THE WESLEYAN CONFERENCE.
[To THE EDITOR Or THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Meeting in Middlesbrough on the second Wednesday in July, the Wesleyan Conference breaks new ground. This is the first visit of the Conference to that vigorous industrial town. It had, of course, no existence in Wesley's day. Wesley preached in the market-place at Stockton-on-Tees. His com- ment is characteristically frank—" a very large, but very rude congregation. The people, however, grew calmer and calmer, and before long became quiet and serious." Middlesbrough entertains the one hundred and seventy-eighth Conference of the People called Methodists. The Rev. J. T. Wardle Stafford, D.D., retires from the chair after a year of strenuous and splendid service through the length and breadth of Great Britain and Ireland. His successor is the Rev. J. Alfred Sharp, of London. Already the keynote of his presidency has sounded forth. Backed by the Temperance and Social Welfare Department of his Church, he will conduct a highly organized campaign in the interests of temperance, education, and legislation. The secre- tary of the department is the Rev. Henry Carter, whose lucidity, courage, and statesmanship are warmly appreciated among temperance advocates everywhere. A few Wesleyan laymen like the Right Hon. Walter Runciman will assist the President in his unique crusade. One simple statistical fact will refresh the spirit of the Conference. For the first time in a long series of years 'an increased Church membership is re. ported. The total is now 464,945, which is 2,920 more than last year. I have before me the agenda of the Representative Session of the Conference, the session, that is, when laymen as well as ministers are present. This crowded denominational blue-book consists of 361 pages. Not a single page is lifeless. Undoubtedly the most absorbing subject is Methodist Union. The report of the Committees of Inquiry occupies thirty-five pages of information, suggestion, and recommendation. The Archbishop of York will attend the Conference and present officially the Lambeth Appeal. Also a deputation from the local Free Churches will be welcomed. The Mayor and Mayorese of Middlesbrough (Councillor and Mrs. Thos. D. Stewart) extend an official reception.
The Conference laments the loss of a few distinguished ministers and laymen. Two ex-Presidents have died during the year—the Revs. Simpson Johnson and Samuel F. Collier. Mr. Collier's name was a household word in Manchester, where— the most notable exception to the rule by which a Wesleyan Minister removes every three years—he lived and laboured thirty-six years. "Our people die well" is a saying attributed to Wesley. Mr. Collier's hat act was to gather his family round his bed and, weak though he was, lead them in singing the Doxology. At a crowded and solemn In Memoriam service in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, conducted by one of Mr. Collier's oldest and closest friends, the Rev. F. L. Wiseman, B.A., the "Hallelujah Chorus" was sung at the special request of the family. If the Editor of the Spectator can afford once again the hospitality which this writer has long enjoyed at this precise time of the year, the Wesleyan Conference will be in session when this letter appears. It is a thoroughly business and businesslike assembly. The Secretary, the Rev. John E. Wakerley, and his assistant, the Rev. Thomas Kirkup, will facilitate the President's alert direction of affairs.—! am, Sir, Ace.,
Wesley Manse, Canterbury.
J. EDWARD HARLOW.
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