The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-05-19
LAYMEN'S CONVENTION.

Annual Gathering of Methodists in Meriden--The Presiding Elders Re
 port.
 The annual convention of the laymen of the New Haven district of the M. E. church was held in Meriden yesterday at the First M. E. church. There were about seventy-five laymen and layWo- men and number of ministers in at- tendance.
 The report of the presiding elder, Rev. Crandall J. North, was read by the elder. The salient points of the re- port are as follows:
 In more than the usual number of in-. stances the health of the preachers has been seriously disturbed, but all have recovered except Rev. Thomas E Gill; bert pastor of St. PauFs church, Wa | terbury, who died Saturday, February | 26.
 | In the deaths of l.. Marsden Leach of Durham George H. Woods of Milford, | Amos H. filling of Derby and William l Mcclellan of St. Andrews, New Haven, 1 the churches have suffered incalculable l loss.
 l Though the general financial situa- | ton has much improved, many church. | es have had scarcely less difficulty than l in other years since the present hard l times began. Praise is duly given the Torrington church for it's magnificent work in raising nearly $20,000 and inn proving it's church. Watertown church is also raising money for church inn ! provement. Waterville and West Hart land have dedicated churches and many other improvements in other places are 1 mentioned,
 In referring to the furore created by the announcement that during 1897 the gain in members of the church had dropped to the insignificant figure of | 19,73S (which is very small when it is considered the membership Is 2,S00,000 and the annual increase had been be- tween 100000 and 100000, the report showed that the falling off was not due 1 to the failure of new members to come in, but to correction of the church rec ords by the pastors. The general con 1 ference which met in Cleveland in 1896 ordered all members marked as Re moved without certificate" to be drop ped from the number reported, The l New York East conference minutes | credited the New Haven district with contributing 8S6 to the apparent decline, | that figure showing the difference be- | tween the losses of 1897 and the gains of the previous year.
 Correction of one or two clerical er- TOTS in the statistical table transform- ed the alleged loss of 42 into gain of BOA and reduced the disparity between the gains of two years to $40. Convinc- ed that no such decline had taken place investigation showed it due to correc- ] tion of the records.
 The presiding elder expects similar apparent decrease this year owing to correction of the records. Some of the churches which have cut off the largest number of names have continued to ad- vance in numerical strength, notably | First church of Waterbury and First church of Meriden.
 Statistics show the years progress about as follows:
 | Increase of members in 42 churches. .55S Decrease of members in churches. 153 | Apparent net gain. n...................4 400 Members marked Removed with
 out certificate'' ....................43 439 Approximate actual gain for the ! year ..................... ..........., .S89
 About twenty-five churches report no increase or decrease during the year.
 At o'clock the public session was opened. The address of welcome was delivered by Gilbert Rogers and re- sponded to by Hon. George H. Cowell of Waterbury, Then followed a num- Der of six minute discussions by visit ing laymen.
 At 3:30 J. M. Bulwinkle of Brooklyn, N. Y, addressed the meeting, his sub ject being Taking the City" The idea was the extension of revival work. He was followed by Rev. George Lansing Taylor, D. D., the doctors subject being "The New Pastor"
 EVENING MASS. MEETING.
 Last evening a mass meeting was held at the church, presided over by Cephas B. Rogers. The church was handsomely decorated with flowers and plants, and large flag was draped over the choir rail. The programme was as | follows:
 1 7:30-Devotional service.
 7:45-Address, The Larger Methodism.' .''
 Rev. J. W. Johnston, D. D., Meri-
 den.
 l S:15-Address, "Sainthood and Citizen
 ship" Hon. w. H. Beach, Jersey
 City, N. J.