The Cecil Whig., 1886-03-13
THE CONFER ENCE..
Wilmington Eighteenth Annual
Session Closed.

Report oi the Proceedings, Which In
clutes All but the First Da, Cristeld
Nd. the Place for Its Nc>i Session
List of Appointments.
The report OF the conference i'll Til
WHIy of last week only covered the iirs
days proceedings.
The morning session of Friday wa!
opened by preaching by Rev. II. II
Adams. Tnc business session began
' o'clock, Bishop MallalIeu presiding.
The publication of a paper entitle,
"The History Of Methodism at Snow
Ill.," by Rev. T. Snowden Thomas
whica was to have been read 1t the His
torical anniversary, WAS r,qit ted by the
Conference.
\ paper from the quarterly conference
of Scott Church, Wilmington, recon-
mending that the parchmcutS of Rev
| Waugh Smith (Yoluntarily surrendered
to the confereuce) be returned TO him
GA notion Of Presiding Elder Hill, he
was ly Il Unanimous vote Icinstated II
the conference.
\ paper Sigurd by John +. Mowbray
was presented to the coutrrcLce. Ia it he
consented to Withdraw from the confer
ence at tbs session. An Effort was made
by his counsel 70 withdraw TIE paper
After a spirited debate, the paper was
accepted 10y the conference, and Mr.
Mowhray ; name entered on the minutes
as "wlthdrawn under charges.
The Rev. John France, Presiding Elder
of Easton district, read his report. All
| the ministers on the district had enjoyed
good health except [. ID. Johnson. Tnere
were revivals at many Of the churches
and new members received at all. The
most successful revival was ut Centre
vile, where over 100 had been converted.
| The building of new church at Easton
is under consideIat There were dur
| ing the year about 500 conversions, and
30 probationers were received: 5G3 per-
sons were admitted into full member.
!
ship; 50, 100 was spent in Improvements
to churches and parsonagcs. The gen
eral depression in business, and particu-
iarly the poor state Of the oyster trade,
some of the churches Class meetings
are rot as well attended as they should
be. \ serious matter affecting the MOI =
ality Of the people in some parts Of the
district is the great corruption i'll politics
the buying and selling of votes. The
preachers are making Il strong fight
against it Local option prevails in much
of the territory, aud the clergy in the
other sections are struggling for it. There
were three camp meetings on the dis
trict. 1t is doubtful whether they were
very advantageous to religion, and unless
they can be conducted according to the
discipline they should be discontinued.
The Rev. DR.. kidder, Corresponding
Secretary of the Board of Education, and
several members of the Philadelphia
Conference wcrc introduced to the con-
ference
Dir. \. :. Hunt, Of the american Bible
Society, then addressed tie conference.
Presiding Elder A.W. Milby, of Dover
district, read his report. Six hundred
persons had been admitted IN probation
in the district during the year. y large
percentage of probationers were received
into full membership.
The anniversary of the Woman's For
eign Missionary Society was held in the
afternoon, Rev. w. II. Thompson presid-
ing. Addresses were delivered by Mrs
Julia Lore McGrew, at one time a mis-
sionary in India: Mrs. E. B. Stevens of
Wilmington, secretary of the society OF
this conference, and Rev. Thomas f.
Terry.
At night the anniversary of the Edu-
catlonal Society was held, the Rev. Adam
Stengle IN the chair. Rev. w. w. W.
Wilson read a paper entitled ''Our Edu-
cationaI Baneficiaries and How Best to
Aid Them" lie related the work of the
Wilmington Conference Educational So
ciety, and told under what condition
young men could receive aid from it
The Rev. DR.. kidder also spoke at some
length. Ignorance, he said, is foe to
God and d curse to man. Church and
educational work should not be cousid-
cred separately. In whatever form Of
Christian work we enter we become
teachers.
On Saturday morning Rev. Mr.. Wal
ton conducted the devotional services.
and preached a sermon.
On motion, a committee ON Conference
Endowment Funds of one minister and
one layman from each district, was ap
pointed, the Presiding Elders naming
the persons, Wilmington district being
represented by the Rev. n VI. Browne
and Francis y. Ellis, Esq.
The publication in the Pv,ih>ulo NTH.
odtst of an article prepared by the Rev.
J. p. Otis on THE History OF the Meth
odist Church in Elkton" was requested.
J. \. s. Wilson, Presiding Elder OF the
Salisbury district, read his report. No
ministers on the district nor their wives
died during the year. There were in all
1859 conversions. Those admitted oil
probation numbered 9i2, and those re
ceived into full membership 5G3: s13 SOP
had been spent on improvements to par
sopages and churches \ church had
been built at Pucomoke City costing
So, 800, and one completed at Franklin.
Rev. \. ID. Davis at Frank ford had 140
conversions. Tnis clergyman had Wit
messed the conversion of >, 100 souls dur
| ing his ministry. The Elder said Mr.
| Davis Was about sixty years OF age, and
that a real live old man is the liyeIiest
man alive Twenty-four thousand
| eight hundred aud three dollars had been
raised for ministerial support. The mis-
sionary collections exceeded the appor.
tionment by sl,O42 All the other collec
tions we've in advance of the previous
year, excepting that for the Woman's
Foreign Missionary Society, in which
there was falling off. The prosperity
of the churches was remarkable, consid
ering the low prices paid for grain and
the almost ruined oyster interest
Rev. A. d. Davis arose and requested
that he be sent into a barren part Of til,
Virginia peninsula on mission, and so