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

HISTORY OF
THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH
By Abel Stevens
VOLUME III, BOOK V, CHAPTER I
FROM THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1792
TO THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1804
GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1792 -- O'KELLY'S SCHISM
Necessity of a General Conference -- Coke returns to America -- The General Conference -- The
"Council" ignored -- Excited Debates -- Religious Interest -- Amendments of the Discipline -- The
Presiding Eldership established -- General Conferences ordained -- Supernumeraries -- Preachers'
Wives -- Other Amendments -- O'Kelly and the Appointing Power -- Great Debates -- O'Kelly and
others Secede -- Merits of the Question -- Conclusion of the Conference -- Its Character -- O'Kelly's
Schism -- Disastrous Consequences -- War of Pamphlets -- Asbury -- Loss of Members -- Results
-- Asbury's Interview with O'Kelly -- His continued Hostility -- Was there a General Conference
between 1784 and 1792? -- Note
Another important event, in the history of American Methodism, was at hand: the second General
Conference. The first, called the Christmas Conference, (in 1784,) had been an extraordinary
convention of the ministry, held, at the instance of Wesley, for the episcopal organization of the
Church. No provision was made for any subsequent similar assembly. The rapid multiplication of
sectional or "annual conferences" facilitated the local business of the denomination, but rendered
legislation on its general interests difficult, if not impossible. If the early custom of carrying general
measures from one conference to another, till all had acted upon them, still continued, it had now
become exceedingly inconvenient; it delayed the enactment of such measures nearly a year; there
could be no ready comparison of opinions, or answer of objections, between conferences remotely
apart; and the last in the series for the year might, for want of such consultation, defeat the votes of
all that had preceded it, thereby requiring the measure to be repeated in a revised form through
another year. Asbury's favorite "Council" failed as a substitute; it was defective, as has been shown,
by giving the bishops supreme control of its constituency, and endangering the uniformity, if not the
unity, of the Church, for its enactments were to have effect only in such Annual Conferences as
should approve them. Some other mode of general legislation was therefore necessary. The
memorable assembly of 1784 presented the expedient example, and accordingly a General
Conference was called for 1792.
Bishop Coke had left America, as we have seen, in May, 1791, on receiving the news of Wesley's
death, and was absent about a year and a half. This was an anxious and busy period with him. The
difficulties attending the settlement of the Wesleyan Connection, after the loss of its great founder,
[1]
were exasperated by jealousy, if not maltreatment of the bishop, among the English preachers. He
bore patiently, however, his humiliating reception, and pursued with undiminished ardor his public
labors. Besides preparing, with Henry Moore, a Life of Wesley, and beginning a Commentary on the
[2]
Holy Scriptures, in six quarto volumes, (a labor of fifteen years,) he attempted to introduce
Methodism into France. He went to Paris with an assistant preacher, de Quetteville, and commenced