The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-07

caught some of the fervor and strong independent faith of those who repre- sent the more prosperous churches of America, and they will surely also have taken a few useful lessons in the Amer
 ican style of oratory. while American Methodists may well have learned from the English lessons of thoughtfulness, | scholarship, conservation of force and steady bulldog persistency under diff l faculties.
 | In legislation nothing was possible. | The conference could pass no resolution that would bind to any course of action 1 any one of the churches represented in it. All it could do was to consider, l discuss and advise, and the latter 1 function it has exercised so sparingly 1 that really it's recommendations are al most nil. But its educational effects
 can not fail to be very great indeed. 1 For this worlds conference of Metho- dists. Methodism everywhere will un- doubtedy be a greater power for good. Undoubtedly too have the delibera-
 tions of this great gathering advanced
 the cause of Methodist union. Yet in
 none of these directions will it's chief
 service be found That must be looked
 for rather in the opportunity it af-
 forded, greatly enhanced by the pail of
 mourning that fell over it, for represen-
 tatives of the two great English speak ing nations to show to each other how much they are agreed in heart and aim, and how desirable it is that with in- creasing warmth as the years go they should stife envy and harmoniza differ ences by always saying, We be brath- ren.''
 As to the effect of the conference upon Methodists themselves it will surely have helped them not little by the enormous figures it put out relative to their growth and present numerical strength. These statistics were gath cred with great care by a special com mittee. Dr. H. K Carroll and Bishop Arnett were the American enumerators, and there were two from Great Britain From the findings of this committee we learn that in the western section there are 4, ,064 travelling preachers 4G,884 To- | cal preachers, and members to the number 6,427 361, with church property | valued at something more than hun dred and eighty million dollars. For the eastern section the showing is much smaller in some things, viz, 6,276 | 5S,413 lay preachers, 1,221 S24 | members, and church property estima- ted to be worth twenty-four million | pounds.
 Not content to tell us that their to- tai membership for the world is 7,659. 2S5, these ambitious followers of John f Wesley, who seem at any rate, what ever their other shortcomings, not to have neglected the scriptural command to increase and multiply, then calmly proceed to estimate the probable num- her of their adherents, II is claimed that in America there are at the rate of three and a half adherents for every and the basis of computation for Great Britain and the colonies is four adherents for every member. There were many in the conference who thought the basis of computation in both countries was too high, and some thought it sign of denominational vanity that the number of adherents should have been taken into account at Ill. We know" they said, "how many members we have. bua can only give m opinion as to the number of our ad- lerents who are not members; so why 7, lot let that question rest?" But these rrepressible Methodists didn't let it est, and the final figures put out by the for the Methodist of all the world are: Members, 7659 2S5, and ad- lerents, who are not members, 24 S99,- 21.
 HENRY TTTCKTF