an equal voice with ministers in the law-making assemblies, the presid ing elders and the bishops were abolished, and the election of its own presiding officer was given to each Annual Conference. The Church was divided in 1858, on a question connected with slavery. The 12th article of its constitution restricted the right of voting and being elected to office to "white ministers, preachers, and male members." A petition was presented to the General Conference sitting in that year, from the Western Conferences, for a change in the article by leaving out the word white. This being refused, the Western Conferences amicably suspended official relations with the other Conferences, and two General Conferences were formed, with the same name. At the General Conference of 1866, an effort was made to unite the Northern and Western branch of the Church with the Wesleyan Connection in America. To facilitate this object, the word "Protestant" was dropped from the name of the Northern branch of the Church, and the name of "Methodist Church" was assumed by it. Negotiations for a reunion of the Northern or Methodist Church with the Southern or Methodist Protestant Church were opened in 1874, the result of which was the appointment of a commission to frame a basis of union, to meet at Pittsburgh, Pa., in October, 1875, and the call of conventions of the two bodies to meet at Baltimore, Md., in 1877, to complete the union if it should be agreed upon. The committees on the basis of union met according to their appointment, and agreed upon a basis which seems to have given satisfaction to both branches of the Church, and which has already been noticed in the ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA (see ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA for 1875). The Conventions of the Methodist Protestant and Methodist Churches met at Baltimore, Md., May 10th. The Rev. L. W. Bates, D. D., of Maryland, was elected permanent Chairman of the Methodist Protestant Convention. The Rev. S. B. Southerland, of the Commission of Union of the two Churches, made a statement of the proceedings of the Commission, which was submitted, with the basis of union which had been agreed upon, to the action of the Convention. A discussion ensued upon a question concerning the powers of the Convention, which was settled by the adoption of a resolution That the powers of this Convention are defined in the text of the legal call for its assembly, made by the requisite number of Annual Conferences, as follows: "To make such changes in the 2d, 10th and 14th Articles of the Constitution of the Methodist Protestant Church as may be deemed by said Convention necessary, together with such other alterations in all other articles of the Constitution and Book of Discipline as they may judge proper; and for the further purpose of taking such action as said Convention may decide to be desirable, upon the basis of union agreed on by the Joint Commission of the Methodist Protestant Church." In response to an invitation from the Methodist Convention, a Committee of Conference, consisting of seven members, was appointed, who, on the fourth day of the session, presented the following report, as embodying the result of their deliberations: This report was adopted on the next day, Wednesday, May 16th, by a vote of 58 ayes to 5 nays. The Convention of the Methodist Church also met in Baltimore, May 11th. The Rev. Alexander Clark, D. D., was chosen president. A committee who were appointed to ascertain and define the constitution and powers of the Convention made a report, declaring "that this Convention has been regularly constituted, according to the requirements of Article XI. of the Constitution, and that the representatives composing it are clothed with full conventional powers, and that it has power to discharge all the duties of a General Conference, in addition to the particular object for which the Convention has been assembled." The report was adopted. A committee of seven members was appointed to confer with a similar committee of the Methodist Protestant Convention, and report what action might be necessary to expedite and consummate the union of the Conventions and Churches. This committee presented, as the result of the deliberations of the joint committee, the report which has been given in connection with the proceedings of the Methodist Protestant Convention. The report was adopted, Tuesday, May 15th. In the afternoon of May 16th, the members of the two Conventions met after the adjournment of their respective sessions, and marched in formal procession to a common place of meeting, where the two bodies were organized into one, as the General Convention of the Methodist Protestant Church. The Rev. L. W. Bates, D. D., was elected President of the United Convention. The changes in the articles of association of Adrian College, necessary to secure conformity to the new conditions, were recommended to be made as soon as they could be legally effected. The Missionary, the Ministerial, Educational, and Church Extension Boards of the Methodist Church were adopted as Boards of the General Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church, with the understanding that their charters and titles should be made at, the earliest practicable moments to conform with this relationship. An obstacle to the consummation of the union appeared in North Carolina, where three Conferences, one belonging to the Southern branch and two to the Northern branch of the Church, Resolvet, That the matter of suffrage and eligibil-justed by an arrangement which left the three existed in the same territory. This was adity to office be left to the Annual Conferences respectively; provided that each Annual Conference shall be entitled to representation in the same ratio as in the General Conference; and provided that no rule shall be passed which shall infringe the right of suffrage or eligibility to office. Resolved, That the Joint Committee of Conference recommend to the General Convention of the Methodist Protestant Church and the General Convention of the Methodist Church, now in session, the immediate organic union of the Methodist Protestant and Methodist Churches upon the basis of union set forth in the report of the Joint Commission of the two Resolvel, That the basis of union agreed upon by the Joint Commission of the Methodist Protestant and Methodist Churches at Pittsburgh, Pa., be adopted, and that we interpret that basis of union on the condition of receiving members into the Church to be substantially the Same as is now in the new edition of the Methodist Book of Discipline, the third item relative to children having been inserted in the published basis of union. Churches. Conferences unchanged, as to their boundaries, and secured to each the prerogative of receivany other Conference. The names, however, ing into its body, by vote, any member from of the East North Carolina and West North Carolina Conferences of the former Methodist Church were changed to Deep River and Alleghany Conferences. A communication from the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church calling attention to a proposed Ecumenical Conference of Methodism had been presented to Number of churches, 674; of parsonages, 169; value of church property, $1,494,347. METHODIST PROTES TANT CHURCH. Maryland... North Carolina... Georgia Arkansas and Louisiana. North Mississippi.. Tennessee.. Pennsylvania. both the Conventions before the union. The The following is a summary of the statistics of the two branches of the Methodist Protestant Church as they were published in connection with the official report of the First Convention, held in Baltimore, Md., in May, 1877: Indiana... South Carolina. Southeast Mississippi... Total...... Add Methodist Church.. Number of churches in the Methodist Protestant Church, 677; in the reunited Church, 1,351; value of church property in the Methodist Protestant Church, $1,168,389; in the reunited Church, $2,662,736. The receipts of the Methodist Board of Publication at Pittsburgh, Pa., for 1876, as they were reported to the Annual Council of the Methodist Protestant Church, held at Springfield, Ohio, in July, were $23,524, and left a profit in the hands of the treasurer of $1,912. The receipts of the Board of Missions of the Methodist Protestant Church, Springfield, Ohio, for the year ending June 30, 1877, were $2,641; the amount of assets on hand at the close of the year was $3,173, with liabilities of $148. The receipts of the Board of Ministerial Education of the Methodist Protestant Church, at Pittsburgh, Pa., for the year ending June 30, 1877, were $3,182, and expenditures, $1,908, leaving a balance in the hands of the treasurer of $1,274. The receipts of the Board since its organization, January 19, 1866, to the time of making the report for 1877, were $38,114, and its expenditures $37,291; of which $24,268 had been paid to beneficiaries. The permanent fund amounted to $4,400; the liabilities of the Board were $3,800. The assets of the Board of Church Extension, on July 3, 1877, were $166. IV. WELSH CALVINISTIC METHODIST CHURCH IN THE UNITED STATES.-The following is a summary of the general statistics of this Church, as they were reported to the General Assembly in September, 1877: number of synods, 6; of ministers, 126; of churches, 161; of members, 11,000. The General Assembly met at Chicago, Ill., September 18th. The Synods of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, were represented by equal numbers of ministers and elders, as delegates. The Rev. Rees Evans, of Cambria, Wis., was chosen moderator. The proceedings of the Assembly were conducted in the Welsh language. V. METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN CANADA.-The following is a summary of the statistics of this Church as compiled from the reports of the three Annual Conferences which were held in 1877: Total number of preachers in 1877, 270; of Sunday-schools, 394; of officers and teachers in the same, 2,976; of Sunday-school scholars, 16,346; value of church property, $1,061,964. VI. WESLEYAN CONNECTION.-The annual meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society was held in London, April 30th. Mr. S. D. Waddy, M. P., presided. The report stated that the home receipts for the year had been £122,630, and the foreign receipts (those from the Australasian Conference and mission districts), £23,600, making a total of £146,230. The expenditures had been £164,195. The missions of the Society were divided into two classes: 1. The missions under the immediate direction of the principal committee and the British Conference, situated in Europe, India, China, South and West Africa, and the West Indies; and, 2. Other missions of the Society having also relation to Conferences in Ireland, France, and Australasia. The missions of the former class included 328 principal stations, 389 ministers and assistant missionaries, and 81,706 full members; those of the latter class, 350 principal stations, 440 ministers and assistant missionaries, and 58,211 full members. The mission in Ireland reported 36 ministers, and 3,611 members; that in France, 38 ministers, and 1,987 members. An increase of members was shown in Italy. In Spain the mission was threatened with interruption, but for the present a restricted liberty of worship was allowed. In Portugal, the chapels were filled, the schools were well attended, and some additional members had joined the Church. The German mission had stations in Würtemberg, Baden, Bavaria, Austria, and Silesia, with 2 English and 20 German ministers, 2,358 members, and about the same number of scholars, with about 10,000 attendants on worship. In all the Continental missions there were 53 ministers, with 3,902 members, 4,546 scholars, and 13,666 attendants on worship. In India and Ceylon, 90 stations were manned by 95 missionaries, with about 750 subordinate agents, 3,683 members, and 20,000 scholars. In China, 11 missionaries were reported, with about 30 subordinate agents, 301 members, and 419 scholars. In Southern Africa, 100 missionaries and 300 subordinate agents presided over colonial and mission churches, with more than 16,000 church members, 17,000 scholars, and 90,000 attendants on worship. The missions on the west coast of Africa, including the Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast, employed 31 missionaries and 200 agents, and reported 13,345 members, 9,499 scholars, and about 50,000 attendants. Ninetynine missionaries labored in the West Indian islands (including British Guiana and Honduras), with 270 subordinate agents, 43,920 members, 26,980 scholars, and nearly 150,000 attendants. The High-School in Jamaica promised well. The one hundred and fourth annual Conference of Wesleyan ministers met in Bristol, July 25th. The Rev. William B. Pope, D. D., was elected president. The most important subjects acted upon were those of the representation of the laity in the conference, and of temperance. A committee had been appointed at a previous conference to consider the subject of lay delegation, and prepare a draft of a scheme for such representation for the action of the conference. The scheme prepared by this committee was reviewed by the conference of 1876, referred back for revision, was modified and completed, and was finally presented. It was adopted with but few alterations. It provides for the creation of a conference of two classes, one a conference of ministers only, the other a mixed conference of ministers and laymen, to which different classes of subjects are assigned for consideration. The number of laymen to be elected in each district is to be determined by the preceding conference. Fifteen subjects are specifically described as coming within the exclusive province of the conference when consisting of ministers only. They are such as relate to ministerial or pastoral affairs, or affect the ministerial and pastoral supervision of the connection. Fifteen other subjects, relating to missions, education, and schools, the trust funds, and other matters of kindred nature, as well as the religious observance of the Lord's Day, temperance, and proposed alterations of districts and circuits, against which there is any appeal, are assigned to the mixed conference. A provincial allocation of ministerial and lay delegates was made for the next conference, and a mixed committee was appointed, to sit during the year and report to the next conference". to the principles by which in future the number of ministers and laymen to be elected to attend the conference shall be determined." It was decided that the complete scheme of lay as |