Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-06-06
WHAT WAS DONE.
A RESUME OF THE DoINGs AND THE
OMISSIONS OF THE
General Conference of the Methodist Epis.
copa1 Church south-Divorce- -Intem-
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General Conference of the Methodist Epis-
copa1 Church south-Divorce-I
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Correspondence OF the RECORD USroN.l
NASHVILLE, May 80, 1882.
The Methodist Episcopal Church South
is next to the largest of all the Methodist
bodies in the world. 1t has larger men,
bership than all the British Methodist
bodies put together, and nearly as large a
membership as the combined Methodism
of the United States. exclusive, of course,
of the great leading body, the Methodist
Episcopal Church. In the South it out
ranks every other ecclesiastical organiza.
tion, both in numbers and influence, and it
is pushing out toward prominent position
in the great West. A Church so large, SO
influential, and go aggressive must neces.
sarily play an important part in the relig.
ious affairs of our nation, and it is not sur.
prising, therefore, that such deep and
widespread interest should have been felt
in its General Conference, which has Just
closed at Nashville. That body, it was
known, would determine the policy of the
Church for at least four years to come. 1t
was known, too, that that Conference
would fill by election an unusually large
number of important Church offices, and
would voice
THE SENTIMENTS OF THE CHURCH
On the leading moral and ecclesiastical
questions OF the day. Hence the curiosity,
not to say anxiety, with which its assem-.
bling was anticipated, and the concern
which is still felt by many to be apprised
exactly as to what it did. This desire for
information will be best met, perhaps, not
by dry and tedious details, but by gene
raj reviaw, such as will be attempted in
this article.
The Nashville Conference had its lights
and its shadows, its diversities and its
griefs. There were times when it was con.
vulsed with laughter, and other times
when it melted into tears. OF the events
of a pathetic nature by which it was
marked, the most touching and solemn
was the sudden death early in
the session of its able, honored and
venerable Secretary, DR.. L. o. Summers,
though scarcely less affecting was the scene
enacted when its senior episcopate, Bishop
Paine, crowned with 65 years OF faithful
ministerial service, stood up to announce
his retirement to the rank Of superannu.
ate. Another pail of gloom fell upon the
Conference toward its close, owing to the
death Of the vile of Rev. John A. Thomp.
con, a delegate from North Alabama.
These events will long be remembered by
those who had a place in the Conference,
and two of them at least will tend to make
that body memorable one in the history
of the church. Aside from these the only
really unpleasant thing that occurred dur.
ing the sessions was the discussion of
THE BEDFORD DIFFICULTIES.
DR.. Redford has many sympathizipg
friends, and there are some high in author
ity who think he is being bitterly perse-
cuted. Bishop Kavanaugh holds this
view. Whether the Book Committee did
quite right in bearing down on the ex-
agent SO heavily is, with many, an open
question, but the Conference certainly did
right in hearing the doctor in his own de.
ferse. That defense was able and adroit
if not convincing. It will doubtless be
printed in pamphlet form and circulated
extensively throughout the church, in
which event all lovers of fair play should
give it careful reading. The Conference
gave its opinion directly or indirectly, and
with greater or less degree of clearneas,
on great variety OF subjects. 1t touched
ha dtaI
with great care, for it succeeded in favor
ing both sides of the controversy. 1t
would not change the discipline so as
to make women eligible for election to
the office of Sunday-school Superintend.
ents, but it did give them permission to
90 ahead and raise all the missionary money
they could, and, as an inducement to in.
creased effort in this direction, kindly
offered to take charge of the money SO COL
lected, and relieve the fair sisters of all re-
sponsibility for its disbursement In other
words, it made the Woman's Missionary
Society auxiliary to the parent Missionary
Society of the church.
on THE SABBATH QUESTION
1t expressed itself in petition to Congress
against the distribution, transportation and
delivery Of mail matter on that day. Its
action on the subject of temperance was
not SO pronounced as some had hoped it
would be. Itwas asked to amend the General
Rule SO as to prohibit not merely drunken
ness and the use OF Intoxicating liquors as
beverage, as at present, but its manu-
facture and sale also. This it refused to
do. What it finally did was to insert
paragraph in the Discipline, inveighing
against the evils of intemperance, and max.
ing the manufacture, sale and use of liquors
as beverage, an offense to be proceeded
against under the law of the church re-
lating to imprudent conduct. An effort to
amend this paragraph SO as to allow
offenders OF this class to be tried for i'm
moral conduct was voted down by large
majority, and there were, indeed, good.
ly number of delegates who thought the
matter should be let entirely alone. On
the question of the marriage of persons
divorced for othercauses than the one Script
ural ground Of adultery, the Conference,
Judging from the debate, was forenenst. 4"
1t dis.avored the marriage OF such persons,
and was unanimously of the opinion that in
contracts where either party was of this
class no Methodist preacher could con-
scientiously tie the knot. The Committee
on the
REvIsAL OF THE DISCIPLINE
Recommended the appending to the mar
riage ceremony of foot note to this effect,
but the Conference declined to take such
pronounced action as that, out Of consider
alton, probably, to the many esteemed
fellow. citizens now well entered, or just
entering, upon second matrimonial ven-
ture, to whose standing and peace of mind
such foot note might be menace. The
question of amusements the Conference
took hold of with vim. 1t looked at first
as though matters would be made so hot
for worldly minded members of the Church
that there would soon be, on the part of
this large and respectable element of Meth
odists, either a general hocking to the
affairs for prayer, or else general stampede
to other churches of a more liberal type.
Strange to relate, however, the Conference
left this matter just where it found it.
From the advanced legislation suggested,
when it was proposed to make the General
Rule which forbids the taking of such
diversions as cannot be used in the name
of the Lord, to specify public dane