Methodism has been a great educational force in this country. It took its rise in a university, and its leaders were trained in the oldest of English universities. The Methodist zeal for higher education has put her in the front ranks of the moral and educational forces of the age. Though among the youngest of Christian bodies of this country, the magnitude and extent of her educational work is second to none. The Methodist Episcopal Church comprises less than one-half of the Methodists in the United States, yet she has 49 institutions of collegiate grade, with property and endowment of over $17,000,000, and from the 6,000 students there are sent out annually 1,500 graduates with the Bachelor's degree. In 1892, she had 195 institutions of learning of every grade, with property and endowment valued at $26,000,000, with 2,343 professors and teachers and 40,026 students. "The increase in population in the United States from 1880 to 1890 was 26.7 per cent.; for the same period the increase of students in college classes in all schools in the United States was 53.1 per cent.; in all Methodist schools in the United States, 52.3 per cent." It is certainly a hopeful indication of the ambition and lofty purpose of Methodist youth that one-eighth of the whole number of students of the Johns Hopkins University are Methodists, seeking the broadest educational facilities. A church with such a record will not lose her hold upon the intellect and scholarship of the age. Methodism has wisely undertaken to establish the American University in Washington City. The founding of such a university was the dream of Washington and other great statesmen. This is the most strategic educational center in America. The scientific and literary treasures of the government, aggregating a cost of more than $33,000,000, and maintained at an annual expense of three and one-half millions of dollars, will be at the service of this university. The funds of the university will not be tied up in expensive buildings and equipment, but, like the great German universities, employed in paying enthusiastic professors of the broadest scholarship and culture to instruct graduate students in every department of learning, and to widen the horizon of knowledge. This is certainly one of the most magnificent opportunities in the history of the Christian Church to establish a powerful and comprehensive agency to help uphold and expand and organize a Christian civilization. It will gain an increasing power through coming generations.