Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-09-10
THE EcUMENIcAL COUNCIL.

I
Wednesday, in City Road Chapel, London,
Eng, there assembled the Methodist Ecu
menioai Council. As the considerations to
which the assembling OF this ecclesiastical
body give rise may not adequately be
treated in editorial space, they are con-
densed into this form OF presentation.
This is the first Ecumenical Council ever
held By that church. IL is modelled some
what after the Pan Presbyterian Council,
but will possess no ecelesiastic authority.
Whatever influence it viii have viii be
only advisory, and perhaps 1t viii be the
greater for that very reason, as it cannot
promulgate dogma with any power to en-.
force it upon is church. Whatever it
concludes, therefore. must stard upon
merit and reason. The Council is gath
ering which can make It's record prominent
in history. 1t is composed of 400 dele
gates, and nearly half Of these are drawn
from our own country, for Methodism has
IN America had greater growth, in proper.
tion to the time since it was established
here, than in any other part of the world.
| The delegates to the Convention are
drawn from all the acknowledged branches
of Methodism, from eighty for the United
States to the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and thirty. eight from the Methodist Epis
copal Church South, down to two from the
Primitives, Independents, Congregational
Methodists and other branches. The dele
| gates have been selected as nearly as posi-
BILE equally from the clerical and lay forces
of the churches. Bishop Simpson, of Phil.
adelphia, is made President of the Council,
and this award is also significant of the
strength of the Church in the United
States IN general estimation.
One of the marked features of this Coun-
Gil is the rule which insists upon brevity
and conciseness. No papers are received
which will consume over twenty minutes
in the reading, and no speeches are per-
mitted In excess of five minutes in length
without special leave. The wisdom of this
latter rule is, however, open to question.
Some of the subjects to be handled-the
range being very broad-cannot be well
| debated under such conditions, and some
of the best debaters among Methodists are
not SO forcible if required to reduce their
thoughts to writing.
The topics to be discussed are, in
part: 8 History and Results of Method
ism," Evangelical Agencies" "The
Lords Day and Temperance, " < Possible
Perils, How to Avoid Waste" sri
valries and Confusion Arising from Differ
emit Methodist Bodies Occupying the Same
Fields" The delegates come from Eng
land and her possessions, the United States
OF America, France, Germany, Italy, Spain,
Portugal, Malta, South and North Ceylon,
Madras, Mysore india, Calcutta, Luck.
now, Benares, Canton, Wuchung, South
Africa, West Africa, West Indies, Sweden,
Germany, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria,
Japan, Mexico, South America and Aus.
tralasia.
The delegates from America and Canada
represent constituency of adults of
about 3, III, 794, or about one.fourteenth of
the population. The claim made for that
church that it has within it, and attached
to it, nearly one-fifth of the population, is
therefore not so great departure from the
actual figures as has been supposed. The
total Methodist population is placed at
twenty-three and one-half millions. It
is we'll known that upon several of the
subjects to come before the Council there
is wide difference of opinion among the
members, and the debates and conclusions
of the body will, On that account, possess
all the greater interest to the regular con-
ferences, counseling and ruling bodies of
the church, which may adopt or re.
iect the advice of the Ecumenical Council,
as they see fit.
1t is believed that the meeting of this
Council is indicative of a greater and still
more important convocation to follow; that
it is, in short, a step toward the possibility
of more general assemblage, that shall
embrace other evangelical denominations
with the aim of extending the doctrines of
Christianity without reference to any one
of the many church organizations. But
this possibility is not likely to be real
lied in the very near future.
When we reflect upon the Importance, to
the believers in the Christian religion, of
the London Council of 1881 and the vast
constituency it represents throughout the
world, it is difficult to realize that but
one hundred and fifty years have passed
since John Wesley and his brother Charles
began to hold the meetings out of which
this great growth of Methodism has sprung.
There was no such body here prior to 1866,
when few Wesleyans formed church in
New York. Eighteen years thereafter the
Methodist Episcopal Church, as a distinct
organization, was set up. The first Con
ference assembled at Baltimore in 1884.
This may be said to have been, in fact, the
first Methodist Church confederation, for
Wesley had never, in truth, made his
distinct church, and remained true to the
Church OF England to the end Indeed,
up to 1854 the Methodists sought the or
dinances within the Episcopal church, and
at that altar, in New York, such as EN-
bury, Pilmoor, Boardman and Rankin
knelt. Wesley, with wise prescience, saw
that such state of affairs could not long
continue. Himself presbyter of the es-
tablished church, and believing that PIES
By ter and bishop were but one, he assumed
the latter Office, ordained DIR. Coke of Ok.
ford, sent him to America, and that digni-
tary appeared in full robes at the Confer
ence of 1884, and was unanimously recog-
nized. Asbury was next ordained, deacons
and elders were designated, and the organ
ization entered upon its wonderful march
under the title of the Methodist Episcopal
Church
In 1880 the anti Episcopal element with
drew, and hence came the Methodist Prot.
estant Church. In 1914 the slavery ques.
ton brought on another division, and there
arose out of it the Methodist Episcopal
Church South. The original church claims
membership of l.724,4l3, the Church
South S3S, 900 and the Protestant branch
1876 Besides these there is the Evan
gelical Association of Germans, founded in
1900, now with Ia, 600 members the
African NJ. f. Church, which seeded in
l7S7, and has 2l9 600 members the Zion
African NJ E. Church, which went off in
1900, and has 1914, 000; the Union Ameri-
can NJ. E. Church, which was born of the
old body in 1913. and has ?, 200 members
the American Wesleyan Church organized
in lS43, and has 10000 members; the
Free Methodist Church another child of
the prolific mother), organized in 1860, and
has Is 900 members the Congrega-
tiouai MethodiSts, with II, 500 members,
and the Union Methodist Episcopal
Church, with 700 members.
But these are not all there are. In adj
dition the Primitive Methodists, the NJ. E.
Church of Canada. the Bible Christian
Union, the British NJ. Z. G. (colored), the
United Brethren, the Independent Method.
lists, and outside the United States we
have the British Wesleysns, New Con.
nection Methodists, Wesleyan Reform
Union, United Free Methodists, Welsh
Calvinistic Methodists, the Irish Wesleyans,
French Wesleyans and Australian Con-
ference To exhibit still more forcibly the
strength of this body of Christian profess
ORC the onrovrth of Methndism in the