The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-02

can idea among the younger and better
educated ministers and among the laymen
VINO represent the ministers through their
quarterly conferences. 1t is now before a
tnlrd commission again composed chiefly
or ministers, the laity Of the church not
ht9Vlhs had word TO say in its constitu-
ting 1t is not difficult 10 foresee the char
aclef or IT'S report Lay representation In
the cOunsels of the church will be wholly
ignored though the nockerv of our present
system may be retained: and its adoption
or rejection VIII be left TO tho ministers
alone, with recognition OF the right OF
5;Vy9 OF these TO negative the wishes OF
1899 OF their own guild and of 160 900 local
preachers and of 2,50o000 of laymen. em-
ofacing men and women in the very high
est walks of life. Such proposition can
never pass any General Conference COM
posed one-third of laymen and more than
haf the balance of ministers who have
been educated at our theological schools.
RECOGNITION WILL COME.
What then? There will ultimately come
full recognition of laymen in the Methodist
Episcopal Church; and a church polity will
be evolved which shall be both American
and scriptural What if l may not now
mirutely outline the steps by which his
contamination is to be reached? When
Mr. Lincoln announced that this govern
ment could not long continue part slave
ana part free he was not an inspired
prophet, only a sagacious observer of con-
ultlons; and he did not have to foretell the
steps by which the fttest would survive.
LIZ 10 a careless observer OF conditions VINO
does not read in them the assurance that
our church policy must soon become more
absolute or more liberal, and he is still
more careless who does not foresee which
class OF forces has the right of way This
may not come in one quadrennium or in
one decade. 1t is TO come by evolution, not
by revolution, unless some antediluvian
chooses to undertake to resist the car Of
progress. In that case somebody will get
hurt. but the Methodist Episcopal Church
VIII survive, and dishandicapped of its
medieval polity, will start afresh in its
great mission.
Time will not permit me to photograph
the Methodist Episcopal Church as it is to
be when the agencies now at work shall
nave fully wrought out the problem in
hahd: only few salient characteristics
can be delineated. In the first place the
emphasis viii be laid on episcopal" for
In that good time coming will have
superinteEdency that will superintend an
eplscopacy that will be over all, not from
the window of palace car whirling
through space at tho rate of sixty miles
an hour as if travelling through the con-
nection at large" was the chief duty Of a
blshop Some attention will be paid TO
wants of the church, though it may re-
quire him to occasionally take a stopoVer
towns and villages as we'll in great
cities and that he may help the faithful
rural pastor by his counsels, and learn
more OF nlm and his field than he can pos
slpIy fnd out at conference only not to
mention the inspiration devoted bishop
may be to the laity he may thus come in
contact with. The glory of Bishop AsburV
was not that he Travelled through the con-
nection at large but that he came in touch
with the people and the preachers at their
homes The bishop of the future will i'm
itate him i'm this regard.
The bishop of the Methodist Episcopal
Church that is to be will be a good preach
er. and his services will be much in de-
mand in the dedication of churches and
other special occasions, but he will no more
demand special compensation for such serV-
ices than presiding elder does now for
his sermons at quarterly meetings. which
h..
in the Discipline for that Officer. though
generally expected of him as a part of the
services for which he receives his salary
He may possibly be a good lecturer. bur he
Will not cha cge 500 for lecture al confer
ence in the interest Of the superannuated
preachers charging them a fee at the door
and eXacting his hundred whether the re-
ceipts are that much or not; nor will he
refuse to lecture or preach to a wayside
congregation that will not guarantee COM
pensation equal to one-fourth or more of
the years salary of the pastor; neither will
he lecture to the students of a struggling
college and exact his fee from the half
paid professors if the sale of tickets is
insufficient to meet his demands In the
Methodist Episcopal Church that is to be-
itineracy will be restored to the rank it had
in the beginning as factor of power. and
the man who serves the church in San
Francisco this year will be eligible to II
pulpit IN indianapolis or Boston next year
without having to ask the consent of the
LEGAL conference and without being snubbed
as are intruders If sent without such per-
Last but not least. Methodist laymen Will
feel that the Methodist Episcopal Church
is their church to an extent they never can
while having no responsibility in it's man
agement. With this acknowledgements
Methodist laymen, without distinction Of
sex, will take part in everything that re-
lates to church business, from the trial of
an offending brother to the deliberations
Of a general conference, not as the APP
pOintees of their pastors. but as the choice
of their brethren, and male men and female
men will be equally eligible to any Office
and any authority that may be comfortable
by a license or an ordination will be given
without regard to any other fitness than
that of moral and intellectual qualifications
Then our laity will be as efficient as the
laity of any other church, and our church
as effective in city or country as any.