The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-03
THE BISHOPS ASK
FOR CHANGE OF
AMUSEMENT RULE
Would Leave it to the Con-
science of the Members
as individuals.
ONLY INJUNCTION SHOULD
Be THn:s sz, sz,,s ,,,o!HN WESLEY
He Forbid Such Diversions as <efr :"
be Taken in the Name of the Lon
Jesus-Church Should not be In
different.


can people are too far advanced to
longer be instructed by such rules as
to what their amusements shall be.
The rule prohibiting dancing. card
playing. gambling and going to the
aters, circuses and horse races. there
fore. should be abolished"
sented today to the general confer
ence Of the Methodist Episcopal
church by the board of bishops. In
recommending the change in the dis
cipline, twenty-four active bishops
stipulated that the church, however.
should not be Indifferent on the sub
ject but that the people should be
left to Judge for themselves what is
amusements. having only before them
the injunctions Of John Wesley, which
forbid the taking of "such diversions
as cannot he taken in the name of
the Lord Jesus"
"As the church cannot approve
dancing and theater going" says the
report, "they are questionable amuse-
ments. While VIC stand unitedly
against gambling, we recognize clear
ly the same sin in Wall street 'as 1t
is in the lowest resort, but we never
have ventured to legislatively to fix
the point where the race track gam
bier passing from the turf to the
stock market. becomes respectable
business man, eligible to church mem-
bership and chairman of the board
I0f trustees"
The report that 1880 Of the 2,507
district slperintendents declared the
amusement paragraphed Ineffective
The bishops further recommended
to the churches one temperance So
ciety instead of two. the anti-saloon
league and the Methodist church
Temperance society. favoring the lat
ter; that the church return to the
five year limit of pastorage; denounc-
ed child labor and boycotting: in
dorsed President Taft in his effort for
international peace; denounced the at
tempts Of any religious bodies to in
terfere with the civil status of the
marriage of the members when per-
formed by clergymen of another de-
nomination.
The resolutions. which declared the
amusement clause in the church rules
unrest" and that 1t had been declared
by lawyers to be inconsistent with the
church constitution and which asked
for an investigation by a committee
on the judiciary was lost. BY some
this was taken to mean that the full
conference itself desired the action
proposed on the change and indicated
that the majority of delegates insist
that the rule not be abolished.
The attack on Secretary of Agricul-
ture Wilson for attending the inter-
national brewery congress at Chicago
last October resulted in the adoption
of resolution condemning him.
Ministerial Limit.
A Limitation to five years as the
longest time any minister shall remain
In a given church, 1t is expected, will
be recommended by the bishops, as a
means Of stimulating the growth of
the church.
Much opposition is expected to
arise over the proposal. At present
nineteen thousand Methodist Episco-
pal ministers. scattered over the
world, are allowed to remain in any
supported by "a active bishops at the
conference, means a. restoration of
the time limit abolished in the year
1900.
In favor Of the change. bishops
received these arguments: Because
some Of the churches will not have
less able ministers all the time. and
ministers exclusively: because promi-
nent pulpits now held by the few will
be thrown open to the younger men,"
Against the change these objections
are made: THAT preachers who plan
a great work will not be in pulpit
long enough to accomplish 1t. That
many great preachers have left the
church because hampered by the time
limit; that large congregations can
not be built up from a pulpit where
there are frequent changes"
It is said many ministers occupied
the same pupits more than IL years
and their objection to the bishops
proposal. when it comes before tho
conference, will be based on their re-
luctance to leave q community, where
they have long lived.