CHAPTER III.

STATISTICS OF EPISCOPAL METHODISM.

SECTION I.

THE NUMBER OF CONFERENCES, &C.

1. THE Methodist Episcopal Church is embraced in one General Conference, which extends from the Canada line on the north and north-west, to the States of Maryland and Virginia on the south-embracing the whole of the former and the western part of the latter; and from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to the Pacific on the west. Prior to the separation of the Southern portion of the Church, the General Conference embraced the whole of the United States and Territories. At present the above are its geographical limits, exclusive of foreign missionary ground.

2. The number of Annual Conferences represented in the General Conference is twenty-nine, exclusive of the California and Liberia Conferences. The following are the names of all the Conferences in the Church:

3. The number of Quarterly Conferences in the Church, i 3,174, exclusive of foreign work. Each of these Quarterly Conferences is under the supervision and presidency of a presiding elder. About the same number of distinct charges, including circuits, stations, and missions, is embraced in the work.

SECTION II.

NUMBER OF BISHOPS, PRESIDING ELDERS, AND PREACHERS,

1844

Edmund Storer Janes, New York City,

2. Presiding elders of these there are 174 in the United States, besides two in Oregon and California, three in Liberia, and one in Germany.

3. Travelling Preachers, including elders, deacons, and preachers of these there are, in the United States and Liberia, 4,129, besides several in Oregon and California.

4. Local Preachers: the number of this highly useful class of men in the Methodist Episcopal Church, exceeds that of the travelling ministers, it being in 1850 not less than 5,420making a total of travelling and local preachers in the church, of 9,549.

In addition to the above, there are 28,139 colored mem-
bers and probationers, including 1,117 in Liberia--making the
total number of members and probationers in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, 703,571, which, being added to the 9,549
preachers as stated in the preceding section, will give the total
number of members, probationers, and preachers, at 711,120.

SECTION IV.

STATISTICS OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SOUTH,

Ir seems proper that we should give, in this chapter, a corensed statement of the statistics of this branch of the Methodist Episcopal Church, inasmuch as it occupies as its field of operations so large a portion of the United States. It has one General Conference, and twenty Annual Conferences, all being in the Southern and South-western slaveholding States. It has four bishops: Joshua Soule, James O. Andrew, William Capers, and Robert Paine; the two former having been bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church previous to the separation, and the two latter having been elected since that period. They have also a Book Concern at Charleston, S. C., with a Branch Concern at Louisville, Ky. They publish five weekly papers, namely, the Southern Christian Advocate, at Charleston; the Richmond Christian Advocate, at Richmond, Va.; the Nashville and Louisville Christian Advocate, at Louisville; the Holston Christian Advocate, at Knoxville, Tenn.; and the Texas Wesleyan Banner, at Houston, Texas. Besides these, they issue from the press at Richmond, the Southern Methodist Quarterly Review; from the press at Nashville, the Southern Ladies' Companion; and from the press at Charleston, the Sunday School Visitor.

The Church South has a very efficient Missionary Society, the head-quarters of which is at Louisville. The number of missionaries among the destitute white population, is 117; among the colored population, 104; among the Indians, 39; among the Germans, 8; two in China, and three in California. These missions embrace a total membership of 59,540 souls. The receipts of the past year, 1850, were about $86,000.*

The receipts for the year 1850-51, amounted to $93,470. Mig sions, 271; missionaries, 244.

SUMMARY OF EPISCOPAL METHODISM.

351

This Church has also a number of flourishing Colleges and Universities Emory College, Ga.; Emory and Henry College, Va.; La Grange College, Ala.; Centenary College, Miss.; Randolph Macon College, Va.; and Transylvania University, Ky.

The number of ministers in the travelling connection at the South, is 1,700; in the local ranks, 3,955; the membership numbers 514,601. They have 1,262 Sunday Schools; 7,409 teachers; and 44,500 scholars. In regard to the latter institution, they are far behind their Northern brethren, while in some other respects their statistics show very favorably.