Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1906-01-19
THE MINISTER MAKES
CHARGES.
DR.. d. A. Graham Throws Hot
Shot Into Camp.
CHURCH LAW OPENLY DEFlED.
Drunkards. SeduCers. Adulterers and
Thieves are Transferred Around the
Country and Kept in Good Places
A Terrible Arraignment.

A recent writer in the Christian Re-
corder repeated the old cry, ''The A. NJ
f. church is in the Throes OF Death"
In justification Of his statement, he
quoted literally from a number Of
prominent writers on conditions on the
church do not rise to try to contro-
vert the claims OF any of these wise
men. But granting that al! that they
say is true, I would find fault with
them for not probing little deeper to
find the causes OF this sad state of
affairs and offering US some remedy.
1t is useless to seek remedy for any
disease until we have ascertained its
origin, whether it be mere eruption
of the skinor whether the blood is iin-
pure. Oin.ments will not cure bad
blood.
/ believe that the first great cause of
so much rebelioa and corruption in the
church, lies in the wholesale disregard
for Law and authority.
Who obeys the law in the A. 81. +.
church? The laymen do not. And if
one minister undertakes to enforce the
law on the members. other ministers
undo all that be does. For this reason
members must be left to do as they
please, for fear that we will loose them.
Again ministers are not required to
obey the law, and how can they en-
force it on others? II a minister does
anything wrong. rarely can he be
punished In fact, i, IS seldom that
any attempt is made to punish him
The bishop just transfers him to an
other conference aud thus saves the
brother the humiliation of answering
charges and the bishop the trouble of
having trial. This is true often. when
the com plaints are of the vilest nature.
Thus law has no tcrrors for wicked
men who have ;ntruded themselves in
to our ministry. Drunkards, seducers.
adu!terers and thieves are transferred
around the country and kept in first
class charges, bishops transferring them
well knowing the rottenness of their
character, and the laisy looking on at
our support of criminals.
Sibee the law is r OF KEEP. by the min.
listers. nor enforced against ministers
by conferences and bishops, it becomes
useless
again the law is not kept BY the
bishops, or at least. By many of them
1t is onstantly violated by the trans
fer of bad men. and in the condonlng
of therrimes of these men. For in
stance; bishops know certain men to
be drunkards, yet they will pass them
around from one conference TO another
often giving them the very best charges
aud Try 20 find excuse for such action
by saying that no charges had been
filed against the brother.
They often transgress the law in the
handling of finances of the annual con-
sersnce. With many of them, the law
is never considered, Hence the widow
and the orphan are neglected, and the
superanuste is oppressed. This is seen
over and over. and who dares to say a
word about the law?
The liberty thus taken with the law
by the bishops individually, is continu-
ed by them collectively when they
meet in council Note the gross in
fractioG of the law in the so-called set
Element of the Pittsburg trouble, and
almost as bad in the New York case.
1 simply mean to say that the law was
wholly disregarded, and the work of
the general conference snnulled in
each case.
In previous communications. have
called attention to the utter disregard
of ali law by the financial board, and
need not repeat it here. l will say,
however, that have tried TO detract
attention from the lawless actions of
the board by defending Dr., hampton.
That will not work. Criticism is not
on DR.. hampton, the servant of the
board. but on the board itself For
several qpadreniums, it has been law
unto itself. II has paid cut thousands
OF dollars. without the authority of the
Discipline, and then come to the Gen
eral Conference TO have it's actions en-,
dorsed. II is now expanding thous
ands Of dollars annually, pos lively con-
trary to the published laws of the
church Who dare to deny ii?
To sum up this point, every body does
as he please in our church SO long as
he pays. or raises his dollar money.
The End great cause Of our condition,
is the influence and power of secret
societies in the church
it is not easy to separate this from
what have already said. Nearly all
the officers of the local church belong
to societies. When we desire to bring
the member to justice we often find
that the offender is bound to the
officers by secret ties which they con-
slider of more Importance than the
church rules, and it is impossible to
secure any earnest effort at prosecu-
tin. This is as true in the ministry
as in the laity. Preachers and bishop
are generally Masons, Odd Fellows
or smething Of the kind, and it is i'm
possible to convict or punish one who
belongs to such an order, when the
D.s.lop belong to the same. ] have seen
this tried, and when the evidence
seemed overwhelming, the bishop
found a way to save him. That oath,
binding bishops, gamblers, ministers,