Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

3232 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANSwas twenty-three years of age, and he did service of especially great valueamong the people of the mountains of North Georgia.At the age of twenty-eight he was appointed pastor of St. John's Church,Augusta, one of the strongest and most influential in the state. In 1886 hewas called from his charge to become one of the editors of the Christian Advocate, the general organ of his church, published in Nashville. His associatewas Dr. 0. P. Fitzgerald, later a bishop. As one of the editors of the ChristianAdvocate his influence and reputation as a writer and preacher had a scopethat was limited only by the influence of the church itself. In June, 1888,he was elected president of Emory College and at once removed to Oxford andtook up the duties of that office. The college prospered greatly under hisadministration, the faculty was strengthened and the patronage increased.By his personal efforts the sum of $100,000 was added to the endowment andthe marble library building known as "Caridler Hall" was erected. He continued to serve as president of Emory College until 1898.Bishop Candler was elected from the North Georgia Annual Conferenceas its representative in every session of the General Conference from 1886 to1898. He was a delegate to the Ecumenical Conference in 1891 and in 1911.At the General Conference of 1898, held at Baltimore, he was elected one ofthe bishops of his church. His firm hand and wise counsel, high purpose andindomitable energy began at once to be felt in the administration of the affairsof the church.Bishop Candler, having become interested in the work of Protestant missions in Cuba, first visited the island in the fall of 1898, after the Americanarmy had completed their work. Prom that time forward he had charge ofthe missionary work of his church in Cuba, and made frequent personal visitsto the island', traveling, preaching, locating mission stations, organizingchurches and holding conferences of the missionaries. Though practicallynothing had been accomplished in 1898, Bishop Candler has so wisely administered that mission field that it is now one of the most flourishing under thejurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. In order to facilitatethe work-and increase his own influence in that field, Bishop Candler studiedthe Spanish language and became able to transact the business of the churchwith the natives in their own tongue.Since 1899 Bishop Candler's home has been in Atlanta, and he has beenidentified with every moral and religious movement in the city. Largely dueto his leadership and influence the Wesley Memorial Church and Hospitalhave been established. Of his work as a minister, preacher and platformspeaker it has been well said that Bishop Candler takes rank with the greatestorators Georgia has produced. "With a mastery of facts, a logical arrangement of thought, a majestic sweep of the imagination, with sparkling wit andwithering sarcasm, and with a wealth of tenderness and pathos, he holds-theattention of his audience and moves them before him as before a blast of acyclone. With all his active and strenuous work, he has been an indefatigablestudent, gathering about him a great library of books with whose contents heis familiar. He is a ready writer on most lines, and the columns of the secularand religious press are often furnished with his strong and luminous contributions." Bishop Candler is author of "History of Sunday Schools," 1880;"Georgia's Educational Work," 1893; Christus Auctor," 1899; and "HighLiving and High Lives," 1901; "Great Revivals and the Great Republic,"1904; "Practical Studies in the Fourth Gospel," 1912.Bishop Candler is a member of the Kappa Alpha (Southern) College Fraternity, and the Victoria Institute, the philosophical society of Great Britain.His great interest in his native state is best expressed in his own words: "Mychief desire for Georgia is that her people may be pious and enlightened. Tothis end I have toiled thus far." Not yet sixty years of age, Bishop Candler