“The growth of the Methodist Episcopal Church in the Southern States since the close of the late war is one of the marvels of modern Church history. Nineteen years ago—1864—the Church had within the border States of Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri, 332 effective preachers, 71,037 white communicants, and 18,770 colored members. Now, in the sixteen former slave States and the District of Columbia, she has twelve conferences among the whites, with 693 effective preachers, and 170,710 communicants; thirteen conferences among the colored people, with 678 effective preachers, and 186,326 members. To these must be added three mixed conferences—two in Missouri and one in Florida—with 218 effective preachers, and 41,054 members, most of whom are white persons. These altogether make 28 annual conferences, with 1,589 effective preachers, and 398,090 communicants. “This vast membership represents a following throughout the South of not less than 2,000,000 of people. Taking the South as a whole, this membership and following are divided about equally between the white and colored races—about 203,000 white members, and about 195,000 colored members. In the border States our strength is more largely among the white people; in our new Southern work, in the eleven States where the Church had nothing at the close of the war, our development has been larger among the colored people; but in these eleven States a white membership of 51,961 has been gathered. Over 3,500 new church buildings have been erected on what was slave territory in 1860. The increase in Church parsonage property has been $6,282,723, and of membership 308,183. This is an average of over 20,000 members and $350,000 annually. “Nearly one-fourth of the entire membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church is now on what was slave territory, where, but a few years ago, the Church had no existence except in a few localities. “Not less remarkable has been the educational development of our Church in the South. Since the late war, 48 colleges and seminaries have been established, and in these there are 194 instructors and over 6,000 young men and women. Of these schools 24 are among the colored people, and 24 among the white people. These latter have been established almost entirely by our white members themselves. These 48 institutions of learning are nearly one-third in number of all the institutions of learning of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and have in them 25 per cent of all persons being taught by our Church.