Journal of the Central Texas Conference, Fifth Annual Session, Methodist Episcopal Church, South Page: 74
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74 CENTRAL TEXAS CONFERENCE JOURNAL
tangling alliances that their efficiency will be greatly lessened
as factors in this temperance fight,
We recommend the appointment of Atticus Webb as District
Superintendent of the Fort Worth District of the American Anti-
Saloon League.
Your Committee has received an invitation from the Anti-
Saloon League, asking the churches to send representatives from
our churches to a great Anti-Saloon League meeting, Feb. 9
and 10, 1915, on the basis of two for each church and one ad-
ditional for each hundred members or major fraction thereof, up
to five for each church.
J. M. ARMSTRONG, Pres.,
ATTICUS WEBB, Sec.
GENERAL STATE OF THE CHURCH.
It has pleased God to put the imprint of His Spirit upon the
Church in all ages. The presence of the Spirit's Power, or its
absence, has marked the rise or fall of the Church's power and
life. The history of the Church is the history of her triumphs
as she has followed the Spirit's lead, and her defeats as she has
departed from its leadership.
"The Spirit shall guide you into all truth, and the truth shall
make you free," is the Scripture teaching. Here lies the Church's
safety. Away from the truth, vitalized by the Spirit, the
Church must decline. Her triumphs in all ages have been the
triumphs of truth made vital and potential in the Church's life.
Her defeats are the chronology of the ascendency of error de-
vitalizing the Church's power and purity of life.
It is a matter of great regret that the incidentals to a Chris-
tian life are, in many particulars, magnified to the importance
of that life itself, and to the neglect of the essentials. Ethics
and all questions growing out of it, including even service, so-
ciology and education, is not Christian religion. Let those things
be magnified, but not at the expense of that fructifying soil out
of which they must grow; a truly vital godliness as the result
of a conscious, living touch with God through the regenerating
power of the Holy Spirit.
It is the regret of all truly pious and soberly thinking men
that much superficiality marks the experience of the Church
of our day; and a decided worldliness is creeping in among us,
-resulting in the weakening of our forces. We urge, therefore,
a close reading of the Bishop's address as recorded in our Dis-
cipline. We call upon our preachers of this Conference to sound
no uncertain note as to all forms of worldliness. Believing that
the doctrines of the Methodist Church are the best interpreta-
tion of the mind of God according to His Word, we suggest an
earnest presentation of these truths to our people, and we sin-
cerely believe that the same will result in much and lasting good
to our Church.
We note with much pleasure that for the most part, our Con-
ference has reported a net gain of 730 in membership, and we
gather from the reports of the presiding elders and pastors that
4,922 have been received on profession of faith during the past
year. Many churches and parsonages have been built. Our
Sunday School interests are advancing with much enthusiasm,
and our Sunday Schools are flourishing. With the organizing
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Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Journal of the Central Texas Conference, Fifth Annual Session, Methodist Episcopal Church, South, periodical, November 1914; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth49828/m1/74/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Archives of the Central Texas Conference United Methodist Church.