The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-02
EVOLUTION OF A CHURCH
METHoDIsM AS 1T WAS, AS 1T Is, AND
AS 1T WILL SOMETIME BE.
A Strong Plea for Adequate RecOgnI-
ton of the Laity in the Affairs of
a Great Denomination.

Methodism' at Acton Assembly on Satur-
day, which has occasioned d great deal of
comment by those who heard it. DR.. Good
win who is almost an octogenarian, has
been in the Methodist ministry for over
sixty years, and it would be difficult to
ma anyone more competent to speak on
the history, shortcomings and needed re-
forms Of the church poty. The lecture,
synopsis of which is herewith given, will
probably be used as a campaign document
Tor the furtherance of the cause of Iaity
representation in the conferences. DR.. Good
win sSid:
The obSect of my address is to state brief
~ tne steps by which the great fact the
Methodlst Episcopal Church, has been
reached FOR MethOdism is not a creation
II Is an evolution; it has not been built it
mas grown; and if it has so grown away
from It's early self that section of what
II was, let down to-day would look so IN
ike Methodism as it is that 1t would rot
De recognized as Methodism all, that no
more indicates want OF identity than a
contrast or the tender tWig of century
ago with the giant oak of to-day would
ulsProVe the identity of this and that. But
with the entlfe abandonment OF many of
the pecuAarltles OF early MethOdism, much
OF us essentials remain as they were in the
peglnnlng Its pulpits preach the same
doctrines now they did then, and its lolity
To-Day is Identical with the polity of the
IalnerS. 1t was an unmitigated hierarcy.
as nrst organized, 1t is a hierarcy Yet; that
Is, as denned by Webster; ii is a form of
government administered solely by the
clergy. Ihere was some apology, If not a
real Justlhcaton, for this form of govern
ment in the earlier church. Methodtsm in
America, as in England, at first consisted
IN isolated societies" composed chiefly of
members of the Church of England who
the personal spiritual Improvement
OF the members, with no thought
OF ever organizing a separate church; and,
England hp RI
ers We're, with few exceptions laymen in
the same church. 1t was no great wrong,
therefore, TO any, If these ministers should
be intrusted with supreme authority in the
government OF these societies tor their
acuon could in no degree affect them in
tlelr chulch relations. But when in Amer
lea these preachers themselves hied away
10 baltimore in midWinter without con-
SuItlng q single layman of the societies."
and with closed doors, not a layman being
allowed to be present even as a spectator.
adopted constitution which had been pre-
pared TO their hand by Mr.. Wesley, In Eng
Iand, containing all his British notions of
ministerial preTOgation as IL existed in the
days OF George III, and declared themselves
anu all the members or the scattered so
cletieS members of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, the case quite different.
The first result was that a large per cent
or the members of the societies in Balti-
more and Philadelphia and other cities
convenient to rectors in the Church of
England refused at once to recOg-
nize the new organization at ali,
preterrlng to await the organiza-
ton of the Protestant Episcopal
church, which occurred a few months lat
er, and in which laymen were to be recog-
nized as a part of the governing power.
This detection was so great in many places
regain the numbers they had had in several
places, the society" at Richmond, Va,
being entirely disbanded. In rural dis
tricts remote from church opportunities
there seemed to be no alternative and
whole societies accepted the situation and
recognized the new church organization.
h
ed against the exclusive control of church
affairs by the ministry and asked tor
representation in the church counsels. So
ciamorous were they as to the continual
ton of the right to exclude members from
the church as they had from the so
cieties at their own pleasure, that as early
be examined in the presence OF the class
or q select number to be chosen by the
minister; the decision as to guilt or in
nocense was to remain with the minister,
but the petition for representation in the
counsels of the church was never granted
and has not been to this day.
FIGHT FOR REPRESENTATION.
SO great was the unrest and dissatisfac-
ton on this subject that during the first
quarter century there were many local
secessions, besides the refusal of many to
join the church on that account. But in
1923, the oft repeated petitions for lay
representation having been as often reject
ed, whole societies, with many of the
ablest ministers of the times, left and
formed the Methodist Protestant Church.
which is now a large and useful branch
of the Methodist family. Remaining in the
Ola churcn was no evidence of acquiescing
in the polity of the church; those who re-
NAMED, hoping to reform from within. To
this end every general conference until 1868
was piled with petitions for lay representa-
ton in the councils of the church. but es-
pectally in the General Conference, when
the General Conference of that wear made
a feint at granting the petitions by pre-
tending to submit the question to a plebis-
citum of the laity to ascertain whether
they generally wanted lay representation
or whether it was merely a freak of a few
ambitious persons. But, instead of submit
ting the question as stated in the petitions
they adroluy substituted another and quite
different one. The petitions asked for
lay representation" the plebiscitum was
on lay delegation" a thing, as applied,
wholly unlike the thing asked for because
this means that the preachers themselves
may elect through the quarterly confer
ences, which they make and unmake at
pleasure, half as many laymen as they may
elect ministers by direct vote in the an
nuaI conferences. Laymen, as such, have
not word to say in the constituting of a
quarterly conference, and hence they have
no representation in the General Confer
enCe, that which passes for it being only a
stupendous mockery; hence L say the pray-
er of the laity for lay representation has
never been granted to this day. The
practical workings Of this is that such To-
church historian, and Rev. II. X. Carroll
editor of the New York Independent and
such educators as DR.. Henry Wade Rogers
president of our Northwestern University
and the late DIR. E. II. Nelson of the Ohio
Wesleyan, and such statesmen as William
Mckinley, President of the United States
and our own retired Col r. w. Thompson;
and such jurists the late John Mel can
and our own j. H. Baker of the United
States Court; and such successful mana
gers of large business interests as John
Evans and Washington G. De PauW and
Isaac Rich and Daniel Drew, now among
the dead; and as William Deering and
Glenn Studebaker and j. Il. Andrus yet
among the living, and ten thousand others
who are worthy of mention, in every de-
partment of honorable and useful Industry
have not one word to say at any point. I'M
der any circumstances, in the management
of any business of the church not
even in the election of trustees
except through the grace of their pastors
in making them members of their
quarterly conferences while the narrowest
man and the least cultured. whether white
or black, who by any ACCIDENT has become
a member of any annual conference in
Europe. Asia. Africa or America, enters at
once into the governing guild and there re-
mains ordinarily until death releases him.
He may soon prove to be such back NUM-
Der that no place can be found for him in
the pastorate, and he IS placed on the
superannuated list with mental and phys
ical force enough to make a passable in
surance agent, or a doctor. or book mer-
chant. or even a candidate for Congress in
doubtful district, but still holding with
a death grip TO his ministerial preroga-
tivcs as a governing factor in the church.
and usually he is among the noistest oppO-
npnts to the acknowledgements of the laity.
Is not our church polity hleraIchy in
that il is a government administered solely
by the clergy? But il IS more than
hierarchy-it is also an Oligarchy, in that il
is self-derived. self-perpetuating and ir