Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-11-12

or to return The world has become a
| ncighburhood As i'm a whispering gal
lcry We talk with our neighbors across
the oceans. and we do business in the
n!arts OF the nations as though they
Were. by our side.
| In the face of these facts and all they
indicate. in the light Of this expanding
enlarging, advancing. progressive day
| should the Church Of God stand still
Should 1t be satisfied with things that
have been? Should il hesitate to 60
forward? Should it stagger for fear Of
| Lions in the way" Should it be in
| fluencfd by a paraliZing conservatism
because of possible difficulties that
! would need to be overcome? But why
| ask such questions as these when we
| remember that the church as such has
| never ceased to make splendid adj
| vanceS glorious conQueStS? We would
not forget that Of the church first o.
| all it was said: THE little one has be-
como Il thousand. and the small one a
I strong nation and that her history
| has justified the prophecy. and Is still
| demonstrating its Divine truth.
( Well. it is because of these facts and
| that We may not fan back in our day
| on opportunity that some of our mas
| tiers OF thought and intellect and piety
| men Who love God and the church
| and the nation--haA-e talked and writ /
| ten Of correlation of the Methodist
| Episcopal forces throughout our Metho-
| dist domain.
| Such was DIR. W. F. Warrens preg-
nlnt article in the lions Herald last
| wiHter-dn article which l dare assert
| was without q flaw in the main thought
without a weak point. OF like import
! was the amendment to the Third Re-
| strictive rule proposed by Judge II. L.
! s;ibl"E at the recent Lay Electoral Con-
| ference held during the session of the
| Ohio Conference and adopted almost
| unanimously by the laymen. The
| strong address made by Bishop +. F..
! HoSS Of the Methodist Episcopal church
| South. before the Philadelphia Social
| Union a short time since in which he
| 90 earnestly pleaded for Il closer fed
| craft ION of the two great MethOdiSmS
| contains the same thought on a yet
| larger scale.
Correlation is in the air. Condensa-
ton consolidation in behalf of a nobler
| conquest yet. and n grander victory
| still fer the gospel and humanity and
Goo is in th, mind and heart of the
| church.
1t is in line with these unpulles that
| man! throughout our Maine Metho-
dism are feeling that to measure up to
our best possibilities of usefulness In
our State, the Maine and the East
Maine Conferences should be brought
together-Should be united under one
| h-ad-:hould be conSolidated-In other
| words that there should be only
Now that the work of the church in
the State was comprised by only one
| conference in former years has little
if any bearing upon the proposition.
| That the one Conference called the
| Maine Conference was in 1S4S divided
| into two Conferences for reasons of eX-
| pcdency growing out of extent of ter
| ritory and difficulties of travel does not
| longer materially affect the question,
| since while the territory remains un-
| changed. the quest ion of travel, COM
| mumication. transportation, and admin
| istration are SO modified as to render
the old reasons for division null and
| void to a very large degree. A glance
at a railroad map will show the state
we'll traverSed by steel rails from north
to south and from east to west. BY
| steam train and electric cars and
steam and motor boats one may reach
| the most distant points in our State
| with rapidity and comfort. And what
! ever difficulties of travel still remain
are continually being eliminated. To
| All practical considerations it is not as
| far from Kittery to Fort Kent today
| as from Portland to Skowhegan in
| 1S4S. One can move from Rockland to
| Caribou. or from Portland to Calais in
| briefer time and with infinitely greater
| ease today, than in the former time he
| could move from Lewiston to Rock
| LAND. or from York to Bath. These
| facts are to be regarded.
The question before us should be
considered from the standpoint of eX-
pediency without doubt; but l submit
| it must be an eXpediency not covering
| travel not of long or short moves not OF
| conference entertainment, not of eX-
rense. not of long absence from home
in attending annual conferences. not of
| pc rilS whether by water, or in the
| wilderness or by the sea: These posi-
| blities as weighty objections are past.
| And yet some of these things have been
urged as chief objections against the
| consolidation.
The real eXpediency for us to consid-
err touches the honor of God, the adj
vancement of the kingdom Of Jesus
| Christ, the triumph of his cause. the
| conQueStS of the soldiers of the
cross. II touches the growth and en-
larged influence and prestige of Metho-
''$m in Main" as force fo~
| righteousness and truth in all
departments OF our states life and a.-
Continued on Page Eleven.)