Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1911-11-08

pointed on it, and it ought to go to
that committee
The Bishop: rs the statement of
DR.. Van Cleve, that it has been re-
ferred, correct?"
zen referred to a committee, and it
q ow before the subcommittee. 1t
Is ore the Subcommittee on gem
er \ Aeference, appointed by the
Bo III q acern Committee"
Il. h'oA. cen; 1T is not the design
of is q, Ntion to do away with
the oresen' n mnal. That would be
a calamity q.
1T is the &c hook that has ever
been compiled we have no
thought of doing " with it,
THE purpose of mis- resolution is
to provide for some defects. The
Hymnal now in use is the best we
can get for the larger churches, but
the deficiency exists in the fact that
the words and the music are separat-
ed from eaohiother. My thought is
to provide Hymnal that shall elm
mate the larger number of hymns
from the present book, and publish
another in which there shall be about
three hundred hymns, which certain
ly is all tnat is being sung in the
churches at the present time, and
that the words and the music shall
be placed together so that the rising
generation shall sing the hymns. At
the present time they are not being
sung in the smaller churches nor in
our country congregations. The sci
ence of music is being taught in our
public schools, and a generation of
young people is coming on that de-
mands that we shall have a book in
which they can read the notes and
sing these hymns. 1t is for this pur-
pose that | wanted this resolution
referred. Our Conference has been
passed by, as you know, for three or
four days, and this resolution has
been deloyed for that reason | beg
that ii may go to the committee, in
order that they may inquire espe-
cially into the cost of such a Hymnal
as | have been speaking Of"
The Bishop: ''The motion is to
refer the paper to the Committee on
Book Concern"
Il. j. Gray: 1--WE have a Commit
tee on State OF the Church, and they
are considering that question, and
move that this paper be referred to
the Committee on the State of the
Church"
The Bishop put the motion made
by II. II. Green, that it be referred
to the Committee on the Book Con-
cern, and it prevailed.
DR.. Green was himself a member
OF the Committee on the Book Con-
Germ 1t will be seen that this COM
mittee reported in exact accordance
with the speech with which he ac-
companied his original resolution.
1t will also be noticed that Cover
nor Shaw, the Chairman of the Com
mittee on the Book Concern, who re-
ported the final action to the Gen.
eral Conference, was one of, the sign
ers of the original resolution pre-
sented by III. II. Green.
There is no ground for supposing
that the General Conference prOpos-
ed the compilation of a general
Hymnal to displace the present Off
cial Hymnal."
CHAPTER XXVII.
AS | have already indicated in a
preceding chapter the way had been
prepared for two important changes
in the personel of the General Con-
ference. One of these was the ad-
mission of women to a seat in the
body, the other was an enlarged rep
resentation of the Laity.
A majority of the members of the
Annual Conferences had voted favor
ably on both propositions, SO that it
only required vote of two-thirds of
the members of the General Con-
ference to consumate these changes.
This was done as early in the ses-
sion as practicable and for the first
time in the history of the Methodist
Episcopal church, woman took her
seat in it's law making body, amid
great cheering At the same time an
equal number of Laymen were seated
from each Annual Conference with
their brethren in the ministry. 1t
was a great Conference, containing
some of the most prominent men in
the church from all parts of the
world. There were also present fra
ternal delegates representing nearly
all the great christian bodies in the
world.
1t may well be believed, therefore,
that it was with fear and trembling,
made my way to the platform to
plead for new hymnal; never had
stood before such an audience, and
here | will venture to say that in
the United States of America, no
more eminent body, all things con-
sidered, ever assemblies, than Gen
eral Conference of the Methodist
Episcopal church. However, | was
told afterward by some OF my friends
seated in the rear OF the great build
ing, that they could hear everything
/ said, and that had done very we'll
indeed, which, partial though their
words may have been. certainly
calmed my troubled breast.
In addition to tho work alrcacy