The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1896-04-15


and passed in the studies of the first year !:
b. #. Rowland, Barton; w. L. Joseph,
Proctorsville; II. x. Graves, Randolph; Guy
Lawton, Guildhall; George @. Mcdonald,
BLOOMFIELD; Andrew Gillies, White River
Junction; B. f. Low, Bingh AWHILE; w. p.
Starley, Swanton; s. G. Lewis, Marshfleld
The following failed to pass H. @. William.
son, Atbens s. p. Fairbanks, Williamsville;
E.W. Sharp, South Royalton; r. j. Glucker,
South Reading
W. M. Newton Of Waterbury, A. K. At
water, w. Y. White of Thetford Center. j.
III. Wills Of Grand Isle, W. III. Mcneil OF
Newport Center, John G. Wesley of Canaan,
s. H. Smith Of franklin and s. @. Lewis OF
Marshfield-the candidates for full connec-
tion-were then called forward and adj
dressed by Bishop Fowler. 1t was an oc-
casion not soon to be forgotten. In ad-
dressing the class the Bishop said, in part:
These brethren are here asking the great
est honor known to men. l would like to
emphasize that a little, and L would utter
1t as a profound onviction-seeking the
greatest honor known among men. 1t is
peculiar ministry; it has the distinction OF
being calling rather than profession or
business. In our theory and practice it is
not simply question as to what will most
please the individual believer, nor yet
question of where he will be able to do the
most but there comes also the additional
element of whether you are especially called
ministry. L don't know that 1 need en-
phasize that The ministry, think, il you
take 1t as a business, Is the poorest, the
worst possible; but II you are entering the
ministry because you think you are called
to do 1t, it is for the Conference to Judge
whether you were really called, or whether
you have heard the call Of the man in the
other lot. A call is what you want-we
want you called-and / say you are seeking
the greatest possible honor. II you think
the Conference and the Church ought to
take off its hat, and stand on its knees and
offer its great thankfulness to you, you are
on the wrong track. You are not the man
we are looking after. The honor is con-
ferred upon you-for you are joining not
simply the Vermont Conference, but you
are joining the travelling connection OF the
Methodist Episcopal Church. You come in
through the Vermont door, but you come
into the connection, and it is probable that
IL you were needed, and there was work for
you to do, you would be called upon to re-
port in China, Mexico, South America or
Australia. You are coming, then, into the
travelling connecton--into the greatest army
the sun ever shone upon. Don't say / am
narrow and bigoted. | may be bigoted, but
you cannot take in this Church and min
istry and be very narrow. 1t is the only
class of ministers l have any knowledge of
who are put through the separator every
year. You are called up in the open eye OF
open, and once year brought to the judy
meut of that public, with every man, woman
and child upon all the green earth invited to
come and say if there is anything against you.
More than that, we pick out now and then
mantle best we can for candor and
judgment of ability-and send him around
to look up the matter; and part of his
business is to see If there is anything against
you, and he is obliged to stand up in public
and say whether there is anything against
you or not. 1 say you are coming into the
greatest army upon which the sun ever
shone. You are here with the view of be-
ing made into Methodist preachers, and we
are here to make Methodist preachers. At
this time you are at liberty to turn back
and say you will not go forward, and no
man can say that you have done dishonOr
able thing. If you don't like our polity or
methods you are at perfect liberty to say,
think will do something else,' and we
cannot complain of you as dishonorable.
But, in like manner, the Conference is at
liberty to say, We think you are not ex-
actly what we want; we can vote you out,
and you have no redress in this case you
are on trial. Now, then, when you have
answered the questions and the Conference
has heard your answers and ratified them
by vote, two things have happened: The
Conference cannot go back upon it; the
only way for the Conference to get out of it
is for you to resign, withdraw or die. You
to trial, and the Conference cannot put
you out without trial. On the other hand,
you have certain obligations If you take
this covenant and go forward. Them as
see it, you are Methodist preachers and
you are so for better or for worse, in sick
ness and in health. What mean is, there
is only one Bishop that can put you out of
this work honorably after you take this
covenant, and He is the Undertaken. say
when the Church takes you as boy and
watches over you and gives you an exhort-
er's license, and a chance to preach and
sends you out in some part of the field and
allows you to experiment, and pays you for
experimenting and after you have begun
to find out that you are of some value-I
say you cannot honorably turn around after
that, even if the collar does gall little So
far you are at liberty; but after you have
gone forward, unless you have tremendous
revolution in your theological views, say
there Is no way that you can get out of it
honorably except to die. l have had a
wider experience than most men, because
my public life has been spent in great GEN.
ters into which every fallen and unfortu-
known a Methodist preacher to quit the
work of the ministry for money who did
not come to grief. There may be such
cases, but my observation has not detected
one case. You think you see a chance to
make little money. 1 don't think ever
make little money, or had some money;
but l don't think l ever saw day when 1
was likely to have any. But you think you
see chance to make little money but
you are sure to come to grief On the other
hand, l have never known Methodist
preacher who, in the prime of his manhood,
was providentially taken out of the work,
who has ever suffered from the loss. 1 be-
lieve God looks after the men who have
seen fit to seek after the Holy Ghost.
III l did not believe in a spiritual re-
ligion 1 would walk down those steps
and do something else. / believe when
God sees in a young man the elements for
success in his service, and when he comes
to the young man when he is alone, or at his
work, end says 1 want you for my ministry
that may carry on the great war, and the
man cries out, l cannot do 1t, and yet he
does do it,, the Lord is sufficient for these
things. II you are in this business it is for
life We are here to make Methodist
preachers. 1 have great charity with the
other churches. / could work with clear
heart in any evangelical church. We have
got big job on our hands--larger than we
all seem equal to-but 1 am not minister
OF any other church but the Methodist
church. ! like the Baptist church. would
not care to join with them in some of their