The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-10-06

1t happened, too, that the same awful fate
overtook the Bishop of London's message.
But this, in a mere technicality, differed
from that of the Archbishop Of Canter-
bury. The archbishop had sent a message
to the editor asking him to convey the
same to the conference. and had not him
self directly addressed it to hat body,
whereas the younger and more wide-awake
bishop, though using the editorial medium
as fully as the other, had still made his
greeting n distinctly personal one by ad-
dressing it. in care of the editor, to the
president of the Ecumenical Methodist
Conference. This secured to the latter an
earlier hearing than was accorded TO the
fcrmer. for the archbishop's greeting was
read in open conference only after Drs.
Rigg and Stephenson had performed their
confessional office OF bringing this great
ecclesiastical dignitary to a due state of
penitence. What the archbishop said in
reply to the Rig~g-Stephenson admonition
was that he meant no discourtesy; he was
a very busy man, and he hoped they
would excuse him. But nobody, from the
cordial and generous tone of his message,
could have suspected him of any discourte-
sy, and after the incident had closed it be-
came d SERIOUS QutStlOH Ol DOlu SUES VI
the conference whether this bringing to
his knees upon a mere technical lapse OF
the primate of the Church of England
had not been an eggregious Methodist
blunder.
The Bishop of London's message. besides
being technically in better form than that
of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was long
er and more effusive. The why, nervous.
$500 81
up-to-date prelate. not much over forty, is
in office for business. One of his ambi-
tions is the uniication of Protestant
christendom. He would especially like all
who nave seeded from the Church of
England to come back to thai fold. John
Wesley remained a churchman 10 his
death. OF this fact the bishop reminded
this worlds conference of the followers of
Wesley. He also told them how much he
regretted the circumstances which had
caused Methodism TO become a separate
body, and concluded with the warm hope
that finally and before long there would
be a reunion under the old banner Of An
glicanism. Expressions of this kind called,
it was thought, for an explicit reply. So
the bishop was informed in substance that
his zeal was not according to knowledge.
He was under the impression, seemingly,
that the followers of Wesley were chiefly
embraced within the Wesleyanism Of Great
Britain, whereas the bulk OF this great
host, he was informed, was in the Method
ism of the United States, and as TO all or
any part of them conserving to be abb
sorbed into the Church of England that
wa. a question which, until the proper
Anglican authorities had acknowledged the
validity of Methodist ordinations and sac
raments, Methodists themselves could not
even consider.
SOMETHING MORE DESIRABLE.
Far more practicable and infinitely more
desirable than the reuniting of Method
ism with the Anglican Church is the re-
union of Methodists among themselves.
In America there is the great division be-
tween the Methodist Episcopal Church and
the Methodist Episcopal Church South. 1t
originated in 1914 on the question of slav-
cry, and it continues to this day, with
the result that in foreign mission fields
and in many localities at home there is
overlapping. friction, waste, a struggle to
live and more or less confusion in the
ordinary carnal mind as to which Method
ism is which and which the other. Also
with the result that work is done in many
cases as much for the glory of two rival
forms OF Methodism as for the glory of
God. This refernce to the greatest of the
american divisions doesn't take into ac-
count that there are likewise a number
of smaller Methodist bodies, like the Meth
odist Protestant Church. nor that there are
three distinct and more or less competing
bodies of colored Methodists.
In England the Methodist situation, from
an economic and moral standpoint, is even
worse, for Methodists here do not aggre-
gate, all told, more than about a million
and a half Of communicates, and even this
small number instead of presenting a
united front against the hords of evil and
the overshadowing influence of a mighty
state church, Is divided into seven dis
tinct bodies. each OF them seeking a foot
hold in the cities and towns wherever IL
can be gotten. in spite of what the others
may be doing. and Notwithstanding the
confusion OF the popular mind and the re-
sultant struggle of a multiplicity OF small
churches TO make both ends meet. Recog-