The other event of the year was the meeting of the second Oecumenical Conference in October, at Washington, in the country where Methodism obtained great triumphs.  The Conference lasted twelve days, like its predecessor; the opening sermon, prepared by the Rev. William Arthur, was read for him, Mr. Arthur’s voice being too weak to be heard; and the President of the United States gave a reception at the Executive Mansion, and also visited the Conference.  Many topics of deep interest were discussed on this occasion, and not the least attractive subject was the statistical report presented.  The difficulty of estimating the actual strength and influence of Methodism is very great.

In the present year the membership of the Wesleyan Methodists, for Great Britain and Ireland, is estimated at 494,287; of other Methodist bodies in the United Kingdom at 373,700; the affiliated Conferences of Wesleyan Methodists in France, South Africa, the West Indies, and Australasia at 212,849, being 1,942 for France, 62,812 for South Africa, 50,365 for the two West Indian, and 97,730 for the Australasian Conferences.  American Methodism in all its branches, white and coloured, returns a membership of 5,573,118, while the united Methodism of Canada shows 272,392, and the foreign missions of British Wesleyan Methodism 52,058 members.  These figures, giving a total of 6,978,404 members, exclusive of the ministers, estimated at 43,368, are sufficiently gratifying; yet they do not represent the real strength of the Church at large, and give only a faint idea of its influence.

The Oecumenical Report gave the number of Methodist “adherents” as 24,899,421, intending, by the term adherents, those whose religious home is the Methodist chapel, though their visits to it be irregular.  For the British Wesleyans the two millions of sittings were supposed to represent the number of adherents (yet should all the occasional worshippers wish to attend at once, it may be doubted if they could be accommodated); for the other branches of Methodism in the United Kingdom, four additional persons were reckoned to each member reported.  The statistics for Ireland and Canada were checked by the census returns.  Probably in the case of missions the adherents would be more than four times the membership.  Varying principles were adopted for the United States, and the adherents reckoned at less than four times the members reported.  Should we to-day treat the returns of membership on the same principle (Sunday scholars being now as then included in the term “adherents “), we should find nearly thirty millions of persons in immediate touch with Methodism and strongly bound to it.  Compare these figures with those of 1837, and we must exclaim, “What hath God wrought!”