The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-16
M E N, w o M FEN
 A ND T HIN G s

pFived of the pleasure of attending | the North Alabama conference, which convened at Gadsden last week, as
 always get great pleasure out of meet ing with my Methodist brethren in
 their conferences.
 For some time past have been keep
 !Eg in close touch with both the Ala
 bama conference, as well as the North Alabama conference, and have also at
 tended several general conferences
 and the sessions of all of them have been highly profitable from a spiritual ard inspirational standpoint
 was reared in a Methodist home,
 and during the Civil war my father
 who was d physician, served the town in which he practiced as the local
 preacher, and all through his life was
 an active and consecrated supporter of southern Methodism frequently filling tic pulpit in Eufaula during the ab-
 scnee of the regular pastor. l am l therefore, intimately acquainted wilh
 the high type of piety which is char
 acteristic of the followers of John i Wesley.
 i; It isn't necessary and it would be treasons which made me enter the min istry another denomination in wbich ] have served for a quarter of a century; but it is eminently proper 1 for me to acknowledge my great debt | to the Methodists for the grounding l got in the old-time, heartfelt religioa l ill q home in which there was always a family altar, and Jesus of Nazareth
 the honored guest. The memory of the
 simple piety of my home comes as
 sweet fragrance down the years. 1 I'll say this much, if I wasn't Baptist bishop l would covet the hon.
 C. of being a Methodist one. Every
 Baptist preacher counts himself bishop; but from the standpoint of so-
 cicty it does not carry the prestige V hich is associated with the bishops in tfcse churches where they are elevated after the manner of the church to
 which they owe allegiance, and Bap- tist pastor comes into prominence not | through church conferences or councils
 but simply because of ability. This
 does not mean that merit does not ele- vate pastors in bishoprics in other churches.
 l l. count it one of the joys of my life that 1 have known and heard many
 of the bishops in Southern Methodism.
 Take them in any way you please and 1 they have been preachers of the very | highest type. This is true of Ameri-
 can Methodism from the time of As- hury down to the present. By the way, if you havnt read the story of As bury's life you have missed one of
 the outstanding biographies of the day. I enjoyed it from start to fin- isl. and commend it to those who love
 the heroic in our pioneer life.
 l There is one bishop whom will all ! ways hold in affectionate regard, and 1 that is Bishop Marvin First, because
 he was the intimate friend of my 1 hrother-in-law. the late Dr E. NJ.
 
 1 known, and much in his home during
 the psstorates in St. Louis. Second, l because his book ITO the East By l Way of the Vest came out wheE 1
 was just a lad and when request was
 made for someone to sell copies in Eu- faula I volunteered. It was my first
 and last experience a book agent. | [ Ri [ ,,I,, been so civil to those who suddenly draw out from some mysterious pocket
 a prospectus and begin their spiel" | never really got personally inter- ] ested in the elevation of any of my i Methodist. preacher friends to the bish l oprie until the general conference met
 here some years back. l then became
 eagerly interested. for there was much
 talk about Jim Mccoy whom I had come to love very dearly as the editor { O. the Alabama Christian Advocate ] i4is office was adjoining mine and we l saw much of one another. Our papers ] were set up in the same printing es-
 tahlishment. and P>h< to bed on the same press. but they never got into a
 row even over baptism.
 1 No. man in all Aethodism took more | Joy when the time came for Jim Mccoy l to receive the recognition that he de- served at the hands of his church.
 had known all along that he was bi.s
 enough and seasoned suffic.s ,tly to fill
 any position in the gift of Southern Methodism, aud in fact was rather 1 impatient because the honor did not
 come to him during the sitting of ths
 st neral conference in his home towN. l 1t wasn't long before he made good,
 ard then all too suddenly for those of ! Us who loved him he was called to his
 heavenly home.
 l I'll admit that 1 have been a long time coming to what sat down to do and that was to express my genuine i Tieasure that James Cannon, the resi- dent bishop of the Methodist church in ! Aiabama. is making his home in Bir- im:ngham. The presence in our mids ] | such a man has wider reach than
 can be contained inside any denominl- 1 tonal fences, and SO join With my Methodist brethren in the fact that We l have such an addition to our civic, go .
 cal and religious life.
 i Bishop Cannon is a man of rare cu.- l ture having received his education in | fhe besl colleges in America. He re- ceNed his A. 5. degree at Randolph
 Macon. and his F. D. and A. M at i, [ rince ton. He served as president Of some of the Methodist denom:nationai ! schools. closing his educational ser l v-Ce as president of Blackstone c0s-