Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-08-06
! our AGents.
THE METHODIST EOUMENIOAL
COUNCIL.

COUNCIL.
The Place or Assembly-The Mecca
OF Methodism-Objects of the
Meeting-the Programme
A wonderful History.
= IFrom the New York Herald.I
In q very lew weeks from now-in
the second week of September-will be
held IN London. one OF The grandest re-
ligious demonstrations which It has
been the privilege of this or any age to
witness. OF late years, and particular
~ since the famous Council of the Vati-
can, held in 1870. the latest of the So
called .Ecumenical Councils OF the
Romish church, there has been some
thing like a passion for huge religious
demonstrations On the part of the larger
ecclesia stical bodies. There has been q
PansAnglican Council. representative of
the Pr0testant Episcopal Church, held
Al Lambefh, London. Pan-Presbyterian
councils have become common, and
now there is to- be an Ecumenical or
Pan-M ethodist Council, appointed to be
held In September, as above indicated,
inzCity Road Chapel. -London-the
Cethedral Of English Wesleyanism, the
Mecca, as it has also been named, of
The whole Methodist world. To this
center the brethren appointed as dele
gates are now pressing forward or pre-
pairing to set forth from almost all parts
Of the world. Not to mention the
churches connected with Methodism in
England: Scotland, Ireland, the United
States, the British possessions in North
America and the Australasian colonies,
the principles OF the Wesleys have
found development In Sweden, In
Norway, In Denmark. in France. in
Germany. in Italy, in Bulgaria, in
India, in China, in Japan, in Sierra
Leone and Liberia, IN Africa, in Mexico
and several of the states of South
America. and al every effort has been
made to secure q fair and full represen-
tatlon there is the prospect that the
<.EcumenicaP Council will be a great
success, and that it will constitute a
prominent, if not q leading feature of
London lite in the early fall.
THE OBJECTS OF THE COUNCIL.
It does not appear that the idea OF
The council took shape from any exist
ing necessity OF the church, or that it
has been convened for any specific or
well defined purpose. Such meetings
are, so to speak, held outside OF the
constitution of the church. The assem-
bled delegates are not invested with any
legislative or judicial authority. They
may NOT make laws or pronounce
judgments; and their recommendations,
however weighty they may be, carry
with them no obligatory force. Like
the Pan-Anglican Council and like each
of the Pan-Presbyterian councils the
grand. gathering at City Road Chapel
will only be a reunion on a large scale.
Such gatherings, it has been suggested,
bear q not remote resemblance to the
celebrated ''town meeting" at Ephesus,
when "the assembly was confused, and
the most part knew not wherefore they
were come together" In this respect
these Protestant councils differ essen
TALLY from similar. councils of the Roman
Catholic Church, which are councils not
IN name but in reality, and are invested
with the highest legislative and judicial
authority. At the same time. such as
.semblages cannot be without their uses,
and it is hardly conceivable that other
than the most beneficial results will flow
from the approaching demonstration In
London. One OF the objects most
clearly apparent is the bringing togeth-
er into one place and under one banner
the different branches of Methodism.
Methodism, spite OF Its ene OF origin
and Its unanlmity Of purpose and view,
10 not . unit. 1t is q great tree, of which
the root is one and the same, the fruit
n and the same, but of which the
branches are many. At the. coming
council not only will the different confer.
ences-0f the greater branches OF Meth.
odism besrepresented. but there will be
brought together face to face and in
unity OF spirit representatives from each
OF the subordinate sections in England
and America, and brethren from the
Wesleyan Communion, from the PRINT
tive Methodist Communion, from the
Methodist New Communion, from the
Methodist Free churches, from the Bible
Christians. from the Wesleyan Reform
Union from the Calvinistic Methodists
of Wales, and from all the divided sec
tions of the church of this country-the
seceders of 1880, of 1912 and OF 1874
will all temporarily, at least, be seen
dwelling together in unity. They will
be all, SO to speak, brought under the
shadow OF the family tree, and while
realizing their common kinship ana
their closer proximity to the origin Of
their own ecclesiastical organization il
is not unreasonable to conclude that
they will become subject to new and
happier Observation-Disclosures allied to
broader and more generous views, tc
higher and nobler resolves. 1t Is I'm
derstood that advantage will be taker
OF the council to bring about a better
understanding rs to the occupation o
the mission field. British and Ameri
can Methodists are we'll agreed tina
their several home fields shall not b,
invaded by outsiders. It would be con
sidered discourteous If British Metho
dlsts we're to send missionaries into any
portion of the United States, or if Ameri
can Methodists were to send mlssiona
RES to the British Isles, the Canadas Of
the Australian colonies. But all othel
countries are, rightly or wrongly, look
ed upon as free to all, and out of thi
received opinion have arisen some I'm
pleasant complications. In Germany
for example, we are told there are thre
separate Methodist missions, each rep
-~resenting a different kind OF Methodlsm
and IN Italy, India, China, Japan an
Mexico the same or q similar state {
OF things prevail. Under such an al
rangement the forces employed are nc
only wastetul Of energy, but mutual
destructive. IF the council shall produc
no other fruit than a proper feeling {
brotherly love, the destruction Of th
spirit Of rivalry. where rivalry is ev
and only evil continually, and a dispt
sition to join hand in hand,
bury out of sight minor differences, an
to cooperate in all noble efforts towar
the higher end OF Christian enterpris
1t will not have been held II vain.
THE PROGRAMME OF EXERCISES.
1t is contemplated that the .sittings
the council will extend over fourtee
days. beginning Wednesday, Septemb
2. There will be, as a rule, two sc
sions on each day. First day, first Sc
sion-Sermon by Bishop Simpson,
D., LII. D. Alter sermon. the Lord