History Of Methodist Reform, Volume I - Media Sabda Org

The smoke of the argumentative battle in the report of the committee having risen under this
dispersing interposition, it again came up as the main question. It was carried that the vote be by
ballot on the first resolution, defining a Delegated General Conference. Did the defeat of Lee and
Cooper have anything to do with their opposition to the report? They were no doubt so adjudged
freely, the defeated parties, as human nature verdicts, always have questionable motives, the
successful ones are the pure fellows. The interval was long enough without much opportunity of
concert to combine all the disappointed and dissatisfied elements of the body, so that, to the chagrin
and amazement of Asbury and other chief advocates of the Soule instrument, the first item was
defeated by a vote of nays 64, to 58 yeas. Stevens says the favoring party "were profoundly afflicted."
The New England delegates asked leave to withdraw from the body. The Western men were in no
better mood, and many of the delegates from the remoter Conferences made preparations to go home
— the body was in a panic. The defeat was due largely to the votes of the Baltimore and Philadelphia
Conferences. Asbury, McKendree, and Elijah Hedding from New England threw themselves into
the breach, and by entreaty and every other persuasion induced the stampeding brethren to remain
in hope of a reconsideration.
The subject was allowed to rest from Wednesday until the following Monday morning. The
interval was effectively employed to change the result by the Asbury-Soule party. As hinted once
before, such a postponement in a deliberative body as a rule proves fatal to the majority. It is due in
most cases to the persuasive arguments of power and patronage. A striking and notable instance will
be chronicled in 1820, prompted by this very Soule, involving substantially the same issues. What
made the vote so pregnant? It was like striking out the enacting clause of a legislative bill — it
carried the whole with it. May 23, by adroit advances, a reconsideration in effect was secured, if not
in form, and a resolution that covered the first paragraph of the report was carried by a large majority
without naming the paragraph at all. It is not meant as a reflection, rather otherwise but given a body
of Methodist preachers and any measure on which a persistent and able leadership have fixed their
purpose can be carried, even if methods that come dangerously near to indirection are employed.
Lee's hitch now appeared again — shall the Delegated Conference be selected by choice or seniority?
During a pause Soule moved that the selection should be either by seniority or choice. Lee's
biographer says it discomfited him; "his point was gained but he felt that he had lost a victory," and,
"walking up to his friend, poked him in the side with his finger, and whispered, 'Brother Soule, you
have played me a Yankee trick!'" Shrewd and able, and of sterling goodness, he was capable of
tricks, as shall be exhibited later. In these elements he was the precise prototype of another man who
fills a large space in Methodist controversial literature, Rev. Dr. T. E. Bond, Sr. The other paragraphs
of the report were carried on distinct motions, and on the 26th of May the Conference adjourned.
Liberalism in every form once more received a decided backset, and absolutism was crowned. The
Episcopacy tied a knot as it believed hard and fast. The anaconda once more tightened its coils. Did
not the genius of a hierarchy make it a necessity of action, wonder might arise that the Asbury-Soule
party did not pause. It is seen that they prevailed and how they prevailed, but the true sentiment of
the body on the restrictive articles was expressed in the only unbiased vote, 58 in favor and 64
against: 122, six being absent or not voting. Such a victory must needs have its retributions, and so
it shall be proven later.
What they embodied as law is called by Stevens, "a species of constitution." It is well phrased,
though he afterwards says that the "Restrictive Rules, the Articles of Religion, and the General Rules