OCR Text |
Show I. STILL ; UNDER BAN Theaters and Cards Likewise, Good Methodists Must Not Indulge in any of These Amusements. Conference Decides That They Are Antagonistic to Vital Pioty and Pernicious to Youth, "W- OS ANGELES, Cal., May 27. By I tho decisive yea and nay vote of My 4il to 1SS the Methodist general conference thlB aftarnoon decided not to make any change In the church discipline In the matter of prohibited amuBement. The question Is one -uhlch has agitated the minds of the delegates to tho present general conference con-ference perhaps more than any other fllnnle problem that has been before 1L Tho question came before the conference confer-ence today In the report of tho committee commit-tee on tho state of the church on this subject. There were two reports. The majority report recommended aa follows: fol-lows: "Your committee declines to recommend the striking out of the ppeclfled amusements from paragraph 218 of the discipline. It recommends that the following paragraph be inserted in-serted In the discipline under the chapter chap-ter on special advices: What Is Barred. "Improper amusements and excessive Indulgence In Innocent amusements arc r tIous barriers to tho bcirlnnlnir of tho Iirllglous life and fruitful causes of Fplrltual declines. Some amusements In common use aro also positively demoralizing de-moralizing and furnish the Jlrst ea3y fteps to the total loss of character. We, therefore, look with deep concern on tho great Increase of amusements and on the general prevalence of harmful harm-ful amusments and life up a solemn note of warning and entreaty, particularly partic-ularly against theater-going, dancing, and such games of chance as aro frequently fre-quently associated with gambling; nil of which have been found to bo antagonists antag-onists to vital piety, pramotivo of tvorldllness especially pernicious to jouth. "Wo affectionately admonish all our people to make their amusements tho subject of careful thought and frequent prayer, to study the subject of amusements amuse-ments In tho light of their tendencies, nd to be scrupulously careful In thla matter, to set no Injurious example. We adjure them to remember that tho question of a Christian must often be, i.ot whether a certain course of action is positively Immoral, but whether It will dull the spiritual llfo and bo an unwise example. "Wo enjoin all our bishops, presiding elders and pastors to call attention to this subject with solemn urgency in our annual and quarterly conferences and In all our pulpits, and on our editors, edi-tors, Sunday-school ofllccrs, Ep worth league ofllccrs and class leaders to aid in abating the evils wo deplore. "We deem It our boundon duty to summon tho whole church to apply a thoughtful and instructed conscience to amusements, and not to leave them to accident or passion, and we affectlon-itely affectlon-itely advise and beseech every member mem-ber of the church to avoid absolutely the taking of such diversions as cannot can-not bo used In tho namo of the Lord.' ' Rev. Dr. James M. King, chairman of thft committee on Htntr? nf fVm I church, offered tho minority report as a substitute for the majority report. Majority Hcport Adopted. Tho conference limited the speeches upon this proposition to flvo minutes. Xcarly a rcorc of speeches wcro made on both sides before the previous question ques-tion was ordered. On a call of the roll the minority report re-port was voted down by 441 to 1S8. Applause followed the announcement, und while Bishop Spellmeyer In vain rapped for order, the conference aroBo and sang "Pralso God, From Whom All Blosslncs Flow." The majority report was then submitted sub-mitted to vote and adopted by practically practi-cally a unanimous vote. |