The Portland daily press., 1895-05-03

toric Ground for Methodists of Maine
| The Officers and Committees of the
| Conference.
| Especial to the PRESS.)
| Saco, May 2.-The Methodist brethren
are here in force in attendance upon the
seasons of the Maine Conference. Groups
Of men attired in black and wearing
| white neck ties are seen on the streets
and in the cars. Some are in the compa-
ny of young men who wear in place of
their usual head gear white yachting
caps with red ribbon fastened across
the top. Badges on their coat fronts pro-
| claim them to be members of the Ep-
worth League, who are acting as guides
and ushers, and under whose protecting
care the conference delegate finds HIM
| self as soon as he steps from the cars.
| Saco is memorable for being the place
where the Grst Methodist sermon was
preached in Maine. A strange preacher
came to town hundred years ago, and
preached the first Methodist sermon
! Septemb ber TO- 1898. DR.. josiah Fair
field entertained this angel unawares,
the angel weighing 800 pcounds and
riding on two horses" Elishar Aver
provided a place for him to preach and
when he reached the place he needed
neither drummer boy Eor hand bills
He prayed and sung and preached, "all
| kind O. smiley 'roun' the lips, and teary
| 'roun' the lashes.n
In 1907 class was for med, and in 1925
| Wesleyan Hall was occupied. In 1888
one OF the buildings of a distillery was
purchased and used about seven years.
| Afterwards it was utilized as a grain
store By john Gilpatric. and by Rev.S.
S. Cummings named 1.-The Old Corn
| Crib" In 1910 a church was dedicated; !;
| in 1S47 Biddeford was set off; in 1851
a vestry was secured. During the pas
torate of Rev.L. II. Bean, January IS,
| 1879, the present house Of. worship was
dedicated The conference met here in
1s47, Bishop Hedding presiding; in 1851
| Bishop Baker; i'll 1880. Bishop Bowman;
| il 1895, Bishop Bowman.
| Bishop Thomas Bowman, d. D. LII. D.,
who presides over the conference, has
filled a similar place only once before
| for the Maine conference, and that was
| in this city in 1880. A slender man of
more than the average height and
staight as an arrow is this Bishop. His
hair is nearly snow white and crowns IL
| face which is smooth shaven. The
| bright and pleasant eyes under the
white lashes, bespeak the firm and yet
kindly nature which makes Bishop Bow
man an ideal presiding officer. For the
| Bishop is a strict parliamentarian, and
| today when one of the brethren attempt
ed to make motion after the hour for
| adjournment had arrived, he was
promptly reminded of the fact.
Il -
| on the other side of the house.
"We have already adjourned by the
expiration of the time, and the motion
is unnecessary" replied the Bishop.
| Bishop Bowman is not the only nota-
BILE figure in this gathering. Here, of
course, is the Rev. d. b. Randall of Port
| land, known to his fellow members as
Father Randall DR.. Randall needs the
assistance of his cane in walking, but
| he needs no help Ewhen he addresses the
convention. He is then as active and
| vigorous as ever.
Here too, are Rev. Charles f. Allen,
Rev. Charles Munger, Rev. John M. Wood
bury and Rev. Alpha Turner, who have
seen long years of faithful service in the
Methodist ministry.
When the first business session was
called to order this forenoon, the mem
bers of the conference filed all of the
first six rows of seats. The interest of
the Saco people in their visitors was
shown by the large number of atten-
dants who filled the remainder of the
church. Another evidence of the cordi-
al greeting given the ministers was
found in the beautiful palms and other
plants with which the pulpit was
decked.
The forenoon session was largely de-
voted tofa discussion of the higher orit-
cism aud the views of Professor Charles
A. Briggs, with special reference to
the attitude of the "Zion's Heraldn on
three questions. After the organization
had been completed Rev. DR.. Parkhurst,
the editor of the Zion's Herald, was
presented and spoke of tine relations
of the conference to the paper. This
year, notwithstanding the hard times,
the paper had been successful, although
the profits had been reduced. All the
profit had been by vote of the directors,
divided among the six New England
conferences. Dr.. Parkhurst told in an
amusing way of some of the "inexplici-
BILE pelplexities of the editor of religi-
marks, he said: "It has been said that
am too liberal, too progressive"
A mem ber-"That's true"
DIR. Parkhurst, with consdera BILE elo-
quence, denied that he had expressed
views which were not in harmony with
Methodist doctrine.
Then Rev. Mr.. Munger arose and asked
if he might put question. He want
ed to know whether DR.. Park hurst re-
garded DR.. Briggs as an authority on the
higher criticism.
DR.. Parkhurst spoke in praise of
DR.. Briggs's motives and said that he
was man of intellectual eccentricity
who might begin all right and then fly
off tangent. But that was no reason
why his writings should not be ignored.
Dr. Munger asked another question.
He wanted an explanation of what DIR.
Briggs meant when he said that mod
ern thought was detroying the tradit
ional theology.
DR.. Parkhurst did not believe that
DR.. Briggs meant this in the sense in
which it had been interpreted. He was
not response BILE for the views of Dr.
Briggs.
Mr. Munger" Did DIR. Briggs under
stand what he meant when he said that
Jesus Christ did not know whether
Moses wrotegthe Pentateuch?n
EDr Parkhurst-" cannot answer for
Dir. Briggs"
nDr. Parkburst then eloquentIy -an-
pealed to the mem bers of the Conference
not to believe without investigation
stories that might be in the air fesnect,