The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, September 10, 1895, Page 8

8 THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1895. THE METHODISTS AT PACIFIC GROVE. Forty-Third Assemblage Conference Begins To-Morrow Morning. BISHOP WARREN TO LEAD Question of Admitting Women as Delegates Is the | Main Issue. | THE HAMILTON RESOLUTION. Ploneer Wesleyans In the Golden State—Some of the Leading Clergymen, The forty-third session of the California will convene to-morrow at Pa- Grove, in the- Assembly Hall, which ; 2000. Bishop H. W. War- There are 227 ministerial 50 delegates to the Jlectoral Conference and the Lay As- sociation, which meet at the same time. There will be present all the way from 1200 500 of the leading Methodists of the State. here are several things which will give this conference unusual interest. It is the time of election of delegates to the General Conference, whicth meets in Cleveland, Ohio, the first day of May. 1896. The Cali- fornia Conference will be entitled to four ministerial delegates, elected by the vote of the clergy, and two laymen delegates, elected by the Lay Electoral Conference, women not yet being eligible to a seat in the highest legislative council of the church. It is also the time for preparing and sending forward resolutions and memo- rials asking for such changes in the rules and usages of the church as the members may desire. The opportunity for chang- ing the laws of the church occurs only once in four years. There are two radical changes which have been agitating the church for more than a dozen years. One of these is the lifting of the time-limit on the pastoral term, which at present per- mits a pastor to remain in the same church for a term not exceeding five years. The proposed amendment seeks to do away with the limit altogether. The other change which will be strongly urged is the admission of women to the General Conference. This change is far more difficult, because it has been decided by the preceding General Conferences that ren will preside. delegates and about Bishop William Taylor. [From a photograph.] it would require a change in the constitu- | tion of the church in order to admit them. The former change will require simply a | majority vote of the next General Confer- ence. It will be the purpose of those who desire these amendmentsto send only such delegates as favor them. Canaidating in a Methodist conference is rather a hazardous thing. The theory of the ministers is that there should be no candidating. The vote is supposed to be | based upon the “spontaneous” choice of | those who rise ‘‘head and shoulders | above their feliows.”” Whatever amount of the human element, under the head of | ecclesiastical politics, is brought in must | be clothed with a thick coat of “‘sheep’s clothing.” The question of admitting women to the Gc'nen:i Conference is likely to be brought | up under the call to vote on the Hamilton | resolution. If the conference refuses to | Headquarters of the Western Metho- dist Book Concern, Cincinnati. vote on that resolution a substitute is likely to be offered which will permit the conference to vote directly on the question of admitting women. The amendment of 1888 will be taken up again; that is adding the clause to the second article of the con- stitution: *“And said delegates may be men or women.” The Hamilton resolu- tion is explained in the sketch of that dis- tinguished visitor. The removal of the time limit will be discussed under a special memorial which will go to the committee on itinerancy in the General Conference of 189. This question has had asingular history. From 1868 10 1876 it met with such favor that it ‘was confidently believed by the friends of the measure that the General Conference of 1880 would pass the rule by a large majority, but in 1880 it was overwhelm- ingly defeated and but littie was heard of it until eight years later, when 1t suddenly came forward with such strength as to carry the committee on itinerancy, and was only “downed” by a compromise measure | extending the time of the pastoral term from three to five years. The laymen have so far been o Eosed to the lifing of the time limit. }1‘1 e conservatives think | He has written many prominent articles | of the Great California that any system which keeps 25,000 pulpits supplied fifty-two Sundays in the yearis good enough to let alone as it is. Bishop Henry W.Warren, D.D., LL.D. Bishop Warren, who is to preside over the deliberations of the California Confer- ence, is held in the highest esteem by all the religious denominations. He is a na- tive of Massachusetts, but was educated at Middletown, Conn., in the Wesleyan Uni- versity, graduating with distinction in 18 From 1864 to 1880, when he was elected to the episcopacy, he filled the leading pulpits of Boston, New York and Philadelphia. His election to the episco- pal office was highly complimentary, Ibeing taken directly from the pastorate and elected with an overwhelming majority on the first ballot. Bishop Warren has al- ways been in close touch with the pastors. for the church periodicals, has traveled al- niost all over the world. He is an author of recognized _ability. having written | | “Sights and Insights,” ‘‘Recreation in ) San Francisco they organized the first Methodist Episcopal society and the first Protestant church in the State or on the Pacific Coast south of Oregon. It con- sisted of six members, over whom was a pointed Aquilla Glover and John Trubody as the class-leaders. They pitched a tent on Powell street, near Washington, organ- ized a Sunday-school and set up worship after the mostapproved Methodist fashion. This occurred more than eighteen months before the Rev. Timothy Dwight Hunt, a returned missionary from the Hawaiian Islands, landed and preached his first sermon, October 29, 1848, and some months Jater organized the First Congre- gational Church of San Francisco. The ev. 8. H. Willey of the Congregational church arrived in Monterey Febrnary 23, 1849, and became one of the founders of the Congregational church in California. Rev. Sylvester Woodbridge came to San Francisco February 28, 1849, and began work for the Presbyterians, and the Rev. 0. C. Wheeler, so long and so well known on this coast, came on the same vessel and Eroceeded to organize the First Baptist Church in San Francisco. The Episcopa- lians befian operations September 8, 1849, under the able ministry of Dr. J. L. Ver Mehr and Rev. Flavel 8. Mines, the founder of old Trinity. It is a matter of interest to the Methodists, who pride them- selves on pioneer work, that they anti pated the other denominations by a num- ber of months. i REV. [From a photograph.] A, A 7 0 C. EIRST, Astronomy,” and a very timely book, “The Bible in History.” He resides in Denver, Colo., and has given much of his time to the development of the Denver University. This is the third time he has presided over the California Conference, and always with the grealest satisfaction. .Ploneer Methodism In Callfornia. As early as 1846 two stalwart Methodist Episcopal ministers, Rev. William Rob- Rev. Charles C. McLean, D.D., Pastor Simpson Tabernacle, Los Angeles. erts of New Jersey and Rev. James f. Wilbur of New York, were sent as mis- sionaries to Oregon, but authorized to stop at San Francisco and explore California with a view of opening missions in that part of the Pacific Coast. They came ashore at San Francisco (Yerba Buena, as it was then called) April 24, 1847. They spent about a week investi- gating the little Mexican village almost lost in the sandhills, preaching to the English- speaking people on Sunday. It has been claimed that this was the first Protestant sermon_ever preached within the bound- aries of the State of California. After ministering to a few Christian people who gathered around them they proceeded to visit the Napa and Sonoma valleys, in- cluding many of the villages north of the E. D. McCreary, Pastor Central M, E. Church of Stockton. bay. It is needless to say that they were strongly impressed with the country as a most important field for missionary work. They returned to San Francisco and went south, visiting San Jose, Pajaro, Salinas and fionurey. Returning once more to In September, 1847, Rev. Elihu Antnony, now of Santa Cruz and a brother to the well-known Dr. C. V. Anthony of the Cali- fornia Conference, with a company of emi- grants from Indiana arrived in the Santa Clara Valley and camped near San Jose. Almost at once he openad a preaching ser- vice, organizing a_Methodist society of thirty members. He made a good many trips’ to San Francisco to encourage the little society organized by the Rev. Mr.Rob- erts, preaching on shipboard and on the streets as opportunity was offered. Once he made the trip in an oxcart. John Tru- body, now residing at 1004 Washingion street, was one of the original members of the San Francisco Methodist society. Rev. Mr. Anthony continued his mission- labors southward to Santa Cruz, Salinas and Monterey, and not without consider- able success. In May, 1848, the Missionary Board at New York, having heard such favorabie reports of the work in California and Oregon, recommended to the General Conference then in session to regularly or- ganize the work in California into a mis- sion and make additional appropriations and man the work in the best possible manner. The same year Rev. Isaac Owen of In- diana and Rev. William Taylor of Balti- more were duly appointed missionaries to California and set out for the new field of labor, one, Isaac Owen, by way of the plains, 2nd_the other, Willlam Taylor, came around the Horn. Both arrived in California on the same day in 1849. Rev. Mr. Owen preached his first sermon in Grass Valley September 14, 1849, and at the e i, a\»y‘}»\\»&& = \ / Rev. E. McOlish. [From a photograph.] same time William Taylor opened regular services in San Francisco, Rev. Asa ‘White, a local preacher, having held the society together in that city. Sunday, October 23, 1849, Isaac Owen reached Sacramento, where he found the Rev. Dr. W. J. Deal surrounded by a small band of earnest Methodists with lumber on the ground for a new church. The mis- sionary was received with open arms. _In one week from that day the church was so far completed as to hold services within the inclosure. Itthusappears before the arrival of the missionaries there were Methodisi societies organized at San Francisco, San Jose, Banta Cruz, and in- formally at Sacramento under the care re- ectively of Rev. Asa White, Elihu An- thony and Dr. W. J. Deal. The simple fact is that there never was a break in the history of the Methodist church in Cali- fornia from the beginning, April 24, 1847, which was before Alta California was ceded to the United States. A recent writer in the Overland Monthly, writinfi under the caption of ‘“The Churches of Forty-nine,”’ takes occasion to say that, “the first Protestant clergy- men to come to California were Methodist, two missionaries to Oregon having visite 8an Krancisco, Monterey and other places as early as April, 1847.. But the Methodists were not o quick in_permanently occupy- ing California as were other denomina- tions.” This is a very natural mistake for one who is nol acquainted with the economy of the Methodist church. At that time the headquarters of the mission was in Oregon and the California mission- aries repor their work to Mr. Roberts, who was the general superintendent for the coast. It was no!untiPAngust 14, 1851, that the California work was iormallg separated from the Oregon mission an began to take account of its own proceed- ings. ‘When the Revs. Taylorand Owen reached California the gold fever was raging and vrices were enormous. Think of lumber at $300 per thousand. No wonder houses rented—or shanties rather, for there were no houses to speak of in those days—for $60 to $100 per month. This was all the more appalling when it is remembered that the entire a%propriation for the sup- port of William Taylor and his family was only $750 for the year. William#l'aylor, | now Bishop of Airica, is one_of the most heroic men of thecentury. Since the days of his street preaching in California he has traveled and preached the gospel in almost all parts of India, South America, Aus- Rev. W. W. Case. [From a photograph.) tralia and in many parts of Africa. To Bishop Taylor belongs the credit of bring- ing the seed of the Australian gum or eucalyptus tree to the State of California. Of course the missionary could not pay any such price for lumber and it was equally out of the question for him to pay such rents for any length of time. But he was not the man to complain_of his hard lot. He shouldered his ax and put off into the lumber cnm]x), a little north of the present town of Olema, in Marin County, | and by dint of hard work succeeded in get- ting enough rough lumber to build him a comfortable house. Although he worked | on board the schooner as part pay for the transportation of the lumber, yet it stood | him in about $60 a thousand by the time he got it on the ground. These two heroic missionaries and their assistants traveled all over Central California, preaching in | the villages and mining camps, and re- ceived everywhere with that royal wel- come known only among the early pio- neers of California. From 1847 to 1851 mightbe styled not inappropriately the prenistoric age of California Methodism. The first regular session of the California Conference met in San Franeisco August 11, 1851. Since that time the records are complete and accessible as may be seen in the file of the minutes. Rev. William Roberts presided and the Rev. S. Simonds, still a member of this conferen and residing at 935 Clay street, San Fran- cisco, was elected secretary. | Dr. M. C. Briggs of San Jose is the only other member of California Conference | who was present at the first session of the | conference. Last year the conference in- | vited him to preach his semi-centennial sermon on the occasion of the fiftieth an- niversary of his ministry, he having entered the Erie Conference in September. 1845. There were only eleven ministers present | at that first conference and about as many local preachers. From this small beginning it has grown to two_large conferences now in the State with about 400 ministers, 32,716 members, a property valued at $2,119,642, spending [=] Dr. J. H. Wythe. [From a photograph.] annually for carrying on the various pas- toral charges and the contributions to benevolent and missionary work the sum of $476,000. These sums do not include the educational work of the church. There will be four vacant chairs on the conference floor at this session—the scholarly, gentle-spirited Professor T. C. George, the pioneer E. A. Hazen, the eloquent Angelo Canoll, and Dr. B. F. Crsrg, the genial and much-beloved editor of the California Christian Advocate. These have been summoned to the ranks beyond the carking cares of time. Growth of the Epworth League. One of the most remarkable features of the Methodist polity is the rise of the Epworth League. The solidarity of the church is well illustrated in this organiza- tion of young people. The church had ) ) == D ) 5, _#ff 4 Hon. Charles Goodall, Pioneer Methe odist. [From a photograph.] attempted to organize the young people along special lines, purely literary and otherwise, until it was found that there were five different young people’s societies and none of them ad enough to meet the requirements. Six years ago at Cleve- land, Ohio, these five societies were merged into one and called the Epworth League. ? Since that time it has grown to nearly a million members, has a young people’s })nper, published in Chicago, with a cireu- ation of over 85,000. Ina recent conven- tion held at Chattanooga, Tenn., in which the Canadian and Southern Methodists united, 12,000 delegates were present. Itis confidently expected that this society will be a strong medium for the union ot the two Methodisms, North and South. Bishop D. A. Goodsell, D.D., LL.D. Bishop Daniel Ayres Goodsell was born in Newburg, N. Y., fifty-five years ago of sturdy Methodist parents, kis father being a Methodist minister before him. He was educated in the University of New York, and at once took high rank asa pastor in the leading churches of New York City, Brooklyn and New Haven. He is a born and skillful litterateur. He was elected editor of the Zion's Herald, but declined in order to accept the responsible place of secretary of the Board of Education of tne Methodist Episcopal church, For eight years he was the liter- ary editor of the New York Christian Ad- vocate. He was elected Bishop in 1888, Since that time he has traveled in China, Japan, South America and in nearly all | ;o | practice in Oakland and the bay cities. For the States in the Union. As a preacher he is regarded among the Methodists very highly, being possessed of much solid of the California Conference is the Rev. J. H. Wythe, M.D., D.D., LL.D. As early as 1853 he wrote the first American textbook on microscopy; since that time the book has passed through the second and third editions and still holds the foremost place among the textbooks on that growing and interesting subject. Some years ago Dr. ‘Wythe published a book of rare value en- titled, “Agreement of Science and Re- ligion.” It found its way into the course of study for the ministers of the Methodist church and was widely circulated. His latest and pernaps his most labori- ous and valuable contribution to the scien- tific literature of the day is the *‘Phygology of the Soul,” which has received th®most favorable notices from the learned meta- hysicians and philosophers of the times, ineluding such men as Professor Borden P. Bowne of Boston and Dr. Lionel S. Beale of London. It is certainiy a very able work. On account of lailinf heaith Dr. Wythe came to California in 1862 and has filled some of the leading pulpits on the coast—was also presiding elder of the San Franeisco district one term. In addition to his studies in theolog¥l Dr. Wythe has a wide reputation as a physi- cian, having graduated from the Philadel- hia College of Medicine as early as1850. n 1880 he received a nominal appointment from the conference and took up the prac- tice of medicine, and now enjoys a large a good many years he has held the position of lecturer in the Cooper Medical Institute, BIMPSON METHODIST EPISCOPAL TABERNACLE, HOPE STREET, BETWEEN SEVENTH AND EIGHTH, LO3 ANGELES, CAL. SEA1l. ING CAPACITY OF 2500. thought, versatility, peculiar brilliancy of diction, and altegether one of the ablest and most productive minds of the church. As a bishop he is judicial, fervent, self- sacrificing, possessing clearand deep pene- tration of character, and in all the duties of his position faithful. The Rev. H. C. Benson, D.D. Among the pioneers of the conference no figure is more conspicuous than that of Dr. H. C. Benson. He is the Nestor of California Methodism. For a long time he has swayed the scepter in matters of ecclesiastical law and parliamentary us- ages. Though high up in the ‘‘seventies,” he is still in vigorous health, and intensely active on the conference floor. Three years ago at the session of the con- ference he preached his jubilee sermon, having completed fifty yvears in the minis- try. forty years of which has been spent in California. Born in Ohio, near Cincinnati, educated gt the Indiana Asbury Univer- sity under the presidency of Bishop Simp- son, entered the Indiana Conference in 1842, taught Greek in the Asbury Univer- sity in 1850-51 and came as a missionary to California in 1852, where his active life has been spent, with the exception of four years in Oregon, where he was called to edit the Pacific Christian Advocate from 1864 to 1868. Besides being pastor and pre- siding elder in many of the leading charges of California, he was editor of the (Sgali(ornia Daniel A. Goodsell, D.D., Presiding Bishop of the Pacific Coast. [From a photograph.] Christian Advocate from 1868 to 1880, a period of twelve years. He is a man of excellent scholarship, keeping fresh in his Greek, Latin and He- brew to the present day; a minister of well- defined conviction, straightforward and of a high grade of piety. He is alert and quick at repartee. Woe to the man who attempts to measure swords with him on the con- ference floor. In argument he is clear, concise and convincing, making many happy ‘‘hits” at the expense of his oppo- nent, and not _infrequently “brings down the house.” Heis a leader on the conser- vative side of the house and the G.O. M. on all debatable questions. The sight of a crank thoroughly arouses him. The young man who applies for admission to the ranks of the itinerancy considers his case won if he passes the searching interroga- tories of Dr. Benson. But with all his activity in the debates of the conference, heis a great favorite, highl, regarded for his ability, sincerity and wort! of character, and has often received prefer- ment at the hands of his colleagues. He has been the delegate to the General Con- ferences of 1864, 1868, 1876 and 1884, thus representing the California Conference in the highest councils of the church four times, an honor not usually conferred more than once. In 1867 he was elected presi- dent of Willamette University, but ae- clined the honor. In 1865 he was elected president of the Oregon Conference, 1n the absence of the Bishop, and adjusted the ap- pointments with great satisfaction. He re- mains young in spite of his years. Rev. J. H, Wythe, M.D., D.D., LL.D. Perhaps the most distinguished scholar San Francisco, and is one of the leading microscopists in the United States. Though not a regular graduate of a literary college he has geen horored with the degrees of D.D. and LL.D. Rev. John W. Hamliton, D.D. Rev. Dr. John W. Hamilton, one of the corresponding secretaries of the Freed- men’s Aid Society of the Methodist Episco- pal church, who is officially visiting the Rev. R. 8. Cantine, D.D., Pastor First Methodist Church, San Jose. California Conference in the interests of that society, is one of the most zealous ad- vocates for the admission of women to the General Conference. He was brougnt into great notoriety as the author of the cele- brated Hamilton resolution, proposing an amendment to the constitution of the church, and which the conferences for the mosl part are refusing to vote upon. It will go down in history us one of the shrewdest parliamentary wovements ever attempted in a representative body. In order to understand the full force of the Hamilton resolution and why 1t should set the church into such an agita- tion it must be remembered that up to 1872 there were none but ministers per- Rev. A. T. Needham, Presiding Elder of the Sacramento District. mitted to take part in the General Con- ference; there were no lay delegates. When the lay delegates were admitted in 1872 no definition was recorded as to whether the words “lay delegates” and “laymen” included women or meant “men only.” It should also be borne in mind that the only method of chaneging the con~ stitution of the church so as to admit the “laymen’’ is to submit'the amendment to the adult members of the churcn, men and women. Ita majority of the laity vote in favor of the proposed law it is'then re- ferred to the annual conferences, where it must be carried by a three-fourths vote, thence it comes before the succeeding Gen- eral Conference and must be carried by & two-thirds vote in order to becomgya law. This contention came to a focus in 1888, when five women, duly elected, presented themselves at the bar of the General Con- ference and claimed their scats. After one of the greatest debates known in the his- tory of the church the opponents of the women won by a small majority, claiming First Methodist Church, San Fran. cisco. Organized April, 1847, that the original change by which “lay delegates” were admitted to the General Conference did not include women. e women delegates were therefore excluded from the General Conference on constitu. tional grounds. - The friends of the measureimmediately framed an amendment and sentiton its rounds, and while it had a majority of the membership of the church in its favor it Jacked the necessary three-fourths vote of the conferences. When the General Con- ference of 1892 met at Omaha there was an attempt to “read the women in” by de- claring in a formal manner that it was the intention of the act by which the lay dele- gates were admitted in 1872 to include women, but under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Buckley of New York the whole question was referred to the judiciary com- mittee, which decided that the amendment of 1872 did not include the women. It was then apparent that the only way they could be iegally admitted was to send the amendment down to the members and the conferences again as in 1883. Dr. Hamilton and the advocates of the admis- sion of women fearing that “‘three-fourths” vote of the conferences made a brilliant coup d'etat in the following manner: That, whereas, the judiciary committee has decided that women are not eligible to membership in the General Conference, therefore resolved, that an amendment be sent to the annugl conferences declaring that all lay delegates shall be male mem- bers and is such amendment shall fail of its three-fourths majority vote and the subsequent two-thirds vote of the General Conference of 1896, then the words “lay delegates” may include men and women. It was in this manner that the Jaboring car was shifted to the other side—the assumption being that the women are i eligible unless rejected by a two-thirds vote of General Conference and a three- Methodist Book Concern, 150 Fifth Avenue, New York. fourths vote of the annual conferences. This in substance was the notable resolu- tion of Dr. Hamilton. Dr. Hamilton’s opponents claim that his tactics would subvert all law and break down all the safeguards about the constitution of all government, whether church or state. If the Supreme Court of the United States should decide that women were ineligible to a seat in Congress, it would only be necessary ac- cording to his method to send out an amendment declaring that men only were eligible to seats in the halis of Congress, and if such failed to carry the required majorities in the various States, the women would be eligible. Of course it may seem strange that such a resolution could pass a legislative body like the Gen- eral Conference, and some have.gone so far as to say that Dr. Hamilton himself did not expect it to carry, but was running a “bluff” on his opponents. This, how- ever, he denies, claiming that it was only fair that the other side should work up the three-fourtls and two-thirds ma- jorities. A good many of the conference declare that they will not vote on the alleged amendment of Dr. Hamilton at all. Tt is generally understood that the California Conference is strongly in favor of admit- ting the women to the General Conference, Central M. E. Church, Stockton. but how they will dispose of the Hamilton resolution remains to be seen. It will probably take some good ‘coaching” to get that resolution to the ‘‘goal.” The great society Dr. Hamilton repre- sents, the ‘“Freedmen’s Aid,” was orzan- ized at the close of the war for the educa- tion and elevation of the freedmen of the South. It spends from $250,000 to $300,000 annually. During the twenty-eight years of its history it has collected and spent about $4,000,000. This society carries on schools of high grade. It is {eing recog- nized by the Southern people themselves as a powerful factor in solving the *‘color question.” Dr. Hamilton is a preacher of most popular talents. It was he who founded the People’s Church of Boston and filled it with a crowd of eager listeners. The Rev. Homer Eaton, D.D. Dr. Eaton. agent of the Book Concern at New York, who is visiting the California Qonference in an official capacity, is a na- tive of the Green Mountain State, a gradu- ate of the old Concord Biblical Institute and an honored member of the Troy Con- ference in the State of h ROWAR Balking Powder Absolutcly Pure \