The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1884-12-25
nretho al aIst Centenary Conference.

Methodist Centenary Conference. M
The Methodist Centenary Conference at Bal
tmore closed on Wednesday III
Ss THE PASTORAL ! s:3SS
of the bishops is addressed ITO the Methodit
people in the United States and Canada II
says: .sPermit us to remind you, dear breth.
5ren, while we extend hearty congratulations
upon the success Of the past and express the
profoundest conviction that even n0bler and
grander achievements await us in the future,
allotment is. not yet accomplished We
entreat you, brethren, do not forget
that hitherto Methodists have been dis.
tinguished by the emphasis they have given
essential doctrines Of christianity. y In all the
years Of our history truths relating to God, to
moral government, Immortality to etern-
tanned and asserted with great distinct
ness, and that we have held in COM
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,
aad indispensableness of the strictest morali-
ty. according to the New Testament standard;
and that beyond all these points, we have made
conspicuous the Nervousness 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
even these foundations Of truths, however en-
phasized, will not meet the demands Of the
soul, and never could have produced the phe-
nomena of Methodist life and history.
4 THERE ARE OTHER DOCTRINES
70 be emphasized, doctrines which re-
provided, doctrines Which u IN tho as
experiences of the soul in its 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
s repentance, faith, justification, adoption,
Christiap perfection. Out Of these come ali
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 beneyolences and our correction
al institutions These doctrines, above all
others, have given tone and shape and spirit to
our organization and determined its work and
place in 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-
lations concerning the mode Of divine proced-
ure in them, or confuse them by any conceiv-
able departure from their simplicity, SO they
shall become only doctrines of the creed, I'M
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 thepurity of the church and its power to
convert the people and spread Scriptural holt
ness, hold fast these doctrines, as they come
from the fatheraas they appear in the Script
ures and as theyhave been attested by the ex-
periences Of the church in past ages" The
address urges o maintainance of family reli-
gion. sThe hottest sanctuary on earti,n the
address says, sis the Christian home. Neither
the church nor the Sunday school can do the
work of the home, or become an adequate sub
stitqte for the influence Of prayer in the house
hold. See to it that your children be all taught
Of the Lord with sound instruction Let 81
THE HAND OF RESTRAINT
be employed, yetwith such firmness and gentle
ness as to win and keep the children, as well
as to hold themlin subsection to authority. !"
The address speaks of the Sabbath as pillar
of Christian civilization ga 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, Embedded
in the Decalogue, enforced in the New Testa-
ment, and interpreted and illustrated in the
practice of the primitive church Z The grand
march for tho conquest of all lands for Christ
has begun. The voice of the Lord bids Us 20
forward. We dare not accept secondary
place. With our schools and colleges, with
our wealth! and culture; with our social power
and our vast Numbers; VIC must have, large
share In the worlds evangeliza