The state capital., 1891-10-24
ADDRESS TO METHODISTS
Issued by the Ecumenical Method
ist Conference at Washington.
The Status OF the Church Set Forth and
Useful Hints Given I'm Regard to Con.
tinuing and Increasing It's Sphere
of Labor and Usefulness.

programme of the day, Secretary King
announced that the subcommittee which
had been charged with the preparation
of the address from the ecumenical con-
ference to the Methodist churches and
Methodists throughout the world had
completed its work, and the report
would be presented by DIR. Chapman, of
England. This gentleman came upon
the platform and read the address, as
follows:
The EcumenicaJ Methodist Conference to the
Methodist People Throughout the World:
We. the members of the second ecumeni-
cal Methodist conference, assembled in
Washington, greet our brethren In every
land to which our common faith has spread.
''Grace unto We and peace from God, our Fa-
thcr and the Lord Jesus Christ"
We glorify God tor the prosperity which
He has given to our churches By III is bless
ing they have grown until they number rs.
100000 of adherents. This is full of encour-
agement- An organization which has grown
so rapidly in the free competition of the
churches. and even crippled in some of its
branches by many artifi cial disabilities.
must be In vital harmony with its environ
ments. BY the most inexorable test Meth
odism is proved to be singularly adapted to
the needs OF men. Although many adjust
ments and Developments must undoubted-
ly be made to accomplish fully our mission
let us beware of think ing that any vital
changes are nece ssary. Faithfully using
our present means. under the blessing
Of God, our prosperity will grow. We re-
loice to recognize the substantial unity
which exists among the various Methodist
bodies. Its firm basis is a common creed
We are all faithful to the simple scriptural
and generous theology which God through
nln into Of Totn
Wesley restored to His church. The intel
lectual movement and the social changes of
our time may have led to some changes in
the form of expression or some shifting of
the emphasis of our teaching, but they have
not led us even to reconsider that living
theology which has abundantly proved it.
self upon our pulses. Indeed, it would be
strange If, while other churches are draw
ing toward it, we should have departed from
it, And there are other grounds of unity.
We are proud of the same spiritual ances
try; we sing the same holy hymns: our
modes of worship are very similar, and
what is most important of all, the type of
religious experience is fundamentally the
same throughout the Methodist world Our
ecclesiastical principles are not so various
as the forms in which they are accidentally
embodied.
Rejoicing in these things, we think that
| the time has come for closer cooperation
abroad, which shall prevent waste of power
and unhallOwed rivalry. Before the eyes of
many of us passes the delightful vision OF
| time when, in each land where it is planted,
| Methodsm shall be for every useful pur-
pose and the Methodism of the wcrld shall
| be q close and powerful federation of the
churches for the spread of the kingdom of
Christ. We need to combine our energies,
| for the work we have to do is vast and
| urgent. The skeptcsm and Indifference
| which are so natural to the human heart has
| been re enforced by an abuse of science and
| philosophy The hard lot of millions makes
| 1t very difficult for them to believe In God,
| our Father. There is so much that churches
| have not done to redress the wrongs and
| heal the sufferngs of mankind that is is
| hard for many to believe in their divine
| mission. The standing evils of So
| cety are aggravated by the close
| pressure in our great cities. and are
| discovered to the eyes OF all our daily news
| papers. Let us preach and live the Gospel
| of Christ in its integrity, dismissing all mar
row conception of our duty. Let us trace
the moral evil of men to its true source in
| their surroundings, their physical natures,
| their ignorance, their pa assions and their
| will, and set ourselves to deal comprehen
| sively with them. To these specific ailments
| of mankind let us apply specific remedies.
To do this it will be necessary for the
members of our churches to make a full use
| of their political rights. To allow the great
| bowers of law and government and their
still greater influence to fall into the hands
Of ungodly men would be incredible folly
and SIN. God forbid that any of our
churches should become the instruments of
political parties. 1t Is doubtless necessary
that individuals should have party attach
ments, and Methodists are found in
all the great historic parties
| But when a member of our
church has taken his place in that political
| connection, which is most in harmony with
his ideas and convictions, let him never for
get that there are great moral interests su-
| perior to all party exigencies in which he
must seek first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness. Every proposal that inn
| perils the sanctity of the home, the purity of
women, the innocence of children, that vio-
| lates the Christian Sabbath that sanctions
| and increases wrong, should be impartially
and earnestly resisted.
| or a few of the great evils which admit in
| some degree of public treatment we can not
be silent Intemperance, the fruitful mother
of evils, is largely created by legaliZed
| temptation. Is it too much to ask that our
| people will combine to use all legal
instruments to abatc this wantOn sOlicita-
/ tion of men to vice and crime? Let
rs discourage in every way gambling and
| betting which spring from the love
| Of excitement and the lust of gain-two of
| the besetting evils and let us abstain from
| oil reckless speculation in business which
| can not be distinguished from gambling
| Excessive and unfair competition which is
| secreting so much bitterness in the breasts
| Of men and depositing so many of the mate
| rials of convulsion in society, should be
steadily avoided and discountenanced. And
| shall we not do all we can in quiet time to
1 mold public opinion and establish courts of
/ arbitration, SO that the complicated crime of
aggressive war may be ayerted.
we need to employ with the utmost
| economy all our resources. One secret of
the strength of MethodIsm has been the free
| play which it allows to the gifts and
| energies of its laity. The pastoral
4 work OF our class leaders has been
| Of the highest value. Local preachers, born
| in England and America were of great ser
4 vice In the early history of our church. 1t
| Is to be hoped that the multiplication of
| mysteries may not tempt us to think that lay
| preaching is unnecessary. We thank God
1 for the young men and women in our mis-
| sion bands who are carrying the Gospel 20
1 remote villages ami into the alleys aid
| courts Of our crowded cities.
| Among the wasted treasures of the church
| are the delicate sensibilities, the tact, the
| tenderness, and the persuasive power of
| holy women. We are all agreed that the
needs Of the world require, and that the
| conditions of the age allow, that such
| women should take more prominent place
| in the work or the church. The social
| means OF grace in which Methodism
| is rich are cOngenial sphere
| for their best talents In social and
| benevolent work which is SPRING
| ing up on every hand, and is one of the most
| hopeful features of the time, their gifts are
| indispensable and valuable. We distinctly
| approve of associations in which, unfettered
| BY any vow. godly women may be organ
ICED for ministry to human needs and sor-
| rows. But we hope that with their enlight-
ening opportunities women may not be
| tempted to undervalue the sphere in which
they are not only supreme, but alone, as the
| sun in his path through the heavens, the
| of Z tha mo in