New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-04-02
SOME PRoBLEMs IN MErHoDIsM

Three questions Of moro than ordinary fmpor-
lance will up for discussion in the Methodist
Episcopal General Conference which is to meet in
this city next month. They arc temperance
the right Of women to sit delegates in the con-
ferences Of the denomination and the desirability
of extending the pastoral term AS to the question
of temperance 1t may lie said that 1t is more
before the Methodist Episcopal Church now than
It has always been But there are intimations that
an effort will be made by few third-party pro-
hibitionists in the conference 70 commit the de-
nomination to Their view Of the question. 1t is
not likely that they will succeed 1t would be
On 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 ole for its
acts but its self-constituted 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 conference
will probably take the ground that the present
law and tradition of the denomination are against
their admissi n. This declscn will be final, and
the only course for those who wish women to
be admitted as delegates will be to aSitate for
a 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 itin-
erancy itself are not questioned by any thinking
Methodist. 1t is so bound up in the history and
success Of Methodism that il may be considered
O fundamental principle of the denomination.
But as Judge t. l.. Fancher shows in the last Is
sue of The Christian Advocate" the tape limit
of three years, adopted in 1894, 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 large degree absent in q 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 New-York; 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
where it found to be desirable The result
of this would probably be that in the country
preachers would be changed about often as
they 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 church demands it a
pastor could remain with 1t indefinitely, his ap-
pointment being renewed Of course, each year,
now. While retaining system which has
done so much to build up the denomination, the
Methodist Church will act wisely if it relaXes the
rigidity of that system. There is no divinity in
the jtincrancy, which is good only in so far as it
Is successful And the condition OF Methodsm
in all the great cities is proof positive that in its
present castiron form it has retarded the progress
and growth OF the denomination in the centres Of
life and thought where it should be most powerful