The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-28
ROANOKE, VA, SATURDAY, MARCH % 1896

Methodist Publishing House and most
espec,siiy In the interest Of the Meth
oolss review. He said he had been be.
lore annual conferences very promi-
nentiy Tor the past two years, and fpr
number OF years had occupied a posi-
tion In an annual conference similar to
snas held by Mr.. Armstrong. who Ia
secretary. -
Ae said thas he considered thar lust
=: snis tune 1t was more important for
MN 20 De addressing the conference
tnsn 20 be butson-holiug circuit riders
70 secure subscriptions to the Methodiss
Review.
He spoke OF his and DR.. Smiths nd :
ofesses being along the same line. He
selo tnee there were two other Southern
M. n. conferences with q membership
eadh equal to that Of the Baltimore,
VIZ; o. 600. The latter has Sunday.
sehooi membership Of over 40 900, while
Gne swo former have only $4,000 each.
1ne baltimore Conference Sunday
schools had more children in pronortion
10 sne number Of church members than
any other annual Southern conference.
the two large conferences mentioned
haa each about $50 preachers, while
Baltimore has 225. The ratio of
presehers to the mem bership is q vital
poins TO every principle of the work.
The total membership Of the Southern
Methodist Church is 1,423, 600 in round
mum oers and the subscription 20 the
Methodist Review numbers Just 1,42O. .
600 less than the membership of the
church.
He spoke Of the attendance of spec-
tators at the conference meetings here.
and remarked that at conferences NEE t.
inRs there were always plenty of empty
benches.
At this juncsure leave of absence from
the conference was granted Rev. j. @.
SedRwlck and Rev. 3. A. Parker, the
former having been summoned home by
telegraph owing to a death in bis CON.
gregation.
Or. Barbee, the agent of the publish.
ing house at Nashville, desiring TO leave
the city this morning, was given the
floor.
He stated that the publishing house
ia In healthy condition, with q balance
to Its credit and money enough to paw
cash for everything 1t buys. 1t had
appropriated from Its profits $40, 900 for
superanuated ministers. He urged ca.
pecially the extension of the Christian
Advocate, the organ of the churcn.
He referred st some length to the
books published by the publishing
house and spoke Of the importance Of
the right kind Of reading.
John Wesley, he said, wrote books,
had them printed and peddled them
himself, and the Methodist preacher of
to-day should not be above doing what
Wesley had done and by which the
foundations were laid for the great pub.
fishing interests of his followers. He
especially commended recent books by
Bishops Wilson and Haygood.
de spoke In most complimentary
manner OF the edItorship of the Balti.
move Christian Advocate, of which
Rev. ]. 8. Hutchinson is editor, In CON.
necsion with his remarks concerning the
supper. OF that organ.
DIR. Lamberth, the missionary score.
tary, then took the floor to present the
foreign missionary work. He began his
remarks by reading an extract from q
letter from Consal-General Jernigan,
atating that an imperial edict had been
issued In China expunging eli laws
against the propagation OF the Christian
religion In the Chinese empire.
Apparently God had used japan as
rod OF iron TO smite the Chinese empire,
and the officials in the hour of their
defeat are beginning to think. Mr..
Chung, former minister to this
country, had asked Bishop Hendrick
in Pekin what he could do 60 best
serve his country in this hour of it's
need. A reform journal had recently
sprung up In the Office of the Pekin
Gazette. the official organ of the gov
eminent, and in this journal articles
from the Christian Advocate had been
copied bodily.
He quoted great Confuciau scholar
as saying that the great Chinese philos-
opher had taught them the brotherhood
of man, but the time had arrived for
them to learn the fstherhood of God.
Viceroy Ii had declared that Confu IAN.
ism Is spent farce.
Referring to the work Of the board he
ssid there was much Improvement In
the collections this year over last.
1t Is the duty OF the secretaries of the
board to secure q writer in each dis
trict who shall keep the secular as far
as editors will permit, to disseminate
live information about missions. Thus
far no paper had refused to print the
material supplied. The time had come
for the church In this great work of
missions to lay hold on the press.
The bishop introduced to the con-
ference Rev. DR.. Campbell, of the First
Presbyterian Church in thIs city, Rev.
E. e. Hoss. editor of tina Nashville
Christian Advocate, and Revs. Pratt
and Burrow. OF the Holssein Confer
ence.
Rev. G. G. Smith, OF Georgia, who
left this conference twenty-five years
ago, then made some announcements
regarding some books which he had
published and had for sale. after which
DR.. Tigert announced that he had
changed his mind about leaving this
morning but would remain for another