Morning journal and courier., 1891-10-01
CONFERENCE OF mETHoDIsM.

CONFERENCE OF METHODIsM. A Notable Gathering From All Lands
 and Climes-Women Not Allowed
 10 Take Part-Interesting Statistics
 of the Denomination.
 LEXINGTON, Ky, Sept. 2S.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 The Ecumenical Methodist conference, which meets in Washington, D. O., Octo- Der 7-21, will be in some respects the most notable gathering ever held on the American continent. The delegates will number five hundred, and, of these, two hundred will come from abroad, mostly, of course, from Great Britain, where Methodism was born. These delegates will be the picked men of the Methodist forces from two hemispheres. Among the clerical representatives will be great church editors, skilled exegets, presidents of colleges and universities, any number of brilliant pulpit lights, and literally, bishops and other ecclesiastical dignitaries by the score. And equally distinguished, if not more so, will be the personnel of the lay contingent. Great Britain will send not a few members of parliament, and some even, like H. H. Fowler, M. P, who are among the ablest Geutenants of the great Gladstone. She has also delega- ted to this assembly some of her brightest others whose names have become house. hold words in England from their promi nent connection with great social and phil anthropic reforms This is the sort of men Great Britain is sending, and that these will be matched, and even eclipsed, by those representing the various branch es of American Methodism, is, of course, @ foregone certainty.
 The American delegates will represent not only every branch of Methodism in our land. but every section of the Ameri can republic. The south will be there in equal ratio with the north, and the two sections may be expected to vie with each other, as they did at the first Ecumenical held in London ten years ago, not only in sending their most distinguished men, but in friendly competition for oratori- cal honors, as well as in the more holy contest for first place in the great modern march of fraternity. The Methodism of the United States is peculiarly favored in the large number of men it can muster who are prominentin political life. Hence it contributes to this gathering, not only judges asd governors, but those who have won fame in the house of representatives at Washington, and some even who will appear before their brother delegates clothed in senatorial dignities.
 And what sn immense constituency these distinguished men will represent! The lowest estimate allows the Methodists of the world an aggregate of five million members, and a population aggregsting twenty millions. The bulk of these, as a matter of course, are on this continent, the various Methodist churches in Great Britain representing only about one-ffth of these totals. Since the first Ecumeni- cal the aggregate of Methodist communi- cants has been swollen by number equal to the present strength of that cause in the land which gave it birth. Thus, while old England enjoys the distinction of hay ing been the cradle of this sect, the sphere of it's greatest development and widest in huence has unquestionably been found in the vast territory and unrivslled social conditions of the United States. And fancy these Methodists rolling up their to- | tals among us at the rase of 0 million in a decade! In these days of record making and record breaking, how is that for re- cordl Where this progress will stop, these | marvelously aggressive people have not l told us, and the probabilities are it will | not stop at all, but will go on as it has been doing, if not more so.
 Next to the surprise one feels to learn | how numerous are these Methodists, is the | sense of astonishment which is felt upon I Joo to hnu thax- I |, vided. In presence of the facts brought | to light by this worlds conference, the | advocates of organic unity may we'll be staggered. At the time these Ecumenicals | were projected it was thought they would have benefcient effect in helping to bring these scattered Methodists closer to- gether and in hastening the time when they would be organicslly one. And upon British Methodists they unquestionsbly have had this effect, both in Canada and \ in the mother-land. When 1t is noted however, that in the approaching confer, | ence the Methodist forces in the United | States alone will find themselves divided into sixteen different camps, and when in | connection with these divisions the fact of their marvellous progress is borne in mind
 who of us can be quite sure that organic
 union is, after all, thing to be desiredl
 Still, for better or for worse, such a un ion is certainly coming, if the current oi
 events does not wholly mislead us Amongst the Canadian brethren it has al | ready been realized, and how significant | that the act which welded these Canadian | Methodists should have been consummated
 within two years after their friendly con
 tact with one another in that first worlds
 conference at London. Who can tell
 moreover, but that this second Ecumeni
 cal will lead to similar result in England | In America we need not look for such
 blending of forces for many years. Some
 think such union will never be realized
 in this country, and some do not wish it
 believing, with plausible show of reason
 that the cause is stronger for practica
 service ss it is. But in the old country i
 is different. The Methodist bodies ther'
 are relatively much weaker than they ar,
 here. They labor, too, under peculisrl,
 union would be the best thing for 8 mum
 Der of comparatively small sects, who, il
 addition to the resistance they meet iron
 the world, have also a powerful stat
 church to contend against, is proposition which can hardly be disputed. In Eng
 land it is hardly disputed; and from tn
 amount of courting they have indulged fo
 several years, it would not surprise us il , the least if, before very long, the Britis Methodists, following the lead of thei
 brethren in Canada, got so closely togethe
 as to join hands in eternal wedlock.
 The three hundred delegates who vii represent American and Canadian Metho !, dism are apportioned amongst the variou bodies as follows: Methodist Episcops church, one hundred and twenty-si,
 Methodist Episcopal church, south, sixty
 f3ur; African Methodist Episcopal churcf t eighteen; African Methodist Episcopa
 Zion, fifteen; Colored Methodist Episc' : pal, nine; Union American Methods y Episcopal, three; African Union Meth, r dist Protestant, three; Methodist Prote
 tant, nine; American Wesleyan, six; Fr, f Methodist, three; Congregational Meth p dist, three; Methodist church, Canad