their report of the amount raised within their respective bounds for the Bible Society, and in many places the Methodist congregations co-operate in connection with other churches and congregations, in making collections; so that no distinction can be drawn between the contributions of the one, or the other. From the reports of the twenty-two conferences who have made returns, we learn that there was raised, in the year 1850, within their bounds, the sum of $19,330. If to this we add $5,000, as the probable amount raised in the six conferences not reporting, the total receipts from the Methodist Church in the North, will exceed $24,000. To this should properly be added the receipts from the Methodist Church South, which would swell the aggregate to between forty and fifty thousand dollars for the past year.

CHAPTER II.

LITERARY INSTITUTIONS OF METHODISM.

SECTION 1.

COLL

UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES.

1. Ar an early period in the history of the Methodist Episcopal Church-as may be learned from the historical part of this work-strenuous efforts were put forth by Bishops Coke and Asbury, for the proper establishment of a Methodist college; and notwithstanding the promising aspect of things as connected with Cokesbury College for awhile, yet the hopes of these men of God, and the lovers of education in the church, were doomed to disappointment by the repeated destruction by fire of that institution. The failure in this early attempt in favor of education, produced discouragement in the church, and for a period of over thirty years, but little appears to have been done by the Methodist Church toward the establishment of colleges and seminaries of a higher grade.

2. The first Methodist minister in the United States who had enjoyed the benefits of a regular college education, was the late Rev. Wilbur Fisk, D.D., who graduated at Brown University in Rhode Island, in 1815. In 1818, Fisk joined the travelling connection, and after a few years' itinerant labor, was under the necessity of retiring from the field of active labor as a preacher. In 1825, having regained his health, he was called by the church to take charge of the Wilbraham Academy in Massa

chusetts. From this period, the cause of education in the Methodist Episcopal Church was onward, and it is not too much to say, in honor of the memory of the dead, that to no man, living or dead, does the Methodist Church owe more for his efforts in the cause of education, than to Wilbur Fisk, while principal of the above named academy, and especially while President of the Wesleyan University, in Middletown, Conn.

The following is a list of the Universities and Colleges under the patronage of the Methodist Church in the Northern and Western States:

THIS institution was opened in April, 1847, in Concord, N. H. The design contemplated in its formation, is the education of young men for the ministry in the Methodist Church. The object is not to call young men to the ministry, but to prepare more fully for the work in which they are about to engage, those young men who have previously been called by God and his church, to take upon themselves the sacred office. Hence, none are received as students, unless they bring a certificate from a quarterly or annual conference, of their being licentiates. Candidates for admission are also required to possess a previous

LIST OF ACADEMIES.

345

knowledge of the common and higher branches of an English education, with the elements of the Greek language. The course of study is full, and particular attention is paid to the Scriptures in the original tongues. The endowment consists of bonds, notes, &c., to the amount of $33,000, the interest of which is applied annually for the support of the Institute. No tuition is required of any student, and although but in its infancy, a larger number of students are connected with it, than with any other similar institution in New England, excepting Andover. The number of professors is three, and of students, in July, 1851, fifty-four. John Dempster, D.D. of the Black River Conference, is the senior Professor, or President.

SECTION III.

SEMINARIES, ACADEMIES, &C.

ABOUT the year 1821, an academy, partly under Methodist patronage, was established in New Market, N. H.; and in 1825 the Wilbraham Academy, before mentioned, was organized, and the New Market Academy was merged in the same. Since that period, the number of Methodist seminaries, academies, and high schools, of a respectable literary character, have been organized from time to time, in different parts of the country. The following is a list of the same, with their places of location: