The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-28
NO CHANCE IS MADE
METHODIST DISCIPLINE AS TO
 ADJUSTMENTS UNAMENDED.
This Decided Upon by Yea and Nay Vote of Al to 1SS-Question Comes Up on Report from Com-
 mittee on Subject.

Los Angeles. Cal. May 27--By the | decisive yea and nay vote of Al to | 1SS, the Methodist General Conference today decided not to make any change
 in the church discipline in the matter of prohibited amusements. The ques- | tion Is one which agitates the minds | of the delegates to the present General Conference perhaps more than any oth-
 CT single question that 1t has before | 1t. The church at large took a wide in- l terest In the proposed striking out of
 the specified prohibited amusements from the discipline, and many memo l rials and petitions from all parts Of
 the country reflected popular opinion in the church on the matter. In all, l sixty-ffve have been received. fifty-fivs
 of which opposed any change in the discipline on this point and ten favor. ed various changes.
 The question cgtFpe beeoss the confer. enoe today from ethe report os the Com
 nittee on the State of the Church on this subject. There were two reports The majority report recommends as
 follows:
 Your committee declines to recom-
 mend the striking out of the specified
 amusement from paragraph PAS of the
 discipline. It recommends that the fol- lowing paragraph be inserted in the
 discipline under the charter on special advices:
 "Anusements-Improp amusements and excessive indulgence in innocent amusements are serious barriers to the beginning of the religious life and fruit full causes of spiritual declines.
 Some amusements in common use are also positively demoralizing and furnish tho first easy steps 10 the total loss of character. We therefore look with deep concern on the great increase of amuse- ment. on the general prevalence of harm full amusements and lift up a solemn note of warming and entreaty, particular ly against theatre going, dancing and such games of chance as are frequently associated with gambling; all of which have been found to he antagonistic to vital piety. promotive of worldliness and especially injurious to youth. We af- fectionately advise all our people to make their amusements of careful thought and frequent prayer. to study the subject of amusements in tae light of their tenden- cies and to be scrupulously careful in this matter to set no injurious example. We adjure thom to remember that the ques- tion for a Christian must often be. not whether a certain course of action Is bly, immoral or but whether it will dull the spiritual life and be an unwise example. We deem 1t cur bounden duty to summon the whole church to apply A thoughtful and instructive conscience to amusements and not to leave them to &C., cident or passion, and we affectionately advise and beseech every member of the church absolutely to avoid the taking of such diversion as cannot be used in the name of the Lord
 F. M Randall of Tacoma. was elect e1 Secretary of the Epworth League, and J. L. Mcfarland of Topeka. Kas., Sec retary of the Sunday School Cnion, at the first session today. Both cleo rluns were hotly contested and 1t re- outred half dozen ballots in eacn case to arrive at a choice.
 The feature of the session was the of delegation from the convention of the Brotherhood of Lo- cOmotive Engineers, now In session in thia city. bringing greetings of that organization Delos Everett and C. R. Dohertv. Grand Chaplain of the Broth erhood. made brief speeches, acknowl- edging the courtesy of the conference in sending a delegate to the engineers and eulogiZing the work of the Methodist Church.
 A report of the Committee on Con- ference Claimants was taken up. The I,ian to provide a fund for superannu- ated preachers as reported from the committee was debated at great leng sh and was finally recommitted for further by the committee. It will come mp again before the confer encc ad1ourns.