American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1877-11-03

address. which " As lis clietl TO will. marked
attention.
Sh loh hur:h V as then ,mitted in our
Conference.
The Elders address was as follows:
Mtm1ers of The 9ffican Methodist Episcopal
ZION Chmch-BrethreR IN Christ We have
again assembled i'll district conference, to
regulate the business of this conference
district. Now allow me to .outter the same
sentence that l uttered to you in Sharon
ut our district conference last year. God
has been unspeakably kind to us the past
year to spare our lives and health amid all
our iniirmitieS and short coniEgs: and
how grateful we ought to be to Him for the
loving care and undiminished sohc1tude
with which His guardianship has been eX-
erriSed over US. Let us search and try our
ways, that we may the more earnestly and
deyOutly lift up our heart with Jour hands
uuto the God of Glory" Let us come be-
fore His presence with thanksgiving, and
sentJr into his courts with praise" &C
knowledging Him in all our ways, that lie
may VouchSafe to direct us in all our paths.
We will now notice the state of the Church
in this District He are gratifed in view
of the progress made by our beloved Zion
Church the last year. When we behold
how the little number which started out of
John street. New York, in the year 1895, on
account of prejudice, and have increased
fIom a handful comparatively, to moro than
two hundred thousand members, and the
Annual Conference which was formerly
composed of but six ministers is now in
creased to the large number of seventeen
Annual Conferences and over two thousand
ministers. We marvel at the grace of God
to see how it is manifested toward this
humble branch of ChrisL's Church. We
revere the memory of that distinguished
man, Joshua r. Soule, late Bishop of the
NJ. f. Church South, for the active part he
took as secretary of the first several con-
ferences in assisting to plant this Church
on the firm foundation Of the genuine
Wesleyan Methodist. and rejoice that after
an existence of eighty-one years its princi-
pies are such as to command the respect of
| the entire Methodist family. In the year
| 1886, when the cOlOred members of the
| NJ f. Church in the city of New York in
| creased. aud feeling a desire tor the priyi-
! l4ge Of holding meetings of their own,
| where they might have an opportunity to
| exercise their spiritual gifts among them
selves, Thereby be more useful o. to an
| other, a few of our most intelligent breth-
reu obtained permission from Bishop Fran
els Ashbury to hold meetings by themselves
| in the interval of the regular preaching
days. We call this Il colored church, that
is for all colored people, and l say that all
colorcd people OF African decent should
look to this branch as church for their
elevation. You may ask the white man
and he will tell you this Is your church.
| He have in this district alone more churc h
property than any other colored Methodist
people in the whole State of Mississippi.
willfurther say to you, that have been
kindly cared for in the way of feeding, but
nv means are very much declined. | am
now in great need of the money that
this Conference promised to pay me,
which you know was % cents per quarter
from each member. / have not got it, and
hope this Conference will sec to it that
get it before l 90 to the next Annual Con
fere nee. which will meet in Coffeeville,
Miss, in DecembeV coming.
(CORclHded merit lCeek.