History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org
History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org
its exemplars, and that fact expresses more of the philosophy of its history than any other except the of the "baptism from on high." There is no human power above that of character. The character, not the genius, of Washington has made him chief among the military or civic sons of men. The character of a military leader can make a whole army an array of heroes or a melee of cowards. The army of the Shenandoah was rolling back shattered and hopeless, but when its chief arrived on his foaming steed, after that long and solitary ride, it stood forth again invincible; the drawing of his single sword before it, flashed lightning along all its bayonets and banners, and it dealt back the blow which sent the enemy reeling irrecoverably to destruction. The greatest of talents is character, and character is the most attainable of talents. Had John Wesley, when his cause was somewhat established, retired from his self-sacrificing labors, and acted the dignified, well-endowed prelate in City Road parsonage, his whole system would soon have fallen through. By traveling more, laboring more, and suffering more than any of his preachers, he kept them all heroically traveling, laboring, suffering. Asbury kept Methodism astir throughout this nation by hastening from Georgia to Massachusetts on horseback, yearly, for nearly half a century, preaching daily. None of his preachers exceeded him in even the humblest labors of the ministry. His power was military, and he used it with military energy; but, as has been shown, he imposed on the ministry no task that he did not himself exemplify. Under his command the Conferences moved as columns in the field of battle, for they knew that their leader would be in the thickest fight, would be chief in suffering and labor as in authority and honor. Asbury's daily life was a challenge to the humblest of them to endure all things. It became a point of chivalric honor among them to evade no labor or suffering; they consented to be tossed from Baltimore to Boston, from Boston to beyond the Alleghenies. How would all this have been changed if Asbury, at his episcopal ordination, had housed himself in Baltimore, reposing on his dignity, and issuing his commands, without exemplifying them! The Church should understand, then, that its great men must be great workers in whatever sphere they occupy; that this is a requisite of the age, and has always been a requisite of Methodism. An itinerant superintendency or episcopacy has ever been a favorite idea of its people. They have instinctively perceived its importance, and the founders of the Church declared in its constitutional law that the General Conference shall not "change or alter any part or rule of our government so as . . . to destroy the plan of our itinerant superintendency." The unity of the denomination, the fellowship of the Churches, their cooperation in great common undertakings, and the self-sacrificing spirit of the ministry generally, have been largely attributable to this fact of their system, a fact peculiar to Methodism among Episcopal Churches. With changes of time must come changes of policy, if not changes of what have been deemed fundamental opinions. Methodism has, through most of its history, been taking on new adaptations. Unrestricted by any dogmatism whatever in ecclesiastical polity, and less restricted, as we have seen, by theological creeds, than any other evangelical Church, it stands unequaled its future career. That it will change, that it has changed, cannot be doubted; but devoting itself, as it has been increasingly, to the elevation of its people, to education, literature, liberty, civil and religious, missions, the amelioration of its own acknowledged defects, and all charitable works, there would seem to be, not only possible, but feasible to it, a destiny hardly less grand than its history. ______________________________________________________
ENDNOTES 1 An error in the Minutes of 1820 (vol.1, p.346) is corrected by the Minutes of 1821, (ibid., p.366.) The Minutes cannot be followed for the aggregates of any given calendar year, for the reason that the returns of the Western Conferences, printed in any given year, were made up the preceding year. I correct this defect in the estimate in my text. Bangs followed the Minutes without this modification; Goss's. "Statistical History" has followed Bangs. The preachers for 1820 are given in the Minutes as 904, but this includes the preachers of the West only for 1819. The Minutes of 1821 give the ministry as 977; this Includes the western preachers of 1820, but also those of the East down to the end of the spring (and one Conference beyond it) of 1821. The statement in the text is sufficiently precise. 2 See Goss's tables, "Statistical History," etc., chap. v; but the reader must qualify them according to my preceding note. 3 I give the aggregates of the different Methodist bodies in America. The details can be found in the "Centenary Book" heretofore mentioned, cited mostly from official sources.
- Page 197 and 198: His itinerant ministry in the West
- Page 199 and 200: took a prominent part in the great
- Page 201 and 202: to the people, and to go back to Na
- Page 203 and 204: country. These were about to return
- Page 205 and 206: of preachers had increased thirty-f
- Page 207 and 208: 1 Rev. F. C. Holliday, in Sprague,
- Page 209 and 210: Astonishing, superhuman almost, as
- Page 211 and 212: of "through the interior of Louisia
- Page 213 and 214: their children. In ten years, I thi
- Page 215 and 216: hates the nefarious practice. In th
- Page 217 and 218: These extraordinary facts excited n
- Page 219 and 220: 15 I must remind the reader that I
- Page 221 and 222: [3] and threatened to return home.
- Page 223 and 224: he prepared for South Carolina, wit
- Page 225 and 226: the expediency of increasing the nu
- Page 227 and 228: 1 General Conference Journal,, vol.
- Page 229 and 230: itinerants he said, "See that every
- Page 231 and 232: In our day (1866) the Methodist Boo
- Page 233 and 234: edifice was soon after provided in
- Page 235 and 236: in both hemispheres, and which prop
- Page 237 and 238: even romantic record, but our limit
- Page 239 and 240: He organized the Liberia Mission. H
- Page 241 and 242: and the moral prospects of the worl
- Page 243 and 244: HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
- Page 245 and 246: ut we may well hesitate to admit th
- Page 247: They preached and suffered in Engla
- Page 251 and 252: and great labors; his charity, his
- Page 253 and 254: directing the advancing Church with
- Page 255 and 256: history, and presents, in full vita
ENDNOTES<br />
1 An error in <strong>the</strong> Minutes <strong>of</strong> 1820 (vol.1, p.346) is corrected by <strong>the</strong> Minutes <strong>of</strong> 1821, (ibid., p.366.)<br />
The Minutes cannot be followed for <strong>the</strong> aggregates <strong>of</strong> any given calendar year, for <strong>the</strong> reason that<br />
<strong>the</strong> returns <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Western Conferences, printed in any given year, were made up <strong>the</strong> preceding year.<br />
I correct this defect in <strong>the</strong> estimate in my text. Bangs followed <strong>the</strong> Minutes without this modification;<br />
Goss's. "Statistical <strong>History</strong>" has followed Bangs. The preachers for 1820 are given in <strong>the</strong> Minutes<br />
as 904, but this includes <strong>the</strong> preachers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> West only for 1819. The Minutes <strong>of</strong> 1821 give <strong>the</strong><br />
ministry as 977; this Includes <strong>the</strong> western preachers <strong>of</strong> 1820, but also those <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> East down to <strong>the</strong><br />
end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> spring (and one Conference beyond it) <strong>of</strong> 1821. The statement in <strong>the</strong> text is sufficiently<br />
precise.<br />
2 See Goss's tables, "Statistical <strong>History</strong>," etc., chap. v; but <strong>the</strong> reader must qualify <strong>the</strong>m according<br />
to my preceding note.<br />
3 I give <strong>the</strong> aggregates <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> different Methodist bodies in America. The details can be found in <strong>the</strong><br />
"Centenary Book" heret<strong>of</strong>ore mentioned, cited mostly from <strong>of</strong>ficial sources.
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