The Meridional. (Abbeville, La.) 1856-1906, 1888-03-24
A Few Words Of ExpIanntsGu.
Editor Abbeyille Meridional:

ence to the workings al ;.!e Methodist
Episcopal Church, South, ! zen ne
following:
In the first place, we try 10 ao4 IL
accordance will, the plan Used Try
our Savior. He did not wait !ur lue
people to call lis preachers, nnt
nncalled, unsolicited, lie sent them
forth into the cities and towns of
that country, so CDR church sends
her men, and they must go where
they are sent. Well, now, when a
petition Is sent to the Conference for
a certain man, the Bishop does not
always. send the man petitioned for;
it's true that petitions in some cases
have some weight, bat not in ali
cases, even when the petition is a
genuine M | mean by that, when
the petition is gotten up and signed
by a large majority of the chu2cA.
Now, a presiding elder in our church,
is an officer placed in charge of a
district, made up of many pastoral
charges. He is supposed to kn1w
in a great measure the membership
of those charges; hence, when a peti.
ktion goes to Conference he knows
whether it is signed by the members
or not, and advises the Bishop &C
cordingly, and the Bishap being a
man of PRAYER and supposed to be
guided by the spirit Of God, acts as
he believes, and as we believe for
the best, as the success of our church
in America during the last hundred
years has demonstrated. Well, now
The petition that was sent from here
in January last for a certain preacher
was not, in one sense of the word,
a genuine one, that is. if | have been
informed correctly. In the first place
it was started by nonmembers o.
the church; and a member of the
church was asked to draw it up, or
write it out, which he did reluctantly,
stating that he wanted nothing to
do with it. In the second place, it
was taken around by a man who was
not only not a member of the church,
but who had only a short while be.
fore come into the country. In the
third place, it was not signed by a
majority of the church members of
this place, as l have the names of
those who refused to sign, and they
are certainly in the majority. In
the fourth place, the petition read, I
am told, I'VE. the undersigned mem
hers Of the church and congrega-
tom and have been told that there
were names on it Of people who
were not only not members of the
church, but were not even members
of the congregation, and a large
number were children. Well, you
can imagine the result Of such a
farce as that; it was simply 80 much
paper for the aste-basket. l am
pleased to state hat quite a large
number OF those who did sign have
come to ne since | came back and
assured me that they signel not be.
cause Of any personal objection to
me, but because they thought | would
not come back to AbbevilIe at any
price, hence they signed for the
Brother who happened to be on the
field; for, as you are all aware this
petition vas not started until two
days after | had left. And now, as
the long ,winded speaker said, one
more thought and l am done.
a petition is one of the easiest
things in the world to get signed, ii
does not matter whether it is to get
a mar hung, or to pardon that same
man, there will be always plenty of
signers-some sign because ! they
don't like to refuse, others sign be.
cause they have not time to waste,
and they want to get rid of the one
who is wasting his time in going
around with it. How passing strange,
but such is life. Well. now | want
to state that | have no hard feelings
in the matter whatever, l have writ.
ten this more in the interest of others
than OF myself. I dou't want it to
provoke discussion; but if it does,
Of course / am prepared to stand
my ground. I am here not because
wanted to come back, and used
means to get back, but because l
have been sent back, and by the
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