History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

landly said, 'He is hard on us.' Asbury replied, 'I told you our preachers are not blockheads.' Coke
[3]
apologized, and thus the matter ended." In addition to the direct point it makes, it throws light
upon some of the transactions of the early Conferences, in which the repressed manhood of the
preachers was provoked to outspoken resistance. It is delightful to turn from such phases of great and
good men's characters, and look at the Christian side of them. August 4, 1783, Asbury journalizes:
"Rose early to pour out my soul to God. I want to live to Him, and for Him; to be holy in heart, in
life, and in conversation this is my mark, my prize, my all — to be in my measure like God."
Nothing higher of saintly aspiration can be expressed. In his travels and preaching it is almost
impossible to keep track of him, the transitions from state to state are so constant and the incidents
so varied amid all sorts of adverse surroundings and physical sufferings.
The twelfth Conference met for the Virginia brethren at Ellis', though Baltimore alone was named
as the place, April 30, 1784, for two days. The minutes say it ended on the 28th, but these
discrepancies are numerous. Asbury devotes but a few lines to it: "Brother O'Kelly gave us a good
sermon, and Jarratt gave us a good discourse; our business was conducted with uncommon love and
unity." The allusions to the Baltimore session, May 25, 1784, are almost as brief: "Our Conference
began all in peace. William Glendenning had been devising a plan to lay me aside, or at least to
abridge my powers. Mr. Wesley's letter settled the point, and all was happy. The Conference rose on
Friday morning." This was the letter already referred to. No annalist gives even an inkling of what
Glendenning proposed as a reform in governmental methods, but it is clear that he was by far too
erratic to reform anything. There are always forward men who have an idea that something ought
to be done, but they utterly lack the sense and prudence to do it. They set back the cause they would
befriend. More of it will develop in the next decade. Glendenning received, however, the
appointment to Brunswick, one of the best in the Conference — Asbury found it best to handle him
gingerly. The printed Minutes occupy six pages. Eleven preachers were received on trial. The
examination of character was never overlooked, and every rumor of irregularity among the preachers
canvassed. Seven new circuits were recognized, four in the South and three in the North, — Juniata,
Trenton, and Long Island. The plan of appointments now covered forty-six stations and circuits.
There was a gain in membership of 1248, total 14,988, nearly three-fourths of them south of
Pennsylvania, yet the resolves against slavery continued as stringent as ever. If nothing else was
accomplished, testimony was borne. Jesse Lee quaintly remarks: "However good the intentions of
the preachers might be in framing these rules, we are all well assured that they never were of any
particular service to our societies. Some of the slaves, however, obtained their freedom in
consequence of these rules." As a moral question every man answered to his own conscience.
Owners within the societies lived and died Christians and were buried by these preachers with
Christian rites, after their triumphant experiences in sickness and death. As a political question these
resolves helped on mightily the final extirpation of an institution at war with the higher Christian
principles, but for which the whole country was about equally responsible in its moral aspects.
The questions and answers are more numerous than usual. They relate to vacancies in the interval
of the Conference, preaching-places that do not show fruit, erection of chapels and debts, superfluity
in dress, reform in singing, and Conference collections. There are now thirteen married preachers
who ask for a support for wives: Wyatt, Moore, Thomas, Mair, Ellis, Scott, Forrest, Pigman,
Hagerty, Morris, O'Kelly, Dromgoole, and Dickins. Three hundred and two pounds is assessed for
the purpose. The General Assistant is allowed twenty-four pounds, with his expenses for horse and