AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH. American Methodist', from the beginning of their history, labored diligently for the conversion and elevation of people in the United States, both n. and s., thousands of whom are now in com munion with the M. E. church. In 1816, a company of them, with the hope of being freer and more useful as a separate denomination, called a convention in Philadelphia, which organized the African M. E. church. Richard Allen, who had been a Methodist minister for 17 years, was chosen bishop, and was ordained by five presbyters. A second bishop, Morris Brown, was elected in 1828, and a third, E. Waters, in 1836. The doctrines and, with some unessential modifications, the government of the M. E. church are retained. The church has continued to grow, and many of its preachers have been able men. The abolition of slavery, with the kindred changes that accompanied it, has greatly enlarged its territory and added to its members. In 1864, preliminary measures for a
union with the A. M. E. Zion church were taken by both parties, to be ratified at the next meeting of their general conferences in 1868. The union. however, did not then take place. In 1876, a plan of union with the independent Methodist church was adopted, to be followed (it was hoped) by the admission of all the independent churches in Canada and the United States. The number of young men who arc studyino. for the ministry is increasing. The Christian Recorder, the church newspaper, enlarged and improved, is prepared entirely by colored men. An educational department has been instituted, and the effort to supply the schools with competent teachers of the African race will be dili gently prosecuted.