The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-05-24
THE METHODIST ELECTIONS.

The elections for bishops In the Methodist
General Conference do not leave the smell
of a sweet SAVIOR. It may be that even minis
terial and clerical lay delegates to a great re-
hgious body are so of the earth earthly, that it
is not wise to expect too high a state of grace
to show itself when the opportunity is pre-
sented of putting four or five favorites into a
life office of exceptional honor and dignity;
yet it will strike the average man that the
methods of a ward caucus are hardly seemly
in such a body under any circumstances. As
the day approached for the election it was
openly charged on the floor of the conference
that ''rings," States and combinations
were rife, and but for a vigorous APP
p~lication of the gag-iaw a more or
less scandalots state Of affairs might have been
developed. When the time actually arrived
it was announced that for the first time in the
history of the church printed ballots, with
five names on them-showing unity of pur-
pose and acknowledgements, and all
other work of the conference was practically
suspended to allow lobbying and electioneer-
ing the better to proceed. One Of the New
York papers said: 1.-The election of bishops is
causing great excitement in Methodist circles.
There is as much talk of States and wire
pulling as if delegates were to be chosen by a
ward primary instead Of the highest officials
of a great church"
But this is not the worst. The telegraph
reports an attempt to corrupt the ballot, hap
PLY unsuccessful; yet a stuffed ballot-box
the use of tissue ballots, to influence the
election of a bishop, is not a pleasant thing to
contemplate. The conditions demand, and
will undoubtedly call forth, vigorous and
heroic repressive measures, and the great
Methodist Church will be able 10 repel the
first insidious approaches of a spirit that
threatens, and may destroy, the episcopacy.
Of the results Of the election it is, probably.
not the province of q secular newspaper, to
speak. The gentlemen so far honored with
election to the episcopal bench will average
fairly perhaps, with their colleagues, and
may add to the working strength and eff
cheney of the experimenting board. Doctor,
Vincent of course, stands out facile prin-
ceps; but it may be doubted, even counting
him in, whether the General Conference has
not passed by the strongest men, both in
brain and body. for the work that appears to
be almost an imminent necessity
in Methodism. The whole scheme
of the itinerancy and Of the General Su-
perintendency, the episcopate and the presid-
ing eldership is confronting . crisis more
acute than any yet grappled with. Changing
circumstances, the demands of city work,
and the rapid advance along all social and
economic lines. are testing the Methodist
economy as never before. The extension of
the pastorate limit to five years-an enormous
inroad upon the real i~tinerant principle-and
! the vote by the General Conference that the
Bishops should superintend the conferences
nearest their residences-a decided squint
toward fixed districts-show a chang
ing state Of sentiment in the
church. In this fux of thought the import
ance of selecting the strongest possible men,
men who would grapple these problems with
a strong hand and an earnest purpose, might
be expected to dominate. However, the
Methodist Episcopal Church has always been
remarkably happy in the choice of its agents,
from the highest to the lowest; and there is
no special reason to fear that Christianity in
earnest" as Methodism was once defined, will
be seriously injured by changes that may be
forced upon its polity, or by the decidedly
unpleasant reports that just now come from
its highest council.