West-Jersey pioneer., 1872-05-03
GENERAL CONFERENCE.

GENERAL CONFERENCE.
On Wednesday of this week the General
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, consisting of between four and five
hundred members, convened in the City of
Brooklyn. AS the attendance would be
lay delegates from all points of the Union,
and great many people from the adjacent
State of New York it was concluded that
there was no churcl, Of the denomination in
the city of sufficient dimensions to suitably
accommodate the multitudes and the Acad-
emy of Music, the largest and finest public
building in the place was secured. There
were some objections on account of the cost,
$4,000, being charged for its use, and an
other still more serious one from the fact
that it was used the largest part of the time
as theatre, and indeed would be used for
this purpose almost every evening during
the sittings of the conference, as it's con-
tract only included the day time, one of the
objectors irreverantly remarked that it was
putting religion and the world-the Lord
and the Devil little too close together ei-
ther for comfort or reputation, but the gen.
erous Brooklyn Methodists did not see it
and the Academy was engaged despite of
appearances. 1t is a fine, large commodious
building. although subject to the objection
necessarily inhering in all such buildings.
of imperfect acoustical power The ar
rangements for the transmission of sound
are all made in view of the style. and gen
orally, the less that can be heard from any
other quarter the better. In this case how
ever it would be much pleasanter state of
affairs if the ministers sitting in the audi
torium could easily be heard, but as the
most of them have strong, well practicetl,
and resonant voices, they usually contrive
to make their utterances distinct and clear.
The Lay element now, for the first time,
comes into open and legalized position ir,
the law making of the Church. Practically
they have always exerted controlling in.
fuence on Methodistic legislation, for no
unpopular law could be maintained where
the purse strings were only subject to vol
untary opening, but now they participate
directly in the framing of laws, where be-
fore they simply controlled them by moral
power. There has been no quibbling. no
unnecessary or We xatious delays in their ad-
mission to the position to which they were
fairly entitled, but the opposers of the SEN
timent joined hands with those who favored
it and, accepting situations, admitted the
lay delegates at once to seats and votes be-
side their brethren in the ministry.
A good many questions will be discussed,
with the expectation of large and radical
change in the working of many parts of the
Church economy. But to the intense cha
grin of those who have desired to remodel
the distinctive features of their ecclesiasti-
cism, the laymen, in almost every instance,
have pronounced against such remodeling,
and there is little probability of any further
changing of the rules than is necessary to
conform them to the charges of the Society
and the rapid advance of the Church. We
shall endeavor to give our readers from
week to week general synopsis of the do
ings as they progress, commenting upon
anything which we may deem of special
importance to the public.
A number of the delegates are colored
bnt evidently they are men who are able
to fairly represent their race, and prove by
their good sense that they are not unwor-
thy to sit with their white brethren in the
legislation, which, though ecclesiastical,
most largely affect their race for all it's
American future. The Bishops all look
worn down, as indeed they have been, by
the excessive labor that is forced upon
them during the last two years. The death
of so many of their colleagues, the super
annuation of others, has placed upon three
or four men an amount of work not sup
posed possible for less than eight, and yet
with scarcely an interruption they have un-
complainingly gone through the labor In
some instances Bishop would hold four
teen annual conferences in as many consec-
utve weeks, each one lasting from five to
seven days, and involving an average sta
tioning ola hundred and twenty five preach
ers weekly. All the time of the morning
occupied in presiding over the deliberations
of delberated body, who hold him strict
ly responsible for every ruling-each after
noon occupied in the perplexing end deli
cate work of stationing the preachers, and
every evening employed often until after
midnight in receiving committees and an
swering such correspondence as is indispen-
sable to their Office. Every Sabbath taxes
them with two ordinations and amid all
this there was the superintendent of the
missions, and the oversight of the general
work of the denomination. The wonder
is, that they are living at all. The Confer
ence now being held, of which Rev. l. D.
King, of Bridgeton, is leading delegate,
is understood to be the most important one
held since the organization of the denom-
ination, if we except the one held in 1874,
when the great separation of the church
into North and South, was inaugurated,
and possibly the enc held during war, when
the emphatic utterances of loyalty by the
body, did SO much to encourage the heart
of the martyr President in the preservation
of the Union.
ERUPTION OF MOUNT VEsUvIUs.-This
ancient volcano has again broken loose,
and poured out streams of melted lava from
its crater. Several cities and towns at the
base of the mountain have been totally de-
Str and MANY of tha iul a l,it ntS ha 70