Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-12-26
! Methodist centsnary Conference.


The Methodist Centenary Conference at Bah
timore closed on Wednesday
tssg>4z;+< sgs4.e$< ~ THE PASTORAL
Of the bishopssis addressed s'Te the Methods!
people in the United. States and Canada. II
says: ssPermit us to remind you, dear. breth.
ren, while We extend hearty congratulations
upon the success Of the past and express the
profoundest conviction that even nobler and
grander achievements await US in the future,
that the mission given rs by providentlal
allotment is not yet accomplished We
entreat you, brethren, do not 3 forget
that hitherto Methodists have been dis
tlnguished by the emphasis they have given
essential doctrines of Christianity. In all the
years of our history truths relating to God to
moral government, immortality to etern-
al retribution, have been sacredly main
tanned and ts asserted with sreat distinct
mon with all Christian people to the inspira-
ton and divine authority of the scriptures, the
divine origin of the church, and the vocation
of the ministry, the value of the sacrament,
and indispensableness of the strictest morali-
E. according to the New Testament standard;
and that beyond all these points, we have made
conspicuous the heinousness of sin, the neces-
sity Of atonement, the universally of pro-
nounced redemption, freedom of will, and
pureness of grace. Not one of these can be
discarded or distorted without, manning the
scheme IF salvation and revealed Gospel But
even these foundations Of truths, however em-
phasized, will not meet the demands OF the
soul, and pever could have produced the phe,
nomena of Methodist life and history. ~ y
THERE ARE OTHER DOCTRINES :h
to be emphasized, doctrines. which re-
late to salvation applied as well as
experiences OF the soul in it's emergence
out of the darkness and death Of sin into the
light and life of righteousness. The other doc
trines have been the rallying cry of Methodism
in the past, and must be in the future They
are repentance, faith, justification, adoption,
Christian perfection. Out of these come all
our experiences, all our joys and hopes, our
inspiration and zeal; and upon these are built
all our special forms and means of grace, our
charities, our benevOlences and our correction
al institutions. These doctrines, above all
our Organization and determined its work and
place III history: Take from Methodism these
doctrines Of experience, or even the emphasis
given them, Or overlap them with llfeless forms
and ceremonies, or mar them by human specu-
Hlations concerning the mode Of divine proceed
ure in them, or confuse them by any conceiv-
able departure from their simplicity, so they
shall become only doctrines of the creed, un-
voiced IN the soul as the very essence of saliva
ton, and then our glory. is departed forever.
We therefore plead with you, brethren, as you
value the purity Of the church and it's power to
convert the people and spread Scriptural holi-
ness, hold fast these doctrines, as they come
from the fathersas they appear in the Script
ures and as theyhave been attested by the ex-
periences of the church in past ages" The
address urges d maintenance of family reli-
gion. '"The hottest sanctuary on earth" the
address says, 'is the Christian home Neither
the church nor the Sunday school can do the
work Of the home, or become an adequate SUBJ
stitute for the influence Of prayer in the house.
hold. Sec to 1t that your children be all taught
of the Lord with sound instruction. Let
THE HAND OF RESTRAINT
be employed, yetwith such irmness and gentle
mesa az to>wn and keep the children, as we'll
as to hold them in subsection to authority"
The address speaks of the Sabbath az o pillar
of Christian civilization "a spiritual church
without the Sabbath is an impossibility God
has consecrated one-seventh of our days to
rest and worship. The law enjoining its OBJ
servance is both positive and moral, imbedded
in the Decalogue enforced in the New Tesla
ment, and Interpreted and illustrated in the
practice of the primitive church The grand
march for the conquest Of all lands for Christ
has begun The voice of the Lord bids us 80
forward. We dare not accept a secondary
place. With our schools and colleges, with
our wealth and culture, with our social power
and our vast numbers, we must have large
share in the worlds GENERALIZATION"