History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

ENDNOTES
1 Jesse Lee says in his "History," "When the college was built it was well understood that the whole
management of it was to be under the direction of the Conference. But after some years Mr. Asbury
consented for it to be incorporated, which was done, and done without the consent of all the
conferences. And the trustees which were named in the act of incorporation had the management of
the institution among themselves, and the Conference was deprived of all the power of making rules
or giving orders for the future welfare of the children. This step was disliked by many of our friends,
who, from that time, concluded that the institution would not prosper, and the business was not well
conducted afterward." This means only that centralization is the very genius of an autocracy. The
ruling will grows less and less inclined to consult anybody. That it foments discontent, and often
disaffection, is not weighed, for the same autocratic power is armed to crush disaffection. A
government by a board of trustees was undoubtedly the best, but when it had no amenability but to
the autocratic head, the preachers of the common sort and the patrons, the people, lost interest in its
perpetuation.
2 Guirey fully confirms these conjectures as to the politic conduct of Asbury, in Wesley's
appointment of Whatcoat as a Superintendent in America, pp. 337-343.
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