The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-02

dOn-WiIl the King and Queen In
 vtte the Members to Visit Thems Mcthodism in England and Americ, VI -Wesley's Church Small fin Room but Large in sentiment-Someio of tn,
 Matters That WiII be Talked About.
 London, Aug. 21.
 To the Editor of the Journal and Courier.
 Will the third Ecumenical Confer \ ence of Methodism, which convenes ir John Wesley's Church Wednesday
 September 4, to remain in session a
 fortnight receive any marked attention
 from King Edward and Queen Alexan-
 dra? No one at present can answer 1 this question with certainty. Against the likelihood of any formal reception { at Marlborough House is the fact that { during the first two weeks of Septem- { Der the Court will still be in mourning for the Empress Frederick, and the further possibility that their Majesties may not be in town at that time. But fthe formalities of Court mourning could easily be relaxed to meet a s--e- cial case, and for the same reason could an abridgment of the Royal holiday be easily arranged. It would seem there fore to be largely a question of expedi- ency on the Kings part, and on the part of the Commit tee of Arrangements a question of enterprise and tact.
 Whatever this Committee is doing in fniS 6irnpfiOn ie hninor nor1-iaI fpTwa t1 very quetly Dr. John Bond, who is wisely silent upon this point. He would like to put the King before the Methodist world as having been ap
 proachd in the matter until he was sure of a favorable response and even then he would hardly divulge his Ma 1esty's secret until the Conference as- sembled, for to let it out beforehand would be too much like an advertising scheme. Sometimes, however, people let out secrets by their anxiety to con- ceal them, and when Dr. Bond told me with so. much emphasis-as though he were determined to put an anxious en- quirer completely off the track-that it was certain the Corporation of the City would extend no special civility to the Conference, as they had been asked to do so and had declined, showing no ap- parent regret in telling me this, but looking rather as though it were triv- ttl circumstance to one who had some- thing better up his sleeve, I naturally concluded that a quiet effort was afoot to connect that plain City Road Chapel of John Wesley's during the early weeks of September with another strik- ingly plain landmark of this city, viz, the favorite residence of King Edward in Pal Mall.
 j If the King and Queen should follow American initiative in this matter, they would surely invite representa- lives of world wide Methodism to come around and see them, for this is pre- tisely what President Harrison did when the Ecumenical Conference met ten years ago in Washington. King Edward will surely, too, have sense to see that in any social recog | nitipn he may give this influential body | If religionists he will have special 1
 ance to honor the United States. | jitish Metnodism is relatively small | affair. In the Worlds Conference of | 800 delegates the British section has 200 | and the American 200. | But if the two sections were represent | sd in strict reference to their relative | Eength, Great Britain would send less nan hundred men to this body, and l The other four hundred would come l from the American side.
 Tn the land of it's birth Methodism aas had an uphill job. It has been and hampered by a pow ,rful State Church, and to some extent l t has hampered itself by aping the rit- ial of that State Church. At John Vesley's Chapel every Sunday morn- ng the prayers of the Church of Eng and are read, and the same order is ollowed in many other Methodist ,hapels both in London and the prov nces. By those who uphold this prac- ice the contention is that John Wes- ey remained a Churchman until his leath and they further say that by Ldopting the Church ritual Methodism ' more likely to hold it's young people, yfio, naturally, under the powerful in- |uerlce of the Established Church, grow 10 to like in public worship what is nore or less formal and stereotyped. But good tho the motive may be, the esults are undoubtedly detrimental. A ervice which seems sublime in St. 'aul's Cathedral seems little more han a travesty when rendered by an ngowned minister and a choir in plain lothes in the unconventional chapels f Methodism And when so long and ormal a service is topped off by ser ,on of the usual Methodist length, in- lead of by the ordinary fifteen min te sermonette of the Church of Eng , ind. what might otherwise have pro- oked only a smile of deprecation is |, cry likely to provoke one to inward , roanings z While however, English Methodisnn |, as in these and other ways been < realty hampered in its growth, Amer ' an Methodism, finding a free field, T ith no State Church to overshadow it, a ,eeting in new settlements new condi- !, ons of life, and always readily adapt z ,g itself to what it found, has forged = mildly ahead. Little could Wesley ave thought, when he sent out the / rst two preachers, saying to them-'l ', Irn you loose on the great American 1; ointment, publish your commission in / IA face of the sum-" that American . ethodism would in so short a time T ,mpletely eclipse by it's vast numbers ,e struggling Methodist hosts of the other land. The fact is, however, that hile Wesley's followers over here can 4 ,unt a membership of not many more