The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-11
While Thoburn Gives an Account of
Methodist Progress in India,
Where He Ruined His Health.
GENERAL CONFERENCE BUSY
ANOTHER BATCH OF RESOLUTIONS
AND MEMORIALS.
The Bishop Question as Viewed by
"ParsOn" GOOdwin-The Hurst
Case q Delicate Matter.


CHICAGO, May 10.-The most interesting
feature of the General Conference of the
Methodist Church to-day. was the reports
presented by Bishops Hartzell and Tho
burn, whose fields of labor are in Africa
and India. Much new business was also
presented and the committees were busy
on reports.
Several very significant resolutions have
been adopted by the conference. One has
a significance that does not appear at first
sight; it was instruction to the temperance
committee to provide for teaching and en-
forcing, as far as possible. the doctrine
and observance of total abstinence in In
dividuals. For a quarter of century or
more what has been done in the name of
temperance has been chiefly directed
against the traffic in intoxicants, as If 1t
was possible to enact and enforce any law
that would materially lessen drunkenness
when the appetite for drinking had been
cultivated. This means return to moral
suasion without materially abating zeal in
the direction of prohibition. but not max
ing that the whole thing. as some do.
One very enjoyable feature of the pro-
ceedings of every day is the readiness of
elec-
ton of colored bishop is an inexhaustible
theme. One brother got the floor to have
the matter referred to the committee, and
he read good speech, a quarter of an
hour long. and he read it well. but a hum
dred men as full as he, begrudged the time
he occupied. To relieve the monotony of
such proceedings the bishop about 3
o'clock, called the conference from labor
to refreshments, by introducing the fra
ternal delegates from Canada and the
church South, who were about to leave.
Preparatory to this performance the stars
and stripes and the union jack had been
placed on the stand together. The Canadi-
an had the first chance, and he made much
of 1t. / would say he is a rabble-rouser.
but that might be construed into the allie
cation that the General Conference is a
rabble, which, generally, they are not. His
allusion to flags was beautiful and his trim
ity elected tremendous applause"-the
union jack, the stars and stripes and
Charles Wesley's hymns DR.. Hass, of the
church South, was hardly less happy in his
speech or less effective in arousing enthusi-
asm.
THE BISHOP QUESTION.
Next to the question of new constitu-
| ton the bishop question is the most COM
plicated and uncertain. There is hardly a
| phase of it that is not under discussion in
| the committee on the episcopacy; the life
| tenures the districting and the restriction
| of authority. All of these have frequently
been under review, but some recent events
have given them unusual prominence. AS
to the life tenure some are quoting Editor
was editor of the Western Christian Ad-
! vocate and candidate for bishop. Jan. %,
| 1911, he said, editorially: THE life tenure
| is an exceptional thing in our economy
| and such as cannot be defended in har-
| mony with Methodism in regard to orders
| In the Western of April 5, 1871, he said, edi-
| torially: I'VE never liked the life tenure of
the office. There is a possibility of bringing
upon the church heavy burden and ere
| ating caste in the ministry that ought
not to exist. To us, it is plain that a. pro-
vision for experimenting the bishops in the
\ annual conference. just as other disabled
men are superannuated, will afford relief
| to the church." Whether he holds these
| views now or not does not appear in any
late utterances. but all except the candi-
dates are talking in the same strain, and
| the provision for approximation may be
| made whether the life tenure is disturbed
| or not. Both are aimed at and both are be-
| fore the committee.
The next delicate and difficult problem
| that is to come before the committee
though not yet introduced, is the case OF
Bishop Hurst. The difficulty arises chiefly
from the fact that 1t involves sentiment
| only and does not affect his character OF
| his efficiency as a bishop. It's history Is
| briefly this: When living in Buffalo sew
| eral years ago he made the ACQUAINTANCE
< of man of wealth and great liberality
He was then a widower and there was an
| elderly daughter in the family of this
wealthy man, cultured and amiable. Cos.
| sip has Ii that the father was anxious tina,
L rs4 .t.-
| that the daughter consented more in defer.
| ence to her fathers wishes than her owr
| inclinations. He was much older than she
For several years. to outside observers
| the domestic relations were as agreeable
| as such a difference in age will generally
| allow, but in reality there was from the
| first an incompatibility of taste and hab.
| fits. She had been society woman in.
| dulging in methods Of enjoyment not con.
| sistent with what the convention expects
| and requires of the wife of a bishop; he
was bookworm, at home, seldom If ever
devoting time to the attentions wife
reasonably expects. Years passed and the
| chasm grew wider as they passed. She
| could find no compensation in such a life
| for the sources of pleasure she had aban
doned or was expected to abandon. in the
| occasional society of a husband who wa:
| much absent from home and when at hom.
a recluse, shut up in his study. Thus
love that was never ardent soon disappear
ed entirely And she deliberately conclud
love, or did not, and. taking her child sh.
| left for Europe, never to return to hi:
| home. 1t was no sudden impulse, but de
| liberate and well arranged affair." He b,
deed and otherwise reconveyed to her al
| the property that had come into his pos
| session by the marriage, and she is gone
These are the salient facts. No blam,
| can be attached to the bishop unless w.
| censure him for marrying one so unsuite.
| to his calling, but other men have mad,
just that mistake. and younger men. too
| less liable, one would think, to such Z
mistake. He may be censurable for neg
lecting those attentions which make
| happy domestic circle, but literary ant
professional men often do that. If not b,
shutting themselves up in a study by go
| ing to the club or the lodge instead of re
| naming to make the home happy. VIVA
will be the action of the General Confer
| ence in the case cannot now be foretold
One proposition is to superannuate hin
and let him devote his time to the Amer
lean University. of which he is the chan
| cellor. but that will hardly be the RICH
thing. 1t is enough for the present to sa,
that IL is the most delicae and official
question before the committee. T. A. G.