The daily sentinel., 1908-05-05
THE FASHION
WILL DANCING AND
CARDS Be PERMITTED
These Questions to Come Before
Mighty Gathering of Methodists
From the World Over-The
Great Conference.
Especial to The Sentinel J

lSpeClel 10 Inc oeiuiHci;J
Baltimore, May 5.-From all parts
of America and from foreign lands,
clergymcn and laymen of the Meth
odist Episcopal church are throng-
ing into Baltimore today, and during
the remainder of the month Meth
Odist eyes i'm all sections of the world
will be turned towards this city. The
quadrennial general conference,
which will be opened tomorrow, is
one of the most important religious
institutions in existence. 1t holds
the keys to all the important offices
of the church, including the bishop
rics, the cditorships and the secre-
taryships, and is the supreme and
only law-mal<ing body of the denom-
nation.
One of the most important sub
jects to come before the conference
will be that of restoring time limit
to pastorates. Several of the largest
conferences. including New York and
Baltimore, have declared in favor of
the restoration of time limit, and
there is strong sentiment in other
parts of the country in favor of such
action The present plan has not
Injured to the permanence of the pas
toral relation, or to the stability of
the ministry; indeed in some cases
congregations have been more res
tive than they were under the three
year or the five-year limit. Then If
there were dissatisfaction with the
minister, they had only to wait def
mite time before a change would
come automatically. Now they have
to give concrete expression to their
desire for a change at the quarterly
conference, when the question of
continuing the various pastoral rela-
tions comes up. Moreover, the very
agitation of the possibility of
change as a part of the routine pro-
gram of the quarterly conferences
sometimes helps to beget dissatisfac-
ton and so the local minister in some
cases comes to dread the meeting at
which he knows the question is to be
raised.
The practical outcome often is
that men stay less than five years
and often less than three years, and
so the general restlessness of the
churches and the uncertainty of the
ministry are not to any extent allay-
ed by the absence of all time limlta-
ton. OF course where relations be
tween pastor and people are mutu-
ally satisfying-and there are many
such instances in Methodists as well
tation whatever imposed by the gen
eral conference Is resented and here
tofore the strong city churches, thus
situated, usually found a way OF re-
tanning their ministers from period
to period.
Another important question is the
proposed repeal of the discipline
statute which forbids dancing, card
playing and theatre-going, on penalty
of communication. Such action
has been demanded by the New York
conference.
Doubtless the sentiment in the
East generally would favor such ae-
ton; while in the West and even in
rural districts of New England. it
would be viewed with considerable
alarm, as being concession to
worldliness quite foreign to the spirit
of the Meth odist church. In the
large cities the rule is already prac-
tically disregarded and the New York
conference delegates simply want to
make the rules tally with accepted
usage. thinking that in this day of
ethical awakening, the Church ought
to square its professions to its actual
behavior III it is not able to regulate
its behavior by it's profession.
1t is a cheering showing which the
official statistics for the last four
years make. The increase in mem
bers is 374.33S, or an average OF
nearly ninety thousand a year, while
432 new churches have been added
to the list this last year. This quite
sustains the reputation of the church
acquired through that famous re-
mark of the late Chaplain McCabe to
the effect that the Methodist church
built new edifice every day in the
year.