METHODISTS UNEASY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1694, 10 March 1913, Page 5

METHODISTS UNEASY.

EX-PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. DISCLAIMED BY CONFERENCE. ■ L. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Sydney, March 8. In his retiring address, the Rev. Mr. Meek, ex-president of the Methodist Con-, ference, denlt with the question of fixed creeds and freedom of thought. Ho urged the necessity of toleranco in tho matter of theological thinking, and the need for keeping nbreast of the best in tho intellectual life and knowledge of the age. He declared that could John Wesley reappear to-day one of the first things he would take in hand would be the complete adjustment of Methodism to present conditions and knowledge. Mr. Meek's utterances have led to much heartburning and press correspondence. The conference yesterday evening discussed' the matter. There was a lengthy, earnest, and,, for some time, warm debate. While agreeing with Mr. Meek in the necessity for freedom to think and the need of progress, and while expressing the soundness of Mr. Meek's fundamental faith and doctrines, some of tho speakers were o'f the opinion that his pronouncement, being of an official character, might tend to shako thp faith and loyalty of tho Christian community. • Eventually a resolution was carried, directing attention to the fact that Mr. Meek had intimated that his views expressed and voiced his own opinion and not those of thp Church, and that the Methodist Conference is profoundly convinced that the doctrinal standards of our Church are in harmony with the revealed Word of God, and that it is all that is legitimate or that could be desired, consistent with definite holding and preaching of the doctrinal truths npon which our Church is built." Prior to the carrying of the resolution, Mr. Meek declared that it was his message to the Church, and he was going to stand by it. He was astonished that so many intelligent men should misrepresent him as lie had bScn misrepresented timing the debate. The president assured Mr. Meek of the personal love and confidence of the members of the conference. METHODISM AND FREEDOM OF THOUGHT.

/'TIDE OF PROGRESS ROLLING,IN." "It is not 'incumbent upon any child of God to believe to-morrolv what he believes to-day," such was the keynote of the Rev. B. J. Meek's address at the opening of the New South Wales Methodist Conference on February 25 on "Methodism and Freedom of Thought.' "In my judgment," he said, "Methodism ought to hark .back to h<;r early history ill many elements of her Church life, and first and foremost to her early tolerance in the matter ,of theological thinking. There is no nobler examplo in the history of the Church than that of Methodism in this regard. I have every confidence in declaring that truo Methodism and obscurantism are as wide as the Poles apart. Mothodism can never lie left high and dry while the wave of progressive thought moves on, carrying upon its white crest the best intellectual life and knowledge of the ago." Wesley himself, continued the spe<-.lcer, had a strong infusion of iconoclasin in his mental make-up. Could he reappear to-day, ono of tho first things ho would take in hand .would bo the more complete adjustment of Methodism to present conditions and knowledge, and in this process he would never allow his own notes and sermons air their ancient garb'to retain the standard position they now occupied. He would not fetter tho human intellect, he would not limit Divine grace. What,litwanted was men who feared nothing but sin, and who loved God supremely. Sano news of doctrine, saner views of the foundation of doctrine —tho AVord of God —were emerging, .and no church could afford to ignore or neglect them. The Pope was against modernism because he and his College of Cardinals knew that the advancing tide of knowledge would mean no Pope and'no Popery as' we had them today. God forbid, however, that Method, ism should rank itself on the side of the Pope. The timo was coming when Methodism could not afford to postpone a Tension 'of her attitude in this regard. Slio must be more actively sympathetic. It was not courageous to adopt a policy of general drift, nor was it even honest Methodism as a' Church, should take het proper place. It was time to speak,; and, more than that, to aot. "Why," demanded the speaker, "should Methodist scholars and thinkers be tenants of a theological crypt?" The youngest of the great Churches should be freo and broad in tho best sense, abreast of all that was best in the age. Liberty of thought did. not interfere with, sanctity, Fixed creeds meant the arrest of thought and development, which was contrary to the Will of God.

"You may ask me," said Mr. Meek, "What, then, do I believe? Well, I do believe. I have convictions which burn : within, and glow without; which fill mo , with joy in the present, and inspire mo with confidence for the future. J3ut; do not ask me to reduce them to a strict definition. I have not yet learned to bot- : Ho tho - sunshine, or to distil the dew. I cannot reduce the most exquisite aromas of Nature to tabloid form. Tne songs of the lark, the blackbird, tho nightingale; 1 cannot cage within the limits of tho chromatic scale. Nor can I in these latter years talk of Hie Deity as though He were a glorified steam-engine. I am satisfied to know that ho is immeasurable Life, ineffable Light—and my Father. The agos will leave the materialism of the present behind. Science is becoming mora and more spiritual, and is influencing in that direction all departments of human life and thought. Theology must como into harmony. It mil be a great gain. The great tide of progress is rolling in upon tho strand of human life. No power on earth can prevent its in-coming, arid Methodism nmst not, cannot, attempt it."