New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-01
SOME PROBLEMS IN METHoDISM

Three questions Of more than ordinary impor-
lance will come up for discussion in the Methodist
Episcopal General Conference which is to meet in
this city next month They are temperance
the right OF women to sit as delegates in the con-
ferences Of the denomination, and the desirabilty
Of extending the pastoral term. As TO the question
of temperance IL may lie said L7at 1t Is n more
before the Methodist Episcopal Church now than
it has always been. But there are limitations that
an effort will be made by few third-party pro-
hibtionsts in the conference to commit the de-
nomination to Their view Of the question. 1t is
not likely that they will succeed 1t would be
an act Of folly on the part Of the Church to give
its official approval to political party outside Of
the Church and responsible to no one for It's
acts but its self-consttuted leaders. The Gen
eral Conference may be trusted to strike good
blow for temperance, but not in that way
In regard to women delegates, the con ference
will probably take the ground that the present
law and tradition of the nomination are against
their admiss n. 1hi, decIs'cn will be final and
the only course fol those who wish women to
be adm tied as delegates will be to aetate for
modification OF the law on that point.
But the discussion on the extension OF the pas
toral term OF Methodist ministers will doubtless
excite the most attention. 1t must be borne IN
mind that the wisdom and usefulness Of the ltln-
erancy itself are not questioned by any thinking
Methodist 1t is so bound up in the history and
success Of Mehodism that il may he considered
fundamental principle of the denomination.
But as Judge E. L. Fancher shows in the last is
sue Of The Christian Advocate the time limit
of three years. adopted In Se4, is detrimental
to the interests Of the denomination in large cities
The youth Of the congregations drift into other
denominations where preachers are not changed
so often. The young are peculiarly susceptible
to the influence Of friendship, and that influence
is to a large degree absent in a city where the
pastor is obliged to leave at the end Of two or
at most three years " Look at the city congre-
cations that have settled pastors says Judge
Fancher, and see how strong they are. You
may count them by the score N New-YOrlI yet
point if you can, to five strong Methodist churches
that are their peers in all the great city,
In view of this state Of affairs Judge Fancher
advocates the extension of the pastoral term
to five years This would not mean that all
pastors would be obliged to remain five years
in church. but simply that they could do so in
cases where 1t was found to be desirable. The result
Of this would probably be that in the country
preachers would be changed about as often as
they are now. while in the cities churches would
generally retain their pastors for the full term
of five years But though this plan meets the
difficulty, it does not meet it fully. The itin-
erancy should be made so elastic that in cases
where the well-being of a church demands it a
pastor could remain with it indefinitely. his APP
poinment being renewed, of course, each year
as now While retaining a system which has
| done SO much to build up the denomination, the
Methodist Church will act wisely if it relaXes the
| rigdty Of that system There is no divinity ii
the tinerancy which is good only in SO far as i;
| Is successful And the condition OF Methodisn
in all the great cities is proof positive that in IFS
present cast-ron form it has retarded the progress
and growth of the denomination in the centres OF
| life and thought where it should be most powerful