Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-11-26

churches are congregational in thei
government, and questions of Churc
psIty not really decided by the congre
cation are referred to the district meet
ings: Each church Of any district, say
for illustration, the Western District q
Pennsylvania, sends two delegates
tho district meeting, which is held an
nually IL rotation among the churches
At such 2 meeting there would be fort,
or ffty delegates, representing half q
many churches, from some Of whicl
queries would come up for decisive an
swersi and perhaps from all. The quea
lions range over wide field and ar
mainly OF an ecclesiastical character
A question may be sent to district gath
erlng like this: How Is it cOnsidere,
Tor ofetAren to post notices on thei
larms warning trespassers off unde
penalty Of the law? Answered by tn
body, that 1t cannot be. ss the MOTTO
implies an appeal to civil law, which i
forbidden, the Dunkards being q non
litigant body.
When = query cannot be decided b.
the disttict meeting it goes up to tn
great annual Meeting for disposition
and the answer there governs the entir
60 ,OOO, and he who refuses to accept th,
rulings Of the wisdom of the Church
there assembled may be, and frequently
Is, expelled from membership.
The district meetings, or the delegates
elect by secret ballot two of their number
to represent them at the annual meet
ing and the sum of the delegates 81
elected constitute the standing commit
tee, q body of great power and infiuenc,
in the rulinQN of the Churoh
The last annual meeting was held al
North Manchester, Indiana, and mo-
less than twenty thousand people were
In attendance. Now, to illustrate its
workings, suppose the Western district
Of Pennsylvania referred to the annual
meeting the question of the farm notices
aboS 9 referred to for final and authorita.
tive disposition. The question and thu
answer as given are read by the proper
person to the vast multitude in the
tabernacle erected for the purpose.
"You have heard the query and the an.
swer; what shall be done with it?n A
multitude of voices cry "Pass it; pass
it." The Moderator says: II hear
voices saying, Pass it, and I hear nc
objecting voices, and-it-is passed -
This and all else is taken down by an
expert photographer and is printed in
what is called the minutes of the annual
meeting, and this decision now governs
the entire sixty thousand in their &C.
tiOns in this matter.
But not always do queries pass so ca
silly. Something is read that q member
sees snake in, and one or a hundred, on
the call for what shall be done with it,
cry: "Table it ;. table it," AS many
more call for its passage, and then the
passage-at arms begins. All the best
men of the Church are there, and he
who gets recognition from the Modera-
tor has twenty minutes allotted for his
first speech, and then five minuas if he
wants to be heard again. There is the
vast audience and an orator on the flool
letting ofeloquence-sense or nonsense,
as the case may be- After the debate
the call is made: "Shall it pass ?" A
dozen voices cry: 'Pass IL, and q score
call out: ''Table it," Tried again, and
liable it, is heard all over the assem-.
bly,. The Moderator calls out: "Iheal
voices saying table it, and hear no
voices saying pass it, and-it-is-
tabled"
One firm or stubborn member can
hold fhSlegislature for hours, and often
does. No bill can pass or be tabled with
outspoken opposition, and under such
circumstances is generally continued.
The decisions of the annual meeting
are the laws of the Church and repre-
sent the same power in the hands of the
Church authorities that Purdon's Digest
or Binn's Justice does in the hands of q
constable or magistrate. Not all the
rulings of the annual council are for the
best, though on all conceivable topics
human judgments will always differ
The crowd that attends the conference
are fed on the grounds, and 1900 sit
down at once, the expenses being de-
frayed by the district in which the meet
is held: No district need want one like
the Indiana concourse more than once
in lifetime.
CHURCH POLICY.
There are two weekly papers in the
Church and a monthly; each has its
policy and the great thing, after strip
ping the verbiage off each, is to see
which will hang the closest to the pro-
scriptive measures of the general coun-
Gil, no matter how much the personal
views of the editors or writers NAV diff
fer. A very large wing of the Church
are called the progressive element. The
are called the s'oId order1 eli.
ement. The two are continually clash
ing in their interests. The young and
progressive element want. to change
practice as men and times change. while
the old order islands in the good old
ways" Of the fathers of the Church,
though the writer will suggest that the
fat h oro rf thu nnn Lor NLr-~I
as the men known as the fathers of the
Church at large are really the infants.
There are two colleges in the brother
hood, one in Huntingdon, Pa, and one
in embryo at Ashland, Ohio.
Let us now glance at the organization
of the individual Churches. The church
from which I write will do, and it has
$50 members. There has been a church
here for one hundred years, and of this
number of members there are six dea-
cons, four preachers and one bishop
The deacons are elected from the ranks
by secret ballot. They look after the
poor and the church interests generally.
They are on the first step to advance to
the ministry. The ministers are elect
ed- as needed by secret ballot also. A
committee sOf "strange brethrenn from
Al auJOIuluS cuurCn are invited TO hold
the election, and the members 20 in
singly and cast vote for whoever suits
them. There may be score voted for,
and he who gets the most votes is elect
ed preacher in the first degree. To get
a majority of the church vote is rare,
and the strange brethren aforementioned
never tell anything more than that
Brother John Smith is elected" or to
that effect.
The choice OF the church falls upon
the most popular man, all things c0nsid-
cred, and sometimes it hits and then
again it doesn't. In the long run ii
works well.
The new preacher may be man who
barely knows how to read and who new
er faced an audience in his life. He
must learn and come to the scratch
somehow. Or he may be a college pro.
fessor knowing how to talk, at least, il
he knows little of theology. After q
satisfactory trial for month, q year OF
any time, if the first degree man can
preach they advance him to the second
degree of the ministry. He can now
sOlemniZe marriage. make his own sn