History of the M.E. Church, Vol. IV - Media Sabda Org

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moved, that a committee be appointed to prepare an affectionate address to the Methodist Societies in the United States, stating the evil. Of the spirit and practice of slavery, and the necessity of doing away the evil as far as the laws of the respective states will allow; and that the said address be laid before the Conference for their consideration, and, if agreed to, be signed by the bishops in behalf of the Conference. William McKendree moved, that this General Conference direct the yearly Conferences to appoint a committee to, draw up proper addresses to the state legislatures, from year to year, for a gradual abolition of slavery. The motion of Timmons prevailed. The Address to the Methodist Societies, proposed by Cooper was prepared by a committee and sent forth; it provoked the resentment of Charleston, S. C., and led to the sufferings of Dougharty. The obnoxious documents were delivered by his colleague, Harper, to the authorities, and burned in presence of the Mayor. The result of these enactments was the following additions to the discipline at the next session of the Conference, in 1804: "When any traveling preacher becomes an owner of a slave or slaves by any means, he shall forfeit his ministerial character in our Church, unless he execute, if it be practicable, a legal emancipation of such slaves, conformably to the laws of the state in which he lives. The Annual Conferences are directed to draw up addresses for the gradual emancipation of the slaves, to the legislatures of those states in which no general laws have been passed for that purpose. These addresses shall urge, in the most respectful but pointed manner, the necessity of a law for the gradual emancipation of the slaves; proper committees shall be appointed, by the Annual Conferences, out of the most respectable of our friends, for the conducting of the business; and the presiding elder, elders, deacons, and traveling preachers shall procure as many proper signatures as possible to the addresses, and give all the assistance in their power in every respect to aid the committees, and to further this blessed undertaking. Let this be continued from year to year till the desired end be accomplished." The Methodist Church had thus far been the most active antislavery society in the nation, and in spite of some reverses was still to remain such, till the barbarous evil should be swept away forever. While these deliberations were going on in the Conference, the whole city seemed swayed by religious excitement; the great revival of the times, which prevailed over most of the nation, seemed to centralize there. The churches could not contain the people, and many private houses had to be occupied for preaching. I have recorded the name of Catharine Ennalls, (sister to Bassett's wife,) who introduced Methodism into Dorchester, Md. She had married William Bruff; a Methodist merchant of Baltimore, and was now most active in the extraordinary scenes of this revival. Her house was continually open for preaching; Lee, Bruce, McCombs, Smith, and others preached there with wonderful success. Boehm, who, not being a member or the Conference, had leisure to share in these spiritual labors, describes the results as surprising. "The Lord he says, "is at work in all parts of the town." "Christ the Lord is come to reign." Preachers and laymen passed from Bruff's house to the churches, "singing the praises of God along the streets. This greatly surprised the people, and hundreds came running out of their houses and followed us till we reached the house of God. There were wonderful exhibitions of power as we went through the streets, and we entered the house singing and shouting the praises of God." The next day, after the adjournment, Asbury was preaching and pushing forward on his northern tour. Coke returned immediately to England, where he began to issue his Commentary in numbers, in 1801; he introduced Sunday-schools into Cornwall, advocated the Wesleyan missions, traveled largely in Ireland and other parts of the United Kingdom, and in the autumn of 1803 embarked for his final visit to the United States. Asbury welcomed him heartily, and planned a course of travel and preaching for him, amounting to nearly five thousand miles, about three thousand of which the
tireless apostle completed by the next General Conference, which assembled in Light Street Church, [10] Baltimore, May the 7th, 1804. Coke, "as senior bishop," presided. John Wilson was elected Secretary. The records present, for the first time, a list of the members, who amounted to a hundred and twelve; five, however, were "excepted" as not entitled to vote, not having traveled four years. Many of the chief men of the ministry were there: among them Burke from the West; Pickering and Joshua Taylor from the East; Garrettson, Ostrander, Crawford, Hunt, and Sawyer from New York Conference; from that of Philadelphia, McClaskey, Sargent, Ware, Owen, Woolsey, Cooper, Colbert, Sharpe, Roberts, Chandler, and other similar characters; from that of Baltimore, Henry Willis, George, McCombs, Wells, Henry Smith, Quinn, Hitt, Snethen, Watters, Fleming; from that of Virginia, Lee, McCaine, Bruce; from that of South Carolina, Dougharty and Jenkins. William Black, of Nova Scotia, was also present as a guest, and was allowed to speak, but not to vote, on the questions discussed. The Philadelphia Conference was represented by thirty-seven, Baltimore by thirty, New England by but four, and the great Western field by three. Philadelphia and Baltimore had sixty-seven or the members, nearly two thirds of the whole Conference. It was obvious that a reorganization of the body, on the principle of delegation, had become necessary, but it was deferred to the next session. [11] The Discipline was elaborately revised, section by section, Coke reading item after item, and the [12] Conference debating with no little interest. Some changes were made. The bishops were required to allow the Annual Conferences to sit a week at least; hitherto they could conclude them at their own discretion. They still retained the right to appoint the times, but not the places of the sessions. They were not allowed to appoint preachers for more than two successive years to the same appointment; hitherto there had been no restriction, and some had been three years in one [13] appointment." Asbury rejoiced in the new rule as a great relief to the appointing power. The title of "Quarterly Meeting Conference" was given to the quarterly assembly of the official members of the circuits. Provision was made for the election of a presiding elder, to preside in all Annual Conference, in case of the absence of a bishop. The law against the marriage of Church members with "unawakened persons"' was modified, the penalty being no longer expulsion, but that the offender shall "be put back on trial for six months." The "Book Concern" was ordered to be removed from Philadelphia to New York, and Ezekiel Cooper was re-appointed agent, with Daniel Wilson as assistant. It was recommended to the Annual Conferences to restrain preachers from imprudent publications, by requiring their manuscripts too be submitted to their respective Conferences, or to the Book Committee at New York. At the organization of the Church, in 1784, it was the first religious body of the country to insert in its constitutional law (in its Articles of Religion) a recognition of the new government, enforcing patriotism on its communicants. A very noteworthy modification (peculiarly interesting in our day) was made in this article at the present session. In the original article it was affirmed that the "Congress," etc., "are the officers of the United States of America, according to the division of power made to them by the General Act of Confederation," etc., the national constitution having not yet been adopted; but the present Conference, by a motion of Ezekiel Cooper, (a man noted for his sagacity,) struck out all allusion to the "Act of Confederation," inserting in its stead "the Constitution of the United States," etc., and declared that "the said states are a sovereign and independent nation." Methodism thus deliberately, and in its constitutional law, recognized that the "Constitution" superseded the "Act of Confederation," and that the republic was no longer a confederacy but a
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WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library HISTORY O
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HISTORY of the METHODIST EPISCOPAL
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BOOK VI CHAPTER I = PART 58 METHODI
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CHAPTER IX = PART 66 METHODISM IN T
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CHAPTER XV = PART 72 REVIEW OF THE
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disappearance of Coke, Asbury, What
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convened, a second time, in Wilbrah
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yet I did not go out that year; but
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He returned again to New Jersey in
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Asbury pressed on westward with his
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congregation, and meanwhile advanci
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direction of the presiding elder, G
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traveled in Massachusetts, Rhode Is
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knowledge. His judgment was always
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He did great services and endured g
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of the itinerants. There was no one
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found adequate to the singular exig
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as a sail in a leaking canoe, and p
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[16] of his decease, sent home for
Page 39 and 40: passing through small villages; but
Page 41 and 42: HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 43 and 44: God. The Scotchman could endure it
Page 45 and 46: [7] Conference till the next year.
Page 47 and 48: y his own hands, and his furniture
Page 49 and 50: there were three circuits, with thr
Page 51 and 52: performed incredible labors and tra
Page 53 and 54: Before he reached the last stanza h
Page 55 and 56: "in the wilds of Virginia, where he
Page 57 and 58: ed, and trembling with agitation. E
Page 59 and 60: this melancholy record. I never rea
Page 61 and 62: at Cabbin Creek, Ky., twenty thousa
Page 63 and 64: in that vast wilderness, and had no
Page 65 and 66: poles. This was their bedstead. Som
Page 67 and 68: Benjamin Lakin, Samuel Doughty John
Page 69 and 70: Gibson. "Here," say his brethren, "
Page 71 and 72: of the Little Miami River. On Thurs
Page 73 and 74: Circuit) for this year began at Moo
Page 75 and 76: Sale, J. Oglesby; Guyandotte, Asa S
Page 77 and 78: worst for stealing, fighting, and l
Page 79 and 80: twentieth they reached the scene of
Page 81 and 82: the toil and sufferings, of another
Page 83 and 84: ENDNOTES 1 See Extracts by Bishop M
Page 85 and 86: 37 Rev. Dr. Trimble's Address at Oh
Page 87 and 88: my father's neighborhood. The Confe
Page 89: attempted also to make local preach
Page 93 and 94: to prepare forms of petition to the
Page 95 and 96: HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
Page 97 and 98: a change which it has always since
Page 99 and 100: Methodism was now entrenched in eve
Page 101 and 102: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, (II, p. 171,) fol
Page 103 and 104: Methodists in other places, and wis
Page 105 and 106: are reported from Flint Circuit. Th
Page 107 and 108: Russell, fallen as he was from the
Page 109 and 110: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, ii, 194. Dunwody'
Page 111 and 112: intensely bright by the grateful jo
Page 113 and 114: eached the furthest end of the piaz
Page 115 and 116: his humble shed and the chancel whe
Page 117 and 118: class-meetings, and to no small ext
Page 119 and 120: 1 Minutes, 1858. ENDNOTES 2 Rev. Dr
Page 121 and 122: grandchildren were gay and playful;
Page 123 and 124: in a swamp on the Waccamaw Lake, a
Page 125 and 126: ENDNOTE 1 A few months ago, accompa
Page 127 and 128: Asbury, in the summer of 180, wrote
Page 129 and 130: means by which this necessary objec
Page 131 and 132: I should have to preach, but determ
Page 133 and 134: themselves, it was resolved that th
Page 135 and 136: ENDNOTES 1 Bangs, though his narrat
Page 137 and 138: directions, preaching as far as Buf
Page 139 and 140: and in the States, from the Ulster
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Conference sent over three missiona
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1814 Michael Coate, of New Jersey,
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1 Peck's "Early Methodism," p. 158.
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limits, when it will devolve upon t
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That very significant and convenien
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Channing, the elder Beecher, Wainwr
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in the eyes of the people, and grea
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HISTORY OF THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL
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own souls, because ye were dear unt
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Early in the spring of 1808 he retu
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seventeen preachers upon trial. The
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this meeting. Monday, 22d, I turned
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strengthened the whole denomination
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savage men, and venomous serpents."
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indescribable. At one time I saw at
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extraordinary learning, of tireless
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oom; but, finding there no means of
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By the end of our present period th
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some sixty or seventy souls. They a
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stacked away at the end of the cour
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olled over the whole Conference." H
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ashamed of yourselves?' which only
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living; I have outlived every membe
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iographer of the itinerant. Born in
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gentleman. While the circles of fas
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His itinerant ministry in the West
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took a prominent part in the great
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to the people, and to go back to Na
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country. These were about to return
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of preachers had increased thirty-f
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1 Rev. F. C. Holliday, in Sprague,
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Astonishing, superhuman almost, as
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of "through the interior of Louisia
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their children. In ten years, I thi
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hates the nefarious practice. In th
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These extraordinary facts excited n
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15 I must remind the reader that I
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[3] and threatened to return home.
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he prepared for South Carolina, wit
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the expediency of increasing the nu
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1 General Conference Journal,, vol.
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itinerants he said, "See that every
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In our day (1866) the Methodist Boo
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edifice was soon after provided in
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in both hemispheres, and which prop
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even romantic record, but our limit
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He organized the Liberia Mission. H
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and the moral prospects of the worl
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ut we may well hesitate to admit th
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They preached and suffered in Engla
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ENDNOTES 1 An error in the Minutes
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and great labors; his charity, his
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directing the advancing Church with
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history, and presents, in full vita
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