The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-05-02
THE M. Z. CONFERENCE.
What tho Quadrennial Gathering
Is and What It Will Do.
OF IMPORTANCE TO sMETHODISM.
Tho Machinery orthc Church win be
Altered, but not Revolutionizcd.
Ono Point of Extraordinary Interest.
VIII There DO Any New Bishops Gro.
ntcd..Somo Candidates.
s,setal Cor re,pend.t!e. d Inc Iul,uiaoetr.

atcd..Somo Candidates.
Special Correspondence Of thc inlslligaeer.
En- ROUTE TO OMAHA, April 20.-Tho
ever recurring question in Methodist
circles for year or more has been
"What will the general conference do"
This is the body which Is now conven.
ing in Omaha. tits made up Of picked
representatives. from the hundred and
more annual conferences OF tho Meth.
odlst Episcopal church. Laymen will
sit in It side by side with tho clergy,
though no. in equal Numbers, and Of
both classes there will DO many whose
fame is co-cxtensive with tho nation,
mud not a few who will como laden with
honors from abroad. These chosen men
vii! eachrepresent large constituency,
and In their combined force they will
BE- fairly representativ Of tho intelli.
gcnce and moral ,scntitnents OF one OF
tho very largest OF our churches. Their
deliberations will continue Throughout
: hGwhole OF May, and what they decree
will be the law and tho gospe. for ut
least four years to about two and u half
millions OF people. The conference can
do almost what II pleases. Providing
the six restrictive rules are, not trans.
crossed, 1t could recast. II 1t chose. tho
entire Methodist machinery, apd until
tho lapse of quadrennium Brought
together another body OF similar power,
there would be no chance for either re-
vcraal or appeal. Hence the deep in
tcrest 1t uwakens.
Just Mt this time it would seem as
though the Mtthodists were the most
dissatisfied body Of religionisIs on the
face OF tho globe. Judging from the dis
cpssiona in tho church press, and from
the deliyerances made in preachers
meetings and elsewhere, hardly any
thing about their church seems to suit
eXactly--eXccpt it be certain cardinal
doctrincS--and there is scarcely any
thing. that appears TO be settled. So
many changes, have been suggested
needed 10 merely catalogue, them, and
so radical are some OF these that il by
any chance they should DO adopted, or
il any considerable proportion OF them.
should be, the grand old church would
j, be so transformed TINT its best friends
would hardly know It. Bit no danger
need be apprehended. Tho machinery
OF the church will be altered little. but
it will not be reyolutiQnized. These
storms OF unrest are for the most part
only wind storms. They always occur
about the time the general conference
convenes. But they soon blow over,
and far from doing harm, they do good.
1t is great relief 10 aspiring genius to
ventilate its views, and free institutions
are never alarmed by FREQ discussions.
We venture the opinion that the NJ. Z.
church is substantially about right in
the condition in which it will present
itself before tire conference which is
now to sit in judgment upon. it. We
might predict, too, ii we were anxious
to shine as q. prophet. that the confer
ence itself will be OF the same opinion.
An extraordinary interest attaches to
the general conference from the fact
that it is the only tribunal to which
the bishops are answcrable. 1t is this
body, which elects these dignitarcs,
which defines their powers, which fixes
their residences and which passes final
ly upon the appeals which may be sent
up from their rulings, or the protests
made against anything they may do
which is felt by those in interest 10 be
oppressive. At this conference there
will probably be several protests OF the
kind last named, and n number Of ap-
peals. But nothing serious will be
charged, and the present Episcopal
force will emerge iron the ordealawait-'
ing them--as they surely deserve to do
with no scars, but with added honors
instead. In the good fortune which
has attended its selection OF bishops,
this church deserves the hcarticst con-
gratulations. Againstithe, moral char
acter OF the men promoted there, has
never been raised so much as q sus-
picion. Nor has it ever been suggested
that any OF them have been untrue to
the interest OF tho church which has so
greatly trusted them. Among the mum.
Der now in Office are some who have
national reputation for scholarship, and
several who in the Catholic church
would BIO looked upon, from tho en-
allied purity and nobility OF their char
actcrs, US promising candidates for saint
hood. What is moro, they average well.
With so much responsibility resting
upon them it would be unreasonable to
expect anyof these men to please every
body, and perhaps it would be Just rs
unreasonable 10 expect that, with all
the dignity and power they carry, there
should be none among them who Mt
times might not seem to be little over.
bearing But they are strong, grand
men neverthelcss-the whole list--as
all their predecessors have been, and
the church they crveis justly proud OF
them. ~.
In regard to the episcopacy, the con.
ference will have TO determine q num-
Der Of very perpleXing questions. 1t
is claimed that several ofSthe present
board should be placed upon the re.
tired list. They are advanced some.
what in years, and arc perhaps little
intirm. They might still Z be able to
meet their episcopal engagements, but
the qucstion'is whether younger men
could not do tho drudgeryi OF this office
bettor than these veterans, and whether
those who have borne the burdens so
long and so we'll should not now be
given an honorable respite 1t is not
impossible that one or two may ask for
Ruch aTreleasc.l Not, however, with II
view to absolute rest. This would not
DO either their own desire, or tho ex-
pcctation Of the conference; for these
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