History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

change of environment enables them to use it to advantage. Bishop Capers, made such after the
division of Methodism in 1844, in the debates of that General Conference affirmed that he had come
into the possession of Hammett's correspondence with Wesley, and that in it "Wesley gave Hammett
his decided countenance and blessing while he was in Charleston, no less than when he was at St.
Kitts (West Indies). Here in South Carolina, then, Mr. Hammett formed a religious society with Mr.
Wesley's sanction, and for the avowed purpose of being more Wesleyan than what was called Mr.
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Asbury's connection was thought to be." The quotation answers a double purpose, though used by
Bishop Capers for one only: it shows that Wesley during the closing year of his life recognized a
slave-holding church as in communion with him, and the principles of its organization as more in
accord with his own than the organization of the Christmas Conference, which he never approved.
Hammett issued circulars and pamphlets against Asbury, and after the General Conference of
1792, Dr. Coke, who undoubtedly furnished Hammett with fault finding material as to Asbury, is
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ranged against Hammett; just as it will be found, he allied himself with O'Kelly and then forsook
him when he came under that wonderful personal influence of Asbury, so that nothing is more apt
as an illustration of his inconstancy, both of principles and friendships, than his own remark in
connection with these events: You may say that I am a weathercock." His ecclesiastical career is full
of illustrations of its truth. Thomas Morrell, then a leading and gifted preacher in New York, replied
to William Hammett, and he made effective use of his impetuous spirit and errors of judgment.
Asbury reduced the grievance of Hammett to a minimum: "We are considered by him as seceders
from Methodism, because we do not wear gowns and powder, and because we do not pay sufficient
respect to Mr. Wesley." It is passing strange that the man who introduced "gowns," if not "powder,"
among the Methodist preachers, should now, when he had been compelled, by popular sentiment,
to abandon the use, cite it against Hammett. As it respects Wesley, an impartial reader will conclude
that, the less Asbury had to say of him, the better for his own record. Through his pulpit abilities
Hammett succeeded well for a time; but he had gathered into his church discordant elements, and
he found that the task of arranging and binding together was beyond his ability. They called
themselves "Primitive Methodists," and a second chapel was built in the suburbs of Charleston. They
also erected churches in Georgetown, Savannah, and in Wilmington, N. C., and they gathered a large
congregation of blacks. Hammett survived eleven years, dying in 1803. After his demise, a Mr.
Brazier, who had been also a missionary in the West Indies, took charge of his congregation, and he
bargained away the church building to the Protestant Episcopalians. But the original trustees
contested, and won their suit, and after a farther struggle to maintain themselves as an independent
organization, they finally arranged to return to the Methodist Episcopal Church. Ultimately, all that
remained of Hammett's movement was also merged in like manner. It must be confessed that it was
an ill-starred departure, engendered, however, by a system that furnished the occasion for this and
many other local schisms for a hundred years thereafter. Nowhere has the effort to establish
Independent Methodism been inaugurated under such favorable auspices as in Baltimore, Md.
Ultimate extinction is the sure goal at this writing. Methodism for final success must have
connectional bonds. The Hammett secession, occurring simultaneously with that of O'Kelly, greatly
aggravated the unrest of Asbury and his stanch adherents. Presently it will come under review.
Meantime it will be well to consider the expiring struggle of Asbury to maintain the Council, and
its supersedure by the General Conference of 1792.