i»f||>iHI>i^>i»iim .^■.■■iM» M-^X MM»*)a.Vi3t\>\, * ^v J' .* ^-Jt ^-^f^ \.-^' i ^e Cei;terw;tal ^\i4^ ^ likU^Ti-^ATfeD The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924050610967 CORNELL UNWERSITV LIBRARY 3 1924 050 610 967 WKSLEY AT TWENTY-THREE, THE CENTENNIAL OF NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. A Full Report of the Services held in People's Church, Boston, Mass., October 21-23, 1890, with Additional Historical MateriaL EDITED BY REV. GEO. A. CRAWFORD, Ph.D. IliLUSTR-A-TED. BOSTON, MASS.: CRAWFORD BROTHERS, 36 BsOMriBLD Street. 1891. Copyright, 1890, By Bev. Gkokge a. Ceawfoed. MoDoHALD, GiLIi & Co. PRESS OP THE " CHEI8TIAK WITHESS," BOSTON, MASS. ERRATA. Page 18, sixth line, the date 1791 should be 1771. Page 74, in Table II., second column, opposite Methodist Episcopal, the figures should be 145,138, instead of 125,138. The second total should be 679,705. Page 99, fourth line from bottom, " lienjamin Jackson" should be Benjamin Johnson. Page 511, seventh line, the word fifth should he fourteenth. In the foot note on page 134, the name of one of our Bishops is spelled "Thompson." The p should be omitted. TO OUR MOTHER, WHO, AS THE WIFE OF A METHODIST ITINERANT, BORE SO LONG AND SO PATIENTLY THE BURDENS INCIDENT TO SUCH A LIFE, THIS LITTLE VOLUME IS Webkateb BY TWO OF HER AFFECTIONATE SONS. PREFACE. The Publishers cannot hope that this book will meet with uniform approval, since they are not satis- fied with it themselves. By this they do not mean to be understood as having any doubts concerning the value of the work for which they solicit the patronage of their fellow Methodists. We most assuredly believe that we are giving to each purchaser the full value of the price asked. But the general theme of this book has opened so wide and so fertile a field of investigation, that we have often wished that we had the time and means necessary for the publication of a much larger volume than this. Many things which must be omitted from a book with the limitations of the present volume would repay preservation in permanent shape. Had some of our brethren in the ministry been more willing to help us, we should have been able to Clvj PREFACE. V give a more complete idea of the progress of Method- ism in New England, by means of sketches of typical churches. Our appeals met with no response from East Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Rhode Island. We are under the greatest obligation to the Editor and Publisher of Zion's Herald, from which admir- able paper we have taken the excellent descriptions of our literary institutions. May the record of the second century of Methodism in New England be even grander and more heroic ! Cratvfoed Bkothees. CONTENTS. Chapteb I . — Tuesday Evening. PAGE Address by Rev. Dr. C. S. Rogers I " " Bishop Foster 4 " Rev. Dr. Hugh Johnston 11 Communication from the New York Preachers' Meeting . 2Y Address by Rev. Dr. A. M. Courtenay 28 Chapter II. — Wednesday Morning. Address by Ex-6ov. William Claflin 4t " " Rev. Dr. J. W. Hamilton ."il " Rev. Dr. J. H. Tvrombly 70 Poem by Rev. Dr. Mark Trafton 86 Response to New York Preachers' Meeting 9.5 Chapter III. — Wednesday Afternoon. Address by Hon. Charles E. Kimball 99 " Rev. Dr. G. S. Chadbourne 104 " " President B. P. Raymond 116 Poem by Rev. Dr. George Lansing Taylor 126 Chapter IV. — Wednesday Hvening. Remarks by Hon. Alden Speare 137 Address by Rev. Dr. D. A. Whedon 137 " " President W. F. Wai-ren 155 " " Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley 174 VIU CONTENTS. Chapter V. — Thursday Morning, Remarks by Hon. O. H. Durrell 193 Address by Rev. Dr. J. E. C. Sawyer 193 " " Rev. Dr. Charles Parkhurst 206 " " Rev. Dr. J. M. King 217 " Rev. Dr. D. H. Ela 237 Chapter VI. — Thursday Afternoon. Remarks by Rev. W. I. Haven 253 Address by Bishop "W. P. Mallalieu 256 " Rev. Dr. S. F. Upham 266 " " Rev. Dr. F. H. Bristol 284 Chapter VII. — The Banquet. Remarks by Hon. C. C. Corbin 303 Speech by Bishop Mallalieu 305 " " Governor Brackett 311 " " Rev. Dr. Courtenay 314 " " Mayor Hart 322 " " Hon. E.H.Dunn 325 " " Rev. Dr. Buckley 328 •' Rev. Dr. Bristol 334 " Rev. W. N. Brodbeck 340 " " Rev. Dr. Bates 346 Chapter VIII. Progress of Thought in the M. E. Church 351 Chapter IX. Influential Men 365 Chapter X. Methodism in the Country Towns 375 Chapter XI. The Arminianism of Wesley : Whence was it ? 385 CONTENTS. IX Chaptek XII. — The Celebration, on the Common. Poem by Rev. A. J. Hough 393 Address by Rev. Dr. Bates • • • / 397 Chapxek XIII. Life of Father Taylor 409 Chapter XIV. — Our Universities. Wesleyan 415 Chapter XV. — Our Universities. — Concluded. Boston 422 Chapter XVI. — Our Seminaries. East Maine Conference 433 Chapter XVII. — Our Seminaries. — Continued. Maine Wesleyan • • 441 Chapter XVIII. — Our Seminaries. — Continued. New Hampshire 449 Chapter XIX. — Our Seminaries. — Continued. Vermont 455 Chapter XX. — Our Seminaries. — Continued. Wilbraham 467 Chapter XXI. — Our Seminaries. — Continued. East Greenwich 475 Chapter XXII. — Our Seminaries. — Concluded. Lasell 481 X CONTENTS. Chapter XXIIL Historic Milestones 488 Chapter XXIV. — Typical Churches. Bromiield Street, Boston 497 St. John's, South Boston 500 Tremont Street, Boston 506 People's Church, Boston 508 Chapter XXV. — Typical Churches. — Continued. Common Street, Lynn 511 Norwalk, Conn 513 Asbury First, Spi-ingfield, Mass 517 Chapter XXVI. — Typical Churches. — Concluded. Chestnut Street, Portland, Me 519 Chapter XXVII. ZiorCsHerald 526 Chapter XXVIII. — Other Institutions. Boston Correspondence School 536 Deaconess' Home and Training School ; . . . 538 Chapter XXIX. — Other Institutions. — Concluded. Immigrants' Home 543 Wesleyan Home 549 Appendix. FIBST METHODIST PEEACHING HOUSE IN BOSTON. CENTENNIAL or New England Methodism. CHAPTER I. The First Session op the Centennial Convention. The Centennial Convention began its sessions in the People's Church, Boston, Mass., on Tuesday even- ing, Oct. 21, 1890. There were present upon the platform, Bishop R. S. Foster ; Rev. W. N. Brodbeck ; Rev. Drs. J. W. Lindsay, William R. Clark, J. W. Hamilton, G. A. Crawford, R. L. Greene, C. S. Rog- ers, Hugh Johnston, of Toronto, Ontario, A. M. Cour- tenay, of Baltimore, Hon. E. H. Dunn, of Boston, and many others. Rev. Dr. Rogers, Secretary of the Combined Com- mittee of Arrangements, announced the hymn beginning, " Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing," after the singing of which the Rev. Dr. Lindsay offered prayer. Rev. Dr. C. S. Rogers said : " Dear Fathers and Brethren : A few weeks since, in conipany with two companions, I was crossing one of the celebrated a CENTENNIAL OF passes of the Swiss Alps. After several hours of tramping, we came to an eminence, from which we could at once review the way already trodden, and see, in part, the course yet to be pursued. Behind us, far in the distance, was the little hamlet from which we had set out in the morning, and the road over which we had passed, zigzagging up the mountain. Above us could be seen snatches of the same road, stretching on to other and higher summits, and, far above all, robed in snowy mantles and bathed in the glory of the noonday sun, appeared the lofty Alpine peaks, standing like majestic sentinels at the gateway of the heavens. " To such a prominence have we come in the his- tory of New England Methodism. From the vantage ground of a hundred years, with nearly a hundred and fifty thousand members in the fold, besides the larger host that has passed on before, we turn our eyes back to the small beginning of a century ago, and exclaim, ' What hath God wrought ! ' " From this eminence we also turn our eyes to the future, and behold other and not less difficult heights to be gained ; but we hear the Master say, ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.' " It is fitting that we pause at the opening of a new century of our denominational life in New England, and, while we devoutly and gratefully recognize God's guiding hand in the past, gather new inspira- tion for the arduous work of the future. Actuated by this thought, the New England Conference, at the session held in Worcester, in April, 1889, appointed NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 3 a commission to act with a similar commission, appointed by the " Methodist Historical Society, to arrange for the suitable celebration of the permanent introduction of Methodism into New England in 1790, by the ministry of Jesse Lee. The work of this joint commission is, in part, embodied in the programme, which, together with the list of ofBcers which it contains, I herewith present for your ac- ceptance. " The Commission appointed by the Historical Soci- ety was composed of the following members : — Minis- ters:— Rev. Drs. J. W. Hamilton, R. W. Allen, D. H. Ela, G. S. Chadbourne, Joseph H. Mansfield, and W. R. Clark; Laymen: — Hon. E. H. Dunn, Hon. Jacob Sleeper (since deceased), and Dwight Smith. " The Commission appointed by the Conference was constituted as follows: — Rev. Drs. C. S. Rogers, J. W. Hamilton, George M. Steele, J. H. Twombly, and W. F. Warren. Laymen: — L. C. Smith, Charles E. Kimball, C. Edwin Miles, M.D., O. H. Durrell, and Hon. C. C. Corbin. " I propose to you for your endorsement the fol- lowing list of officers for the Convention : — " President, Bishop Randolph S. Foster, D.D., LL.D ; Vice-presidents, Rev. R. W. Allen, D.D., Rev. W. I. Haven, Hon, W. P. Dillingham, Hon. Alden Speare, Hon. A. B. Wright, Hon. O. C. Ward, E. J. Hill, Esq., Judge L. E. Hitchcock, Rev. N. D. George, D.D., Hon. William Claflin, LL.D., Hon. C. C. Corbin, Charles E. Kimball, Esq., Horace W. Gil- man, Esq., Hon. R. S. Douglas, O. H. Durrell, Esq., 4 CENTENNIAL OF Hon. H. H. Shaw ; Secretaries, Rev. C. S. Rogers, D.D., Rev. G. A. Crawford, D.D. ; Local Committee of Management, Rev. R. L. Greene, D.D., J. Sumner Webb, Esq., Z. A. Nichols, Esq. ; Committee on Flowers, Mrs. Edward S. Kelly ; Committee on Reso- lutions, Rev. W. R. Clark, D.D., Rev. D. C. Knowles, D.D., Rev. F. D. Blakeslee, D.D. ; Committee on Credentials, Rev. J. M. Leonard, Rev. W. T. Perrin." Continuing, Dr. Rogers said : " I have the pleasure of introducing to you, as the Chairman of the even- ing. Bishop Randolph S. Foster, whom you all know, and he needs no introduction." Bishop R. S. Foster said : " We will join in the use of the third hymn. It is the Fellowship Hymn of our Church in all the world : — " ' Blest be the tie that binds, Our hearts in Christian love.' " After the singing. Bishop R. S. Foster said : " Those of you who hold the programme (or 'prog^ramme,' as it is pronounced now) for the evening in your hands, are informed that you are to be addressed by two distinguished gentlemen, one from the Provinces, and one from Maryland. It would be improper that I should occupy any considerable amount of your time before they are introduced. I can scarcely introduce them without saying a word. " I think it cannot be considered immodest that a people who have attained the respectable age of one hundred years should consider it worth while that they -should celebrate their anniversary, and espe- NB-W ENGLAND METHODISM. 5 cially since the history of the people is somewhat noticeable, indeed very remarkable. It is question- able whether, in the history of the race, there is any parallel to it, as I think will appear to you if you consider some of the facts which I will recite, a few of them to serve as a text for the orators of the evening. " Methodism had existed in the United States for about thirty years before it attempted to enter New England. New England was considered as sealed up, as walled around, as impenetrable to the new and already growing sect. Disfavored in New England because of its theology and because of the theology of New England — for they were strongly antagonistic — the new sect was considered as in every respect not to be tolerated, as teaching abominable heresies, dan- gerous to public interest, and in every way to be discountenanced. After a considerable progress and growth in New York, and southward, and westward, so far as there was a west, one brave, heroic spirit of Methodism undertook to penetrate the tightly -walled and earnestly-defended regions of New England. He appeared here a hundred years ago. Methodism, which we celebrate to-night, one hundred years ago was represented by that one heroic soul on the Com- mon of your city, standing under one of the elms of the time, and upon a table, preaching, amid a disor- derly crowd, the doctrines of the new sect. " The difference between the present and that soli- tary man represents the growth and progress of Methodism in New England. He appeared here just "6 CENTENNIAL OF in, perhaps, the acme, the very summit of the power of Calvinistic theology. New England was girded around from the beginning with the doctrines of an iron-hound system. Jonathan Edwards had been . dead only twenty-five years. There were mutterings of resistance against the theological teaching of the prevailing sect at that time. The Baptists here were themselves as Calvinistic as the Standing Order. All the traditions, all the feeling, all the thoughts of the whole of New England were identified with the Cal- vinistic theology. There were mutterings of dissent in the bodj'-. There were indications of an approach- ing reformation, revision, which is the order of the day now, and indications that there would not long be toleration of the terrific, fearful tyranny of the prevailing doctrines and ideas. "Jesse Lee came here, bearing a different gospel from any which had ever been preached in New Eng- land; a gospel of free salvation, of universal atone- ment, of possible conscious conversion and regeneration by the Holy Ghost, and the possibility of having an experience, the subject of which should know that he had passed from death unto life, and had become a child of God, — - a doctrine unknown and untaught at that time, in all the regions of these New England States. " The Standing Order, the prevailing denomination, had a marvellous history, an honorable history, and vigor and learning. It had raised up the most power- ful theologians since the Reformation. It is safe to say that New England has contributed the most power- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 7 ful minds to theological thought and discussion that have been contributed by any part of the world. The old civilizations, Christianities, have reared no stronger men than the Eraraonses, Edwardses, and Beechers, and those great heroes that were already on the stage or had just passed away. It was in the glow, and triumph, and acme of these greaf brethren when Methodism entered the field. Dissent had begun to appear in the body. It soon broke out. Channing was born the very night Jesse Lee entered New England.* The father of Unitarianism, so-called liberal Christianity, of the broader view of Christian doctrine, was then in his cradle, when Jesse Lee was standing on Boston Common, and dissent had already been carried forward for half a generation before Uni- tarianism was born, and. undertook to modify this theological system. The modifying influence of Methodism in twenty years had made it possible for the outburst of resistance to the doctrine, from with- in the body itself. And now, since that time, I have, simply to recite what will serve as a text for these meetings. Please remember that Methodism entered New England, finding the domination of the trium- phant theology, which no man living in New England dared to resist, which was enforced by social power and civil power, which dominated the whole mind of New England as a tyranny, which made it impossible to speak freely in dissent from the popular creeds, and it opened its mission here under the frown and tremendous resistance of this great body. " One hundred years have passed ; and now, in this *See Note in Appendix. O CENTENNIAL OP New England, where Methodism met with prompt resistance, where it was heard of only to be despised and condemned, where the pulpit and the press flamed against it, where the social life armed itself against it, where it found no welcome, in this hun- dred years has grown to be — I fear to state the fact — here in New England where we are accustomed to consider ourselves tolerated as on probation. But Methodism here has attained to the magnificent number of 150,000 communicants ; more communi- cants in Methodism in New England than in the Congregational Church in New England ; has built a Church right here where it was tabooed; built a Church larger than the original that inhabited and possessed the New England states. ' " I say nothing of its operations beyond this ; it is like a dream. It is as a dream. It only remains to speak of the growth and enlargement of this wonder- ful and divinely planted religion, in these United • States, and in all the world. There are now, in New England, 900 Methodist churches. There are 150,000 communicaaits in New England. There are 110,000,000 of church property in New England. There are 14,000,000 of educational property in New England. Methodism has grown in a hundred years from nothing — not from nothing, but from Jesse Lee under the elm on Boston Common — to be the great institution which we find it now to be, in all its enlargement and in all its possibilities. " I have gathered these few figures to indicate the fact which we are here to celebrate. I am not able KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 9 to speak of the amount of money raised in New England every year, for the dissemination of the gospel in all the world, and for carrying on all the benevolences of Christian denominations, such as ours. It broadens theology, in the divine sense of the word; preaching and teaching a free and full salvation, proclaiming the equity of the divine throne, and the love of God, as no other sect has ever done, from the beginning until now. " I cannot take my seat, without saying one word further. It is supposed in New England, about Boston, that so-called liberal theology is one of the great factors of the time in which we live. It is impossible for us to get away from the shadow of that thought ; it seems to pervade the air. It is, in a certain sense, a great factor, for it has educational antecedents, it has hereditary culture, it has reared manj' great minds, all the way between Channing and Parker, and one in Boston who is worse than Parker. All the possibilities of diverse thought are in this institution. And I am here to-night to say that Methodism has always been respected by this broad and liberal Christianity, patronized, patted on the back, and called by fraternal names. I have been told, since I have been in Boston, that we were closely allied to the liberal Christianity of Boston ; that we had close affinities. You understand to what I refer, to the Unitarian Universalist sect. Because we preach a universal atonement, and the possibility of universal salvation, and because we dissent utterly from the fundamental doctrines of Calvinism, 10 CENTENNIAL OF therefore, we have been credited as having close afSliation with this so-called liberal Christianity, that is in the air, that looks with pride and arrogance out upon the Republic, and calls it its own. Are you surprised to hear that there are ten Methodists in New England, for everj' liberal Christian in the United States? " This Methodist Church in New England presents ten men and women who profess to be converted by the power of God, and know it, to each liberal Christian in the United States, that denies the possi- bility of salvation in Jesus Christ, to say nothing of its growth and advancement in all the world besides. It boasts that it is the parent of learning. Method- ism turns out five students from its universities, where it turns out one. Methodism has endowed colleges by scores, where it has endowed colleges by ones. Methodism stands leading the great magnifi- cent movement of free thought and divine relig- ion in all the world to-day, counting its followers by millions, its ministers by scores of thousands in all the world, as compared with this little sect, which is diminished to seventeen thousand in the United States. " I have the pleasure to introduce a distinguished speaker from the Province of Canada ; a minister, in great honor, from the city of Toronto ; filling one of its important pulpits ; known, and honored, and respected for his learning and eloquence, and honored with the Presidency of one of the Conferences in the Provinces. I am permitted to introduce Dr. Hugh Johnston, who will now address you." NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 11 Rev. Dr. Johnston said : " Bishop Foster, Brethren and Friends : I thank you for your pleasant words. I feel it a very great privilege to be permitted to share in the rejoicings of this New England Centen- nial of Methodism, and am honored to bear to this Christian gathering, in this distinguished centre of religious influence, the greetings of the Methodist Church of Canada. You have abundant reason for gratitude and gladness ; and when the Methodist flag is flying so high and so bright, you will accept, I am sure, the loving greetings of a daughter church, the greetings of a million grateful Methodist hearts. " This also is the Centenijial j^ear of Canadian Methodism, sir, and we unite with you, in gratitude for the past, joy for the present, and hope for the future. And we renew our pledges of loyalty to the doctrines and polity of that system, whose elements of power have come out so triumphantly from the tests of a hundred years of church life. We are filled with wonder at the story of your progress, as given in the pregnant words of your Chairman. You have become a power and a glory in the- land ; and, as we gaze upon the pinnacles, and towers, and battlements of your Zion, we cry out, ' Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces,' oh, Methodist Church of New England ! ' For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, peace be within thee ! ' "I count it a special honor to stand upon this platform to-night : First, because I come to you from a sister nation, and there are so many things at 12 CEltTElsrNIAL OB* work to divide and separate, that, as Christians and members of one family, we ought to nourish and treasure everything that helps, to cement the bonds of peace. We are of one language and one race. The elder brother, Jonathan, and young Canada, have had considerable trouble down east, over a string of fish, while in the Behring Sea the seals have had to submit to being skinned by both boys. There is seeming rivalry at Ottawa and Washington, in build- ing up the tariff walls higher and higher, and, instead of unrestricted commerce, both are trying to put asunder, by trade barriers, what God hath joined together. Yet, spite of all, we are one people. " ' And thicker than water through century's story, Our Saxon blood has flowed ; And still we share the good and ill, The shadows and the glory. ' " You have drawn from us more than a million of the best brawn and blood of our Canadian sons. When your nation was passing through its mighty and memorable trouble, hundreds of the Canadian subjects of Queen Victoria, among them my own brother, shouldered their muskets, and marched with the boys in blue, ' shouting the battle-cry of freedom.' " The United States and Canada — palsied be the tongue that would stir up strife between them ! — let peace and mutual love prevail, and let them be ' One and inseparable, now and forever.' The other reason is because of family ties. As Methodists, we are one, and must remain one the world over. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 13 " ' Mountains rise and oceans roll To sever us, in vain.' " But while you are proud of your national history, and recount that history, we claim kinship. We feel we are under the roof of the old folks at home to-night, and, as a Canadian, therefore, I thank you for the heartiness of your welcome. You take me in, and annex me ; you make me to realize that I am no more a 'stranger and foreigner, but a fellow-citi- zen with the saints, and of the household of faith.' " This occasion is particularly fitting for Canadian Methodists, not only to offer congratulations and hearty God-speeds, but to renew their grateful acknowledgments to American Methodism and to New England Methodism. In tracing a river to its source, many springs are often found, and it is not always easy to distinguish headwaters from tribu- taries. William Black, one of Wesley's own converts — a name, I am sure, honored in this city, — William Black was the apostle of Methodism in the eastern Provinces, preaching in Nova Scotia in 1781, his first text being that of Bishop Asbury ; ' I deter- mined to know nothing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified.' But no sooner was American Methodism organized at the Christmas Conference of .1784, than, in response to an appeal for help, the heroic and heavenly-minded Freeborn Garrettson, with another, was appointed to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. That young but seasoned veteran in the Master's service never witnessed more trium- phant scenes of saving mercy than in those Provinces ; 14 centenniaij of and when, after two years, he returned, being needed for a larger field, he left over seven hundred members. So in Upper and Lower. Canada, while the first Methodist local preachers were British officers, yet the first regular itinerant was William Losee, who, in January, 1790, made his way from Lake Champlain circuit to the St. Lawrence, kindling a flame of revival along the Bay of Quint shores. In October of the same year, the New York Conference appointed him to Canada. "You are recalling the heroic age of Methodism, when men of whom the world was not worthy carried her banners and vindicated her theology against a world in arms. "Among these standard bearers is a name pro- nounced with loving reverence, — the name of Jesse Lee, whose memory fills the Church with fragrance to-night, as the precious ointment filled the house at Bethany. Some of you 'may not know how closely we are linked with these heroic deeds. The first preacher to Canada was appointed in con- nection with Jesse Lee's first New England district, and for years we were a part of Freeborn Garrettson's district. In 1791 came Dunham with Losee. They came to your own land with Shadford, to whom Wes- ley said : ' I let you loose, George, oil the great con- tinent of America. Publish your message in the open face of the sun, and do all the good you can.' " The moral destitution of the country was great ; for, in the two Provinces, there were only seven or eight ministers to care for the entire Protestant popu- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 15 lation. But these gospel rangers itineranted in the power of the Spirit. Others followed. James Cole- man and Elijah Woolsey, inured to toil and privation ; Samuel and Michael Coates, graceful and impressive, consecrated and anointed for the work; Hezekiah C. Wooster, a man of mighty faith and prayer, from whom the unction never departed, vsrhose flaming zeal consumed him, who, near the end of his triumphant ministry, unable to speak above a whisper, yet with illumined countenance would so preach with the power sent down from heaven, that sinners trembled and fell under his words like men slain upon the battle-field. These pioneers belonged to the ' Thun- dering Legion,' and so greatly were their labors owned that, when this nineteenth century dawned, there were nearly a thousand members in the Church in Canada. " The heroic career of the first preacher had rather an inglorious termination. There were beautiful lasses, sir, among the Methodists then as to-day, and on his first circuit he fell deeply in love with a young lady of great personal attractions. But before he had gained her, his successor, an ordained young man, was attracted by the same fair object, and won her hand and her heart. Poor Losee was disconsolate. His mind became unbalanced, and he became unfitted for the duties of the ministry. I mention this simply as a warning to the ' sons of the prophets.' And to my fair young lady hearers, that they trifle not with the affections of any ardent, inexperienced young divines of the Beston School. 16 CENTENNIAI, OP " ' So, Lady Flora, take my lay, And if you find no moral there, Go, look in any glass and say What moral is in being fair.' "We have not yet done with Lee's influence on Canadian Methodism. One of the fruits of his min- istry in Connecticut was Lorenzo Dow, that eccentric gospel ranger, who became the first itinerant in Lower Canada. Another was Nathan Bangs. In 1802 Bangs labored on the Canadian Circuit, from Kingston to Little York; and in 1804 the young preacher explored and mapped out the work of western Canada, from London all the way to Detroit. " Still further, in one of your seaboard towns of Massachusetts, there was born, in 1780, William Case, who became one of the most trusted leaders of Cana- dian Methodism. This generation of Methodists cannot turn its face backward without seeing on the far horizon the stalwart form of this venerable man, the father of Lidian Missions in Canada. And so " ' The heroes of our days of old Are yours, not ours alone ; Your Christian heroes of to-day, We love them as our own.' "These men were men whose hearts God had touched, and they toiled for the welfare of their fellows and the glory of God. They had not the learning of the schools, but they were the best-read men of their age, in biblical and practical theology; and in the fierce polemical encounters of those days manj;- a Calvinistic Goliath staggered and fell under the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 17 sling and stone of an Arminian David. They tell of one who was wont to complain that, though he carried an English grammar in his hat for six months, he never could get it into his head. And you remember that, when Jesse Lee was asked if he had a liberal education, his answer was, ' Tolerably enough, I think, to carry me through the country.' But his wit and knowledge of Dutch enabled him to overcome the lawyer, who, assailing him with questions in Latin, was answered in that tongue which the limb of the law mistook for the sacred Hebrew. They knew little of Greek and Latin, but they had the best of all tongues for a Methodist preacher, ' the tongue of fire.' Tiiey had not the authority of the Church in its formal signs and seals, but they showed they were in the Apostolical Succession, by their apos- tolical success. They were filled with the con- suming, passionate zeal for the salvation of men, and like Stanley, who has just plucked the heart out of the mystery of the Dark Continent, or like Loyola, whose flaming devotion to the crucifix encompassed the world, these devoted servants of Jesus Christ were glad to suffer and die, if need be, for their Lord and Master. " ' There were giants in those days.' Giants indeed. You remember at the Charleston Conference, in 1800, four of the Methodist preachers went to a friend and got weighed. The four together weighed nine hundred and seventy-six pounds. We have not many such successors, although, in the parliamentary debate over Romanism, Sir John McDonald said that 18 CENTENNIAL OF our Dr. Potts with a shillalah would be more than a match for any half dozen of them. " In 1811 Bishop Asbury, the devoted friend of Lee, made his first visit to Canada. He confesses to strange feelings which came over him as he was cross- ing the line. He had left his native land in 1791, and when the Revolution broke out, he bravely stood at his post to save the Church. He had lived to see the tyranny of the British government overthrown, for the Declaration of Independence was the act of a colony of Englishmen filled with the spirit and sus- tained by the traditions of British freedom. He had lived to see the United States become a mighty Republic, and the Church whose affairs he had been called to superintend, growing to a thronging multi- tude of 175,000 souls. Now he is again under the old flag, in the presence of the mother country, to visit people raised up by his own sons in the gospel. No wonder he experienced such new feelings when in Canada. " Besides all this, there was doubtless thrown over his saintly spirit the shadow of the conflict with that government from which he had expatriated himself forty years before, for the sake of building up the kingdom of Christ. The war of 1812 followed, the most unjustifiable and fratricidal strife in the annals of two great nations. I am glad that New England opposed it from the first, and continued to oppose it. " After this struggle, in 1815, the Genesee Confer- ence resumed its work in Canada. The British mis- sionaries had entered Lower Canada, and were ready MEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 19 to take possession of Upper Canada. But why should the American Church withdraw ? The whole coun- try belonged Methodistically to them. Why should they be under any restraint from any political rela- tions ? And may not missionaries go to the ends of the earth to preach the gospel ? Placed in a position of considerable delicacy, the American brethren acted with great circumspection, and when, in 1817, the Genesee Conference was held in Canada, Bishop George presiding, a revival broke out during the conference, and so profound was the impression upon the public mind, that fourteen hundred members were added to the Church. But the enemies of Methodism and religious freedom were ready to make a sinister use of the fact that its teachers were citizens of a foreign nation, and so, in 1828, with the consent of the Baltimore Conference, we set up housekeeping for ourselves, an independent Church, with a member- ship of nearly one hundred thousand. " This, however, did not satisfy the High Church party, who continued to misrepresent the motives and conduct of the Methodist preachers, until the first reply shot against the exclusive claims of the domi- nant Church was fired by our Jupiter Tonans, Dr. Edgerton Ryerson, then a probationer of twenty-three years of age, and the battle ceased not until the equality of all denominations before the law was established, and the constitutional rights of the people of Upper Canada secured. Honor, all honor, to the name of Ryerson, Edgerton Ryerson. " No monument raised over him can be too high, for 20 CENTENNIAL OP he it was who not only led in this victory over relig- ious intolerance, but he it was who planned and perfected for Ontario a national system of education, unsurpassed, if it indeed is equalled, by any other system in the world. " Since the day we assumed the status of an indepen- dent Church, we have never ceased to cherish the memory of the iilial relation of former years. We are proud of our descent, and, like yours, our history has been one of fervent zeal, heroic endurance, rapid progress, and lofty achievement. "In 1833 we became the Wesleyan Methodist Church, followed by divisions. But when peace was restored, there came an era of unprecedented prosper- ity. In 1874 came the union of the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Canada, the Wesleyan Confer- ence of Eastern British America, and the Methodist New Connection Church. The results of this union were so gratifying that it led to the union of all the other branches ; the Primitive Methodist, the Bible Christian, and the Episcopal Methodist. In 1883 we stood before the world a united Church ; and now, from the shores of Newfoundland to the shores of British Columbia, where the waters of the Pacific murmur tlieir evening benedictions, there is but one Methodist Church in Canada. " We number, sir, to-day, 1,750 ministers, 234,000 church members, and, according to the census, at least a million of people, the largest Protestant denomination in the Dominion. We have, as our field of labor, a territory larger than the United NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 21 States, with Alaska thrown in. True, some of it lies pretty far to the north, but ours you know is the only modern nation mentioned in the Scripture, the dominion of which extends ' from sea to sea, and from the river (St. Lawrence) to the ends of the earth.' " If you boast of Boston as the ' Hub of the Uni- verse,' we also boast of having one of the axles, — the north pole. True, it is not acres but great men that go to make up a great nation ; yet there is some- thing in extent of domain, and I am reminded of that fine allegorical fresco in the Capitol at Washington, which pictures the pioneers of the Pacific States, as they reach the crest of the Rocky Mountains, and the motto under it : — " ' The spirit grows with its allotted space, The mind is narrowed in a narrow sphere.' " Ours is no pent-up Utica. There is room for expansion. Like j-ou, we are seeking to mould and direct the nation's life. Your Church began with the nation's life, and it has grown with her growth and strengthened with her strength. Kingly builders were the Pilgrim Fathers, when they came, not to build for dominion or renown, but for freedom, for conscience, for God. On the first Sabbath, in the open air, " ' Amidst the storm they sang And the stars heard, and the sea. And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang To the anthem of the free.' " And from the day when Jesse Lee stood on Boston Common and preached that gospel of free grace, that 22 CENTENNIAL OE anthem of freedom has been swelling louder and louder over the continent. We know how much you are doing to purge the national life from all evil. We know how much you had to do in creating, a national sentiment against that vile sj^stem which John Wesley called ' The sum of all villainies.' And we know how much it is due to the Methodist Church that to-day President Harrison looks out over a broad nation of sixty millions, and sees not a slave- holder or a slave. " We monarchists are very republican in our church government, and you republicans are very monarchi- cal. We have one General Superintendent to bishop us ; you have many apostolical bishops to superintend you. But our people enjoy religion as you do. Our Class Meetings, Love Feasts, and Praj-er Meetings are ' seasons^ of peace and sweet delight,' and we swerve not an iota from the essentials of Methodist teaching, usage, and polity. " In the Sunday School work, of all the Protestant schools in Canada more than half the scholars are Methodist scholars, and nearly half the teachers are Methodist teachers. We have more than three thou- sand churches, and the total Church property in value exceeds twelve millions of dollars. We build for the rich as well as for the poor. We are. the People's Church indeed, and we make room for all. Our Met- ropolitan Church in Toronto, the monument of our grandly-gifted Punshon, was pronounced by your grandly-gifted Bishop Foster to be the most complete in all its appointments of all Methodist churches. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 23 Since then we have built the St. James, in Montreal, not only the stateliest in Methodism, but one of the finest ecclesiastical edifices in the Protestant world. We rejoice then that we are engaged in this work with you. Our Missionary Society never had a stronger hold upon the affections, liberality, and prayers of our people. " The Indian Mission which your Church inaugu- rated has been greatly blessed, and our Mission to Japan has been one of the most successful in the his- tory of modern missions. We have there a mission- ary band that would do honor to any Church. When, last summer, one of our missionaries was murdered, his brave wife threw herself between her husband and his murderers, and was cut down, barely escaping with her life. In the delirium that followed for days, she was praying constantly for his murderers, ' Father, forgive them.' The other night that widow stood before a crowded congregation in Toronto, with her marred face and her mutilated hands, pleading for Japan, and while she pleaded the tears ran down the faces of the people in sympathy with her, her Christ- like spirit and work. " We have not neglected higher Christian education. Our Church was the first to establish a University in the Province of Ontario, which now, by the Federa- tion Scheme, becomes a part of the National Univer- sity. You sympathized with us in the calamity which destroyed that stately pile, of which we were so proud, the Toronto University. But that noble institution is not dead, and, henceforth, our destinies 24 CENTENNIAL OP are linked with it in the higher education of our Province. " We are fighting two great evils ; Rum and Romanism. We are determined to outlaw the liquor traffic, and, unless you make more rapid strides, we shall yet be ahead of you in the effort, and in securing total prohibition of the infamous traffic from the entire land. In the words of your immortal chieftain, 'We will fight it out on this line,' if it takes another century. " The other evil is Jesuitism. The Province of Quebec groans under a despotism, the most compact and highly organized type of Roman Ultramontanism ; and these mischievous, plotting birds of the night are making that priest-ridden province the basis of assault upon our public schools, and all our free institutions. With you this irrepressible conflict is also waging. We have had cur first struggle over our ' Jesuits' Estate Act,' and it did not end in a victory like your own over the Boston School Board. But it has united Protestantism in the purpose to preserve their rights. We are beginning to ask the question. Who rules Canada, Queen Victoria or the Pope ? Whose foot is on the shores of our Dominion, the foot of the British Lion or the foot of Leo of the Tiber? And we are beginning to say to these plotting and intrig- uing sons of the Black Pope : ' You Jesuit fathers, you shall have all the rights and liberties that we have ; liberty of thought, liberty of speech, liberty of the press, libert}' of worship, British liberty, and fair play ; but we lift up our hands to heaven and swear by the NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 25 Almighty that you shall not do for us what you have done in Spain, what you have done in Mexico, what you have done in Austria, what you have done in Italy, — you shall not rule us.' (Applause.) I see here the spirit of the Boston women. " In all the churches there are tendencies toward union, and the asperities of a hundred years ago are passed away. The Five Points that used to be dis- cussed between Calvinism and Arminianism have almost vanished out of sight. They are, indeed, points, and vanishing ones. "At our General Conference, held last month in Montreal, a delegation from the General Assembly of United Presbyterians came to us, bearing a golden censer filled with the fragrant spices of fraternal thought and feeling, and one of the eloquent speakers declared that he saw no reason why the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches should not at once unite. I fancy there would need to be some adjustment of creeds before this reunion took place, but, whether we are welded together into organic union or not, we are living together in the unity of the spirit, which is the bond of perfectness and peace. " But I have already too largely trespassed upon your time and upon your patience. Receive our greetings and our sympathetic joys. The Lord of our fathers make you a thousand fold more than you are, and bless you as He has promised. We see, as you have said, not the full work of the hundred years, we see only the work of this generation. All around you are the graves where your heroes are buried. 26 CENTENNIAL OF We see not the great crowd of witnesses, the genera- tion gathered to the skies. Could we behold the whole family of New England Methodism, on earth and in heaven, the gathered results of these years, our hearts would be jubilant, and the hallelujahs would swell from our lips. You have not only the prestige of success, but, like your army veterans, march forward with the 'swing of victory.' We will imitate your godly zeal, your faith, your earnest- ness, and will " ' Travel home to God In the way our fathers trod.' " We will stand with you, sir, where work is hard- est, the battle is hottest. What we need most of all is a richer baptism of the Holy Ghost, to preserve the ancient spirit and win new victories. " ' We are living, we are dwelling, In a grand and awful time; In an age on ages telling, To be living is sublime. Hark, the onset 1 Will you fold Your faith-clad arms in lazy look ? Up, oh up, thou drowsy soldier! Worlds are charging to the shock. " ' Worlds are charging, Heaven beholding; Thou hast but an hour to fight; Now the blazoned cross unfolding, On ! right onward for the right. On! let all the soul within you For the truth's sake ^o abroad; Strike ! let every nerve and sinew. Tell on ages, tell for God.' " NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. ^ 27 Rev. Dr. C. S. Rogers read the following letter : — The Methodist Book Concern, 150 Fifth Avenue, N.Y. Monday, Oct. 20, 1890. In the Methodist Episcopal Preachers' Meeting, in session, on the motion of George Lansing Taylor, the following was unani- mously adopted : — The Methodist Episcopal Preachers' Meeting of New York and vicinity, representing about a thousand ministers, and more than a quarter of a million members, sends heartiest salu- tations and congratulations to our brethren, the ministers and members of Boston and New England Methodism, on the joyful occasion of the celebration at Boston this week, of the founding of Methodism there and in New England, through the blessing of God upon the apostolic labors of the Rev. Jesse Lee and his coadjutors. We rejoice in the mighty work which New England Methodism has accomplished as a moral, intellectual, and spiritual factor in the conquests of our Zion. May the Lord make ye a thousand times so many and so mighty as ye are, and help us all to revive more and more the whole work of God, that Methodism may do her full share in carrying the banners of Christ around the world. Signed by order of the meeting, Solomon Parsons, President. William Eakins, Secretary. Dr. Rogers then moved, and it was voted that this communication be accepted, and the Committee on Resolutions be requested to make a suitable reply, which motion prevailed. Bishop Foster said, " Let us join in singing three verses of the fourth hymn on the slip, " ' Blow ye the trumpet, blow.' " After the singing Bishop Foster said: " I have now 28 CENTENNIAL OF the pleasure of introducing one of Baltimore's favorite ministers, long well-known and greatly beloved in that Conference and all the region round about, the Rev. Dr. A. M. Gourtenay." Re-v. Dr. Gourtenay said : " Mr. Chairman, Breth- ren of New England and Sisters : Jesse Lee is the gift of the Methodism of the South to New England. He was of an ancient Virginia family, still extant, that belonged to the first period of the colonization of the Old Dominion. It was a veritable F. F. V., for Mr. Lee tells us himself that all his great grand- parents, male and female, were natives of that province, so that, since he was born in 1758, his ancestry goes back to the earlier and purer stream of migration from the mother country. It was the vig- orous stock which grew Virginia soldiers, orators, and statesmen. His father and all the household were Church of England folk, who were converted to God and united to Methodism in the first of that wonderful series of revivals that, during the '70s and '80s of the last Century, swept with a sort of furious power over the southern counties of Virginia. " The Rev. Devereaux Jarrett has recorded that, at one period, it was a question whether there would be anybodyleft unsaved in all that country. It was in this Pentecost that Lee was born into the kingdom, in 1772, and nurtured during the seven years that intervened before his entrance on the ministry. His entrance into conference was delayed, however, by a short service in the Continental Army. Being drafted, he refused to bear arms from a scruple NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 29 of conscience, and was imprisoned ; but at last was released by the favor of his Colonel, to serve as a teamster, and in a little while he came to be, by com- mon consent, a sort of chaplain to his regiment. He was mule-driver on the march and a chaplain in bivouac and battle. Finally, being released from the service of his country, he enlisted in the ranks of the Church Militant in 1783, and in 1785, in Asbury's corps of cavalry, rode with Asbury on a tour through the Carolinas and Georgia. At Charleston, one of those strange providences befell him by which men's live's are bent to their destined ends. He met a young Massachusetts man, clerk to a merchant who entertained them, whose conversation aroused in Lee's breast the purpose to preach there also the gos- pel of Christ ; so that this young man, whose name is drowned in oblivion, was the unconscious medium of that divine message, which drew Lee, from the very outset of his ministry, to this land of the Pilgrims. He was not disobedient to the heavenly calling ; but, like ail Methodist preachers of his day, he conferred with flesh and blood in the person of Asbury, who steadily refused him commission. Lideed, it was not until a September day in 1788 that he rode from Balti- more town with his face set northward, never again to look south until after he had preached on Boston Common. "As he left Baltimore, then a village of thirteen thousand souls, he must have glanced back from the eastern hills that bound the city to see the scattered houses, the little Methodist chapel in Strawberry 30 CENTENNIAL OF Alley, where Ezekiel Cooper had pastoral care ; and then, following the Philadelphia highway, after a day's journey he came to Perry Hall, the princely estate of Harry Dorsey Gough, whose mansion rivalled the manor houses of Old England, and where no doubt Lee that day preached to the congregation of the family and slaves that gathered each morning and evening in the elegant chapel, when the bells chimed out their call to worship. "It was not far distant that he rode under the shadow of Cokesbury College, long unfinished but occupied, on which I imagine he cast a glance of sus- picion and distrust ; for Lee, while not deprecating, perhaps, the project of founding a College, certainly did, with a large portion of the preachers of his day, disapprove the plans by which Coke and Asbury sought to govern it. " Thence, crossing the Delaware, he came to Phila- delphia, where he tarried for the conference, and, fail- ing still to gain Asbury's marching orders for New England, he took work in New Jersey until the session of the New York conference in the following May. There he gained the desire of his' heart — an appointment to Stamford Circuit; a circuit without boundaries, without a plan, without a church or class, and without a solitary member, a circuit that was a name and nothing besides, a mere legal fiction that had no existence except on the pages of the Minutes. So that he was literally turned loose on all New Eng- land, with a roving commission to preach the gospel where he might find hearers. And so it was that, on NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 31 the 11th of June, 1789, Methodism, embodied in Jesse Lee, entered New England. " He immediately began his first tour of inspection, and we read of him coming to Norwalk, where, find- ing no welcome among the people, nor even the shelter of a ruined barn, nor even the shelter of an orchard, which was denied him, he took his stand under a wayside tree and preached from what words but these : ' Ye must be born again.' It is the battle-cry of Methodism. No birthright in the cove- nant, no membership in the visible Church, no orthodoxy of opinion, no cultivation in the ethics of Ohristianity ' availeth anything ' ; nothing but to be a ' new creature in Christ Jesus ' ; a worthy motto for the message with which he began the proclama- tion of Methodism in New England. And that day Methodism was embodied in Jesse Lee entering New England to stay. He was not on a mere reconnois- ance, but came that Methodism might take its place in the settled order of the life of New England. "Methodism came as an army of occupation, not like the armies which invaded Britain to build camps, where they should dwell like aliens, but rather like the Saxons when they came to settle and build homes and assimilate the life of the people and be in turn assimilated. So Methodism came, manifesting here, as she has everywhere, not only aggressiveness of spirit, but a marvellous tenacity of purpose. The itinerary of Lee during the following year, as I have traced it on the map, is marked by a red line that traverses all Connecticut and Massachusetts, crossing 32 CENTENNIAL OF into New Hampshire and Vermont again and again, crossing its own track until he visits every town and every village, it might almost seem, every farm-house — a veritable road-map of these jitates. It must measure at least five thousand miles. It is an amaz- ing object-lesson of the stupendous travels and labors of this man. It is no wonder, that, passing as he did from place to place with such rapidity, he became magnified in the popular imagination, and presently the rumor preceded him that 'six hundred Metho- dists had entered New England preaching abominable doctrines and picking men's pockets.' It is a possible thing that some of you may be engaged in preaching that sort of doctrine on the ' woman question,' and I think that while Chaplain McCabe is around among the churches, there will be a consecrated successor of those pickpockets. " But now, why was it that Methodism came to New England this way, from the south and so tardily, a quarter of a centuiy after it had a foot-hold in New York and Maryland ? Long before the hard riding cavalry of Asbury had ever crossed the Hudson, they gained their converts by tens of thousands south of the Susquehannah. The tides of the influence of Methodism swept southward and north-westerly, and up the Hudson valley, and across the lakes into Can- ada, but as yet New England was not touched. " I suppose, sir, there are multitudes of Methodists Avho are not aware that our Church began its career and won its earliest conquests in the southern prov- inces, years before Embury was shaken from his NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 33 spiritual sloth by that godly woman. Strawbridge had been preaching the gospel in the wilds of western Maryland. He went evangelizing through the scat- tered settlements, and he formed a class and built a church which is confidently believed to have been the first in America. And more than this. In the year 1763 he baptized Henry Maynard, a lad of seven years, who lived until 1837 in the vivid recollection of that event. The ordinance was administered at the spring by the homestead of John Maynard, his father, a convert to Methodism, in whose hoiise Asbury often preached, and where was then regular preaching by Mr. Strawbridge. And within sight was the house where met the first class of Methodism, the leader of which was John Evans, converted to Christ through a conversation in which Mrs. Straw- bridge related her experience. I think the church, inheriting the unworthy prejudice of Asbury, has never done honor to the memory of that man of God, Robert Strawbridge, an evangelist with a heart of fire, a will of steel, who was not altogether the fiery and obstinate Irishman that Asbury thought him ; a man acute, shrewd, and genial, and deeply spiritual, the first of all his generation to learn the only defensible position for the validity, or rather apostolical author- ity, of his ministry, with the confirming call of a Church in the wilderness, that was thus thrust back upon her original rights. The fires which Straw- bridge thus kindled on the rude backwoods altars spread rapidly. King, Williams, Asbury, Walters, Gatch, seizing live brands, sped abroad as torch- 34 CENTENNIAL OF bearers of the truth, scattering light, and kindling flames of piety everywhere. So that in 1790, of 57,000 Methodists in America, over 47,000 were south of Mason and Dixon's line, and one-fourth of all that number were of African birth. There were societies in Charleston, on the French Broad in Ten- nessee, and in Ohio. In all these years the ubiquitous Itinerant (and there were now two hundred and twenty-three of them) had never invaded the down-east States. Why was it that none of all that generation of Methodist preachers, not even Asbury with his aspiring genius for conquest, had ever entered New • England ? In the Christ- mas Conference of 1784 there was not a Yankee. Incredible as it may seem, the Church was founded and formed without New England. No wonder, brethren, we have ever since been tinkering with its constitution. If only ye, the inventors, the ingenious, the past masters in the craft of building political and ecclesiastical structures, the framers of charters and the founders of States, the makers of creeds and the breakers of them, at once the iconoclasts and architects in Church and State, if only ye had been at Baltimore in the Christmas Conference, we might have had from the start an elective Presiding Eldership, an equitable Lay Rep- resentation, and perhaps our grandmothers might long ago have sat in a General Conference. Let us believe they would have been wise enough to give Jesse Lee the one vote needed to make him a Bishop in the Church of God. And yet we are told that he NE"W ENGLAND METHODISM. 35 made the most lamentable failure to elect himself to the most Holy Order of Matrimony. It seems that in one conference — a conference of old bachelors — a brother was moved to rise and say something like this : ' My brethren, it has been borne in upon me that I ought to marry. I have sought the advice of the elder brethren. I have prayed for guidance from above. I am persuaded that it is my duty to change my state.' When, presently Jesse Lee arose and said : ' I doubt not that the brother has earnestly sought the guidance of God, and has even said, ' Lord, thy will be done ; but give me the woman.' I was in the same state of mind myself once, but neither the Lord nor the woman would consent.' "But, brethren, it is certain that ever since you came into the Conference, the conservatives have been having a hard march of it. Let me revert, how- ever, to the question with which I started. Why was it that so late as the closing decade of the last century, Methodism had not yet penetrated New England ? I judge it to be from a misapplication of the Methodist dictum, ' Go ye to those who need you most.' There was a persuasion with Mr. Asbury that the scattered settlements south and west needed most the ministry of our preachers. There were few churches and no pastors, and Walters tells us that the preachers were most warmly welcomed every- where. " Moreover, the marvellous growth of the churches through that great revival of the past quarter cen- 36 CBNTENNIAIi OF tury absorbed the energies of the Church, so that Asbury could not find the preachers fast enough to supply his work. Besides which, there was a convic- tion that there was no religious destitution in New England. The traditions of Puritan piety, the lingering memories of the ' Great Awakening' under Edwards, the marvellous successes that had followed the evangelism of Whitfield, — all these per- suaded Asbury and his followers that there was in New England a vital religious influence. In a day without periodicals, they could not know the interior life of New England. The hard Calvinism, the cold and formal worship, the arid creeds, its acrid conten- tions, its sordid worldliness, a fruit of the union of Church and State, its savage reaction of opinion which leavened all the churches with Unitarianism, its intense and bigoted self-satisfaction in those who held fast the orthodox traditions, and beneath all this, the deep human craving for a God of love, — these were not known to them. But soon Lee, in his journeys, found himself involved in disputes over principles, and his sermons were the first hammer- strokes of a system destined to break in fragments the opinions that had so long dominated the Protes- tantism of America. " Said a wag to one of Lee's colleagues, a few years later, ' The Methodists have beat a hole through the Saybrook Platform. If you can mend that, you will have work enough here and welcome.' " Whitfield said to Dr. Coke on one occasion, ' Sir, if your preachers were Calvinists, they would convert ilEW iENGLAND METHODISM. 37 America.' And Lee entered upon the crusade to convert New England in spite of Calvinism, and he made, by God's grace, very good success of it ; and his followers have well nigh broken Calvinism to fragments. " I have wondered sometimes what he would think could he see our brethren in the sister churches alter- ing their creeds without changing them, and sadly trying to find a form of words which jnay sound con- sistently while pouring a new meaning into them. I imagine he would make heaven ring with a Metho- dist shout of free grace, full salvation, and never- dying love. "And so it happened at last that Lee, the vanguard of a great crusade, came riding one day into Boston town. He took his place under the Old Elm on the Common and began to sing, " ' Come, humble sinner, in ■whose breast A thousand thoughts revolve ; Come, with your guilt and fears oppressed, And make this last resolve : " ' I'll go to Jesus, though my sins Like mountains round me close ; I know His courts, I'll enter in, Whatever may oppose.' " God forbid the day should ever dawn in our Methodism when it ceases to sing that hymn ; ceases to teach men they are sinners ; ceases to call them to repentance; ceases to point the penitent to Jesus, and Jesus only. 38 CENTENNIAL OB" " That scene beneath the Old Elm boughs, upon the classic Common, that sweet calm evening, is well worthy the attempt of the poet's art. As you have enshrined in golden verse the story of the Pilgrim Fathers, as they landed on this ' stern New England coast,' in quest of 'freedom to worship God,' so may some genius with tongue of flame sing for gen- erations yet unborn the epic of Jesse Lee. " He was a goodly figure, that strong, sturdy man, of bluff, hearty, genial face. He-was young — but thirty- two — but wore the sober, antique garb of a Methodist preacher. He was of enormous stature, and weighed more than two hundred and fifty pounds. It was rumored in one of your towns that a ' Methodist preacher was coming who weighed three hundred pounds and rode two horses.' I suppose all the urchinhood of the town lined the highway to see this new acrobat. And I can fancy their disgust as he came riding one horse and leading the other, and it dawned upon them that he divided the burden of his w;eight between the two horses, ridden alternately. "But a man's physical peculiarities are hardly worth mentioning, unless they constitute his noticeable and distinguishing features ; and in Jesse Lee it was not bulk of body but the brain and heart of him that sent him forth into his work. He was of an excel- lent capacity, but moderate education. He was gifted with fine native intelligence, alert, acquisitive, judicious, practical. He was no scholar, but always a greedy reader. In the second of his New England years, the list of his reading gives twenty-one NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 39 volumes, aggregating five thousand, four hundred and thirty-four pages, and including Fletcher's ' Checks,' all of Wesley's ' Notes,' the ' Works of Aristotle ' (in translation), and a ' View of Relig- ion ' by Hannah Adams, which a recent critic praises as the worthy head-spring of the literature of women in America. " He was a man of positive convictions, and belonged to the left-centre of the early General Conferences, being a moderate progressive. In one matter only (be it but breathed in Boston) was he peremptorily conservative, — he deprecated the agitation of the ' delicate question ' of slavery. " His piety was profound, and all pervasive; — fer- vid, joyful, enthusiastic, a happy blending of the practical and emotional elements, without a trace of mysticism. " He was of tireless zeal, travelling more extensively than any other man of his time but Asbury, and laboring more abundantly than they all in ' breaking new ground.' He visited Canada, all the States, and even entered the Spanish province of Florida, cross- ing the St. John's river, and falling upon his knees to pray that the gospel might be preached one day even on that foreign shore. "As a preacher he was studiously plain, in the con- ' viction 'that ' the truth shines by its own light, and presses on the conscience by its own weight.' Averse, therefore, to the arts of the orator, he yet spoke con- vincingly, persuasively, and often with great power. His earliest biographer says quaintly: 'Jesse Lee 40 CENTENNIAL OP was a great preacher, and, what hath a pleasanter sound, a good preacher.' He must have obtained eminence in the public estimation, for he was six times Chaplain to Congress. He was characterized by a homely simplicity. I find in him traits of a type, now found only — and eyen there rarely — on the great farms of Virginia and Maryland, the product of patriarchal habits- of life. The man of that mould is not ambitious, cares nothing for money, is oblivious of modern problems, save in politics, reads his old- world books, observes without conscious purpose the utmost plainness of manners, is soberly content, un- touched by the fitful fever of our age, is genial, humorsome, heartily hospitable, suavely courteous, gentle with women and children, yet with a will like thrice-tempered steel; intelligent, yet, unlike the sophisticated man of modern culture, he has gained his strength by contact with nature, by reflection on the primary verities of life, by communion with his own soul and his God, whom he profoundly rever- ences ; easily overreached by a crawling cunning, he has yet a largeness and openness of mind, an absolute sincerity of motive, an honest directness of thought that commands respect. "Now there was much of this in Lee, and it is worthy of comment because of its influence in a strange way on the customs of our Church. He abhorred with extreme aversion the least appearance of ceremony in our Church ; and, without doubt, his influence did much to banish the ' Prayer Book ' and priestly robes from our Church. He is the only NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 41 man who has left on record a description of the august sight of a Methodist Bishop in full canonicals. As he depicts Asbury's gown and bands, you can taste his bitter disgust in the flavor of his words. I surmise it was due partly to his disapproval of Asbury's Bishop's Lawn at ordinations that he de- clined orders for five years, and it was not till Octo- ber of 1790, soon after his first visit to Boston, that he was ordained Deacon and Elder on successive days, — the good Bishop acceding to his wish not to have on Lis gown and bands. " Lee was richly endowed with the humorous faculty. A genial glow of wit illumined his conversation. He was a master of irony, and right deftly wielded in his wordy contests the sharp blade of satire. His was also that gracious pathos which belongs to humor, the humor that may be personified in Hosea Bigelow's * Huldy.' " 'All kind o' smily 'roun' the lips, And teary 'roun' the lashes.' " But this versatile and whimsical temper was severely reprobated by many of the stricter spirits of Asbury's Ironsides, and unquestionably a suspicion of levity, more than anything else, defeated him in the election for Bishop in 1800, when he came to a tie vote on one ballot with Whatcoat. Yet of all men then in the Church, so far as we can judge after this lapse of time, he was best adapted to the office. It would appear that such was Asbury's opinion. The great-BOuled, noble man never showed a trace of aggrieved ambition. 42 CENTENNIAL OF " This, brethren, was the man we of the South gave you. And New England has enriched Church and State with men and with ideas. She gave of old an Adams for our Jefferson, and a Putnam for our Light Horse Harry Lee, and later a Webster for our Clay. She led the crusade for liberty, and may be said to have given the South freedom from a bondage which fettered both blacks and whites. She has blessed the Church with a Hedding, a Bangs, an Olin, and dear Gilbert Haven, whom we all learned to love. " But, brethren, beloved, the South gave you, by the grace of God, Jesse Lee and Methodism. After his work was done, when, in 1816, there was a New Eng- land Conference with seventy-one preachers and almost twelve thousand members, among them Pick- ering and Hedding stationed in Boston, and Daniel Dorchester (no wonder he knows so much about statistics if he has been figuring all this time), in 1816 Jesse Lee came back to die. Stationed in Annapolis, visiting a camp meeting for the purpose of preaching as he loved to do for the conversion of souls, he fell suddenly ill and died as he had lived, homeless, and wifeless, and childless, — the man to whom little children ran in love, who had a place by a thousand hearthstones in all this land, had at last his weary eyes closed by the hands of strangers. They buried him in our Methodist Cemetery in Baltimore, called Mount Olivet, the holy hill, where we bid farewell to those whom the heavens have received out of our sight, as we stand looking and longing after them. Honored laymen, whose names are KBW ENGLAND MBTHOpiSM. 43 woven in the bright fabric of our Church's history, and ministers whose memory is precious, — Asbury, George, Emory, Waugh, Robert Strawbridge, John Haggerty, Wilson Lee, Hamilton, Jefferson, Henry Smith, and Oliver Beale, — these sleep all about him. " Yonder lies the turnpike he rode so often, in med- itative mood. There lies the great city which he helped to endow with that Methodism which has been so potent a factor in its life. There, across the vales and wooded hill-slope of a lovely landscape, gleam the blue waters of the Chesapeake, and beyond, the dim, distant shores of the county where his soul escaped to God. Above his dust stands a marble tomb, duly inscribed, and not far away, on a con- spicuous elevation, rises the granite shaft which you sent some years ago, to perpetuate the memory of Jesse Lee. It bears on one side this device : — Jesse Lee, apostle of methodism to new england. and on the other side : — new england methodism erects this tribute to the memory of Rev. Jesse Lee, on the eighty-sixth anniversary of his first sermon in boston, preached under the old elm ON THE COMMON, JULY llTH, 1790. " Thus, brethren, have you honored the memory of him who was the Apostle of Christ to you, the angel of your churches. 44 CENl'ENNIAL OP " As, a few days since, I made a pilgrimage to his tomb, the sombre shadows of the yew trees fell across the grass, and the autumn leaves, melancholy monitors, strewed the ground ; but the sun shone full upon the grave, and the flowers were blooming still, and a robin whistled in the crown of a pine tree not far away. Even Nature spoke with voices of loftiest hope, amid the graves : — " ' Let Summer send lier golden sunbeams down In graceful salutations for the dead ; And Autumn's moving hosts of leaflets brown Break ranks above the sleeping soldier's head.' " From the grave of Jesse Lee, yours and ours, I bring you the greetings of Maryland Methodism, — the salutation of admiration for your history; of amazement at the work God has wrought by you; of brotherly affection, for are we not of one household, — brothers, as men, as citizens of the Great Republic, as Christians, but in the utmost fellowship as Metho- dists ? Are not your hearts as our hearts ? Then we strqtch forth our hands in salutation, praying for you in the words of your civic motto : — " ' Sicut patribus, sit Deus vobis.' " May the blessing of Almighty God, the God of our fathers, the covenant-keeping God, dwell with you evermore." Bishop Foster said : " We will have the notices, and receive the benediction after the Doxology, in which we will all join. Let us resolve, as a Metho- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 45 dist family in Boston, to make this celebration a great success. Brother Grandison, who was to address you, has been called away, and will not be able to be with us." The Doxology was sung, and the session closed with the benediction. THE OLD ELM. CHAPTER II. Wednesday Forenoon. Ex-GovEENOK William Claflin took the chair promptly, and said : " We will commence the exer- cises by singing No. 5 on the slip, which was the hymn sung by Jesse Lee under the Old Elm. Brother Crawford will lead the singing." " Come humble sinner in whose breast." After the singing, Ex-Gov. Claflin called upon Rev. Dr. William R. Clark to lead in prayer. - After the prayer, Ex-Gov. Claflin said : " It is re- lated that when Jesse Lee came to Boston he found very few assistants, but there was one man, a layman, who brought him a table on which to stand to deliver his sermon. The conveniences for our meetings are somewhat increased in these days. And although the Committee of Arrangements have taken in a lay- man to help them, there was but little need of it, for we have magnificent temples erected by the combined labors of ministers and laymen, such as that in which you are called to assemble to-day, a temple worthy of the Methodism of New England, and of its indepen- dent position. " The advent of Jesse Lee was the breaking of a new event upon New England. This is so often spoken 48 CENTENNIAL OP of that it is hardly necessary to repeat it. But we can look back, perhaps, for a few minutes upon the condition of the Commonwealth at the time he came, one hundred years ago. The nation was just out from a great war. The State was in the hands, we may say, as far as its religious influence was concerned, of one denomination. That denomination was sup- ported by a general tax. Every person possessed of property in the State had to contribute. Every man had an influence, by his vote, when the pastors of the the people were hired. For a long period the people had felt the burden. The effort to*make the religion of the Commonwealth of one character was carried on for a hundred years, amidst failures on the right hand and the left ; and this failure I conceive to have been from the attempt to bring into conformity a people who had fled from the mother-country because there had been attempts there made to bring conformity. But as an independent, spirited people was too great to secure that in the ordinary way, the whole theological talent and influence of the State was brought to con- vince them that that was the proper method, that there must be one religion supported by one law. Out of this came, of course, the persecutions of the Baptists, the Quakers, and various other denomina- tions that came in from time to time. And although conformity to a certain extent had been reached, yet the people were uneasy. Therefore Jesse Lee came in an opportune season. The people received him gladly, — the common people. And if you look at the result in four or five years, we can see how necessary NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 49 it was to the salvation of the State, tliat this man and his religion of Free Grace should come in and make a part of the religious system of the Common- wealth. " Several little churches-were gathered. Soon little chapels were erected in the outskirts of almost all the towns. But it took many years to erect them in the central portions. Still the work went on. Reli- gious thought grew more free; but it took nearly forty years, certainly over thirty, to repeal the obnox- ious laws with regard to the support of worship in this Commonwealth, when Jesse Lee came to this city. The ground was hard, it is true, but courage, faithfulness and prayer prevailed. And perhaps, at this time, there is no community so tolerant of reli- gious thought and doctrine as the one in which we' live. Nowhere is there such absolute freedom from interruption from others of different opinions, who , choose to promulgate them. " I look uppn this as in a great measure the result of Methodism. From her came this idea that every one should have the right to speak his own sentiments freely, and, as Jefferson said, ' The truth will pre- vail, if it is left free to combat error.' This is the experience, it seems to me, of the people of Massa- chusetts. "Now I do not care to look very much on the past. It is often spoken of in our gatherings. I believe that the present is the best day that Methodism has ever seen ; and it is to-day the highest development of Christianity that has been seen in the world. I 50 CENTENNIAL OF still look for a higher and better. I look forward to a time when our educational institutions shall be of the highest grade, all through the country, that we as a denomination support. I believe that every member of the body, whether male or female, is soon to take part in the councils of the body. In what form that will come, I cannot tell. God is always bound to make the way whenever a need has been found. Surely women, as those of the early Metho- dists, who took such part in the great work of planting Methodism on this continent, should have free course to run and be glorified in all the work of the Church. It may not be best to place them in certain parts of the work. They will do as they have done in the past ; wait for the advances, wait for the invitations of the ministers and of the laymen. The time is coming when they, too, in every part, will press their influence, and it will be accepted, I believe, as a Church. But, as I said before, that will come in God's good time. "Now I will keep you no longer from those set apart for this hour. I know you are waiting to hear them. It is my duty to invite them to this platform, and I believe the first is one who has had so much to do with this church, who is, you may say, the creator of it, who has given himself for nine years to its work, whose voice has been heard all over the land with acceptance everywhere, and we rejoice to wel- come him this day most cordially to this platform, which has been so often his place of invitation to those who have come to hear him, and to those who NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 51 have coine to worship in this holy tabernacle. We will be glad to hear from Brother Hamilton." Rev. Dr. J. W. Hamilton said: "Mr. President, Sisters, and Brothers : The eminently fitting and elo- quent addresses to which we listened last night have led me to modify somewhat the treatment of the theme which was assigned to me by the Committee ; — ' Jesse Lee's Mission to New England.' " Jesse Lee came into New England as John Wesley went over the Old England. There is an unerring genius presiding over every period of human history, to direct in the affairs of men, whose office it is to make selection of certain available workmen for certain special work. By such genius Jesse Lee was chosen to become the ' Apostle of Methodism in New England.' Whereupon he was not disobedient to the heavenly calling, but yielded to the force of the imperative duty. He could not do otherwise. I do not mean that he was fated to a mission through some divine decree. " ' We are our own fates; our own deeds Are our doomsmen. Man's life was made Kot for men's creeds, But men's actions.' Neither do I know that God had no method or part in the selection of Jesse Lee to go to New England. " He was under the impulse of destiny. The late Cardinal Newman, when a young man, travelled with Hurrell Froude in the south of Europe. During the tour, ' I began,' he tells us, ' to think that I had a mission.' He tarried a little while in Rome, and 52 CENTENNIAL OF when there he was asked by Monsignor Wiseman to pay a second visit. He replied, with great gravity, 'I have a work to do in England.' In Sicily, after an illness, he sat down on his bed and began to sob violently. ' My servant,' he said, in referring to the matter, 'asked what ailed me. I could only answer him, I have a work to do in England.' " When Jesse Lee was a young man he travelled with Bishop Asbury, in the Southern States. On the way to Charleston, S.C., they passed through a place called Charaws, where they were kindly received and entertained by a merchant of that place. There was in the employ of the merchant a young man who was a native of Massachusetts. Mr. Lee, in a conversa- tion with him, was given some account of the religious condition and customs of the people living in his native State. The conversation made a great impression upon the mind of the itinerant preacher, and with the impression came the conviction that he ought to go and preach the gospel, as he had received it, to that distant people. " This conviction, according to the earliest biography of Mr. Lee, was not merely an ' impulse of the moment,' but continued from that time, until he was enabled to realize his wishes. He frequently conversed with Mr. Asbury on the subject, and expressed his ardent wish to be permitted to go upon a mission among the people of the New England States. But Mr. Asbury at that time thought it best to progress gradually and go where they were invited; calculating, probably, that it was best to NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 53 acquire a greater number of preachers before they extended their labors so far, and that it would require the exertions of more tlian one to give a permanent -footing in those territories. Mr. Lee, after this, made very zealous exertions in order to enlist preachers to go with him on this missionary expedition ; but was very unsuccessful for several years in gaining recruits, and it was not until nearly five years had elapsed from the time he first felt an impression on this sub- ject that his wishes were realized. "Between the inspiration of Cardinal Newman and the inspiration of Jesse Lee there was all the differ- ence that exists between the aspirations of modern Anglicanism, or Anglo-Roman Catholicism, and the mission of Methodism. Early Methodism, in the comparative studies of competent critics, has been designated already, ' the epic poem of modern Church History.' If there may be those who will question its right to such distinction, what must they say of its heroic verse ? Where may we look, through all ecclesiastical poetry, for a poem, — even though its meter at times may have been eccentric — of more ' rythmic thought ' ; a poem of loftier sentiment, recording bolder and more adventuresome heroism ; a poem of sublimer, more exalted imagery ? I mean, with Emerson, ' Only that is poetry whicli cleanses and mans me.' And the writer, who has claimed early Methodism for the epic poem, doubtless meant with Plato, that ' Poetry comes nearer the vital truth than history.' " Miss Julia Wedgewood, who was not a Methodist, 54 CENTENNIAL OF in a well written ' Study on Wesley,' says, ' What then was the central fact in his character ? It was that which is the common property of all who inspire new force into the religious life of a nation : it was the conviction which, when barely stated, sounds a truism, that God governs this world, and not only that which lies beyond the grave. Who disputes it, we are inclined to ask, now? The reader who will peruse these pages will probably confess that in the eighteenth century it was disputed by all who filled the chief offices of the Church of England.' It was the mission of Methodism to preach God in His world. "But, to understand more fully the mission of Jesse Lee to New England, it is not enough simply to know that he was a Methodist preacher. We must know, more particularly, who he was, and whence he came. - We must know something of the field to which he was called. We must inquire for the nature and methods of the work he was impelled to do. ' Nature fits all her children with something to do ' ; and Nature, supplemented with grace, fits all her children with gifts adequate to that something which is to be done. Jesse Lee possessed large endowments from both Nature and grace. He was distinguished for his mother wit and his great heart. The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table says, ' Whatever comes from the brain carries the hue of the place it came from, and whatever comes from the heart carries the heat and color of its birth-place.' " The Apostle of New England Methodism was NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 55 born in Virginia, and Virginia is a good place for a great heart to be born. He was born in Prince George County, March 12, 1753. He was the second son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Lee, whose forefathers came over from England soon after the first settlement of Virginia. His parents were members of the English Episcopal Church, and they dedicated their children to God according to the rites of the Church. Jesse Lee has given the following account of his own char- acter during his boyhood, in his Journal : ' I do not recollect that I ever swore in my life, except one night, being in company with some wicked young people, I uttered some kind of oaths for which I felt ashamed and sorry all the next day, and when alone I felt that God was displeased with me for my bad conduct. I believe I never did anything in my youth that the people generally called wicked. I used, however, to indulge bad tempers and use some vain words.' " He also gives a very definite account of his con- version and Christian experience. ' One of my mother's relations,' he says, ' came to my father's and stayed all night. The topic of conversation was experimental religion. While engaged in this inter- esting subject, my father observed that ' if a man's sins were forgiven him, he would know it ' ; this took hold of my mind, and I pondered it in my heart. Tlie next day, when alone in the field, it kept run- ning across my mind, ' if a man's sins are forgiven, he will know it.' I thought it over and over again, and concluded it must be so, for my father said so. 56 CENTENNIAL OF and I believed it. At length I began to reason with myself thus : ' Are my sins forgiven ? I hope so, but do I know it ? No ! no ! I have no assurance of it.' Immediately it- was impressed upon my mind with uncommon force, ' Go and pray.' The impression was repeated, and I went off into a large branch, which was surrounded with thick bushes ; then I stopped and looked to see if any person was near me, but could see no one ; yet I thought some one might pass that way and see me, so I set off to another place, where the bushes appeared to be yet thicker, but when I came there I was afraid of being seen ; I then went to another place" with the same reasonings and the same fears, but at length I ventured to kneel down, and began to pray that the Lord would forgive my sins. My distress of soul at that time was very great, and never wore off till my sins were forgiven. I read that some asked and received not, because they asked amiss. The remembrance of this made me, for a season, afraid to use many words in prayer, for fear I should pray improperly and therefore ' ask amiss.' One morning, being in deep distress, I was constrained to cry in earnest for mercy, and the Lord came to my relief and delivered my soul from the burden and guilt of sin. " ' My whole frame was in a tremor from head to foot, and my soul enjoyed sweet peace. The pleas- ure I then felt was indescribable. One evening, travelling in company with a religious neighbor, he asked me if I was ever converted? I told him I believed I had been. He then asked me several NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 57 questions relative to the circumstances of the change, which I endeavored to answer. He then said, ' You are surely converted.' I was much strengthened by that conversation, and so much encouraged as to tell other people when they asked me what the Lord had done for my soul.' " Minton Thrift, in his ' Memoir of the Rev. Jesse Lee,' says, ' Soon after this he enjoyed such a mani- festation of the presence and power of God, as completely to remove all his doubts and enable him to say, ' Now I know whom I believe.' This blessed assurance he obtained by fervently besieging the throne of grace; he proved successful and was abundantly blessed.' About two years from this time he was present at a quarterly meeting, where he discovered, as his biographer relates, ' that the blood of Christ could indeed cleanse from all sin.' ' I went home,' said Mr. Lee, in writing of himself, ' with a fixed determination to seek for a deeper work of grace, and to hope and pray and wait for that perfect love which casteth out all fear. I did firmly believe that the Lord was both able and willing to save to the utmost all that would come to Him. I felt a sweet distress in my soul for holiness of heart and life. I sensibly felt that, wliile I was seeking for purity of heart, I grew in grace and in the knowledge of God. This concern of soul lasted for some time, till at length I could say, ' I have nothing but the love of Christ in my heart.' I was assured that my soul was continually happy in God. The world with all its charms is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world.' 58 cbntbnniaij op " It wap no morbid sentiment which possessed him, and there was no tendency in him to withdraw him- self toward anything ascetic. He simply grew bold in faith and venturesome in love. He was excessively timid, and did not believe, at this time, that it was his duty to preach. He simply said, ' I want to do all the good I can.' But from class lea;der to exhorter, and from exhorter to local preacher, he was led on, only, however, as the Church called him. His final decision trembled on account of much waiting, and was reached after long suspense. He would not ' run before he was sent.' In accepting his first appoint- ment from the Conference, he said, ' I trembled at the thought of the station I was to fill.' But once his decision was given, his continued and increasing suc- cess confirmed the wisdom of the Church, and his own conviction of his call to the itinerant ministry. The notes in his Journal reveal much of his character, as well as something of the nature of his ministry. On one occasion he writes, ' The power and presence of the Lord was among us, and many cried aloud. I was so deeply affected that I could not speak till I had stopped and wept for some time.' At another time, he has written, ' My soul was much comforted in preaching to a people who had but little religion, and it was a solemn, profitable time to the hearers.' Very early in his ministry, after joining the Confer- ence, he wrote the following concerning a Sunday at a quarterly meeting : ' It was indeed a day of the Lord's power, and many souls were comforted. One young man was awakened by the sermon which I NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 59 preached, who afterwards became a travelling preacher.' " An all-controlling zeal seems to have directed the youthful preacher in every sermon. It is now clearly evident that lie was in preparation for the difficult work before him, for his call to New England never deserted him. There was always a settled purpose to go sometime to the people in the Eastern States. But he was moved by the same inspiring impulse which pushed him on to preach and organize elsewhere. It could never be charged against him that ' the thirst of power, the fever of ambition ' influenced him, either in the Eastern or in the Southern States. " Mr. Lee came to New England from the Confer- ence held in New York, in 1789. He was then thirty- one years old. He was commanding in his personal appearance, ' of a stout, athletic frame, and weighed about two hundred and fifty pounds ; his skin fair, his eyes gray, and his face full and broad ; his step was quick and firm and he was quite active for one of his ponderous weight.' The noted Dan Young, who was raised on the Ammonoosuck river, in New Hampshire, says : 'I was standing in my father's door one day, when about fifteen years of age, and saw a robust look- ing njan riding a horse, witli another following behind. That person was Jesse Lee, and being a heavy man, and his rides long, it was necessary that he should have two horses to perform the labor of carrying him.' "He was a man of indomitable courage and daring. At one time, he got out of his bed, with a high fever, to meet an appointment, and to form a new class. At 60 CENTENNIAL OP other times he rode through the rain while it fell in torrents, to meet his congregations, or at least to be present at the place where he had appointed to meet them. Once he crossed the Yadkin river when it was much swollen from the frequent rains, was very deep, and the current strong. Not being well acquainted with the ford, he lost his way and found himself among cragged rocks, which were concealed from his view by the darkness of the waters. One moment his horse was swimming, the next plunging over the points of rugged rocks, only to be swept on by the rushing, warring river. Himself encumbered with a great coat, and with his saddlebags on his arm, and being but an indifferent swimmer, he scarcely hoped for deliverance. But, brought through unhurt, he went his way, and on through other perils, ascribing his escape to the good providence of God. " But it was his extemporaneous speech, sympa- thetic, musical voice, and earnest, inspiring manner, which gathered the crowds of common people to hear him in the streets and lanes and open fields, and led men to say that such a man had not visited New Eng- land since the days of Whitefield. If, in eloquence, the great triumphs of the art are when the orator is lifted above himself, when consciously he makes him- self the mere tongue of the occasion and the hour, and says ' what cannot but be said,' then Jesse Lee was a most eloquent preacher. ' When Mr. Lee commences his sermon,' said one who frequently heard him, ' it always reminds me of the hoisting of the flood gates of a mill. There is one incessant pouring of the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 61 sweetest eloquence I ever heard.' The Rev. Thomas Ware said, '- He preached with more ease than any other man I ever knew, and was, I think, the best every-day preacher in the connection.' But the truest test of his power is given by one who said, after hear- ing him the second time in Boston, ' I thought I could follow him to the ends of the earth.' "What he came to do is best known from what he succeeded in doing. New England liad fostered the doctrine that all things were subject to divine de- cree, and had given supremacy to a single Church, until the people were beginning to doubt the one and resist the claims of the other. If, as some one has said, ' Reason and authority are the two brightest lights in the world,' to set the one against the other is to put both lights out. This the New England colo- nies had done. Unbelief and disbelief were fast undermining the Churches, and the support of the clergy by taxation was bringing into the pulpit an unconverted ministry. " The time had come for a Methodist preacher to come to New England, and Jesse Lee came. ' Great men,' said Bishop Simpson, ' are indeed generally the birth of great times.' The elements required to meet the peculiar times were all found in the new Apostle. The strong right arm of the ponderous preacher was thought to be no meari weapon for his defence. His remarkable ability to sing, his irresistible wit, and his excellent spirit, gave him at once a circle of human influence commensurate to his work. lie was equal to the task he had set himself to perform from 62 CENTENNIAL OF the very first day he entered the ' walled country,' as New England was called last night. Jesse Lee was sure of his monument, though it took a hundred years to win it. That first sermon in Norwalk, Conn., on June 17, 1789, was the beginning of the end. What did it matter if one Mr. Rogers was not willing that he should preach in his house? What did it matter if- Mrs. Rogers was not willing that he should speak in an old house that stood just by ? What did it matter if an old lady would not consent to his speaking in her orchard, lest the people should tread the grass down ? Mr. Lee simply went into the road, and gave notice to some of the people that he would preach there. They soon began to collect where they found an apple tree to shade them, and Mr. Lee said, 'T felt happy that we were favored with so comfortable a place.' Methodism always goes to the highway, when there is nowhere else to go. If the people were to take up the road, the Methodist preachers would simply la]^ down another. The last place has never yet been found, where the truth may not go to be preached. This new preacher was more than a match for all his opponents, and he possessed both the power and tact .to put aside obstacles. When he had gone on from Norwalk to Fairfield, and put up at the tavern, the woman of the house wished to know if he had a liberal education. 'I told her,' said the preacher, ' I had just education enough to carr)^ me through the countrj'.' That was sufficient and satis- factory. After he had preached and Mrs. Penfield, the woman who was interested in his education, had NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 63 come back to the tavern, she pressed him to preach at the home of her sister, who, she said, was much engaged in religion, and would be much pleased with his manner of preaching. Certainly she would be! " The kind of opposition which met the Methodist preacher in New England, was sure to bring him more friends than foes, and, sooner or later, to get for him the field. In writing of a large congregation which had come to hear him near Boston, Mr. Lee says, ' I suppose the reason why I had so many to hear me was owing to their ministers preaching against me two Sabbaths in succession. The people heard me with great attention and many tears were shed. I had reason to praise God that I felt my soul happy in his love. I generally find I am in this state when I am most opposed ; then I have the most hearers. The Lord seems to bring good out of evil. If my sufferings will tend to the furtherance of the gospel, I think I feel willing to suffer, but if I had no confidence in God, and as many to oppose me, I believe I should soon leave these parts.' At another time he writes : ' Poor priests ! they seem like fright- ened sheep when I come near them. There are about forty-five of them in the bounds of my two weeks' circuit, and the general cry is, ' the Societies will be broken up.' " He gives the following account of an occasion for much of the opposition : ' I spoke freely and fully against unconditional election and reprobation, and I found great liberty in speaking, and the jxiwer of God attended the word. Many of tlie people wept 64 CENTENNIAL OF greatly, and some cried out aloud. I really expected that the Lord would make bare his arm in the con- viction of some soul at that meeting. I told them at last that God had taken his oath against Calvinism, because he had declared by the mouth of his holy prophet, 'As I live saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.' On uttering these words, I felt so much of the power of God, that it appeared to me as if the truth of the doctrine was sealed to the hearts of the hearers. Many of those who were careless in the beginning, were forced to weep, and both men and women in the congregation could not conceal their tears before we were done.' "The deliverance of the people from the horrible decrees uttered by John Calvin, and taught in New England, will be better understood if Mr. Lee's state- ment of the substance of doctrine, as he met it in -every part, is given. He says, ' The doctrine which so generally prevails is, ' The sinner must repent and he can't repent : and he will go to hell if he don't repent ' : or, as a lawyer expressed it in my hearing, 'you must believe or be damned: and you can't believe if you are to be damned." When the doc- trine of infant damnation was added to this confession of faith, who will marvel over the emotional sensa- tions awakened by the preaching of the new gospel? It is now almost forgotten that the. following passage occurs in the works of Calvin : ' What other than the good pleasure of God is the cause why the fall of Adam involved in eternal and remediless death Avhole NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 65 nations with their infant offspring ? ' In the face of such utterances, can we wonder that Mr. Lee should say, even when he preached in a borrowed meeting- house, ' I did not give them velvet-mouth preaching, though I had a large velvet cushion under my hands ' ? " The teaching of such doctrines led Mr. Lee to feel that the Five Points of Calvinism, like their counter- part at the Five Points in New York, did not entitle them to any rights of primogeniture, or even other hereditary claim. He regarded them as only ' tenants at will,' whose ejection Was for the good of the property and the interest of the owners. And it is possible that Mr. Lee did not regard as binding on the consciences of the people the plan by which ' townships were incorporated with a view to the ability to maintain a settled ministry, and to the convenience of the people in attending public worship.' It v/ould not be probable that he or any other Methodist preacher would recognize such right of ' squatter sovereignty,' when the people were com- pelled to accept such fearful teaching from the pulpit of the ' standing order.' Quite to the contrary, Mr. Lee went through these little ' gardens of the Lord ' much as he went into the highways, to the market places, and to the Common — he went by a sort of ' right of eminent domain.' He appealed to the Bible, but not to the Bible only. Every sense of justice and obligation was called to his support, and to the emancipation of the people. It was, therefore, not long until the thinking of the people was aroused, and the churches had begun to fit themselves to their 66 CENTENNIAL OF spheres. The laws taxing all persons for the support of the ministry were first ameliorated by allowing persons to contribute to whatever Church they might prefer : and the whole system of compul- sory taxation was abolished, though not in Connecticut until 1816, and not in Massachusettj until 1833. " Had it been possible to resist the force of influence voiced by a single preacher, or the number of preachers who soon joined him, there was no power on the earth or under the earth which could stem the current of singing that rolled forth like the distant music of the spheres, from the multitudes who came and went, over hill and vale, in going to and returning from the Methodist meetings. And the hymns which the people were taught to sing embodied whole systems of doctrine, which were destined to overturn the prevalent creeds of the established Churches. Take the single hymn which is reputed to be one of the hymns that Jesse Lee sang under the Old Elm, on Boston Common : — " ' Blow ye the trumpet, blow, The gladly solemn sound. Let all the nations know, To earth's remotest bound, The year of jubilee is come, Return, ye ransomed sinners home. ' Jesus, our great High Priest, Hath full atonement made: Ye weary spirits, rest; Te mournful souls, be glad: The year of jubilee is come. Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.' NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 67 "I may repeat the whole hymu, for it is a veritable library of religious knowledge. " ' Extol the Lamb of God, The all-atoning Lamb; Redemption in his blood Throughout the world proclaim: The year of jubilee is come, Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. ' Ye slaves of sin and hell, Your liberty receive, , And safe in Jesus dwell, And blest in Jesus live: The year of jubilee is come. Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. " The next verse was a liberal education to one trained to believe only the decrees : " ' Ye who have sold for naught Your heritage above, Shall have it back unbought, The gift of Jesus ' love : The year of jubilee is come. Return, ye ransomed sinners, home. ' The gospel trumpet hear, The news of heavenly grace ; And, saved from earth, appear Before your Saviour' s face : The year of jubilee is come. Return, ye ransomed sinners home.' " Jesse Lee was only a gospel evangelist, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, in the beginning, was only a revival of religion. But the story of these 1,074 New England churches, 136,807 New Eng- 68 CENTENNIAL OP laud preachers, 138,595 Sunday School scholars, f 10,488,036 of Church property, and the prevalence now of Methodist doctrine and Methodist piety everywhere in all the Churches, have taught us a lesson during the century of New England Metho- dism, which every people well may heed, for ' the practical effect of a belief is the real test of its soundness.' " When the bronze castings were being completed for the statue of Liberty, on the Capitol at Washing- ton, at the foundry of Mr. Mills, near Bladensburg his foreman, who had superintended the work from the beginning, and who was receiving eight dollars per day, struck, and demanded ten dollars, assuring Mr. Mills that the advance must be granted him, as nobody in America, except himself, could complete the work. Mr. Mills felt that the demand was exorbitant, and appealed, in his dilemma, to the slaves who were assisting in the moulding. ' I can do that well,' said one of them, an intelligent and ingenious servant, who had been intimately engaged in the various processes. The striker was dismissed, and the negro, assisted occasionally by the fine skill of his master, took the striker's place as superintendent, and the work went on. The black master-builder lifted the ponderous, uncouth masses, and bolted them together, joint to joint, piece by piece, till they blended into the majestic ' Freedom,' who to-day lifts her head in the blue clouds above Washington, invok- ing a benediction upon the imperilled republic. Let it be remembered that the Great Master-Builder, who IJTBW ENGLAND METHODISM. 69 presides in the council of churches as of nations, is building out of our diverse civilization a great people, whose chief glory shall be in doing His will. He is no respecter of persons, and will only take account of work done. Shall it be that the weak among us, the despised and rejected, shall come to honor, and the high and lifted up shall be cast down ? ' Let no man take thy crown.' " At the close of Dr. Hamilton's address, Ex-Gov. Claflin said : " The congregation is requested to arise and sing the third Hymn, three stanzas : — " ' Blow ye the trumpet, blow, The gladly solemn sound.' " After the singing. Gov. Claflin said : " The glory of Methodism is that it should seek to give knowledge to the people. One of the first things that Mr. Wesley did was to plant institutions of learning ; and it has been the glory of Massachusetts Metho- dism — New England Methodism — to establish institutions of learning in our midst; and the feeling that was present with us has been carried by the sons of New England to the West, and all over that country institutions of learning have been planted most successfully, giving instructors to the people, and sending preachers and missionaries throughout the world. Among those who have been instrumental in this great work is one who has been with us and is with us to-day, although after many years of service, vigorous and hearty. It gives me 70 CENTENNIAL OF « great pleasure to present to you Dr. Twombly, who will speak upon the ' Comparative Growth of New England Methodism.' " Dr. Twombly said : " Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I want your help a little while on the driest part of the whole business. I want you to help me with your pencil and brush, if you have a chance to use them, but especially with your vig- orous' imaginations, to paint "one or two pictures. Please put the canvas up there (pointing to the rear wall), ten feet from top to bottom, eight feet from side to side, and on that placing in the left corner Connecticut, and east of it Rhode Island ; and above these Massachusetts, and on these as a pedestal place Vermont and New Hampshire, and to the right of New Hamphire the great Pine Tree State, Maine. " That is New England in 1790, as large then as now, with the same hills and valleys and streams as now, a million and nine thousand inhabitants, scattered along the sea-coast of Maine, in the south- ern parts of New Hampshire and Vermont, from Massachusetts Bay to the Berkshire Hills, and quite largely through Connecticut and Rhode Island. Your vigorous imaginations will put all this and a great deal more on the canvas. In fact, I want you to supply, by your lively imaginations, all the appropriate things that I omit. Please glance a moment at the religious bodies of that day. " You may accept, as substantially correct, the fol- lowing statements : There were seven hundred and twenty-five Congregational churches, quite thick in NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 71 Connecticut, quite thick in Massachusetts, scattered over Rhode Island, Vermont, and Maine, with a mem- bership of sixty-five or seventy thousand souls. Everything was in their hands, everything had been moulded by them, a great and honorable people. The next denomination in order was the Baptist, having two hundred and sixty-six churches and 17,174 members. The Free Baptists had eighteen churches and four hundred members. The Presbyterians, after a struggle of a century and a quarter, were beginning to breathe freely and hopefully. They had about seventy churches, but at this date they listened to the dulcet notes of union ; they walked with the Congregationalists and they were not, for the Congre- gationalists took them. The Episcopalians had perhaps twenty or twenty-five churches, and twenty- five hundred communicants. The exact numbers I cannot ascertain. No man can give positive informa- tion. The Quakers were about as- numerous. The Universalists had six churches. The Unitarians had no church by that name; but, in 1783, under the direction of the Rev. James Freeman, the society worshipping in King's Chapel decided to drop out of the ritual all that related to the Trinity and the atonement of Jesus, so they put themselves on Uni- tarian ground without taking the name. The society has stood on that ground ever since. " The Roman Catholics established a mission on Neutral Island, in Scodiac River, in Maine, in 1609, and in 1612 a mission on Mount Desert Island, in Maine, where they built a chapel. In 1646 they 72 CENTENNIAL "GF opened mission chapels on the Upper Kennebec. In 1798 they opened a church in Newport, R.I., and one on School Street, Boston, in 1790, the year of Lee's arrival. Nine years later they erected the cathedral on Franklin Street, where now stands the massive granite block, bearing the initials, I. R.,— Isaac Rich. Table I., Showing the Items Given. Churches. Members. Congregational 725 65,000 or 70,000 Baptist 266 17,174 Free Baptist 18 400 Protestant Episcopalian 20 2,500 Presbyterian . 70 3,000 Quakers ... 20 3,000 Universalist 6 Unitarian 1 Roman Catholic 7 Total 1,133 96,074 " With more than 1,100 churches, and nearly 100,000 church members, the self-conscious, not to say self -conceited, people of New England felt no need of a new ism and a new church polity, for they were equal to all emergencies. Had not their fathers crossed the ocean in the Mayflower? Had not they themselves made the greatest tea-party of the centu- ries, and throttled the British Lion on Bunker Hill? " Nevertheless, the watchman in the tower, turning his spy-glass to the west, descries a dust-cloud. He gazes intently, and lo ! a solitary horseman, unbidden and unwelcome, trots along the highway of the 'land of steady habits.' The summer of 1789 has passed ; three little classes, composed mostly of women, have NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 73 been formed ; half a score of lengthy circuits marked out ; and now the pioneer of a most audacious move- ment nears the confines of Boston, the reputed ' Hub of the Universe.' He comes near, enters the city, finds no church edifice, no chapel, no hall, in v^hich to deliver his message, and from a table, or carpenter's bench, it matters little which, he preaches under the Old Elm on Boston Common. " Had I an audience as credulous as hangs, at times, upon the utterances of priests in some parts of the world, I might affirm that he stood on a carpenter's bench, and that it was the identical bench which the Saviour was using in Nazareth, when He left His humble calling to enter upon His public ministry ; that, as soon as he left the shop, the arch-angel Michael caught away the bench, stored it in a dry closet in the angelic rectory, and, wishing to signalize the advent of Methodism into New England, he pro- duced it for the use of Saint Lee, on that memorable occasion. " There stand the preacher and his audience. The curtain drops, and while we meditate on the picture, and query respecting the outcome of this singular scene, a century passes. The curtain rises ; another picture is before us. New England of to-day is por- trayed with its hills, and valleys, and rivers, as before ; but in all else how changed ! There are now 4,692,904 inhabitants, and everywhere cultivation, thrift and social refinement are seen. Now a score of religious bodies, of almost every name and phase of faith, are marshalled on the field. I will tabulate them, and 74 CENTENNIAL OF you must distribute them over the wide landscape, as facts require. Table II. Statistics of the Religious Denominations in New England, in 1889. Church Organiza- Mptnhera tions or Societies. -MemDers. Congregational 1,518 229,012 Methodist Episcopal 1,156 125,138 Baptist . . 943 129,338 Protestant Episcopal 420 69,582 Free Baptist 460 32,371 Adventist 109 5,544 Disciples 12 900 Christian ' 50 3,000 Evangelical Lutherans: Swedish 25 6,478 Norwegian 16 1,000 African Methodist Episcopal 24 1,992 African Methodist Episcopal Zion . . 20 1,121 Eeformed Episcopal 2 350 Presbyterian 40 6,891 Quakers 63 4,464 New Jerusalem Church 90 2,200 Unitarian 248 25,000 Universalist 308 12,824 Jews 20 Roman Catholic 814 Some small bodies, estimated .... 30 2,500 Total 6,368 659,705 " I can obtain no definite knowledge of the Jewish population of New England ; but it probably amounts to twelve thousand. The Catholic population is given officially as 1,189,100, in 1889. This mass of people is under the religious guidance of one arch-bishop, six bishops, and nine hundred and eighty-eight priests. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 75 " I give statistics for 1889, because some of the denominations have not reported for a later date than the close of that year. Table III. — Growth op thb Leading Evangelical De- nominations FROM 1880 to 1889. 1880. 1889. Total Gain. Per Cent. Population . . '. 1,010,529 4,624,597 614,068 15 Congregational . 213,998 229,012 15,014 7 Methodist Epis- copal 133,302 145,138 11,816 9 Baptist 121,163 129,338 8,175 6.7 Free Will Baptist, 31,672 32,371 699 2.2 Protestant Epis- copal .... 53,000 69,582 16,582 m Lutheran Evan- gelical Swedes 1,096 6,478 5,382 491 Lutheran Evangel- ical Norwegians 200 1,000 800 400 Presbyterian . 4,016 6,891 2,875 72 " From these figures it appears that, in the rate of progress, the strongest evangelical denominations fall far behind the population. The meagre returns which I have obtained indicate that the liberal Christians, as they call themselves, scarcely hold their own, while the population and the evangelicals are constantly advancing. Table IV. — The Largest Three Protestant Denomi- nations, AT Sundry Dates. 1840. 1850. • 1866. 1880. 1889. Congregational, 155,702 156,118 179,840 213,978 229,012 Methodist Epis- copal . . . 80,895 84,097 102,277 133,332 145,138 Baptist . . . 81,051 90,911 97,243 121,163 129,338 Population . . 2,234,822 4,624,597 76 CENTENNIAL OF " Comparing the membership in '40 and '89, a period of forty-nine years, we find that the Congregational- ists gained 73,310, or forty-seven per cent. ; the Baptists, 48,287, or sixty per cent. ; the Episcopal Methodists, 64,243, or seventy-nine per cent. ; and that the last named gained 9,067 less than the Congrega^ tionalists, and 15,956 more than the Baptists. In this period the population gained one hundred and six per cent. Table V. — Gkowth or the Same Thbee Denomina- tions FROM 1865 to 1885. 1865. 1885. Gain. Per Cent. * Congregational . . . 179,840 214,118 34,278 19 Methodist Episcopal, 102,277 137,924 35,647 35 Baptist 97,243 123,320 26,077 27 "In this period, all the denominations prospered, and especially the Methodist Episcopal. Table VI. — Showing the Pbogbess op Foue Denomi- nations FROM 1880 to 1889. Per Cent. Increase of Population 15 Congregational Membership 7 Methodist Episcopal Membership 9 Baptist 6.7 Protestant Episcopal 31 " The Congregationalists and Baptists increased at less than half the rate of the population, the Metho- dists at a little more than half that rate, and the Protes- tant Episcopalians more than twice as fast as the population. Table VII. — Growth of Thbee Denominations in FouB Yeabs. 1885. 1889. Total Gun. Per Cent. Congregational . . . 214,118 229,012 14,894 7 Methodist Episcopal, 137,901 145,138 7,237 5.1 Baptist 123,320 129,340 6,020 4.8 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 77 58,705 28,259 22,104 21,508 24,008 24,061 15,761 10,894 5,200 1,649 70 126 97 32.5 7.4 19,465 (loss)l,025 (loss)5 " In this period, the increase of the Congregational- ists was greater than that of the Methodists and Bap- tists combined. This comparative failure of the Methodists is indicated by facts not in this table ; yet it will be only temporary if we are true to our mission. Growth or the Largest Thkee Denominations in Forty- Nine Years, from 1840 to 1889, In Each State. 1840. 1889. Total Gain. Per Cent. Connecticut. Congregational . 34,644 Methodist Epis- copal . . . 12,498 Baptist 11,210 Maine. Congregational . 16,308 Methodist Epis- copal 22,359 Baptist 20,490 Massachusetts. Congregational . 62,513 Methodist Epis- copal 19,843 Baptist 23,684 New Hampshire. Congregational . 16,580 Methodist Epis- copal . ... 10,519 Baptist 9,393 Rhode Island. Congregational . 2,577 Methodist Epis- copal 1,971 Baptist 5,196 Vehmont. Congregational . 23,080 Methodist Epis- copal 14,705 Baptist 11,078 101,660 39,147 63 56,458 58,301 36,615 34,617 184 146 19,704 3,124 18 12,193 8,625 1,674 (loss)768 16 (loss)8 6,865 4,288 166 6,663 12,071 4,692 6,875 238 132 20,570 (loss)2,510 (loss)12 17,557 2,852 18 8,770 (loss)2,.S08 (loss)20 78 CENTENNIAL OP " It seems that the Methodists gained in every one of the six States, and made the largest rate of gain in four, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ver- mont. The Congregationalists lost in Vermont, but made the largest gain in two States, Maine and New Hampshire. "The Baptists lost nearly seven thousand in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, but made a larger total gain than either of the others in Rhode Island. "Supposing that another essayist will discuss the subject of churches in the cities and in the rural dis- tricts, I have given but little attention to that topic ; yet a few facts will be relevant, though local. "In the cities of Massachusetts, from 1880 to 1887, the Congregationalists gained fourteen per cent., the Baptists twenty-one per cent., and the Methodists twenty-five per cent. In the towns of the State, the Congregationalists and Baptists, gained one per cent, each and the Methodists more than five per cent. From some data at hand, I judge that the last two years have been less favorable for us. SUNDAY SCHOOLS. " It seems probable that the first Sunday-school in New England was formed by a Wesleyan Methodist, Mr. Elijah Bachelder, in Worcester County, in 1795 or 1796 ; the second by Mr. Benedict, a Baptist, in Pawtucket, R.l , in 1799 or 1804; the third by two Congregational young ladies, Joanna , Prince and Hannah Hall, in Beverly, in 1810. The year 1816 opened auspiciously for the Sunday-school cause in NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 79 New England. In the spring or early summer of that year, Mrs. Dr. Sharp started a school in the Charles Street Baptist Church in Boston, and an active lady started another in West Street Congrega- tional Church. About the time of these movements, and till the contrary is proved, I will assume a week or two in advance of them, Thomas Bowler and Paul Newhall established a school in the town school house in Lynn, under the auspices of the Common Street Methodist Episcopal Church* in that city'. That school has had a glorious career for seventy- four years, and is now full of vital force, having about seven hundred and fifty members. Sunday-school Membership of Some Denominations in 1889. Schools. Members. Congregational . . ... . 1,518 245,276 Methodist Episcopal 1,254 169,100 Baptist 919 136,252 Protestant Episcopal 450 53,195 Free Baptist 400 32,100 Presbyterian 38 5,060 Adventist 71 4,605 Christian . ... 50 3,500 Universalist 282 27,683 Unitarian (estimated) 248 30,000 Jews . 20 1,800 Catholic (estimated) 814 200,000 " The position of Methodism in this column is highly honorable, and we respectfully suggest to ardent Sunday-school workers that we are in the field, and that we have gained our position by doing our work in our own way. * See Note in Appendix. 80 CENTENNIAL OP EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. • "I desired, in the outset, to tabulate all the essen- tial facts . relating to the denominational institutions of New England, but have found it impossible to collect the requisite data, and so present some gen- eral statements. " The Congregationalists have always championed the cause of education. In 1790 they had three col- leges and several academies ; now they can boast of nine colleges and a large number of academies. Academical education by the churches has constantly diminished, since the establishment of the high schools at public expense. " The Baptists, ever awake and ready for progress, had one college and four or five preparatory schools a hundred years ago. Their secondary schools are still maintained in a flourishing condition, and they now have two colleges, and a popular theological school. The property of these institutions amounts to more than 14,560,000. " The Unitarians, though patrons of learning, have established no schools in New England, unless we may place Clark University, at Worcester, under their banner. " The Universalists have a fine college on Tuft's Hill, in Somerville, which is well endowed and vigorously conducted. "In 1790 the Methodist institutions of learning were all stowed away in one-half of Jesse Lee's saddle bags, and consisted of a Bible, hymn book, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 81 Church Discipline, a number or two of the Methodist Magazine, and a volume of Aristotle's philosophy. " In 1890 we rejoice to behold eight first class seminaries and collegiate institutes, located respec- tively at Bucksport and Kent's Hill, Maine ; Tilton, N.H. ; Montpelier and Poultney, Vt. ; East Green- wich, R.I. ; and Auburndale and Wilbraham, Mass. " In addition to these, there are two Universities. The venerable Wesleyan, the mother of us all, at Middletown, Conn., has long been a power in educational circles, is now far more prosperous than at any previous date in its history, and has a property of more than $1,600,000. It is broadly organized, and is conducted with great efficiency. " The other institution, Boston University, is one of the educational marvels of our times. It had its origin in an earnest desire to strengthen evangelism, and especially Methodism. " It was not created to advance secular scholarship merely, but piety and sound learning. " There it stands ! on the heights of Boston, an honor to the whole Christian Church. It has many departments. Its college is well filled with students, and its instruction is inferior to no college instruction in this country. Its Law andTheological Schools are almost without rivals, and its Medical School stands at the head of the schools teaching the same theory of medicine ; its College of Music is distin- guished throughout the nation, and its affiliated institutions in Rome and Athens have ecumenical renown. Its faculty numbers a full hundred of 82 CENTENNIAL OP ' instructors, and it has about nine hundred students. These professors and students are by no means all Methodists ; yet the institution was originated by Methodist brains, hearts, and funds, and is sustained by the same. Present value of property, $1,500,000. " Roman Catholicism, ever alert to move on winning lines, has made great educational advances. It has five colleges, a score of academies, one theological school, and two hundred and ten parochial schools. The schools of this grade contain 78,700 pupils, and all these are to be intense Catholics. CHUKCH PKOPERTY IN 1889. " Congregational church edifices, 1,406, and 878 parsonages, estimated at twenty-three and one third million dollars above debts. Baptist church edifices, 943 ; estimated value $9,585,400. Methodist Episco- pal, 1100 church edifices and about 900 parsonages, stand at $11,120,000, with an indebtedness of about $1,000,000. HOME EXPENSES AND BENEVOLENCES. " For these purposes the Congregationalists raise yearly $3,880,000 ; the Baptists, $1,720,000 ; and the Methodists $2,000,000. The Protestant Episco- palians are, in proportion to their number, the largest contributors to church and religious enterprises. "The liberality of these Christian denominations is worthy of great praise, not only for the princely gifts indicated by the figures just given, but for NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 83 multitudes of gifts for numerous religious purposes not mentioned by me. " Still we must remember that the vast amount of property they represent has resulted very largely from the general rise in values. So, while the churches have ministered to the welfare of the public, general industry and thrift have augmented the wealth of the churches. " We should remember, also, that some of the denominations have received largely from the public funds. This is especially true of the Congregational- ists. Many of the sites of their older churches and parsonages were taken out of the public domain. The same is true in regard to their educational institutions. The Baptists also have received con- siderable aid in their educational work from the same source, or from people not professing their faith. "The facts now presented prove that Methodism in New England has made a marvellous progress during the century — a progress unequalled by any branch of the Church of Christ since the Pentecost, and it indicates what wonders could be achieved by a people wholly the Lord's. "But, this is not all; we must look, in part, for the growth of Methodism in other denominations. Its altars have largely supplied recruits for the pews and pulpits of some of the Calvinistic churches. Had it retained all its converts, it would have outstripped the population in growth, and have accumulated much greater resources of power. 84 CENTENNIAL OF "It has thoroughly modified the older denomina- tions, in respect to their matter and manner of preaching, and in their views of theology and Christian experience. " It has compelled a thorough change of the old methods of church work. It has added to the number and variety of Sabbath services ; established evening services, camp meetings, 'four days' meetings, and revival meetings for immediate effect. Methodism has given liberty to women in the local churches ; has opened to her the higher schools of learning ; and will soon say to her, ' come up still higher.' With sublime heroism, Methodism assailed the errors of the churches and the vices of society. " New England Methodism was in advance of other denominations in the anti-slavery reform, and especially so in the great temperance reformation. The poet who is to follow me, is supposed, to have delivered the first total abstinence address ever given in these States. We all stand on the total abstinence platform to-day. " It has stimulated every other denomination to higher and better work in all departments of moral and Christian effort. It has breathed into them a' vital faith. It has led the other Methodisnk of the nation in the cause of missions. New England Methodists responded to the Macedonian call of the Flat-head Indians ; a New Englander led the way to Africa, and cried in his last hour, ' Let a thousand fall, but let not Africa be given up.' New Englanders led the way to South America, and when the groans iSTEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 85 of India struck our shores, a member of the New England Conference said, ' Here, Lord, am I, send me ' ; and later, when a similar call came from Mexico, the same voice said, ' Here am I, send rae ' ; and William Butler became the founder of missions in two empires. " We have reason to thank God for what He has done for the world through Methodism, yet we should remember that it is now passing through the most critical and trying period of its history, and that it becomes us to preserve its integrity in doctrine, method and life. " I am a Methodist because I believe that Method- ism is the best expression of God's thought in theology that has ever been given to mankind ; that its polity is the best polity for the salvation of the world; and that its methods are biblical and philosophical. " I respect all denominations, and live in peace with them all ; but Methodism is a priceless inheri- tance that has come to me as a free gift. It is mine to cherish and preserve, at great sacrifice, if need be. If I become dissatisfied with its doctrines, and wish to go into new departures, it is not mine to destroy the house that has sheltered me, and which I have promised to protect ; but it is mine to step down and step out, thanking God that I have been allowed to stay for a while in the sacred temple. " It is our duty to protect the system from harm ; to see that it receives no detriment. It is our duty to cherish a spirit of Christian unity, of brotherly love ; 86 CENTENl>fIAL OP but the cry now so often heard, and so earnest for undenominational union and church confederation, I consider quite too selfish and give it little favor. " No man proposes an undenominational union which he thinks will decimate or weaken his own church, but men who find themselves or their churches lagging in the rear, are apt to cry for union. The Methodists have rarely started a union, not because they are unfriendly to their neighbors, but because they obtain the best results by working in their own way. " Jesse Lee had a sublime mission to New England, and Methodism did have one. If it no longer has a mission to the people, let it die and be buried. If it still has a mission, a sublime and glorioiis purpose to accomplish, let us stand by it and promote it ' with our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' " At the close of Dr. Twombly's admirable paper, the Chairman introduced the Hon. and Rev. Mark Trafton, D.D., who read the following original poem. INTRODUCTION OF METHODISM INTO BOSTON, BY JESSE LEE, 1790. Seventeen-ninety — in summer's prime — The sinking sun marked day's decline, Sultry and fierce the noontide heat Fell upon hamlet, lane, and street, But now to quench Sol's burning ray Comes the cool sea-breeze from the Bay; On Boston's elms the quivering leaves Sigh to the gentle evening breeze; NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 87 Softly and low the tinkling bells Of lowing kine from grassy dells, Which slowly seek each cottage door, To yield their richly treasured store, While Boston's maidens, brown and hale, With bared arms, fill the foaming pail. O happy times of manners plain. Of truthful deal, and honest gain; Industrious hands gavg those blest days, Not Paris dress, nor Paris ways. ' Our stalwart sires, true sons of toil, Who swung the sledge, or tilled the soil. Honest with hand, and heart, and head. To meet the call for daily bread. Hail the calm hour of closing day. Their heavy burdens off to lay. And find at e,ye that sweet repose, Wliich the hard toiler only knows. Their simple eve's repast now done They wander forth at setting sun. Fly the close air of narrow street. To seek the Common's cool retreat.* The lovely Bay in quiet lies. Bright with the glow of crimsoned skies; Silent, save plash of dipping oar Of shallop passing slowly o'er; No steamers madly churned the wave. No gongs their shrieking signals gave, No foundries flashed their lurid glare. No poisonous gases filled the air; But, when the day's last task was found. Silence and darkness reigned around. But on this day at evening tide Were moving forms on every side; Up Cornhill alley, through Bromfield lane. The musing crowd in silence came; From Faneuil Hall, from fair Fort Hill, From North Square round to Back Bay mill ; All tending, in the twilight gray, * See Note A. 88 CENTENNIAL OF To Boston's pride, which stretched away From Tremont road to far Back Bay. " Boston Common" — you'll travel far, See "Champs Elysees " or Champs de Mars," Or "Windsor Park," or "Hyde," or "James," Skirting the banks of sluggish " Thames," Or " Madrid's Plaza," or gardens gay Which Rome or Florence still display; The eye lights on no fairer scene. Than Boston Common in summer's sheen. 'Tis safe to add, lest doubts arise, " It best is seen through Boston eyes." Tet, sooth, 'twas lovely as it lay In the mild light of closing day; Its grassy mounds, unchanged, rose high; O'er its calm lake weird shadows fly. Its princely elms were branching wide, Then fresh in all their virgin pride; The echoes soft of tinkling bells, The sweet bird notes in shady dells; Its winding paths, its foliage wild. Untamed by art, fair Nature's child ; And Boston's son disowned shall be. Whose travelled heart turn's not to thee. The sun's last rays were lingering there, While to this centre crowds repair, Drawn by the rumor that this night, " The town will hang a strange new light."* Fast, far, and wide the tidings flew; Like Athens, Boston craved the new ; , A sight like this had not been seen Since hanging Quakers graced the green. Excitement swelled each beating heart. With flashing eyes and lips apart. And oft was heard above the hum. The question put, " Is the hangman come?" But now, far out on Boston neck. Distant and dim, a moving speck. Which every moment larger grew, * See Note B. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 89 Yielding a clearer, fuller view; Now nearer drawn to all is shown A horseman, dusty and alone. Trotter or racker, I cannot tell, I know but this — he was mounted well. A man was he of noble mould. And sat his steed like knight of old ; No steel-wrought armor shields his breast, In hodden gray was plainly dressed ; His flowing locks, just touched by gray. Round his broad shoulders richly lay; With buckled knee, and broad-brimmed hat. Straight-collared coat, and white cravat; Full ruddy cheek, and shaven chin, Lips finely curved, compressed, and thin, A lofty brow like marble shown. Where kingly thought sat on its throne; No knightly spurs enclasped his heel. Nor grasped his hand the flashing steel ; No herald goes before, to call Sentry or warder to the wall ; No squire comes ambling close behind. His shield to bear, his casque to bind; Yet, who looks on that calm, blue eye May read the power " to do, or die." True knight of Holy Cross was he. Of Apostolic chivalry. He beareth "gules on azure field," A cross embossed upon his shield ; A " dying Lamb " composed his crest, A crown celestial on his breast; His motto written bold and plain, " To live is Christ, to die is gain " ; No fading honors seeks he now. No earthly crown to press his brow ; No worldly gains, a higher prize, Above his richer guerdon lies. With purer zeal than ancient knight. His work all earthly wrongs to right; The day of freedom to proclaim, 90 CENTENNIAL OP And spread the Conqueror's wondrous fame. Alone his Master stood, alone His peerless courage shall be shown; Churches no call to him extend, No ringing chimes a welcome send ; But on he comes; his good steed's feet Arouse the echoes in the street; The gate is reached — the heedless throng Scarce note him as he passed along; A moment he surveys the scene. The moving crowd, the lovely green; A moment lifts his thought in prayer; " To pause or pass ?" the cross was there: To pause or pass, succeed or fail ? What interests crowd that tretnbling scale! He bares his head to the cool breeze, Now whispering through those noble trees, Dismounts, and slowly seeks the shade Of that " Old Elm," whose branches made Such temple as no human hand Had reared by art in any land ; A moment paused, then raised a song. The new, strange notes are borne along Upon the breeze, the crowd draws near, Charmed by the magic tones they hear: " Rock of Ages cleft for me, Let me hide myself in thee ": Perhaps 'twas this, or it might be, " Come, sinners, to the gospel feast, Let every soul be Jesus' guest; Ye need not one be left behind. For Christ hath bidden all mankind " : Then, kneeling, says, "And let us pray." But such a sight until that day, Boston, I wis', had failed to see, A man in prayer on bended knee ! Rising from short, yet earnest prayer, He opens his commission there: " Old South," " King's Chapel," " Chauncy Place," Had doubtless echoed " terms of grace " ; NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 91 Chaste, elegant, the words had rolled. Artistic, classic, smooth, and cold; Learned and logical, as the schools Enforced the homiletio rules; But such appeal in bygone years Had never tingled Boston's ears. So plainly showed " the gospel plan," So warmly urged God's love to man; His gracious purpose to receive All who in " Jesus shall believe " ; Salvation now, full, rich, and free ; "And, oh," he cried, " He saved me! " The trembling lip, the falling tear Show honest heart, and soul sincere. They heard, and left! Boston, polite, Opened no door, and none invite The weary man to welcome rest; No oj)ened heart God's servant blest; And there he stands, in twilight gray, Like Him who had not where to lay His weary head; yet he may lie Beneath his Father's starlit sky. He heaves a sigh; he turns away; He mounts again his faithful gray. And pacijig up through Tremont Street, Shakes Boston's dust from off his feet ; Then on through Charlestown eastward bore, To find in Lynn an open door. II. Hb Drbams. With heavy heart he seeks his rest. His spirits by sad thoughts oppressed ; Of Boston thinks, with grief and pain; Of labor lost, of toil in vain; False sons of sires who sadly trod The frozen sands to worship God: Vain hope to see in future years Fruit from the seed sown there in tears. Boston rejects him ! not alone 92 CENTENNIAL OP The servant, who the seed has sown; But Him whose word is ever true, " He heareth me who heareth you." He labors with this painful thought, Till sleep her soothing cup has brought. But lo! his chamber blazes bright. An angel form in robes of light. Who smiling says, " Dismiss thy fears, Look forward through the coming years; Boston is rich in germs of grace, Glad eyes shall yet thy footsteps trace; Rise, o'er thy form this mantle throw, Back o'er thy pathway let jis go. Boston i-ejects you; you shall see What Boston shall in future be." High on the State House dome they stand; North, west and south, the teeming land Seemed filled with busy life ; o' er all Rose dome, and tower, and turret tall; The hills with clustering villas crowned ; The vales with hum of life resound; On every hand rise tapering spires; Oh every side glow altar fires : There Chelsea all the valley fills; Here Charlestown crowns historic hills ; There classic Cambridge westward grows. Where gliding Charles in quiet flows ; While Roxbury, graced with varied charms. Wooed, willing sinks in Boston's arms. Yonder 'mid rattling hammer's stroke. East Boston glimmers through the smoke ; While each their numerous churches boast. As light-houses which line the coast; And this result the channel. shows. Through which the true succession flows. "Boston rejects you; now she calls A score of watchmen to her walls ; A mighty host has crossed the flood. An army vast is on the road. From the small seed beneath the tree NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 93 fou dropped in tears, this fruit you see; No power sliall this great work destroy, You sowed in tears, tliey reap in joy. When thou art gathered to tliy rest, Thousands shall rise to call thee blest. But come to Bromfield Alley where Thy monument stands proudly fair." Well might the hero feel surprise At what now meets liis wondering eyes. A granite structure towers on liigh, Toward the over-arching sky; Massive and grand, yet chaste in style, Vying with ancient classic pile ; Spanning the fagade's ample space, Tliey " Wesleyan Association" trace. Up the broad hall by surging throng Our unseen guests were borne along. Over an archway on the wall They smiling read ".Wesleyan Hall; " Within, 'mid jets of brilliant light, Hare beauties burst upon their sight. ' ' Here art, and taste, and wealth combine To rear this monument of thine : And coming ages liere may see Pattern of true church unity; This granite pile shall symbol prove, And bond of pure fraternal love. And Wesley's children yet shall be Bound in one grand fraternity; Ko white nor black, no caste nor clan. But hand grasp hand of brother man." Shielding in shades his golden wings. His ward our angel forward brings. " The root of New England's Methodist tree," He said, " I present to you, Jesse Lee. It would please him, no doubt, to take the hand Of each of this noble Wesleyan Band. We lack time to visit the model book store. And to give but a glance at our Herald' s true corps. Zion'a Herald, the first in tlie field, takes the lead 94 CENTENNIAL OF In modern reforms, yet still holds to the Weed. When Haven for Episcopo's Mount took his flight, And Pierce changed his work for a mansion in light, Then the present incumbent dropped in on the scene, And, wielding his mace, smashed the E.P.* machine. Men may miss their calling, — he here finds his place, And easily leads in the hebdomadal race. Long, long may the Herald its freedom maintain, Until wrongs are all righted, and Love holds her reign. His aids, first the Chaplain from your Uncle Sam's fleet, To secure a good ' out-look ' on the front has a seat; A benison weekly, is poured on his head. As his S.S. prelections by hundreds are read. The triad to fill, and to clear from all doubt Tha,t naught here is perfect with woman left out, The last a young lady of genius and tact. To arrange, to revise, to correct, to extract. To breathe o'er its pages a womanly charm. Its ruggedness soften, hyper-critios disarm ; When typos are puzzled by a phrase out of sight, Her spectacles focus and bring it to light." They pass to the pavement, when lo, at the door Stood Jesse Lee's horse, whose saddle-tree bore A parchment from Harvard : — " This Methodist horse Is, Honoris Causa, made Doctor of Laws ! " t " Good luck," cries our hero, " forsooth, heretofore A head with more brains seldom passed through that door ! ' ' 'Tis morn; the sun came up, and Lee So cheerful seemed, his host said "he Would know the cause." Lee smiling said, " Such dreams ne'er filled a poet's head. Boston with Methodists alive I saw, as swarms a summer hive ; While churches, bells, and organs loud, Thick on my wondering fancies crowd; While what of all the rest most rare A college and school theologic were there." Musing, he bowed his reverend head, " Witli God 'tis possible," he said. * EcclesiasticD-Folitic!!.! . t See Note O. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 95 Then flashed his eye with heavenly light As on him fell prophetic sight; As Moses' face, so his now shone, Sublime and deep his wondrous tone; " Him I shall see, but oh, not now, With kingly crown upon His bj'ow; His power behold, but oh, not nigh. His star I see ascending high ; The sceptre of the Conquering One, From Jacob springs, great David's Son; O goodly tents, O countless host ! Against thee vain enchantments boast; No divination checks thy way To purchased universal sway; False creeds and idol temples fall. And David's Son is Lord of all." Indulgent friends, my sands are run. My tale is told, my thread is spun; When the next century's pesens swell, A better bard the tale shall tell. At the close of his poem, Dr. Trafton was greeted with _a round of hearty applause. The Chairman then called upon Dr. W. R. Clark, Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, who presented the follow- ing document, which was adopted as the response of the Convention to the kindly greeting of the Metho- dist Preachers' Meeting in New York. Boston, October 22, 1890. To THE New Tork Methodist Preacheks' Meeting, Greeting. Dear Fathers and Brethren, — Your "salutations and congrat- ulations," duly received, were read last evening to an enthusi- astic audience of two thousand persons, at the opening session of our Centennial celebration. The curtain of the century rises, and before us is the object lesson upon which you so gracefully congratulate us. A single man, the sole representa- 96 CENTENNIAL OF tive of Methodism, opening his message of salvation under a tree on Boston Common, at the one end of the century, and Methodism springing from that spot across the brief historic period, in the face of theological giants armed cap-a-pie, and over the breastworlis of a system of theology, — the most powerful the world has ever seen, — into six Annual Conferences, embrac- ing one thousand ministers, presiding over one thousand churches, aggregating one hundred and fifty thousand mem- bers with their eleven million dollars of church property, four millions invested in literary institutions, four hundred thousand in a denominational headquarters in the heart of the city of Boston, and with a weekly religious newspaper, the oldest, and not the oldest in American Methodism, which in its cir- culation and influence holds a front rank among religious journals. Such are the achievements over which you, with us, sincerely rejoice and give thanks to the great Head of the Church, and which form a small section of the great denominational family born in your city, and also of the preaching of a single man, one hundred and twenty years ago. We hope to prove not unworthy of the high trusts hereby imposed upon us, and that, under God, by the fidelity of our- selves and of those who shall come aftfer us, the Methodism which shall crown the close of the century upon which we are entering, shall be to the present, what the present is to the Methodism impersonated in Jesse Lee on Boston Common, one hundred years ago. Please accept our cordial thanks for your fraternal greetings, and our high appreciation of your intelligent interest in what God hath wrought on behalf of New England Methodism. Fraternally yours, William Claflin, President. G. A. Crawfokd, Secretary. The Convention was then dismissed with the benediction, and a very interesting session came to a close. Note A. — Boston Common was the original cow pasture for Boston's early set- tlers. Each householder had the right to turn one cow upon the Common. It waa NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 97 also the place for the burial of Buicides and criminals. The three Quakers hanged by the Puritans were buried on the spot where now is seen a water-fountain, on the north-east corner of the Common, near the gate. NoTB B. This is a slight anachronism. The first lamps for the lighting of the Oommon were brought out from England before Lee's first visit to Boston. Some wag, probably Rev. Matthew Byles, the wit of that day, started the rumor that a '* New Light" would be hung on the Common that night. That incident is used here to account for the number of people Lee found there. Note 0. — This incident is also anachronistic. On his second visit to Boston, Mr. Lee was invited to preach in Cambridge. Some students heard of it, and, learning where his horse was stabled, led the animal out and took him through the old college building, in at one door and out at another, saying; " The Methodist preacher's horse shall go through college, if his master hasn't." The noble animal was doubt- less as much improved by the process as many of his biped successors have been. WILBUK FISK, D.D. CHAPTER III. Wednesday Afternoon. Hon. Chas. E. Kimball in the chair. Hon. Chas. E. Kimball said: "We will ask the Convention to sing the last hymn, No. 15, — " ' I love Thy kingdom, Lord.' " After the singing the Chairman invited the Rev. Dr. N. D. George to offer prayer. After prayer, the Chairman said : " Brethren and friends of the Convention : I attribute the pleasure I have this afternoon in welcoming you to this gather- ing to the fact that I have my dwelling-place in a city preeminent in Methodism. We were told last evening that a certain young man drifted about the world somewhere, at some time, and crossed the path of Jesse Lee, and invited him to Massachusetts. And our good brother told us that, unfortunately, the name of that young man had dropped into oblivion. I am glad that that name has not dropped into oblivion, but is recorded in the chronicles of Lynn Methodism, and I am happy to give the name of Benjamin Jackson, of Lynn, Mass. "And as we gather this afternoon around this camp-fire of New England Methodists, if there glows in our hearts something of exultation over what our [99] 100 CENTENNIAL OP denomination has achieved, remember that it is not altogether for what we have achieved, but for what we are going to achieve. Every church, of course, has its history. It is a maker of history, and that history is a divine inheritance. All personal char- acter is wrought out and strengthened and developed by trial, by antagonism. The Church of Christ has had its trial. The Methodist Church has had its antagonisms, antagonisms all the way along, sancti- fied by pain, hallowed by toil and weariness. But, if she has walked in the valley of tears and dwelt in the vallej' of humiliation, she has stood likewise on the Mount of Transfiguration, and walked under the eternal sunshine of the beatitudes. Her workmen have fallen, one by one, as the grain goes down before the reaper, but the Church lives on, glorious in her history. The silent years are working it out. A solitary itinerant no longer gathers his congregation under the spreading branches of a tree on Boston Common, or in an unfurnished barn in the city of Lynn. To-day the Church's bells are ringing around the globe, and her itinerants are found wherever the foot-tread of civilization is heard, or wherever the sail of commerce has winged its way. We read the statement that there is ever the problem how to vitalize, with connexional vitality, the extremities of the national domain. All civil institutions are strongest at their center, and weakest as we work toward the outer rim of the circle. Methodism has no extremities. It is all center ; as" vital out on the banks of the Ganges as on the shores of the Kenne- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 101 bee ; as vital out on the plains of Italy as on our New Hampshire hills. Never was the Methodist Church stronger than to-day. Never was it better equipped for the great work it has in hand than now. Never was it in greater peril. The transition from poverty to affluence, from weakness to strength, has been a wondrous transition. But wondrous tran- sitions are dangerous, and great opportiinities are always girded with great responsibilities and perils. She stands erect to-day, one of the mighty forces of the world, a stupendous factor among the forces of man. God has given to her the preeminence of leadership. Millions bow at her altars. Thousands shout her acclaims. Wealth flows into her treasuries. And the great tides of influence that sweep up and down the land measure themselves along her side. Men of strength and power, from her communion, fill the places of power in the world. She stands to-day a mighty Colossus, stretching from continent to con- tinent, with one foot planted on the Orient and the other on the Occident. The day of her poverty has .gone by. But it is no boasting when, standing here on this platform, we declare that, in this magnificent result, it has been New England Methodism that has done as much as the Methodism of any other part of this broad earth. Will she be true to her mission ? That is the problem for us, brethren. We become gloriously enthusiastic over what we have done. God be praised ! No one appreciates the glory of her accomplishments more than the speaker. But, while we look at the rays of sunlight and glory that beam 102 CENTENNIAL OF upon her past, we long in our hearts to look out into the coming years and see what we shalj be. Will the rarefied atmosphere of this high elevation dampen her ardor for a consecrated life ? Will the plaudits of the multitude, that ring out on the air for her glory and her achievements, weaken the beatings of our hearts for the great humanity that is crying for her? Will the glory which lies along the track of the hundred years we celebrate to-day atone for the magnificent work it must do for to-morrow ? Will its great opportunities be but a battle-field for what has been called 'Ecclesiastical Polities'? Will the cry that comes up from our cities, day after day and year after year, of the great tide that sweeps through it, — will that cry catch 'her ear, and now, in her loftiest height, will she kneel down by lowly altars and throw her great arms around the suffering, and will she listen to the cry for help ? If so, then all glory to God. And such I think it will be. The Methodist Church must be a consecrated church ; and it can be no other. Its whole ecclesiastical polity is founded upon this idea, and it can be worked by no other church than a consecrated church. Men of affairs must consecrate some of their busy hours to its service ; men of wealth their money ; and con- scientious, godly women raise no standard of revolt over fancied grievances, let them have such sugges- tions from wherever they may. ',' A hundred years, brethren, lie behind us. They are secure. Before us lie possibilities no sage can horoscope. We are being pressed by the momentum NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 103 of a century on toward this Centennial, that we make it an occasion of high resolves. And, as we march down the line of this second century, in the advance of this great Methodist host, floating high above all earthly ambitions, principalities, and powers, shall wave the crimson banner of our Christ. And be- neath that banner we will write the old inscription, 'In Hoc Signo Vinces.' And, as the old Cartha- ginian general took his infant son, and, kneeling at the altar of his gods, make him swear eternal enmity to the Romans, so we, kneeling around our sacra- mental altar, will swear for the time to come in- creased loyalty to our^ Christ, and pledge anew at that altar our ' lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.' Thus doing, Methodism shall roll on, as the circling years come and go, and these hands of ours become pulseless and still, and out of these hands shall fall the standard borne so grandly before God and man, out of these hands shall fall that standard, but our children and our children's children shall gather up that standard again, and bear it on, and on, and on, and, if it be God's will, by and by, you and I will look down from the battlements of the celestial city while they celebrate the second Centennial. And while we look, we will join with them in that anthem that has been ringing through the ages : ' Unto him that loved us, and gave himself for us, and has washed us in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto our God, unto him be glory and honor and dominion, forever and ever, amen ! ' "_But I must not weary you. I am here simply as 104 CENTENNIAL OF a herald to proclaim the coming of those who shall speak to you with more eloquent lips than mine, of those great institutions of our Methodism.' A];id I have the pleasure of introducing to you the Rev. C. A. Plumer, who speaks to us of ' Methodism in Coun- try Towns.' " Rev. Dr. C. S. Rogers said : " We have just heard that Brother Plumer cannot be with us this afternoon, and so the next speaker on the program will take his place." The Chairman said : " You have heard the notifi- cation from Dr. Rogers that Brother Plumer cannot be present. The next exercise on the program is ' The Episcopal Element in Methodism.' Th^re is nothing that has ever demonstrated the self-denial of our Methodist clergy like their willingness to accept this hard position ; nothing. And now Dr. Chad- bourne, who is fully familiar with all these methods, 'will speak to you upon this question : ' The Episco- pal Element in Methodism.' " Dr. Chadbourne said : " In treating of the Episco- pal Element in Methodism, my purpose is only to speak of it as the form of church government which was originally adopted by, and has, up to this time, prevailed in that body, and to point out some of its advant-ages as illustrated in Methodist history. The brief time allotted me will not allow me to enter into a discussion and defence of the Episcopacy in the form in which it prevails among us, or to array argu- ments in its behalf from scriptural and historical standpoints. Nor, indeed, is an effort of this sort NE"W ENGLAND METHODISM. 105 necessary. All questions of this character have been thoroughly discussed and fully and permanently settled to the entire satisfaction of the great majority, if not the whole of our Methodist Episcopal body. We believe it to be entirely in harmony in all its parts, with the New Testament, and with the early history of the Christian Church. And we know very well that, as a system of church government, it can show results inferior to none, if not superior to any that the world has ever shown. Therefore it needs no vindication from us ; its own history is its best vindication. For, to my own mind, the proposition seems perfectly evident that, in accounting for the phenomenal growth and progress which have attended American Methodism during a little more than a century of its existence, we must refer to its form of church government as one of the chief causes which have contributed thereto. Other features and ele- ments peculiar to our ecclesiastical body must doubt- less be counted in as important factors in the solution of this interesting problem, but this one should rightly be assigned a front rank. I shall, therefore, call attention to the Episcopal Element in its broad- est and truest sense, as it obtains among us, and en- deavor to point out some of its advantages as seen in the centurj' of our history. "What, then, are we to understand by the term ' Episcopal Element ' ? We understand it as relat- ing to the form of government under which the ecclesiastical body exists. No church can exist, none has ever long existed, without some government. 106 CENTENNIAL OF Of the forms most knotvn and adopted by the great religious bodies of the world, three have held princi- pal places. These are the Independent, or Congre- gational, the Episcopal, and the Presbyterian ; and between these there are distinctions of a very marked character. The Congregational form holds to government directly by members of the Church ; the Presbyterians to a government by a board of elders or presbyters ; and the Episcopal to government by or through Bishops. " Which of these forms of government has most of authority and sanction from the New Testament, is a question which all the bodies have largely discussed, and each has settled satisfactorily to itself. The best authorities, however, are agreed that no specific form of church government is prescribed in the Scriptures ; that, as one of them states it, ' The Almighty Father has not prescribed any particular form of ecclesiastical polity as absolutely necessary ■ to the attainment of eternal happiness.' ' The Gospel only lays down general principles, and leaves the application of them to men as free agents.' Therefore it has come to be an established principle with most of them, except the Roman Catholics and the High Church party of the Episcopalians, that the form of government is with each body a question only of expediency, and so each is at liberty to choose that which it judges to be best. " Of these forms of government Mr. Wesley selected for adoption by his societies in America the Episco- pal, and so to-day the great body of his followers on NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 107 this continent constitute the Methodist Episcopal Church. A careful inquiry into the meaning of this term Episcopal, taken in its strictest and most accu- rate sense, may show us both that the Episcopal Element .prevails very much more extensively among us than some have been wont to suppose, and that to this we are far more indebted for the efficiency and success of our church polity than they have imagined. " The root idea of the word is that of oversiglit or superintendence, and so the Episcopos or Bishop is he to whom has been committed the office and duty of overseeing or superintending the affairs of a religious body, having entrusted to him a definite degree of authority and power for the direction and control of those affairs. "I shall endeavor to show that this Episcopal Element, as thus defined, inheres in three offices in our Church ; in its Bishops, its Presiding Elders, and in its Pastors. '■'■First. In its Bishops. The office of Bishop in Methodism is different from the office in every other religious system. First ; It differs in its repudiation of the high Episcopal claim that the order of Bishops takes the place of the Apostles in- the Christian Church, by direct divine appointment ; that, therefore, the Bishops are the successors of the Apostles, and are by divine right the head of the Church, and tliat they are the medium through which, in all time to come, the Holy Ghost must be transmitted to the Church. We hold this claim to be a carnal perver- 108 CENTENNIAL OF sion of the true idea of the Christian Church, and a great corruption of the Christian system. With John Wesley we pronounce it ' a fable which no man ever did or ever can prove,' and believe it to be what one has declared it, ' The origin of the^ whole system of the Roman Catholic religion ; the germ 'from which sprang the popery of the Dark Ages.' " We turn from this fable of the apostolical succes- sion to the episcopacy which we have received from Wesley, and which, we are fully persuaded, is much nearer the apostolic model. Rejecting the High Church theory that there are three orders in the Christian ministry, we maintain that there are but two, elders or presbyters, and deacons. From among these presbyters certain ones are chosen to oversee or superintend the Church, and these we call bishops or superintendents. They are not above the other presbyters in ordei", but are above them in office, having devolved upon them by ecclesiastical and human right — not by divine right — certain functions which the others may not perform. Therefore the office is simply an ecclesiastical one, with well-defined duties and powers, for the performance and exercise of which the incumbent is responsible to the body that created him, — the General Conference. " Second ; The office of Bishop in Methodism differs from the office in other churches in that it is not diocesan, but is general and itinerant. Instead of being confined to a city or district, and so having the oversight of comparatively few churches, the Metho- dist Bishop must ' travel at large,' and have NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 109 oversight of churches, it may be, along a continent, or of churches on both continents of the world. And this itinerant episcopacy seems to us far nearer the apostolic model than is the diocesan. '■'■Second. The Episcopal Element inheres in the Presiding Elder. This officer has sometimes been called a sub-bishop, and a little inquiry into the functions of his office will show that the term is not misapplied. The duties devolving upon him are, many of them, precisely similar to those which the Bishop is called upon to discharge, and, like those of the Bishop, all pertaining to the superintendence and control of the affairs of the Church. He must travel among the churches of his District, visiting all of them, and holding Conferences with them a stated number of times in each year ; in the absence of the Bishop — and the Bishop is usually present in each Confer- ence but a few days in the year — he must take charge of all the Elders, Deacons, and Travelling and Local Preachers and Exhorters in his District. In the intervals of Conference he may cha,nge, receive, and suspend preachers, if the Bishop be absent; he must hear complaints, conduct trials, give and renew licenses to preach ; hfi must oversee, direct, and pro- mote all the temporal and spiritual interests of the churches and guard well the rights of the Church in its church property. He must give attention to church benevolences and collections, and see to all the disciplinary matters in his District. And last, but not least, he must practically make most of the appointments, for in the nature of the case, the Bishop 110 CENTENNIAL OF must depend mainly upon the knowledge and judg- ment of these men in assigning the preachers to their stations. These have all the knowledge of the men and the churches, for they are constantly among them ; the Bishop has little, and in many cases none. Thus it will be seen that the office is, indeed, one of great responsibility and far-reaching influence, and he who holds it is an episcopal officer in the truest sense of the word. He has not devolved upon him all the duties of an Episcopos, or Bishop, but he does have some of the most weighty and responsible. The Episcopal Element is present in large measure in this office, and makes itself powerfully felt in the affairs and interests of the Church. '•'•TMrd. The Episcopal Element is present in the preacher, or in the Pastor of the Church. As the Bishop, in order an Elder like all the other Elders of the Church, has oversight of entire Conferences, with authority conferred on him to do what no other Elder may do among them ; as the Presiding Elder, not dif- fering in order from the Elders in the pastorate, has oversight of a District, and within that jurisdiction may do what no other Elder, and not even a Bishop, can do ; so also the Pastor has oversight and superin- tendence of a congregation, and has power to do there what no other may do, not even a Bishop or Presid- ing Elder. The Methodist Episcopal Church commits to its Pastors a larger measure of authority and power than almost any other Protestant body. It must be confessed that the trust is very great; to some, indeed, it seems too great. In his own church, he alone NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. Ill may receive and dismiss members ; he alone appoint leaders of classes; he alone nominate stewards and trustees ; his consent must be had for the appointment of teachers in Sunday-schools ; in short, his presence and authority are felt and acknowledged everywhere in the local church. None can get into the church, and none can get out of it, without his approval. No officer can be chosen without his voice gives consent. What other Protestant Church puts such prerogatives on its Pastors ? If the episcopal, the superintending element, is not present in his office, then surely it is not in any office among us. " Thus it will be seen, taking the term Bishop, Epis- copos, in its strict, its accurate sense, we have three grades of the office among us. The Episcopal Ele- ment prevails among all Elders in service, — Bish- ops, Presiding Elders, and Pastors. The difference between them is rather one of degree than of kind. They are all overseers of the Church of God, pastors of the flock of Christ. " The diaties belonging to each differ in essential particulars, but all tend to one end, the progress and welfare of the Church and the salvation of men. " In studying this feature of our Methodism, and observing its practical workings, we must be impressed with two or three noteworthy facts. " First ; We must confess that it is not a demo- cratic feature ; it is not specially in harmony with republican and representative ideas and institutions. It places in the hands of each of these men an almost or quite autocratic power ; it makes him practically 112 CENTENNIAL OF a ruler over his brethren. The Bishop can do about as he will with preachers and churches ; they can remonstrate ; they can complain ; and that is about all. Unless illegal, unconstitutional action can be shown, there is no redress for them in any case, except at his pleasure. The same is true, though in less degree, of the Presiding Elder, and also of the Pastor. From their decisions and acts there is no appeal save the appeal to ecclesiastical law. And either of these officers may be very arbitrary ; he may be wil- ful and unreasonable ; in some cases it is possible for him to be wrong, and yet not infringe upon the con- fines of law. The opinions of his brethren, the dic- tates of generosity, of brotherly kindness, nay, even of righteousness, may condemn some act, but the law will not. And this feature of our economy, this putting so much power on one man, as is well known, has been urged as an objection to our polity, and this sometimes by those of our own household. We have heard of remonstrance, protest, and occa- sionally, though rarely, of rebellion. In reply to all such objections, we offer two weighty facts: The abuse of this great trust has been so rare in all our history as to be almost insignificant, to count for nothing as an objection to the system. " How often has it been heard that a Bishop has wrongfully exercised his power in dealing with min- isters and churches ? That he has done what he man- ifestly ought not to have done? Consider how often, and under what different circumstances, these men must exercise the power given them, and NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 113 then wondei', not that they occasionally seem to mis- take duty, or even to fail as to what is right, but that they, in human infirmity, do not oftener do it. "We may rightfully, as we do, boast of the record of our Chief Pastors in this particular. It affords a most striking example of the grace of God in men, as well as of integrity, usefulness, and good judg- ment. " And these statements apply with quite equal perti- nency to Presiding Elders and Pastors. We do not afSrm that they never use their power in an injudicious, or even in a wrong way. But we do affirm that, take them together, such offences occur so seldom as to furnish no good argument against our system. The failures all around are so rare as to prove that this power, though great, is wisely and safely lodged where it is. The men holding it have shown them- selves worthy of it for a hundred years, and will no doubt maintain the record in the years to come. " Our second answer to those who object to this system is that it has stood the best of all tests, it has proved itself a success. On this point I suppose little may be said, for the history of our Church is behind us, and to that only need we appeal. No one can doubt that the government, the polity of a church, must be a powerfully determining factor in the matter of its success or failure in attaining the objects of its existence. Methodism claims the best form of church government in existence, and in support of its claims points confidently to results. " If the Christian Church is in this world to save 114 CENTENNIAL OF the world, to build up the Kingdom of God in it, to scatter gospel light and blessing, then we claim that our own branch of it is answering, has answered, that end in a most wonderful manner. And the church polity which has helped to such results must be a good polity. Thorough organization and cen- tralizing of power: — all experience proves that these are elements of success in attaining the end sought. In the Church of God, and under the direction of godly men, they furnish the most efficient, the most successful polity the world has known. Let the many, let all, have a voice in framing constitu- tions and in making laws, either directly or by rep- resentatives. Then let the power to carry out the provisions of constitution and laws be placed in the hands of the few, and you have the best government. This ideal government is realized in the Episcopal Element in the polity of Methodism, hence the best polity and the consequent best results. " This polity has thus far made our Methodism a unit ; a unit in doctrine, spirit, purpose, and action. There are no real divisions in our camp, for the reason that before any man or party can create a di- vision, the Episcopal Element takes them and gently puts them outside the camp. So that while others have dissension, disorder, and schism in doctrine and in government, Methodism rejoices in peace and harmony. " My last remark is that a system that can array in its defence such a history and such results demands and deserves very conservative treatment at the hands NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 115 of its friends. We should, as we always have done, go slowly in the work of alterations and repairs, lest we find that the alteration has improved nothing, and the repair is a loss and not a gain. I used to be con- siderable of a radical, but observation and experience and a wider knowledge have tamed my radicalism not a little. I am not half as much inclined to the office of a tinker as I once was. It has fallen into disrepute with me not a little. I agree with the statement that the argument, ' Let well enough alone,' is not, in itself, much of an argument. But I do insist that when you have not only ' well enough,' but also the best in the world, prudence, good judgment, and piety would dictate that you be very sure of some- thing better before you seek a change. Above all things would I move cautiously in tinkering our Episcopal polity in any of its parts. " The profound wisdom of Wesley and the fathers seems to me as apparent there as in any other point in our history. It may be that a Bishop elected for a term of years would be better than one elected for life ; but who knows that he would? It may be that a Presiding Elder elected by his Conference would be better thau one appointed by the Bishop, but who is sure of that ? And it may be that it would be better ill our churches to have stewards and trustees elected I ly the church members than to be nominated by the pastors and elected in the Quarterly Conferences, as they now are, but who could guarantee that ? There are two sides to all these grave questions. So I do not say, 'Let well enough alone,' but I do say, 116. CENTENNIAL OF Methodism has the best on earth. Let us, then, before we change, be quite sure of something better. "The Episcopal Elementhas proved itself, for an hun- dred years and more, an element of wisdom, of power, and of marvellous success. Why should not love, loy- alty, and devotion to it produce a similar record for the hundred years to come ? Let him who knows give us the answer." " The Chairman said, " The congregation will join in singing the twelfth hymn : — " ' Let Zion's watchmen all awake, And take the alarm they give.' " After the singing, the Chairman said: " I have now the pleasure of introducing to you President Raymond, who will speak to us of ' Young Men in Training To-day for the Methodism of To-morrow.' " Dr. B. P. Raymond said: "Every age must be created anew. The words of Christ to Nicodemus, ' Marvel not that I said unto thee. Ye must be born again,' are as applicable to any and every age as to any and every man. It has been true of every age that has preceded ours as it is true of our age, and it will be true of every age that is to succeed ours until the time shall come when He whose right it is to reign shall have subdued all things unto Himself, and shall reign without a rival. "The work of recreation must go continually on. The cessation of that work for a single instant is the beginning of the processes of disintegration and death. When those processes of recreation have really ceased NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 117 in any given body, we call that body a corpse, and bury it. Even the solid walls of the city of Boston, if left without repair for a single generation, would fall into irretrievable ruin. The city would become uninhabitable. Not a new shingle upon the roof, not a new light in the window, not a new stone in the foundation, not a new timber in the frame-work, not a new nail, no improvement in sewerage or in water- works, and these very modern improvements designed to make our lives more comfortable, like invisible and intangible spectres would glide about our streets, and breathe malaria,- fever, and death into every face. Nay, the city of Boston, with its solid walls, cannot stand except as the work of repair, perpetual, incessant recreation, goes steadily forward. " And as this is true of the material world in which we live, how much more true of that product of all of these forces which we call Christian civilization. Sensitive to every phase of thought, to every motive that plays a part in the development of mankind, sensitive to all the subtle influences that work forever, both in matter and mind, that civilization must be perpetually, incessantly recreated. " We stand to speak to-day for the young men who are in training for the work of Methodism to-morrow. They are to take hold of the forces which work in this last decade of the nineteenth century, and carry them up into more potent and successful results in the twentieth century. What are the conditions under which they are to make their preparation for this work ? 118 CENTENNIAL OP " It would be a difficult thing to make a diagnosis of the diseases that prey upon the body politic of our time. It is hot to-day with the intermittent flush of abnormal political thoughts, and feverish to-morrow with the excitement of some ecclesiastical controversy. These cities, the ganglionic centre of this body, are congested to-day with the bad blood of anarchy, and will be benumbed to-morrow by the breath of some gaunt skepticism ; and the following day greed, and lust, and intemperance will riot without, hindrance. It is not easy to get the pulse of any hour and locate the threatening malady. As a reformer, I might say, it is intemperance, or immigration ; as an educator, ignorance ; as a theologian, unbelief. We ought, however, to go back of these symptomatic difficulties, and find the radical malady upon which these para- sites flourish. " Suppose I were to say that the trouble with our times is in an exaggerated estimate of the sensuous side of our life. Illustrations of this exaggeration are at hand in every department of life. The scien- tist fancies he can exhaust the whole meaning of life by physical formulae. Mr. Huxley says, ' I protest that if some great power would agree to make me alwaj's think what is true and do what is right, on condition of my being turned into a sort of clock and wound up every morning, I should instantly close with the offer.' But Mr. Huxley, the clock, is Mr. Huxley minus all that constitutes moral character, all that makes life worth living. The physiological psychologist, whose work is so highly esteemed in our NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 119 day, starting with the wavelets of sound, light, etc., which beat upon us, carries them up along the nerv- ous system toward the brain, and when he has reached that gulf, where quivering nerves furnish the raw material of knowledge to a knowing subject, that gulf which he has never crossed, with his scales and physical formulse, he proposes to explain all by reduc- ing the spiritual reality to a shadow, which is allowed to accompany this nervous activity. His confidence in the sensuous side of life makes it equal to the work to be done, whatever that work may be. " And if you pass to the field of politics, the politi- cian is eaten up with material considerations. To in- troduce an ideal that is high and holy, commanding all the great and good forces that work on earth, into politics, is one of the most difficult things that any body of statesmen ever undertook. But it is not only true of politics. Tliis is the time in which we glorify ourselves, and that justly ; and yet it is too true that in the Church there is an exaggerated estimate of machinery, an exaggerated estimate of numbers, an exaggerated estimate of legislation, an exaggerated estimate of everything but the spiritual forces that come ever from God and are invisible. "We have not yet fathomed those words of most profound insight which the Master spoke to Thomas: ' Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have be- lieved ' ; they are not dependent on the sense of touch, or sense of sight, or the sense of hearing, but who have been able, because of spiritual susceptibility to that which is high and holy, to substitute insight 120 CEN'rENNtAL OE for eyesight, for insight is only another term to set forth the highest exercise of faith in God's woi-ld, and His purposes in this world. " If, then, this tendency, fundamental and perpetual, is showing itself in the various lines of activity, the work of the young men now in training for the work of Methodism ^o-morrow is to turn the thoughts and hearts of men back from the exaggerated estimate of the sensuous, which easily developes into the sensual, toward the spiritual and eternal. " There are many surface currents which seem hos- tile to the spiritual and eternal ; but I am thoroughly confident that, underneath these surface currents which seem to run in every conceivable direction, there are fundamental currents that are continuous, right on, steadily on through the ages, and that set toward the supernatural and the divine. There is a point on the Mississippi river, near the city of Red Wing, where the river runs, within the distance of a few miles, to every point of the compass. It runs north, south, east, or west, just as you choose. But a little higher point of view shows this majestic river sweep- ing steadily on from St. Paul to New Orleans. The current is from the north to the south, in spite of all of these diversions. So it seems to me that we are to come, in the age before us, to such an appreciation of these deeper currents of our life and of this gospel, as shall reveal the infinite God in all, and through all, ruling all. " These young men are being trained in an environ- ment that is favorable to this result. The first char- New ENGLAND METHODISM. 121 acteristic of that environment, which I shall notice, is that it is intellectual. The atmosphere is charged with intellectual life, and every question that comes before us is being treated, and is to be treated, with the keenest intellectual analysis, and with the most profound philosophical insight. Reflection for a mo- ment, upon the condition of things sixty years ago, will reveal what I mean. We then had only one or two academies in these New England States. We had not a single college. Sixty years ago, Wesleyan Uni- versity was founded, and we began our work in higher education. And during these sixty years you know how these institutions have multiplied all over the land. I need not stop to speak of this or that institu- tion in our own New England to-day. Wesleyan University, Boston University, and the preparatory schools are now established. By these agencies now at work among us, we are preparing a body of men and women, ■ — thank God ! — a body of men and women of a higher type of intellectual life than our Church has ever yet seen. It would not be just to reflect upon the intellectual life of the fathers who laid the foun- dations of this work. They were men of immense brain-power and will-power, and they did obtain cul- ture and training by the very circumstances in which they were placed. They did as every man who grows must do, — they wrestled with the profoundest prob- lems that have ever engaged the human mind, and that is the reason that they were intellectual giants. But they lacked the finish, the refinement, the accuracy of scholarship that comes from our age and from the de- 122 CENTENNIAL OF velopment of our time. There was no science. The wliole scientific development has come since that time. " The highly organized system of training, the multiplication of new fields of thought, the appliances necessary for investigation at hand, the stimulous of associations, the discipline that comes from a daily tussle with the problems of mathematics, science^ philosophy, and language, all conspire to give us a body of intellectual men and women unknown to us in the past. In his answer to Strauss, Ulrici says: ' Ours is at once the age of the supremest afiiuence in questions solved, and of the most pressing poverty in questions opened and unanswered. A question set- tled is a question planted, and green young questions spring up all around it.' We have answered many questions, but we have in them the promise of thous- ands yet to be answered. They will be developed all the more surely and swiftly because we are saying to these young men and women, ' Think, think, think ! ' The world is full of interrogation points. We face an age of problems, which our Church has never yet clearly seen, and the multitudes of young men and women now being trained in our colleges, must con- tribute their share toward the settlement of these questions. "We have had an illustration of the effect of this intense intellectual life, when turned upon the New Testament. Christian Ferdinand Baur, the founder of the famous 'Tiibingen School,' announced the startling theory that the Gospels were not written KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 123 until about the middle of the second century. This called out a, great many replies, and a whole gen- eration of theologians has been at work on the problems started by his theory. Prof. Muir, of Bel- fast, sums up the results of this investigation in the following table : Ba- L°i^:=a-Kein,. Renan. Schen kel, - S°l'" Weiss. manD. Meyer. Matt. 130+ 105-1- 70+ 66 84 70 67 70 60-70 Mark. 150+ 73 81+ 100 76 58 78 69 60-70 Luke. 150 100 100 90 94 80 70+ 80 70-80 John. 160 155 130+130 125 120 100-133 95 80 600 433 396 386 379 328 327 314 285 " It is seen from the above table that the sum of the years when these Gospels are supposed to have been written, has been steadily reduced from 600 to 285. This result comes, for the most part, from the discovery of documents which quoted these Gospels, documents existing earlier than the time assigned by Baur for their composition. The work done by these scholars, work which none but the best equipped scholars could have done, has laid firm the foundation for our faith in the historical trustworthiness of these Gospels. " The intellectual life of our Church is to be turned to the Bible as it has never been before ; and the- Old Testament question will undergo the same test. It is bound to come. It is here. We cannot escape it. We do not wish to escape it. It is of interest to us that our own men should treat these questions ; or are we to be forever dependent upon Germany ? I re- 124 CENTENNIAL OP joice in the work which Prof. Mitchell has done, and which others of our own Church are with him to do, on these Old Testament questions. " Another factor in the environment of these young men, is the Christian atmosphere that permeates this intellectual life. Our schools are the centres of Christian influence. Christ is honored there. Re- pentance toward God and faith in Him are empha- sized, and I dare to believe, in spite of all advancement of science, yea, rather because of it, will continue to be emphasized to the end. " And then there is another thing that is to occur. There is to come a reaction, and that speedily, from the materialistic conclusions of scientific theorists. For, at last, every theory must stand two tests ; the one is that of logical analysis, and the other the prac- tical test. Mr. Spencer's ' Unknowable ' can stand neither. In its agnostic aspect it is illogical, and in its practical results it will be found a failure. It will not work. Carry it either into the pulpit or into the home where the father reads the old family Bible and bows in prayer ; teach him that he cannot know that God is either intelligent or moral ; that he can know absolutely nothing about Him ; and he will rise from that altar never to bow again. " Science has gone so far that it must go farther, or else retreat. The harmony and unity of the forces that work in the world have been so thoroughly demonstrated, and the facts announced are so mar- vellous, that the next step will surely be taken. Hear Prof. Asa Gray, as he tell us there are animal- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 125 culse SO small that millions of them would not make a bulk as large as a grain of sand. And yet he says that each one of these creatures has a perfect loco- motive, a perfect respiratory, and a perfect circulatory apparatus. Study the revelations of the microscope and of the telescope, the facts of this wonderful world, growing more wonderful every year as it sweeps on through the ages. Believe, the facts dis- closed by modern science, and then disbelieve in the immanent God if you can, in whom ' we live and move and have our being ' who ' upholdeth all things by the word of his power.' " The intellectual life of our time is sure to flourish. The knowledge of God, as revealed by Jesus Christ, must keep pace with it, yielding an ever richer Christian experience. The reaction from false scientific theories is sure to come. Philosophy will test the pre-supposition which underlies all scien- tific thought. The Spirit of God has come to abide, and, as it has sought in the past an open way to the hearts of men, utilizing even the gigantic physical might of Samson, and the brilliant reign of a Solomon, in spite of his sins, so that Spirit seeks to-day to subsidize all the agencies of power, and to fill all the channels of communication among men, for the upbuilding of the kingdom, which shall at length enthrone the Lord Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords." The Chairman said : " We will now listen to a Poem entitled ' Jesse Lee and the Old Elm,' by Rev. Dr. George Lansing Taylor." 126 CEIITENNIAI. Olf On being introduced to the audience Dr. Taj- lor said : — "Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : What I am to have the honor to offer to you upon this occasion is not an ode, a short poem with its own beginning, and climax, and conclusion, — a thing complete in itself ; it is an extract of some one hundred and eighty lines from my, 'Jesse Lee in New England,' which has over six hundred lines, and covers the whole work of Lee in New England, and much more. In the full poem I sketch Lee's first sermons at Norwalk, New Haven, and elsewhere in Connecticut, and the founding of his first three churches there, at Stratfield, Redding, and Ridgefield. His toils and hardships are depicted. His entertainment at New Haven, by David Beecher, the father of Lyman Beecher, and grandfather of Henry Ward Beecher, and his influence over him are described, with his peculiar genius. The story finally brings Lee to Providence ; whence, in June 1790, he sets out for Boston, and there our extract for to-day begins. After we leave him to-day, the poem still follows his heroic founding of Methodism in Maine, Canada, and his labors elsewhere, till his death ; it then sketches the organization of New England Methodism, its perse- cutions, its heroes, its institutions, and the vast modern development of Methodism in New England, and all over the country. But our theme to-day is the found- ing of Methodism in Boston and vicinity, the dramatic point of which was the scene under the Old Elm on Boston Common. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 127 " Onward then to classic Boston, wrapt in transcendental mist, Kindled by a loftier vision, speeds the great evangelist. Boston cries, 'Fanatic! ranter! wild, illiterate vagabond ! ' Faith, above the scornful present, sees the future bright beyond. Here Charles Wesley, glowing Whitfield, Boardman, Black, and Garretson, Erst had told salvation's story, but no foot-hold e' er had won ; Welcome, all, as Gospel fishers, filling others' creels alone, — Slighted, shunned, decried, rejected, when they fished to fill their own! So when Lee, avowed a founder, came to plant, and build, and stay, All New England's pride and purpose rose to hedge and wall his way. Firm, compact as Quincy granite, stood the marshalled lines opposed ; Every civic hall forbidden, every church and chapel closed ! Not an empty store or dwelling, court-house, school-house, market-place. For the Methodist! Ah, what a contrast with New Haven's cordial grace ! And with Hartford's ample freedom, where her State House week by week. Gave the founder and his helpers audience, leave, and law, to speak. Then on Boston's world-famed Common, lol the preacher took his stand. Where a great elm reared above him its cathedral arches grand, — Nature's shrine, where erst the Aryan breathed his prayer, in pristine yore. Ere Jehovah's priest the Shemite, brought him Heaven's illu- mining lore; Aye, and still earth's grandest temple, where th' adoring soul may rise. Borne o'er leafy domes and columns to communion with the skies. 'Twas July the tenth, and Sabbath, and the sun was in the west; All the world stood robed in emerald, in midsummer's verdure drest. 128 CENTENNIAL OP Summer winds, with breath Aeolian whispered through the murmuring trees, And the clover blossoms nodded to the drone of bumble bees. Falling rose-leaves in the door-yards spread pink carpets for fair feet. And the birds amid the shadows warbled pensively and sweet, All the abyss of liquid azure, tremulous with quiverine light. Throbbed with rhythmic palpitations, vibrant billows of delight. In the west an amber ocean on to porphyry headlands rolled, Where the sunset's slanting javelins tore through jasper, sard, and gold. Earth, in awe, saw heaven's gates open, domes and arcades shone out clear. Bathed in splendor from the flashings of the White Throne's photosphere. O'er the world a solemn silence hung, like heaven's awaiting hush, While the angels' harps are tuning, ere their vesper anthems gush. Six o'clock the bells are chiming; then the preacher, from his chair Steps upon a plain, strong table, set to form his pulpit there. Through the shimmering leaves the sunlight sheds its luster o'er his form. Lighting nobly chiselled features with a radiance clear and warm. Every pose was firm, but graceful, like the elm's majestic curve. Force in every look and movement, faultless taste, and steady nerve. Not a novice, not a pedant, not a mountebank stood there; Only thirty-two, but veteran; conquest in his mien and air: Sergeant, chaplain, backwoods preacher, city pastor, orator, wit, All his spirit in his message, all his carriage gracious, fit. Not Saint Paul, on Mars' Hill preaching, all Greece's sages there to quiz, Platonist, Stoic, Epicurean, keener audience had than his; Not brave Luthur at Worms' Diet, Bunyan in his Bedford jail, Wesley on his father's tombstone, stouter hearts, that less could quail. Hark! he sings! A voice melodious, full and rich, in perfect tone, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 129 Fills the listening grove with music, like a cornet played alone. While below the sweet-voiced singer lifts his plaintive, pleading hymn, Organ winds prolong the anthem through green arches, vast and dim, Till the robin in the treetops, trilling forth his evening lay, Halts to catch the nobler lyric, ere its echoes float away; ' Come, ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick and sore, Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power ' ; ' Turn to the Lord, and seek salvation ! ' swells the chorus, high and strong, ^ Quickly caught up and reechoed by the swiftly gathering throng. Four, at first, drew near in wonder, then a dozen, then a score. Every voice repeats that chorus, swells its volume more and more : 'Turn to the Lord and seek salvation!' soon from hundreds rose the strain, Echoed back by fresher hundreds, till the green vaults rang again. Then upon his borrowed table, reverently the preacher knelt; Spread his hands toward heaven, and prayed with words that breathed and soul that felt; Naught was there of form or prayer-book, though on holy ground he trod, — .Just a man, in simple manhood, humbly drawing nigh to God, With a prayer that nearer heaven lifts each longing soul that heeds, Bears to God in supplication every burdened spirit's needs; Tells the common wants of all men to the common Father's love. Through the common Saviour's merit, pleading for all men above, With the Spirit's intercession, his unuttered cry within, Man's sublimest priesthood, wrestling over mortal woe and sin. Then the text, from pocket Bible ; then the sermon, clear and strong. Moves with native grace and vigor in an easy flow along. 130 CENTENNIAL OF Meek the preacher stood, but manly, strong and shapely, straight and tall. With a dark eye like an eagle's, and a voice like clarion call. Peal of trumpet, roll of thunder, sob of night winds through the pine. Best of all the Spirit's unction tuned the instrument divine. Naught knew he of Greek or Latin, Hebrew, Chaldee, Science, Art, But the Bible, noblest Classic! Ah, he had it all by heart! Keen old Aristotle's logic in his saddle-bags, too, hung. And his mother's Saxon-English leapt like sword-blades from his tongue ! Naught of 'notes' had he, though hidden 'twixt a Bagster's lying leaves, More dishonest than frank reading which no auditor de- ceives ! — No memoriter reciting sentences rotund and neat, Palming off on ears untrained a rhetorician's polished cheat! Text and subject well digested, plan and end from outset known, Diction born of inspiration, souls the prize, and souls alone ! Such the style. Armiuian doctrine: man's free will, and God's free grace ; Christ's unlimited atonement, mercy for man's fallen race. Naught of stern fore-ordination, Calvin's ' horrible decree,' Naught of Unitarian Deism, robbing Christ of deity. Naught of Universalist laxness, sweeping men to heaven pell mell, — With its Protestant Purgatory, and its ghastly jests at hell; — Naught of these the preacher offered, nor the ' Half-way Covenant's' snare, Opening wide Christ's Church and pulpit to sin's unregenerate heir; Not Pelagian self -salvation, Antinomian rashness bold, Scorning Right's great law Jehovah swears shall stand, while heaven grows old ; Not the furious bigot, raving at all theories save one; Not th' iconoclast, denouncing creeds and systems, offering none; Naught of all these in this preacher, calm and reasonable, but filled NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 131 With an inward glow whose fervor every hearer caught and thrilled! Sweet and cheering was the message; comfort, hope, encour- agement; Love divine like Noah's rainbow over Justice's deluge bent; Calvary over Sinai soaring; ' It is finished ! ' o'er the doom Of lost Eden ; and o'er death the Resun'ection trumpet's boom 1 Gracious help for true repentance, none shut out who seek and knock; Justification by faith in Christ alone the sure foundation rock; Regeneration, sanctification, all the riches of God's word, Opened like a mighty treasure; all the preacher's talents stirred; Exegesis, sound but simple; statement, argument, and proof; Robust logic, keen dissection, close, well-woven warp and woof; Satire, all pretense to puncture, as of old Elijah's soofE Probed the howling crew of Baal, laughed a nation's nightmare off! Understanding's void enlightened, Reason's rightful reign restored; Slumbering conscience roused to action, pierced as by a flaming sword; Illustrations swift and flashing, images of beauty rare. Pictures flung from Fancy's camera on the canvas of the air; Application kind but searching; strong appeal, emotion warm. Unction deep, seraphic fervor, eloquence the heart to storm; All awake, and all in action, till three thousand souls aspire, As the new evangel o'er them sweeps in pentecostal fire; Till their hearts within are burning, like those two, who by the way Heard the Lord expound the Scriptures on His resurrection day. Then the reverent thousands whisper, wending home at vesper chime: ' No such preacher in New England have we heard since Whit- field's time!' 'No such preacher!' — Yet, like Whitfield, on his second voyage repulsed. Shunned, maglined, while church and college strife and heresy convulsed; 132 CENTENNIAL OF So 'gainst Whitfield's best successor, and the blessed word he brought, Proud, hard Boston, coldly turning, sets her Lord, in him, at naught. Where from fair Northampton rising, erst the ' Great Awaken- ing' spread, Kindled there when Edwards' thunders woke the spiritual dead; — Where, 'neath Whitfield's, Tennent's whirlwinds, scores and hundreds wept and prayed. Shaken like the moaning forest by the summer tempest swayed; — There, a short half century later, lo ! the godly Pilgrim stock Changed to Sadducees and scoffers ! clay, once plastic turned to rock ! Not Geneva's rugged dogma here withstood the truth, alone; But the Christless Unitarian turned the Bread of Life to stone ; Stabbed the faith our Pilgrim fathers brought to Plymouth's wintry shore; — Half a century's splendid progress, — fewer churches than before! Long o'er Boston raged the conflict; Salem, Portsmouth, New- buryport, Charlestown, Marblehead, were open, bade the stranger preach, exhort; Twice again on Boston Common, compact thousands gladly hung On the story of salvation, sounded from his tuneful tongue. Still the wall of brass ! No entrance could the Methodist find or win. Till a warm and cheering summons came from hospitable Lynn. Prosperous there dwelt Benjamin Johnson, who, God's voice, five years before, Turned Lee's thoughts, in South Carolina, toward New Eng- land's rugged shore; And when now of his brave battles, conflicts, toils, rebuffs, they heard. Straight with joy they sent him greeting, sent and craved from him God's word! Like good news from a far country, water to a soul athirst, NEW ENGLAJSTD METHODISM. 133 On the lone a,nd lonely toiler such a gladsome message burst; Swift he flew to hearts that hailed him with warm hands and tear-dewed eyes, Hailed and heard, revered and loved him as an angel from the skies ! Then Lynn class was quickly gathered, first on Massachusetts' ground ; And a church arose like magic, wonder of the country 'round; Founded, reared, inclosed and covered, seated, thronged with prayer and praise, From foundation to dedication brought with shouting, in twelve days! Thus Lynn Church, with threescore members, strongest on New England's soil. Heads the line for Massachusetts, claims the Bay State as Christ's spoil; Old Lynn circuit spreads its borders, lengthens cords and strengthens stakes ; On the right hand and the left hand, north and south the barrier breaks; Boston, Manchester and Danvers, Ipswich, Beverly, Cape Ann, Salem, Dorchester, and Needham, still the conflagration ran ; Till the new Rhode Island circuit, circling Narragansett Bay, Sends the chorus back to Kingston, far in Upper Canada! Then New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Providence, Connecticut, Doors on every hand fly open, and God's openings who can shut ? — Fourteen months, six sermons weekly, constant journeys day and night; Solid books, six thousand pages I — ' Courage ! Forward in God's might!' Such the shout of him who marches under Asbury's flag unfurled; Such the spirit of Paul and Wesley ! Such the zeal that takes the world ! Such the man, the cause, whose triumph crowned that vener- able elm With a more than classic glory, time shall never overwhelm ! Gone the tree, in relics scattered, its own seedling in its stead, But the tree Lee that day planted shall through centuries tower and spread; 134 CENTBNKIAI, OF And New England, 'neath its shadow, more and more shall bless the day When the dauntless Methodist preacher there stood up to preach and pray."* Several notices were given, and the session of the Convention closed with the benediction by the Rev. Dr. W. F. Warren. * Bev. Br. Taylor, the author of the poem from which the above is an extract, deserres more than a passing notice. Although born in Central New York, he ia of New England descent. Removing with his parents to Ohio, in 1847, he was licensed to preach at Ohio Wesleyan University in 1858, and was graduated from Columbia College in 1861. He served as Assistant Editor of the Christian Advocate, under Dr. Edward Thompson, afterward Bishop. Joining the New York East Conference in 1862, he has been continually in the pastorate within its borders until the present time, five of his pastorates being in Brooklyn. He is the author of three volumes of poems : "Elijah, and other Sacred Poems"; "Grant Poems"; *'The Progress of Learning " : also of numerous published sermons and addresses. His degree of D.D. was received from Syracuse University, of which Institution he baa been a trustee since its incorporation, and Columbia College made him a Doctor of Polite Letters — L.H.D. — in 1887. Our readers will be glad to know that Dr. Taylor's poem is to be published in book form.— Editor. -i^r..- BISHOP ASBUEY. CHAPTER IV. WEDNESDAY EVENING. The Hon. Alden Speare in the chair. The Chairman said : " We will commence the exer- cises of the evening by singing Hymn No. 7, — ' " ' O for a heart to praise my God.' " The Chairman then called upon the Rev. Dr. D. Sherman to offer prayer. After the prayer, the Chairman said: "I will at once introduce to you the Rev. Dr. D. A. Whedon, who will address you upon 'Methodist Theology and its Relations to the Theology of Other Denomi- nations.' " Dr. Whedon said: "Methodist theology is the theology of John Wesley, and known as Wesleyan Arminianism. The form which it takes is deter- mined, as is true of every system, by the stand-point from which it views Christianity. The key to it, and, indeed, the key to the life and history of Meth- odism through its century and a half of existence as well, is in the following words of Mr. Wesley : — " ' In 1729, two young men, reading the Bible, saw they could not be saved withoiit holiness, fol- lowed after it, and incited others so to do. In 1737, they saw holiness comes by faith. They saw like- [137] 138 CENTENNIAL OF wise that men are justified before they are sanctified; but still holiness was their point. God then thrust them out, utterly against their will,. to raise a holy people.' This passage has stood in the Episcopal Address in the Methodist Discipline from the organi- zation of the Church, and with it the following : — 'We believe that God's design in raising up the Methodist Episcopal Church in America was, to reform the continent and spread Scriptural holiness over these lands.' Bishop Taylor's chapter on purity of intention, in his ' Rules of Holy Living and Dy- ing,' which Mr. Wesley read in 1725, convinced him of the necessity of inward holiness as well as out- ward, and from that time the earnest and continual cry of his soul was to be saved from sin, to become holy in heart and in life, and to gain a certainty of salvation. He was familiar with the English Armin- ian divines, but they gave him no light, and in all diligence and self-denial, in all obedience to the law of God, in all use of the ritualism of the Church, and in all possible service to his fellow-men, he sought for rest, but sought in vain, until that night of the 24th of May, 1738, when in the little room in Alders- gate Street he felt his ' heart strangely warmed,' and, for the first time, he was able to say, 'I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation: and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.' 'Until that time,' he says, 'sin had do- minion over me.' " Out of this experience the theology of Methodism NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 139 was born. To find holiness and to spread it was the single purpose, and the test of a Methodist was not his opinions, but his life. Mr. Wesley described him as 'one who has the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto him ; one who loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. God is the joy of his heart, and the desire of his soul. His heart is full of love to all mankind. The love of God has purified his heart from all revengeful passions, from envy, malice, and wrath, from every unkind temper or malign affection. His one desire is the one design of his life, namely, not to do his own will, but the will of Him that sent him. His one intention at all times and in all things is, not to please himself, but Him whom his soul loveth. As he loves God, so he keeps his commandments ; not only some or most of them, but all, from the least to the greatest.' To this he adds, ' Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thine ? I ask no farther question. If it be, give me thy hand. For opinions, or terms, let us not destroy the work of God. Dost thou love and serve God ? It is enough. I give thee the right hand of fellowship.' Writers of the so-called Liberal School have inferred from these words that he held lightly to Christian doc- trine. And yet no man ever did, and no man ever can, attain that high character without opinions most definite and decided. And so, while Mr. Wes- ley says, 'The distinguishing marks of a Methodist are not his opinions of any sort,' he also says, ' We 140 CENTENNIAL OF believe, indeed, that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God ; and herein we are distinguished from. Jews, Turks, and infidels. We believe the written Word of God to be the only and sufficient rule both of Christian faith and practice ; and herein we are fundamentally distinguished from those of the Romish Church. We believe Christ to be the eternal. Supreme God; and herein we are distin- guished from the Socinians and Arians. But as to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Chris- tianity, we think and let think.' And it is apparent' at a glance that doctrines of God, sin, responsibility, atonement, human freedom, repentance, faith in Christ, pardon, sanctification, and assurance, all enter into such an experience and life. "Now God has two ways of making himself known to men : first, by the revelation of himself in the Scriptures; and, second, in the work of the Holy Spirit in the soul ; and these two are not contrary one to the other. Wesley learned by his own con- sciousness the work of the Holy Spirit within him ; he studied the Scriptures to learn what they might say to him. He found the demand of holiness made of every man, and, as one might expect in a God who can neither contradict himself nor mock his creatures, he also found that ample provision is made for the attainment of holiness by every man. Stand- ing then at this high point of love to God with all the heart, he found in the Scriptures the correspond- ing truth of God's love to all mankind — that God, in his infinite love, has, through the sacrifice and. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 141 work of Christ, made adequate provision for the sal- vation of the entire race, and that, in his plan of application of this provision, he has made the salva- tion or damnation of every human being depend entirely on his own free action with respect to the work of Christ and the enlightening and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, accepting and submitting, or resisting and rejecting, as he himself may choose, and thus determining his own condition here and his destiny in the world to come. Looking at Chris- tianity from the point of view which his experience compelled him to take, he was an Arminian — not an Arminian of the wretched. Pelagian semblance that, in the Unitarian revolt from Calvinism, wrought such mischief to New England orthodoxy, and has not yet ceased its baleful work, but of the type of Armin- ius, Episcopius, and John Goodwin, and of the Greek fathers of the first centuries of the Church as well ; of Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Irenseus, Athenagoras, and Chrysostom. "Wesley formulated no system, for he was a man of action, and too busy in the providential work to which he was sent. Some have even supposed that he had none, and have ventured to afiSrm that his doctrines were a loose congeries incapable of being framed into a system. They have poorly studied the subject, for those doctrines are intimately related to one another, and readily combine into a compact, harmonious whole. It was left to Watson, forty years after Wesley's death, to give them to the world in a systematic form, a work in which Ray- 142 CENTENNIAL OP mond, Pope, and others in more recent days have happily followed him. Yet it would be an easy task to collect from Mr. Wesley's writings the materials for a symmetrical body of divinity, clear, concise, and logical, needing the supply of but a few connect- ing links. The twentj^-four articles which he pre- pared for his proposed Methodist Episcopal Church, and which two years later he gave to the British Methodists, abridged, as everybody knows, from the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, with their Calvinism struck out, their protests against Pelagianism and Romanism retained, and his Armin- ianism not inserted, express the fundamentals of Christianit}'- and furnish a platform of doctrine iipon which every evangelical denomination might stand, with perhaps the exception of a single sentence relat- ing to the baptism of young children. Add to these his doctrinal sermons and notes on the New Testa- ment, and we have the ' standards of doctrine ' which universal Methodism accepts and teaches. " Our Dr. Warren, an authority whom we all acknowledge, a quarter of a century ago explained to us that ' there are four great and thoroughly worked-out systems,' the Roman Catholic, the Cal- vinistic, the Lutheran, and the Wesleyan, resting on 'different conceptions of the relation between God and man with regard to the work of salvation through Christ. Besides them,' he says, 'there is no other thoroughly wrought out and distinct system. The Greek Church has as yet formed no definitely regular system of doctrine, and, so long as she retains her NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 143 present views, can form none which can radically differ from Romanism. Still less can the Church of England, including the Protestant Episcopal Church, be said to have a complete system of her own. Her theology is a medley of the most discordant elements. Her books of doctrine are appealed to by Calvinists and Arminians, Puritans and Puseyites, Evangelicals and Sacramentarians, High and Low Churchmen, and with about equal propriety. She may, indeed, be said to be less one-sided than the Reformed and Lutheran Churches ; but yet, her teaching embraces almost all the errors and manifests the deficiencies of them both. As to the minor systems, the Armin- ianism of Holland degenerated into Rationalism ; Socinianism cannot be called a Christian system of theology at all ; and Quakerism has passed into Mys- ticism on the one hand, and into Rationalism on the other.' "While these four great systems agree in much that is essential, they differ on the fundamental points of the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit, that is to say, of the universality and power of divine grace. In neither Lutheranism nor Romanism can grace- reach and save tliose who are outside the Church and the sacraments ; and Calvinism knows salvation for those only who have heard of the historic Christ, and of them for those only whom God from eternity determined to save. In no one of the three can the soul's sinfulness be destroyed by the sanctifying energy of the Holy Spirit in the present life, and, on the Romanist theory, only the fires of Purgatory can 144 CENTENNIAL OF accomplish it. Methodism, on the other hand, affirms God's will and purpose to be the salvation of all men, for he set forth his Son to be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. It teaches that the atonement was made and avails for all men, for Christ tasted death for every man, and for one man as truly as for another. It does not regard the suf- ferings of Christ as befalling him simply as a martyr to the truth, or as intended merely for their moral influence on the sinner, or as a ransom paid to Satan, or as a literal suffering of the penalty of sin, or as in amount what those for whom he died would have suffered had he not died, or as in kind the same as lost men will endure, or yet as the payment of a debt as in a commercial transaction ; but rather as endured in the sinner's stead, and a satisfaction to the justice of God as Ruler, of such moral value as condemns sin and enables him to maintain law and government, and, at the same time, to grant pardon to the transgressor on specified conditions. The death of Christ is thus ' a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world ' (^Communion Service^. In these views of the theory of the atonement, and on its extent as well, the New England and the Methodist theolo- gies are in accord. Methodism also recognizes the work of the Holy Spirit to be entirely of grace through the atonement, and his office the carrying out and complement of the death of Christ in admin- istering the benefits thus procured, so that he enlightens every man, convicts him of sin, empowers NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 145 him to repentance, faith, and obedience, whether he uses the power thus given or not, and purifies from sin the soul of the believer, in this life. "Underlying all necessity of these operations of grace, in order to salvation, is the fact of human depravity. Methodism maintains the doctrine of natural depravity, in most unmistakable terms. The Calvinist cannot state it more strongly, while the Unitarian wholly rejects the doctrine. It describes original sin as 'the corruption of the nature of every man that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam' (^Art. VII.}, thus declaring its universality ; and then it teaches that ' the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself of his ow^n natural strength and works to faith and calling upon God' (JLrt. VIII.'). Nothing can be plainer or stronger in expressing the exact opposite of Pelagianism, and yet, for many long years, our New England theologians, who would have known better had they taken the pains to examine before pronouncing, basely slandered our fathers as Pelagians, until Moses Stuart astonished them with the truth. Methodism further affirms man's utter powerlessness to obey and serve God, 'without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will, and working with us when we have that good will ' (Ar(. VIII.}. Thus it long since became a prime Methodist maxim that ' All our salvation is of God through grace.' And the second is perfectly correspondent to it, namely, ' All our damnation is of ourselves.' It is a sad 146 CENTENNIAL OF inheritance which the race has derived from Eden, counteracted though it be by the gift of grace ; but incomparably sadder would it have been had the race been continued in the state into which our first parents fell, — degraded by sin, with no love of God or goodness, and no desire for it, powerful only for evil, and powerless for good, and therefore irrespon- sible, evil and only evil continually, and yet unde- serving damnation for what could not be helped, and excluded from heaven because of moral unfitness which also could not be helped, — it would have been incomparably sadder, I say, for such a race to have been continued on through generation after generation, hopelessly born, hopelessly living, and hopelessly dying. If this were the only course, infi- nite wisdom and infinite goodness would have closed the door on such a scene, and ended the race with the first transgression ; for, to a race destitute of free moral agency, and therefore of responsibility, there could be no probation, and no reason for its perpetu- ation. " But there was an alternative that offered hope and promised blessing, in the introduction of a Redeemer. Through his atoning death, of value sufficient for all human sin, both original and actual, the race is continued ; but under a new constitution, a constitution of grace, in which the Holy Spirit returns to every soul at birth, endowing it with a gracious power, both to will rightly, and to do rightly when it thus wills, according as the law of truth and duty is discerned under his enlightening NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 147 influence. Thus, free moral agency is restored, responsibility is establislied, and tall men are placed under a new and gracious probation. In this view, and only in this view, is ' probation for every man ' possible. And this is the constitution under which we are born. Pictures, dark and terrific, have been spread before us of our birth under a condemning and avenging law, powerless for repentance and holiness, and doomed to death and hell, without pity and without hope until grace came to our help. These pictures are not drawn by artists of the Methodist school. No man has ever been born under a system of pure law, and every man born into the world has entered it under a system of grace. He does, indeed, inherit the nature of fallen Adam, but at the moment of liis birth he is met by the atonement, and becomes a subject of grace, receives the renewing Holy Spirit, and is made a child of salvation. "All other systems hold men guilty and deserving of punishment for the sin of Adam. Methodism replies that, though we inherit from him a tainted nature and certain consequences of his sin, we were not sharers in his transgression, for we were not there, except perhaps imputatively, and an imputed presence is no presence at all. Moreover, guilt and penalty attach only to personal action, and cannot be transferred to another, so that damnation for an inherited depravity would be the grossest injustice. Romanism and Lutheranism find deliverance from it only in baptism, and Calvinism only by the electing decree of God ; thus leUving the larger part of the 148 CENTENNIAL OP race to perish for what it could not help. Methodism, on the other hand, affirms that ' the free gift came upon all men unto justification,' and that 'all chil- dren, by virtue of the unconditional benefits of the atonement, are members of the kingdom of God,* ajnd no one becomes guilty except by his personal act. If the already saved infant dies, hell has no place for him, and no probation after. death is needed to give him a chance for heaven. " In order to responsibility there must be both knowledge and adequate power. Fear Grod and work righteousness, is the imperative law for the entire race. It is taught in Holy Scripture, clearly and with increasing fulness and application to human conduct, in successive revelations ; it is written in the hearts of those to whom no formal revelation has been given (Rom. ii. 15). With knowledge, then, and against knowledge, every man is gone astray; with power to obey he has freely transgressed. The world is a guilty world because of voluntary sin. And this guilty world, exposed to the damnation of hell, the provisions of grace intend to recover to the holiness lost by sin, and bring to eternal glory. The action requisite touches relations and character, and is based upon the sinner's turning to God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by repentance toward God and faith in Christ. These merit nothing; they work nothing efficiently; they simply place the sinner where God stands pledged to meet him and do what God alone can do. Just as the sin is freely committed, so are the repentance and faith voluntary NEW ENGLAND METHODISM 149 and unnecessitated. God accepts this free action, and by justification and adoption changes his rela- tions to favor and sonship. At the same time, though in order of nature following, the Holy Spirit by regeneration works a change in the soul in which the love of God is restored to its supremacy over the affections, and power is given to overcome sin, and, with gladness of heart and full purpose of soul, do the whole known will of God. "Restored thus to the divine acceptance, and become ' a new creature,' to use St. Paul's expressive term, has the subject any certain knowledge of the great work wrought, or is he left in darkness and doubt? Calvinism, because of the foundation on which it builds, can give only hope, and even that with fear and trembling ; for, on its system, nothing can be known until the disclosure of the judgment day. So with the other systems that do not rest acceptance on faith alone. But, on this point, the Methodist system pronounces with emphasis, in its doctrine of the witness of the Spirit, which Mr. Wesley characterized as 'one grand part of the testimony which God has given his followers to bear to all mankind.' No better statement of it exists than his own ; namely, ' an inward impression on the soul, whereby the Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to my spirit, that I am a child of God ; that Jesus Christ hath loved nie, and given himself for me ; that all my sins are blotted out, and I, even I, am reconciled to God' (^Sermons, vol. i. p. 87). Thus defined, it relates to justification and 150 CENTENNIAL OF adoption, acts wrought for us, changing the soul's relation to God, and done in heaven. They can be known by us only as information is given of them, and the Holy Spirit comes to the soul, testifying to it what God on the throne has done. He does not testify to our regeneration ; this is a work done in us by the Holy Spirit, and is discerned by conscious- ness, ' the testimony of our own spirit,' taking note of the soul's new tempers and dispositions. And this double witness is the common privilege of all Christians. " ' There is no place in hell,' said good Bishop Hedding, ' for a child of God.' Yet the newly born into the kingdom of heaven is at the beginning of the Christian life. The goal is not 3'et reached. He is holy, but not perfectly holy. The work wrought is complete, — it is a perfect regeneration, but not a perfect sanctification. The control of sin is broken, but the taint of sin and tendencies to sin remain. The sanctification thus begun is complete, when the Holy Spirit has so fully restored the love of God to the soul that all its powers are brought back to their proper relation and right action, loving, desiring, willing, in perfect harmony with God. This is entire sanctification, or Christian perfection. It is not the perfection of angels, of unfallen Adam, or of Christ, but a perfection in love, and that not in amount, but in kind. 'It is nothing higher and nothing lower than this,' said Mr. Wesley ; ' the pure love of God and man. It is love governing the heart and life, running through all our tempers, words, and actions.' NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 151 " While all salvation is through Christ, for no other name is given by which men can be saved, its condition on the part of man is faith. Infants and other irresponsibles, havi,ng neither knowledge nor power, are saved by his merit without the faith ; all others must have the faith. But what faith ? The answer is, a faith in God as he has revealed himself. This is the divine plan through all the ages and dispensations from Adam until now. In the gospel he is revealed in the personal, historic Christ, and all to whom the gospel comes must believe in him as Lord and Saviour. In the ages preceding, he re- vealed himself as Jehovah ; as Jehovah, Abraham knew and believed him, and was saved ; and in him, however dimly apprehended, believed the grand old heroes of faith from Abel downward, and they ' pleased God.' Saul of Tarsus knew and believed in him as God 'manifest in the flesh,' and he found mercy. And Cornelius, believing God as he knew him, was accepted through Christ, though he did not know him. The condition of believing in the personal Christ, annexed to the gospel commission, is for them to whom the gospel comes, and not for them to whom the gospel is not come. Thus, in every nation, he that fears God as he knows God, and works righteousness as he understands the law of righteousness, is accepted. And so the penitent, praying pagan is saved through the Christ of whom he has never heard, by faith in God whom his soul discerns. Methodist theology, unlike the Calvinistic, does not regard faith in the historic Christ as essen- 152 CENTENNIAL 01* tial to the salvation of the heathen who have never heard of him, or teach their inevitable damnation for not believing in a Christ of whom they have no knowledge, and, unlike the New Theology, it sees no need of an after-death probation, that they may have a chance to hear of him. " In all this work of salvation the action of man is his own, and therefore free. Freely fulfilling the conditions, he may progress in holiness, and reach heaven ; and, by the same law, freely ceasing their performance, he will apostatize and be finally lost. An absolute securing of perseverance ends probation with conversion. To say, with our Congregational brethren, that the believer can fall away but never will, reduces the problem to a question of simple fact; and on this the shipwreck of Hymeneus and Alexander is in point. " Over against, and in the fullest antagonism to, this doctrine of human freedom and free salvation, stands the Calvinistic dogma that God has from eternity foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, electing, by his absolute will and pleasure, regardless of any foreseen character or conduct, a certain select number of men to eternal salvation, and predestinating the rest of mankind to eternal damna- tion, or leaving them to perish inevitably without help or hope. To the fundamental question. Can the will choose otherwise than it does choose? the eternal decree responds with a negative. It causa- tively fixes all that follows in securing the salvation of the elect, and makes the damnation of the non- KEW filTGLANt) METHODISM. -158 elect absolute and certain. A power to will and act only as we do will and act, with no power of choos- ing the contrary instead, is the power of 'a clock- hammer ' to strike as it does strike, and in no other way ; it nullifies responsibility, excludes guilt, and destroj'S probation. " Admire, as we must, the compact logic of that system of iron and adamant, we stand appalled at its hard and pitiless character of God, its relentless bringing of millions on millions of hiiman beings into the world under a curse from which they cannot escape, offering them a salvation which they cannot accept, withholding from them those influences of the Holy Spirit by which alone they can have power to repent, and then damning them forever for not doing what they never could do, and what God never meant them to do. "There have been many modifications of this system, as set forth in the Westminster Confession, and nearly every one has been in the direction of Methodist theology. In its efforts to solve the problem of harmonizing absolute sovereignty with human freedom, the New England theology has from various causes, and largely the teaching of Methodism, come to approach or to agree with it, though in some instances going beyond it, on the particular points of original sin, atonement, infant salvation, imputation, ability, justification, regener- ation, and perseverance ; yet with obvious inconsist- ency, for it has never adopted the principle of no responsibility for what one cannot help, and it after 154 CENTENKIAL OF all bases itself on the divine foieordination. The Plymouth Declaration of Faith places our Congre- gational brethren on the Westminster and Savoy Confessions, and Professor Park, a well-known author- ity, points to ' Jehovah's electing love ' as the dis- tinguishing feature between the Calvinistic and every other evangelical system. Our Baptist brethren stand on the same platform, though they strongly lean toward Arminianism. And a better idea than their fathers had, is troubling our Presbyterian brethren. In the undertaken revision of the Confession they are struggling to give God's love for all mankind an emphatic plac^ ; but it needs no prophetic vision to see that the marriage of that blessed truth with the doctrines of the divine foreordination of whatsoever comes to pass, and unconditional election, is beyond the power of man, neither are they joined together by God. " I have been speaking of theologies and their relations. Yet I gladly recognize the fact that the people ranged under these several theologies are less far apart than are their systems. The pulpits which a hundred years ago thundered their polemics and denunciations against the doctrines preached by our fathers, are now proclaiming a free and full sal- vation for every man, and dealing with souls as responsible because of their voluntary acceptance or rejection of the message. In all the churches, wherever Christ is preached as the Saviour of men, and the Holy Spirit received as the Sanctifier, are believing souls, raised ' from the death of sin unto NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 155 the life of righteousness,' and made spotless in character and saintly in life. The grace of God in Jesus Christ has made them fellow-heirs of the heavenly kingdom, and they are one in him." The Chairman said : " Please rise and sing one double stanza of No. 8, — " ' Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly.' " After the singing, the Chairman said : " Dr. W. F. Warren, President of Boston University, will now address you on ' Methodist and Pre-Methodist Prin- ciples of Education in New England.' " Dr. Warren said: "There are three fundamental questions to be asked respecting every system which professes to educate men. These questions are : "First, What is its view of the child-nature and of the possibilities of the child-nature, as it comes to the educator's hand ? "Second, Whatis its view of the environment of inworking and conditioning forces, amid which the educational process is to be carried forward ? " Third, To what end or goal should the total life-long educational process conduct? " On the present occasion it is appropriate that we ask and answer these questions, first, with respect to the system of teachings established in New Eng- land by its original Puritan colonists, and second, with respect to the system brought in by Jesse Lee. "Our first inquiry then is: What was the view maintained and taught by the Pre-Methodistic teach- 156 . CENTEKNIAL OP ers and preachers of New England, relative to the child-nature, antecedent to all educational influences and modifications ? "The answer is not hard to find. The Puritan view of human nature is well known. It maintained the total depravity of every child of Adam. That was not the worst of it. It held that, antecedent to its first conscious sin, and solely by reason of Adam's transgression, each child was deserving of the wrath of God and eternal damnation. Even that was not the worst of it. Beyond all this, it taught the deadlier doctrine that there is in human nature, at no stage of its development in the individual, any real power of decisive personal choice between divine influences and satanic ones, between good and evil, truth and falsehood, wisdom and folly. According to this teaching, no possible effort on the child's part, and no possible effort on the part of its teach- ers, could ever in the least degree change the intel- lectual or spiritual destiny to which that child had been irrevocably committed by the divine will, before ever the foundations of the world were laid. Such was the material on which the educator was to work. " Our second inquiry relative to the Pre-Method- istic teaching of New England is : What was its view of the environment of inworking and condi- tioning forces, amid which the child-nature is to be unfolded ? " To answer this, it is necessary to state the world- view of the early teachers of New England. This NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 157 world-view was that known in philosophy as Theistic Determinism. According to this, the entire universe was the product of one sovereign omnipotent will, which, before the foundation of the world, unalter- ably predetermined every constituent of that uni- verse through all its history, and also unalterably predetermined every change in or by means of every atom and every creature from eternity to eternity. Moreover, by a succession of creative fiats at the beginning, and by a succession of irresistible and undivertible divine workings in the history of created being, this one sovereign and omnipotent will has thus far realized, and is forever to realize, the exact accomplishment of all those purposes and decrees which before the creation of anything the Creator had unalterably foi-med, relative to the history and destiny of everything that was ever to be. The Boston Confession, substantially the Westminster, adopted by the New England churches in the year 1680, and never since repudiated or revised, sums up this conception of the universe in the following familiar words : ' God did, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.' For generations this exact statement, with the theo- logical system based upon it, was taught to every child, and professed by every teacher, in Puritan New England. "According to this system there was evidently but one real agent in all the universe. Neither child nor teacher could put forth so much as a single volition 158 CENTENNIAL OF which God had not before all ages decreed and fore- fixed, in all its antecedents and in all its consequents. There was, therefore, no room for educational or other human agency, save as a form — a necessitated form — of the divine agency. If ever any child came to know the multiplication table, it was solely because God, merely of his own good pleasure, eter- nally decreed that he should, and decreed the neces- sary agents and events through which that result should inevitably be brought about. In such a world the only possible teacher was God, and even he was not so much a teacher as a potter, fashioning from the lifeless and motionless clay, vessels now unto honor, and now unto dishonor, according to the good pleasure of his inscrutable will, according to changeless and resistless determinations, sove- reignly taken before the cycles of time began. " Coming to our third inquiry, we ask : To what end, or goal, according to the Pre-Methodist teaching in New England, should the total educational pro- cess in the present life conduct ? " On this point it is not easy to find explicit and authoritative declarations. Puritan educators had nothing to say upon the point. Perhaps for the reason that, logically, the goal in the case of each individual had to be considered as already fixed, and so fixed that no educational agency could affect it. Whoever belonged to the number of the irrevocably elect was certain to be effectually called, irresistibly enlightened and regenerated, and infallibly preserved unto life eternal. Whoever was not thus of the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 159 number of the elect was incapable of any effectual calling, enlightenment, or renovation of spiritual character. It was not God's will that he should come to the saving knowledge of the truth, or that he should be trained up into a genuine love of good- ness. " Another reason for the silence is doubtless to be found in the fact that, in this system, the ideal goal and the actual goal perfectly and at all times corre- sponded. No human being ever died less well-edu- cated than it was best he should be at that time. No man, at any point in his earthly life, was ever morally better or worse than God from all eternity wished and decreed that he should be. No human being ever uttered any more oaths, or prayers, than were pre-appointed for him. No man ever learned' anymore or any less mathematics, or natural science, or philosoph)'^, than was best for him, judging by the end for which he was created. In the case of every human being, the educational process attained the divinely intended goal, and perfectly attained it. Indeed, under such a system of teaching, it would be absurd and self-contradictory to speak of any educa- tional process at all, if by this term were meant a humanly originated or humanly directed activity, in consequence of which a child could be expected to become wiser or stronger or better than he was already antecedently certain to be. A consistent Puritan educator could no more set before himself an aim in his work than a clock-weight can set before itself an aim in falling. He could not even resolve 160 CENTENNIAL OF to co-operate with the Divine Spirit in training his own child, for a really voluntary co-operation is not possible where there is but one free will. "Summing up, then, the fundamental pedagogical principles of New England Puritanism, we find them to be as follows : — "First, There is in the child's nature no ability either to desire or to strive after a truly normal per- sonal development. " Second, There is in his environment no human force which can in any measure remedy this fatal defect. "Third, There is in his environment no extra- human force which can remedy it, unless it turns out that he belongs to a sovereignly and eternally chosen • number of particular individuals called 'the elect.' "Fourth, Even if it turns out that he belongs to the number of the elect, he is yet compelled by the sovereign decree of God to remain through all his earthly life in some measure a lover of sin and a fighter against God's Holy Spirit. (See the Boston Confession of Faith, chap. xiii. 2.) " Outside of Islam, the history of human dogma- tism presents no parallel to this system of teaching, and to the pedagogics that results therefrom. "Turn now to the system of teaching brought in by Jesse Lee. " And, first, as to the Puritan doctrine of the child- nature. Against this, Jesse Lee made loud and effectual protest. From it he appealed to the Bible, to the impartial love of God, to the imperishable NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 161 declaration of Christ, ' Of such is the kingdom of heaven.' He admitted the natural blindness of the infant soul, but only that he might the more magnify the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He admitted all that Paul has to say of humanity's losses in the first Adam, but only that he might the more emphasize humanity's greater gains in the second Adam. He admitted that that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but only to add that that which is born of the spirit is spirit. He admitted the need which every soul has of a divine quickening and renewal and training, but he indignantly denied that the gift of such quickening and renewal and training was confined to a sove- reignly selected number of particular souls, no one of which could do anything of itself to secure or to frustrate that irreversible divine destination. Ac- cording to the Puritan conception, each child-soul is irrevocably foredoomed to an inevitable development from sin to sin unto eternal perdition, or else irrev- ocably foredoomed to an equally inevitable and miraculous divine transformation into the divine image, by agencies already unchangeably predestined, and at a moment of time unchangeably foreordained. Over against this fatalistic conception Jesse Lee set forth a diviner doctrine, in the light of which the human personality, even in its earliest unfoldings, took on once more its native dignity, human life its significance, human responsibility its everlasting reality. The new conception of the child-soul gave to the educator a totally different subject upon 162 CENTENNIAL OF which to begin his work. It rendered possible a new education. " Second, an equally radical change of doctrine was proposed with respect to the child's environment. Jesse Lee assaulted the Puritan world-view of New England with a spiritual vigor and dash that amazed, while in many cases it also enraged. He looked upon the system' as a device of the arch enemy of God and man, for the delusion and destruction of souls. He preached against it, and wrote against it, arguing where argument was appropriate, expostulating and ridiculing where these methods seemed more fitting. Heroes of like spirit followed. They would not be silenced. They traversed every highway ; extempo- rized their pulpits; preaching in private houses, barns, groves, anywhere, everywhere that an amazed and curious population was pleased to gather in knots and groups or crowded congregations. Calvinism fell. The established church was disestablished. The compulsory support of the Puritan clergy was legislatively abrogated. Freedom came in, — politi- cal, religious, social freedom. For the first time in two hundred years, a New England citizen could appropriately be called a free man. The younger Edwards, Hopkins, Bellamy, Emmons, Dwight, and others, sought out ingenious compromises by which to harmonize the old theology and the new life, but could find no permanent standing-ground. The new spirit of freedom was so contagious and irresistible that even the historic stronghold of the old teaching. Harvard College, rashly, and in part ignorantly, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 163 reacting from the bondage of the past, threw herself into the arms of an alien and unevangelical faith. As if to disprove their former fatalism, and vindicate freedom, the richest and strongest Puritan churches of eastern New England followed the example of the- college, and forever renounced the teachings of prim- itive New England Calvinism. The new wine was too much for the old bottles. With the fall of the primitive New England theology there came a fall of the primitive New England Church. " Finally, Jesse Lee brought in a new conception of the goal to be striven after bj' child and teacher. The Puritan child was taught that its divinely intended development might very possibly be a development in ever-deepening sin and blindness, even unto eternal death. Whether so or not, was as uncertain as the question whether or not he was one of the eternally elect. Moreover, even if of the number of the elect, he could do nothing whatever to hasten the divinely fixed hour of his effectual calling, illumination, and regeneration by God's Spirit. That hour, for all he could know, might be eighty or ninety years in the future, at the close of a long and wicked life. Moreover, however early the hour of his gracious visitation might be, it was utterly use- less to aspire after any perfect development in char- acter, after complete holiness of heart in the present life, God having determined, according to the good pleasure of his own will, that he would never make one human sinner free from sin in the present world. How deadening and discouraging such doctrines as 164 CENTENNIAL OE these ! No wonder that ideals of life declined ; that education grew narrow and barren; that art was forgotten ; that the knowledge of music almost entirely died out ; that men came to believe them- selves possessed of devils and dominated by witches. No wonder that women were publicly whipped, and Quakers hung. No wonder that the devout Jona- than Edwards was ejected from the pulpit by his own parishioners, and that the original Puritan churches were secularized to the point of adopting for their self-preservation the notorious ' Half-Way Covenant.' "The ideals brought in by Lee and his associates presented to the old the strongest of contrasts. They were at first an astonishment, but soon an inspiration. He broke the spell which rested like a nightmare upon the spirit of every New England child. He assured them that not one reprobate or preterite of the old Calvinistic description existed, or ever had existed, outside the disordered brains of Calvin and his disci- ples. " He set forth the sweet and luminous doctrine of Christian Perfection. He claimed that God's impar- tial love was over all men, that Christ had died for all, that the mission of the Comforter was for all. He affirmed that all men are graciously able, at -this moment, to place themselves in right relations to God, and, by the aid of God's Spirit, to enter upon a holy personal development, ultimating, even in the present life, in sinless character. With these ideals of life came in all others pertaining to a pure and NEW ENGLAND METltODISM. 165 lofty humanism. There was now room and motive for the cultivation of lofty sentiments. Personality acquired a new sanctity. The gloom and constraint of the older family life vanished. The school became a rationally defensible institution. The State be- came, in a new sense, a sacred embodiment and organ of human freedom and ethical aspiration. The Church ceased to be dependent upon the tax-gatherer and sheriff and jailer, and began to remember that she was intended to conquer and transform the world. A new spirit came over the whole realm of education. The public schools, originally for the elect boys only, were broadened into schools for botli the sexes. Institutions were established for the feeble- minded, for the blind and speechless, for all classes of the unprivileged, and even for the apparently reprobate. " The old Westminster Catechism disappeared from schoolhouse and liome. Art and music were welcomed back to the haunts of Christian men. A Methodist Academy was founded in every New Eng- land Commonwealth, save one, and in each of these institutions there were distinct departments for music and the fine arts. In the one remaining Commonwealth, the new-comei's transformed a dead military academy into a living and far-renowned college of letters. A few years further on, a New England Methodist founded the first Conservatoi-y of Music in tlie New World ; one long ago acknowl- edged to be the largest and best equipped in either hemisphere. Later the same broad, impartial, evan- 166 CfiNTEl^^NIAL Off gelical, irrepressibly optimistic, educational spirit blossomed out iu Boston, in what is, all in all, the broadest, most impartial, most evangelical, most irrepressibly optimistic University to be found in New England, if not in the world. " Of course it would not be correct, or fair, to ascribe the downfall of primitive New England Cal- vinism wholly to Jesse Lee and ^ his followers. I have no desire or intention to do so. Other forces, intellectual and religious, personal and social, con- tributed not a little. On other occasions, I have endeavored to give a just conception of some of these.^ To-da3% I am less concerned to show the exact part which Wesleyan Methodism played in revolutionizing the older theology than I am to show that Wesleyan Methodism involved principles of pedagogics, which, when compared with those of the Puritans, present an advance of a world-liistoric significancp. I do not see how any intelligent man can study these Methodist conceptions of the child- nature ; of the divine and human environment of that nature during its earthly development ; and of the possible earthly goal, and not confess that these conceptions are higher and broader and deeper than 1 See " Theology of New England " in McClintock aiid Stronr/'s' Cydopsedia. Vol. X., pp. 327-331. "The Edwardean Theory of the Atonement," in Methodist Quarterly Review, 1860, pp. 386-402. " American Infidelity ; its Factors and Phases." Documents of the Sixth General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance, N. Y., 1874, pp. 248-254. " Eationalismus in der Theologie Neu-Englands." Deutsche Zeitschrift fiir Christliche Wissenschaft und Christliches Wissen, Berlin, December, 1857. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 167 any that were ever before prevalent in the Christian Church. Indeed, they seem to me more man-inspir- ing and more God-inspired than any like system of ideas that has ever found equally wide acceptance in the whole history of mankind. " Glance once more, for a moment, at that goal. We are sometimes scornfully pointed out as believers in Cliristian perfection. What means that? It means that we are the one Christian people, whom admitted hereditary depravity, and admitted circum- stantial limitations of life, and admitted personal sinfulness, can never dishearten. The one people who are not willing to limit the formative and ti'ans- formative work of the divine Educator, either to a few of his human children, or to a few of their pow- ers, or to a few of their imperfections. Like the Apostle Paul, we do believe in warning every man and teaching every man, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. " Yes, the old nickname was just and right : Perfectionists. That is what we are. What at first was meant as our chief reproach has come to be our highest glory. We are the idealists, the optimists, the perfectionists, of the Christian world. We can- not content ourselves with any aim less high than human perfection. Nay, when we remember Christ's greater word, ' Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,' we see that even human perfection, if it is merely human, is quite too low. And no marvel, if we are the sons of God. God-likeness alone can fill out and fitly crown and consummate our life's development. 168 CENO'BNlflAL OP* , "With four impressive thoughts this paper may fittingly close. First; Scientifically and philosophi- cally considered, Methodist education is distinct from every other historic type. It rests upon anthropological and theological ideas shared by no other Christian body. With logical necessitj"- it grows out of conceptions of human life and history and destiny, found in no other creed, ancient or modern. Alas, that so few Methodists, and even Methodist educators, have ever adequately realized this truth ! " Second; Contrasting our fundamental conceptions respecting the child-nature, its educational environ- ment and goal, with the corresponding ideas of the Greek and Roman Churches, or with those of the historic Lutheran and Calvinistic Churches, the Angli- can included, a candid judge may possibly question the correctness of our own ; but, granting their cor- rectness, he cannot possibly deny their superiority to the others. Moreover, no pedagogist, whose faith is in harmony with these older churches, can possibly compare our ideas on these fundamental points with those of the extra-Christian or anti-Christian educa- tionists of history, and not confess that the princi- ples of Methodist pedagogy are both truer and higher than any of those with which they are thus brought into comparison. In view of these facts, every truly intelligent Methodist, instead of depreciating or apologizing for the educational work of Methodism, thanks God for it, and glories in its superior postu- lates, standards, and motives. New ENGLAND METHODISM. l6d " Third ; If Methodist principles of education are what I have thus represented, no Methodist parent should be content to give his child an education based upon alien ideas. He should covet for his child the best conceptions of God, of man, of life, of human history and destiny. If he believes that these best conceptions are in the schools of his own communion, why should he send his child to any institution where it is every way likely that inferior and partially erroneous conceptions will be imbibed? " Fourth ; In the light of the foregoing discussion, it is plain that Methodist educational principles should inspire and call forth all sacrifices, needed to carry their blessed influence to the very ends of the earth. " Wherein has lain the weakness of Methodist education in the past? Not in the lack of prompt and sustained enthusiasm. The first form of Method- ism in the Holy Club at Oxford was scholastic, was what at the German Universities is called a Seminar. Its latest form, in which all members of the church are placed in graded classes under proper leaders, is still the form of a school, with weekly sessions and monthly reunions of classes in the 'general class.' "Organized Methodism in England was not a year old when Wesley began to plan the founding of a College, modestly called a School. The year the Methodist Episcopal Church took form and name, it also projected a College which, had it been financially sustained, would to-day, in all probability, have been the most influential in all that section of the Repub- 170 CENTENNIAL OF lie. In all our denominational history, schools and colleges have been founded more rapidly than means could be obtained for their support, so much more rapidly that our highest legislative body has found it necessary to interpose and to insert in the law book of the Church a chapter dissuading from such activity, and fixing limits thereto. Even with such cautions and restraints, Methodist schools and col- leges have multiplied until, in every quarter of the globe, their representatives are found. No, we have never suffered for lack of enthusiasm. "Neither have we suffered for lack of brains to plan institutions worthy of our principles. If anyone is sceptical on this point, I would respect- fully ask him to make a comparative study of the first curriculum of the first Methodist school ever established, and the curriculum of the best colleges of Oxford at the same date. I allude to the Kings- wood School, as planned by John Wesley one hun- dred and fifty years ago. I am not afraid of the result of such a comparative study. Among his contemporaries in England there was not a man of finer or broader education than John Wesley. Especially did he know the best that was to be had in Oxford. Five years had he spent as an undergraduate in its most palatial College ; nine years more he spent in Lincoln College as Moderator of Disputations, Lecturer in Greek Literature, and Preacher to the University ; six years more had he been travelling academic Fellow, both in the Old World and in the New. He was familiar with the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 171 best educational institutions and literature of Ger- many and the Continent. Then, after his fourteen continuous years in Oxford, he sketched the plan of the Kingswood School, and boldly declared of it : 'Whoever carefully goes through this course will be a better scholar than nine out of ten of the graduates of Oxford or Cambridge.' That declara- tion neither Oxford nor Cambridge undertook to deny. Indeed, in respect to the modern languages and some other matters, it took the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge a full hundred years to come up to the breadth of Mr. Wesley's ideas in 1741. "Take, as another instance, Cokesbury College, already alluded to as founded in the year of the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church. This was the first Methodist College in America, and when Jesse Lee arrived in Boston it had been in operation but three years. Its scope, however, as seen in its official prospectus, was even then broader than that of any other college in the country. Har- vard and Yale not excepted. But for the poverty of its beginning, and the successive conflagrations that quickly overtook it, Cokesbury College would have made the educational history of the Middle States, and the educational history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, altogether different from what it actually became. " No, if in any degree we have failed to attain our just leadership in the educational world, it has not been for lack of brains to plan. The methods and aims of our best institutions have ever been in ad- vance of tlieir time, often by long intervals. 172 CENTENNIAL OF " The real difficulty has been in the poverty of our educational equipments and endowments. Not that our record is destitute of noble examples of generous and even princely giving. It should never be forgotten that when Isaac Rich framed his will^ he devoted a larger sum of money to the higher education than any American citizen had ever done before him. When Vanderbilt and DePauw created the Universities which bear their names, they took their places among the greatest educational benefac- tors of the human race. Thousands of lesser givers in Methodism have, according to their ability, done even more nobly than these, in their sacrifices for education. Still it remains true, that, with hardly an exception, the hundreds of educational institu- tions founded by Methodist enthusiasm for learning have either been kept puny and weak by a humiliat- ing poverty, or have been actually starved to death. During the first hundred years of our own Church's life, eighty-four such institutions disappeared from the inventory of the crown-jewels of the Church. What became of them ? A few passed into private ownership, a few were translocated and merged in others, but the overwhelming majority, after years of slow and tortureful starvation, died. Eighty-four colleges and academies lost in a single country, and in a single century. Such a record of institutional mortality is certainlj"- unparalleled and appalling. Notwithstanding this,. Methodism has founded still living educational institutions at the rate of more than twenty for each decade from the beginning of KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 173 its history. These are none too numerous for the four or five millions of Methodist youth whose edu- cation God has directly intrusted to us. Indeed, they must be still further multiplied if we are to do our duty in educating the other millions outside our fold, who without our help must remain in ignorance, "The immediate duty of New England Method- ists, however, is to strengthen the academies and universities already planted within our borders. In number they suffice for all our necessities ; in endow- ments they are far from adequate. In each of our colleges a Professorship of Biblical Studies is urgently demanded. New buildings, larger libraries, improved apparatus, ampler beneficiary funds, are crying wants in every one of our New England institutions. If anything could crown this Centennial Celebration with far-reaching beneficence and lustre, it would be the immediate creation of Thanksgiving Funds, to the amount of one or more millions of dollars, for the advancement of Methodist education in these New England States. What nobler monument can ever be erected to the memory of Jesse Lee? " The Chairman said : " Let us sing two verses of the last hymn on the Programme, — " ' I love thy kingdom, Lord, The house of thine abode.'" After the singing, the Chairman said : " The Chair- man of the Committee of Arrangements has given me the privilege of telling you something that I know you will all be pleased to hear. On the 12th 174 CENTENNIAL OF of November, for the first time in the history of the world, the Committee of the Methodist Episcopal Missionary Society will meet in Boston. You will have the privilege, a few of j-^ou, of entertaining some of them. There will probably be one hundred of them, including those who bring their wives, and your preachers have voted to give them free enter- tainment, as in Kansas City, Mo., last year. There will be public meetings in all the churches around here on Sunday, when you will be privileged to hear not only the Secretaries but also the Bishops. No class of men have such an opportunity and privilege as the Bishops of the Methodist Episcopal Church, who have gone around the world,, and seen the Church in all its various relations. This is one of the greatest opportunities presented to New Eng- land Methodism. "I now have the privilege of introducing the Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley, who will tell us a little of the influence of New England Methodism on the Church at large." Dr. Buckley said : " Mr. Chairman : There is a time for eulogy without discrimination ; when a hero is to be crowned j when a great public work is to be opened ; a splendid picture or statue unveiled. And on a funeral occasion, when mourners are around the body of one whom they loved, and per- haps revered, then nothing that can. distract or alien- ate should be introduced. " There is also a time for criticism, without eulogy, when a reform is sought, preliminary to which evils must be ruthlessly exposed. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 175 " And there is a time for eulogy, with discrimina- tion. Such a time is the present. And this is the key-note from which what I have the honor to say will take its tone, pitch, and rhythm. " The old classic story of Scipio repi'csents him in the day of his triumph as having a slave at hand to whisper, 'Scipio, thou art but a man.' So it may not be improper to say that Methodism was not born in New England. Methodism was not born in America, and American Methodism came to New England. But, coming, it found a people prepared to be persuaded of it, and to embrace it, and to con- fess that they were willing to be counted as ' strangers and pilgrims,' if it should be required. This pro- duced New England Methodism, a species peculiar under the genus Methodism. Hence the theme: 'The Influence of this Peculiar Species upon the Rest of the Genus on these Shores.' " First ; The Methodism of New England produced at once a peculiar effect upon the character of Meth- odist preaching in the United States. The South is the home of oratory. The South was settled by the cavaliers. The cavaliers had stated churches, sup- ported by the monarch, and they never attempted to prove anything. They asserted. Their gestures, being through gowns, were of the waving, circular type. But the Puritans, who contended with the Methodists, were compelled to demonstrate, and their gestures were angular, pointed, severe. But the remarkable fact about Methodism in New Eng- land was that it did not lose its fervor in its argu- 176 CENTENNIAL OF mentation. It declaimed arguments, a peculiar thing, comparatively unknown, beyond the bounds of the six New England States, in this country. Not that all the early preachers of New England, of the Methodist persuasion, were argumentative. Some were predestinated by God and Nature to be imagi- native, rhetorical, pathetic, humorous, witty ; and no bishop could frown, and no priest persuade, and no critic drive them out of following the bent of their nature. " The influence upon the preaching of other parts of the country can readily be traced by those who are in possession of the facts. It could be seen dis- tinctly. It ran out as streams. The river Rhone and the river Saone unite below Lyons; and you may stand on the shore, and watch the muddy water of the Saone unite with the sparkling water of the Rhone, up to that point sparkling, and maintaining identity for more than five miles ; but at last the work is done, and the joint river is muddy to the sea. But the influence of New England upon the matter of preaching, and its manner in the respect now considered, was not to make it muddy, but to clarify what had a natural tendency to sedi- ment, to say the least, in the public oratory of regions further south. " Secondly ; Methodism in New England, in the beginning, was exceedingly jealous of orthodoxy, from its point of view. If you will take up the Gen- eral Conference Journal for 1828, in the record for May 7, you will read this : KEW EN6LA1TD METHODISM. 177 '"The Conference then proceeded on the appeal of Joshua Randall. '"The part of the Journal of the New England Conference relating to the decision from which Joshua Randall had appealed, was then read, from which it appeared that in June, 1826, he had been expelled from the Church, upon a charge of holding and disseminating doctrines contrary to our articles of religion ; which charge contained the following specifications, viz. : — 1. "'In denying that the transgressions of the law to which we are personally responsible, have had any atonement made for them by Christ. 2. " 'Maintaining that the infinite claims of justice upon the transgressor of the divine law may, upon the condition of mere acts of the transgressor him- self, be relinquished, given up, and the transgressor pardoned ^without an atonement. " ' The proceedings of the New England Conference upon his case were then read, and brother Randall, being present, was permitted to make his defence.' "After a response by Wilbur Fisk, the Confer- ence took a recess. After recess, brother Randall admitted that the case had been fairly presented, and the Conference took the following action : — '"N. Bangs moved, seconded by S. Luckey, that the decision of the New England Conference in the case of Joshua Randall be, and the same is hereby, affirmed. . . . The question was then taken on the motion by a rising vote, and decided in the affirma- tive. — one hundred and sixty-four voting in favor of the motion and one against it.' 178 CENTENNIAL OP " This is the record for May 7, 1828. And it shows that the New England Conference, and the General Conference under its instruction, guided by the elo- quence and the arguments of Wilbur Fisk, was won- derfully conservative on the fundamental principles of personal responsibility, and of the relation of the sinner to the death and sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. " I will not intimate that, if the Rev. Joshua Ran- dall were now alive, he would occupy an important position, perhaps in some of the Conferences of New England. But I must be permitted to suggest that doctrines further removed from the evangelical sys- tem are preached in Methodist pulpits in the North, in the South, and in the East, and in the West, and some who preach them stand high in the denomina- tion. " The next observation suggested by my theme is that, by education, New England exerted a most powerful influence. This has already been referred to so concisely and luminously that I will simply say that it was in New England that the first Theological School ever established in American Methodism was founded. Of course, some of the Professors, indeed one or two of the leading Professors, were not natives of New England. But the fact that New England was selected for the place, and the fact also that sev- eral of the leading Professors were natives of New England, and educated here, is sufficient for the purpose. " Within the memory of men yet in middle life, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 179 the case of the Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Vail was inquired into by an Annual Conference, north of Philadelphia, as to his soundness with respect to advocating theo- logical education, and declaring his intention to devote himself to it. And he who now speaks to you sat as a spectator in that Conference and heard the discussion. "Then, next, consider that in New England the first Academy of a preparatory character established by the Methodists was founded, at New Market, and still exists at Wilbraham. Know, too, that the Wes- leyan University, founded on an old Military School, which the people gave, as respects the buildings and grounds, to the Methodists, was the first institution worthy of the name of a college, established by Methodism. The dispute between it and Augusta College will not reflect any discredit upon the Wes- leyan University. "I did intend to make some remarks concerning the Boston University, but the disinterested testi- mony of my predecessor relieves me from all necessity to take your time upon this case. " I will now make some references to what may be called ' The Omnibus Department ' of my address. " In New England the system of pews, and the selling absolutely in fee simple of the pews to per- sons, without regard to their religious character and standing, was brought into Methodism, and from New England the pew-system, previously unknown, passed southward. Brethren, do I praise you in this? I praise you not. Moreover, by the New 180 CENTENNIAL OF England method of cultivating lay speech in the prayer-meeting ; so that it comes to pass, as a very good result, that the laymen of New England, and the women of New England, in the Methodist Epis- copal Church, are often better talkers on the subject of religion than their educated pastors, and many of them, as is well known, superior often to distin- guished persons in public prayer. While, I say, this has come to pass, it has also followed that the class- meetings and the love-feasts, which, prior to that, had a private monopoly of the speaking of the lay- men, unless licensed to exhort or to preach, have fallen into a kind of noxious, not innocuous, desue- tude. "Furthermore, in earlier Puritan times in New England, the Congregationalists stood up in time of prayer. Jesse Lee, when he brought Methodism here, did not stand in time of prayer. He knelt. He knelt on Boston Common. But by the law of imita- tion, modified no doubt to some extent by emulation, it came to pass that the Methodists of New England neither stood nor knelt, but sat, in the house of the Lord. And all along the frontier, where New Eng- land touches the Middle States, wherever you go, you find kneeling disappearing in the churches of Methodism. Had it not been for the influence and example of New England in this particular, perhaps Methodism to-day might have had, what it should have in every new structure, a ' kneeling board ' in the front. Methodists might have been as willing to kneel throughout the length and breadth of the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 181 denomination, as the members of the Protestant Episcopal denomination, who find nothing to inter- fere with their fashionable life, or their supposed aristocratic feelings, in bowing and humbly kneel- ing, professedly at least, to Almighty God. " As for musical instruments and steeples. Bishop Asbury was a true prophet, as within the bounds of the New England Southern -Conference, he looked upon that old church at Newport, and said, ' A stee- ple on a Methodist church ! Organs and choirs will come next.' And they did. But the organs were only going back to David's time. The Methodists had become a little puritanical in their abhorrence of music, and I praise New England in that it saw the benefit of instrumental music. It began with the organ, with stringed instruments, and many things which may be referred to Dr. Dorchester's reminiscences of early New England. "I must now speak of journalism. It is a fact, in defence of which I would die at the stake, if it were necessary, that in New England and in Boston the first Methodist Weekly Paper in the world was started. And now, as that famous novelist G. P. R. James would say, ' Let us leap over a few years.' Let me show you what a marvellous influence that act had upon 'extra New England Methodism.' "It caused the establishment of a connectional paper. But that was a small part of what it accom- plished. Zion's Herald, in the course of its history, had three extraordinary forensic editors, Abel Ste- vens, Daniel Wise, and Gilbert Haven. Of these, the 182 CENTENNIAL OP first was equal to one of Mr. Disraeli's heroes in 'Lothair,' with reference to the power of disquisition, and the second was an opponent worthy of any man's steel or gold, and the third . . . What could he not do? " But Zion's Herald has also had two remarkable editors. One, Dr. E. O. Haven, may be desciibed as the * editor of easy facility in every department, without abruptness.' The other, the late Dr. B. K. Peirce, as peculiarly ' the family editor.' Dr. Daniel Curry admitted frankly the influence of some of these editors upon the journalism of Methodism, and any one who is familiar with the facts must indorse and even extend the admission. " I must now pass hastily to refer to the influence of New England Methodism upon questions of reform. " Slavery. In 1836, Orange Scott led the delega- tion of the New England Conference. George Storrs and Samuel Norris, of the New Hampshire Confer- ence, were the men who dared go to the abolition meeting, and were censured by vote of the Confer- ence for so doing. Times hasten. In 1844, the issue was clearly dr^wn. Scott missed reading the times, had seceded but a short time before, believing the Church hopelessly joined to the Southern image, the idol which had been set up in the great plain, and before which the nation prostrated itself at the sound of the players of music, sacred, secular, and political. " But the Church, urged by New England, — the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 183 Middle States being comparatively indifferent, and the Western divided, — urged by New England, the ma- jority decreed that a slaveholding Bishop could not be tolerated ; and that drew the line, and determined the subsequent history of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. Everything crystallized, as a result, on that action ; and without New England, and New England influence, in the General Conference of 1844, there is not the slightest reason to suppose that any serious action would have been taken. " This is the plain history, and requires no adjec- tives. It can be seen written upon every line of the great debate, the first debate ever professedly re- ported in the history of the denomination. " As for the late Civil War, New England Method- ist influence, from the beginning to the end, was in favor of no longer yielding to the demands of the South, and, almost as a unit, it supported the Gov- ernment, and was alert from the beginning to utilize the results of the war for the benefit of emancipated millions. This is a fact to dispute which none rise up. The late Oliver Johnson declared that a large proportion of the ministers of the Methodist Episco- pal Church were in sympathy with slavery, and Wendell Phillips, in this city, in my presence, declared that he could count on his fingers every minister in New England who was not in favor of the continuation of slavery. And at the close I had the temerity to say to him that I was a member of the New Hampshire Conference, and that only one 184 CENTENNIAL OF member of that body at that time could be so characterized, and that all the members, except six, were known to be avowedly in favor of abolition, going as far as he did or could, except that they would not refuse to exercise their privileges as citizens, as Garrisonians did. And he answered, ' Oh, I referred only to the editors of magazines and papers.' The replj' was made : ' You do great injus- tice to others'.' Of course, it was the protest of a child against the hasty utterances of a giant ; but it was made. "As to temperance. New England has always been true upon this point. New England Methodism has been in favor of total abstinence, in favor of prohibition, ever since the doctrine of prohibition was set forth. "I now reach the second division of my thought, which is to trace, in a sort of painless vivisection, the muscles and fibres by which this great influence has been exerted. "Through the General Conference. Mark the distinction between the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Congregational body, for example. Every Congregationalist Church is complete in itself. One cannot bind another. The National Congregational Council has not the power to make a law of the most insignificant nature, which is binding upon any members of the body ; but the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church is the sole law- making body in existence. Now, through the Gen- eral Conference, New England exerted an influence NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 185 altogether disproportionate to its numbers. New- England set forth a man of whom the MS. Minutes of the New England Conference say something like this: 'The case of Joshua Soule was called. It was suggested that this brother was usually heady and high-minded; but others suggested he might improve with age.' It was concluded to admit liim. Joshua Soule must have been pompous. He must have been vain. He must have been arrogant. All testimony agrees to that. But Joshua Soule must have been a very great man. Wilbur Fisk set an example, which, alas, has been followed by few. He declined an election to the Episcopacy because he had more important work to do ; or, rather, declined to be ordained when he had been elected in his absence. But Joshua Soule did something greater than that. He was elected a Bishop, and, because the General Conference at the same time passed what he believed to be an unconstitutional law, he refused positively to be consecrated; and such was his influence that his refusal induced the Church to recede from the proposition. Four years afterwards, they most hum- bly asked Bishop Soule to consent to be ordained, which he magnanimously did. " Joshua Soule and Oliver Beale, of tlie State of Maine, were the two principal members (actively speaking) of the commission that laid the founda- tions of the delegated General Conference. One was the scribe, and the other was very largely the brain. " Then, too, consider the marvellous influence of 186 CENTENNIAL OP New England through the Bishops it has given to the Church. I have already spoken of Bishop Soiile. Of course he subsequently became the Senior Bishop of the Church South ; but it may very justly be said that, when he went out of New England, he had no such views and tendencies, and New England, was not responsible for what he did afterwards. " Then comes Bishop Edmund S. Janes, in some respects a model Bishop, believed by many people to have been born in the Middle States, because he lived in that region when he was elected. But really Bishop Janes was born at Sheffield, Mass., where his ancestors had lived for many years. " In 1852, in this city, the modest, accomplished, and accurate O. C. Baker, of Concord, N. H., was elected Bishop, and he gave us ' Baker on the Disci- pline,' a worthy successor to ' Hedding on the Discipline,' which was written by a man, who, though not born within the bounds of New England, I believe was sent to the General Conference once or twice b}^ what is now the New England Southern Conference. "Note the Bishops in more recent years. It is hardly necessary to name them. D. W. Clark, the two Havens, Henry W. Warren, Bishop Mallalieu , — these Bishops have gone forth, and have carried New England ideas and the New England spirit wherever they have gone. "Consider the influence upon the great multitudes who have come to New England to be educated. The Presidents of the early time of the schools and NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 187 colleges of this country, Methodistically speaking, were educated largely in New England. In 1873 your speaker had the misfortune to be attacked with cholera, in Glade Springs, Va., where he was nursed by Bishop Hurst and Edward Eggleston, and the ministers of the Southern Methodist Church called upon him to sympathize with him during his recov- ery. Among them were the celebrated Dr. Wiley and Professor Edward Longley, who returned to visit his Alma Mater, after the lapse of fifty-two years, at the last Commencement. These men survived the war and all its prejudices, and had nothing to speak of except the early days at Wesleyan University. Able men they were, and accomplished men, and such are to be found throughout the land, — lawyers, physicians, teachers, and many of these men took New England wives to the South and the East and the West. " The satirists speak jocosely of the forlorn girls that are left after graduation day ; but the statisti- cian and the alumni record show that, while there may be some that are left forlorn, there is no better place for a young lady to settle in than a University town in New England, if she desires not only to choose a domestic set of the best quality, but to have an extended view of the vast domain which we call our country. " Again, a large number of persons have come to New England and been incorporated with its minis- try for a term of years, longer or shorter, and these have been affected and modified in many respects. 188 CENTENNIAL OF Take a single example. If Abel Stevens had not come from the Middle States to New England, what reason is there to believe that he would ever have had the kind of career that he has had, taking into account the time when he came to New England, and the condition of Methodism at the time? He might to-day be only a Bishop. And, at the last General Conference, seven laymen and eight minis- ters were asked if they could name the Bishops of our church, and there have been, according to ' The Lives of the Bishops ' (according to Dr. Flood and Dr. Hamilton), a very small number: and only one man could name the Bishops, and he could not do it in the order in which they were elected. But Abel Stevens ! If Methodism should exist five thousand years, and maintain its spirit and character, the name of Abel Stevens will be known. No histo- rian can ever live who can write Methodist history without, in almost every page, acknowledging his indebtedness to that many-sided man. "Again, consider how many ministers New Eng- land has sent out. They are preaching everywhere. And wherever they go, they carrj"^ a peculiar influ- ence and power. " As for the literary influence of New England, it cannot be described. I will give only an instance. In my recent visit to Italy, I made a careful inquiry into our resources for the education of the converts and candidates for the ministry. And I met an Italian of great eloquence in his own language, but of broken speech in ours, and he told me what I NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 189 ascertained to be true, that the only book, theological book, of a Methodist sort, that they had translated into Italian, is what he called ' Binney's Compound.' "Who shall measure the influence of an Olin? Just before he died, the late Dr. Crovvell sent to the office of The Christian Advocate a letter written by Dr. Olin for the instruction of a young minister, forty-six years ago, beseeching me to publish it, as, notwithstanding all that had taken place since, there was nothing equal to it for compendious clearness, and I brought that letter of Dr. Olin with me, and have it here. But time hastens. " The influence of such a man as James Porter, who moved upon a totally different plane, is not to be considered insignificant. He wrote for young ministers who had not a collegiate education. He was the most perfect master of the conversational style of speech, with whom I have ever had any intimate relationship. He was also the best speci- men for practical purposes, of a church lawyer, that I have ever met, and wherever he went he stirred up the young ministers and the laymen to master the principles of our institutions. " I might speak of another v/ork, ' Sherman's His- tory of the Discipline,' with much propriety, but it would indeed be a kind of bringing coals to New- castle to do it here. " And now it was a very fortunate thing for him that a young man, born in a sunnier clime, drifted to the rocky coast, the wooded hills, green intervales of New Hampshire — not because he there saw the sea 190 CENTENNIAL OP for the first time, tiiough iiis birtiiplace was within sixteen miles of it, and not because he there saw his first mountain, but because he met there the Fathers, many of whom were alive then. There was the rugged Jacob Sanborn, intact, mentally, though eighty 3'ears old, and the saintly Ebenezer Newell, and the benign John W. Adams, who, after hearing the young man using a profunda basso voice on the atonement of our Lord, whispered to him : ' Brother, have a different voice for the sufferings of Christ in the garden from that you use in denouncing the judgments of God upon sinners.' " The second generation was there ; — the manly James Pike, the well-informed and emphatic Bar- rows, the erudite Professor Merrill, the polished Patten, — these men were there. "But what is New Hampshire but a suburb of Boston, considered intellectually? And who were here then ? Ah, the two Havens, each complete in his own kind. And there was the elegant Studley, who leaves his age unknown and unthought of. And there, too, were the sharp Steele, and the inimi- table Trafton, the refined judicious Clark, the too brilliant Newhall, the acute C; N. Smith, the astute Porter, the studious Sherman, the vigorous Thayer, the detonating Sargeant, and the soaring Hascall, and I know not how many more. " They were here. And among the youths there were five, like young eagles beginning to try their wings, whom the Church has since recognized as Bishop Warren, and President Warren, and Professor NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 191 Townsend, and Professor Upham, and the chaste and yet fervent Chapman. " What wonder that, under such influences, less than two years ago, at the nomination of a man who was sure that the candidate's ancestors came over in the Mayflower, a certain editor was elected a member of the New England Society of New York? But, alas, he was confronted by a law that no man could be a member of that Society unless he could show that one at least of his ancestors was born in New England. It was too late in the century to supply any defects of that kind, and so the applicant turned away in despair, and, like everj^ true son, poured his woes into his mother's listening ear. Then she said unto him, ' One of my ancestors was born in Port- land, Conn.' Blessed be the memory of that vener- able woman who has been lying beneath the ' grassy barrows ' for more than half a century. She would, as the life insurance people would say, be one hundred and thirty-one years old next May, if living. But, blessed be her memorj'' ; for in her arms I was carried into, and set down among, the pride, the consummate flower of New England's Extra Influence, — the New York Society of New Englanders." The benediction was pronounced by Rev. Dr. C. S. Rogers. CHAPTER V. THURSDAY FORENOON. O. H. DuRRELL, Esq., in the chair. Mr. Durrell said : " We will open the exercises by singing two verses of the first hymn,— " ' O for a thousand tongues to sing.' " The Chairman called upon the Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Mansfield to offer prayer. The Chairman said : " In view of the length of the programme this morning, I will not weary you with any remarks of my own, but commence at once to enjoy the programme. I have the pleasure of presenting the Rev. Dr. J. E. C. Sawyer, of the Troy Conference, who will speak to us of 'The Limita- tions of the Pastoral Term.' " Rev. Dr. Sawyer said : " I did not choose my theme. It was selected for me. Ver}' appropriately such an occasion as the present is devoted to eulogy of the past, and for our wonderful past no eulogy can be too eloquent, But we are also here to con- sider problems of the present, and possibly to some extent to look forward to the questions of to-morrow, or even of the next century. We are to study how we may win even grander victories, and make yet more glorious progress. [193] 194 CENTENNIAIi OF " The most vital and the most potent part of what we sometimes call our Methodist machinery is the method of making the appointments of the preach- ers. The Episcopacy is our strong point. Our weak point is our method of moving our pastors : not by the judgment and by the authority of th'E Episcopacy, but by an arbitrary time-limit. The two-years' rule was enacted in 1804. Another question had been extensively discussed by the General Conference that enacted that rule. There is no evidence that this question was then generally discussed, and there is no evidence to show that it was very generally debated at any time during the previous score and more of years. Most of the preachers during the preceding years had been appointed for very short terms, — terms of six months. There had been a few fruitful pastorates extending to a length of three or even four years. There had perhaps been one or two somewhat too extended. But we have no evi- dence that the appointing power had been especially embarrassed by having too much freedom. " Under the two-years' rule we continued for sixty years. The General Conference of 1864 lengthened the term to three years. There were then some few churches that claimed still to be two-years' churches. There were some few preachers who then proclaimed themselves, and for some years afterward, two-years' preachers. But the tendency was for the three- years' limit to become the term of the pastorate for preacher and for people, if they were at all congenial to each other, or if they were not seriously at diver- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 195 gence from each other. One of the wisest Bishops said to me, on one occasion (I do not know that others would have made the same remark, and, accordingly,, cannot quote the Episcopacy for the remark) ; but one of the Bishops said to me that he largely judged, on his first visit to a strange Confer- ence, the skill of a Presiding Elder by the fewness of the removals occurring on his district inside of the three-years' limit. "At the last General Conference the limit was still further extended to five years. With reference to the influence of the five-year rule, it is doubtless too early to draw any definite conclusions from a well-ascertained class of facts. But two points seem to be quite clear : First, The tendency of the five- year rule, so far as we have been able to observe it, is to lengthen the pastoral term to five years, if preacter and people are not seriously at divergence from one another, unless their relations are inter- rupted by the demands of the general work. Sec- ondly, There have been changes, many of them, at the end of a term of five years, when there was no reason for the change, except the rule ; and there have already been one or two where the change was the next thing to a disaster. " Now, we are never more to have again the early itinerancy. The itinerancy of the early days of Methodism in America was a perpetual movement on the part of every preacher, from the loftiest to the lowliest. The Bishop lived on horseback. As he journeyed to distant points, widely separated, he 196 CENTENNIAL OP visited the communities and the homes that were on his way. Now the Bishops journey to the ends of the earth, and although they call at many places, yet the many places that they visit and touch with their royal influence nevertheless are few as com- pared with the wideness of the world, or the magni- tude of our work. The Presiding Elder then was himself a circuit rider on a broad scale, visiting not only communities and preachers, but also homes. He lived on horseback. The Preacher visited the families of the circuit (and the charges were mostly circuits), as he went to his preaching appointments, and most of the preachers who married took loca- tions. The whole thing was one perpetual minis- terial movement. That condition of things cannot be restored. We cannot put ourselves back into those conditions, because we cannot put the country into the condition we have outgrown ; nor Qa,n we put the Church into the conditions that then obtained. There were then no large cities. There were then no great denominational enterprises. There were then no railroads. Now the youngest States have great cities, rapidly growing, and the very frontiers have the railroads. And the Presiding Elder, instead of himself visiting along the way as he journeys from point to point, now goes to his appointment, to make an official visit, going by the last train and returning by the earliest one. Our present system of pastor- ates is altogether a different thing from the con- stant ministerial movement of the evangelist on horseback of the early days. The Methodist min- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 197 ister is no longer a mounted evangelist ; he is a pastor. " Now, while we will never return to that kind of itinerancy again, the real itinerancy remains, and is stronger and more fruitful than ever. What are the elements of our Itinerant Plan, that have contributed to give it its wonderful success ? I. "Its connectional character. The man who is a pastor in Boston to-day may be a pastor in Chicago, or San Francisco, or Yokohama, or Calcutta, to-mor- row. Remaining in the travelling ministry, he may always be a pastor, and our pastors are on a level throughout the whole of our colossal, world-wide work. II. " A second element of power of our Itinerancy is that it says to a man, ' Go,' instead of waiting foi'' some one to say, ' Come.' That is to say, it has tre- mendous propulsive power. Tiie man can be sent out, if there is any community that needs him, whether there be a church or even a solitary family to receive him. He goes with all the authority and honor of the Church bound to back him in whatever arduous or heroic enterprise he may undertake. III. " A third point is its great economy of force. Railroads and express companies could not be run as Baptist and Congregationalist Churches are run, with long periods without some leading mind at the head of affairs. But the Superintendent of one of the greatest express companies in this world admitted to me the other day, in a personal conversation, that his company could be run in the same style in which 198 CENTENNIAL OF we run our machinery. In fact, that is the way in which they undertake to run it, — to keep every position all the while supplied. There is no church ever for more than a few weeks without a pastor. Every church has a pastor, and every effective preacher always has a charge. Churches and men are brought together promptly and inevitably, and each new pastor is fully installed, for at least a year, the moment his appointment is made. " These are some of the leading elements of suc- cess of our Itinerant Plan. The removal of the time limit would not curtail a single one of them. It would not abridge either one of these three. IV. " But there is yet another one, and that pos- sibly the most important of all, to be mentioned. There is a supreme authority above both the places and the preachers to make needful changes, and to make them not only in the interest of the individual preacher or the individual church, but also with regard to the highest possible efficiency of our work as a whole. Those in whom this power is lodged understand the needs of the Church, if not by per- sonal observation, then by the careful observation of the local episcopate, otherwise known as the Presid- ing Eldership, — and are not only open to light from personal observation, and from the presiding elders, but also are usually accessible and open to direct information from either churches or preachers, or both. This supreme authority must make its decis- ion within a certain week of every year, giving to each church a pastor and to each preacher a place. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 199 Nothing so wonderfullj' eiScient as our appointing power for the supplying of charges, or people that need the gospel-, with preachers has ever been seen in the world. And the removal of the time limit will simply place larger power in the hands of this supreme authority, which is wise enough to use it well. To take off the time limit would make our itinerant plan more flexible and more forceful than ever. It would put into the hands of the appointing power the supreme control of the removal as well as the appointment of pastors. " Now a great many of our changes are made, not by the exercise of the wisdom and authority of the episcopacy, but by the arbitrary time rule that works as remorselessly in terminating a fruitful pastorate in a great city as though it were a mere cutting machine. In fact, that is just what it is, — a cut- ting machine. At the appointed hour the severing knife must fall, no matter how great the damage that may possibly be done. " Now I have not the time to dwell upon all of the arguments. But, in the first place, the two-years' and the three-years' rule certainly did do damage in many oases, though they worked so gloriously in emphasizing the itinerancy. I could give a long string of illustrations, of churches irrecoverably in- jured by the removal of men that were filling spheres of distinguished usefulness, at the end of a very brief term. And while we have so many able ministers as we have, and have gained recruits from other denominations, yet the question is a fair one, whether 200 CENTENNIAL OP we have not given a great many strong men to other denominations, that we might have kept in our own, had there been more flexibility with reference to the matter of the pastoral term. I need not dwell now upon the importance of personal influence in the pas- torate. Our work has come to be made up of pastor- ates, in the real sense of the word. It was not so in the beginning. It is so now. We all know that personal power and character and influence have a great deal to do with the growth of the pastor's beneficent ministry. I need' not dwell upon the inspiration that it may afford to a man to feel that there is open to him the possibility of a long pastorate. Gilbert Haven once said, '■ Everj"- man draws his own crowd.' In respect to Methodist preachers, as well as others, it is so. The principle is a broad one, a true one, of course. He spoke of the following that a certain man widely gifted had left when he left, and he spoke of the different crowd that another man had drawn. The principle by him so curtly put obtains. Every man that draws does draw his own crowd. It is an inspiration for a man to feel that he can make his plans for the coming years, and that his influence may go on widening through every part of the community. " But one thing that- 1 do desire to dwell upon, passing these and others that I might mention, is this, that we can no longer say that if Methodism is not adapted to the cities, it nevertheless, if failing somewhat in adaptation to the cities, may be doing work that the nation most needs because of its KEW ENQLAKD METHODISM. 201 efficiencj' in the country. If we cannot increase our power in the cities, we must go to the rear. The problems to-day for the Nation and the Church are the problems of the cities. You remember the figures given in Dr. Stron'g's marvellous book on 'Our Country.' One-thirtieth of the population of the country, in 1790, lived in cities ranging in population from eight thousand upward. One-twenty-fiftli in 1800. One-twentieth in 1810. One-fifteenth in 1830. One-twelfth in 1840. One-eighth in 1850. One-sixth in 1860. One-fifth in 1870. A little less than one- fourth in 1880. " I recur to these figures simply to say that now, in the seven largest cities of our country, we have the same proportion of the total population that in 1840 was in all the cities from eight thousand up- ward, and nearly or quite one-third of our total pop- ulation must be in cities and large towns. The increase in the cities of Massachusetts has been more than the total increase in the State. "The extension of personal influence that can only be obtained by long pastorates is indispensable to the highest success in great cities. I could point to some names, grandly distinguished, who wrought for our denomination wonderfully, through this fact largely, that one city was practically their home almost through their lifetime. Where can we find a figure now whose personal influence in any city compares with that of Bishop Janes in New York? The Church of the future must evangelize the cities. The arbitrary termination of a city pastorate, by an 202 CENTENNIAL OF inflexible time limit, when a gifted and devoted preacher is winning a widening influence, is making an impression that strengthens daily, an impression that would continue to deepen and increase year after year, — the inexorable and arbitrary termina- tion of such a pastorate, at the end of five years, is a great sacrifice to make to a rule that serves no useful purpose, even in localities whei-e frequent changes are desirable. And the city churches that especially need the possibility of longer pastorates, are those that are seeking to win the masses. There are concrete cases like that of the Church in which we stand to-day, and Clark Street Church, Chicago, churches for the masses, that I know give the appoint- ing power oftentimes a great deal of thought, some- times, possibly, anxiety. " There are objections. It is objected, for instance, that ministers will move by law loyally, and churches will loyally submit to law, when they will not either ■ of them so gracefully submit to the supreme authority of which I have spoken. It does not do simply to contradict that; but the answer is found in this, that this argument does not apply since the exten- sion to five years. It was to some extent a telling argument before that. The extension to five years implies this, that in a great many cases there shall be changes within the term. That was in the minds of those who inaugurated the rule, and thus far there have been a great many changes within the term, and they have been loyally accepted by the ministry and the membership of the Church. The NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 203 ministers and the societies of American Methodism are loyal to the appointing power of the Church, and would be, even although it might here and there continue a man for eight, or ten, or fifteen years, mov- ing others from place to place with greater rapidity. " A second objection is that it would give the Bish- ops too much power. I am willing it should. They will always liave abundance of advice. I don't believe they can iiave too much authority iu the moving or the appointing of preachers. They use their power reasonably, wisely, and humbly, and they are amen- able to the General Conference. And some of those who argue against too much increase of episcopal prerogative have panaceas which they provide for possible contingencies of the Church, which we can- not accept without ceasing to be Episcopal Method- ists, in the best sense of the term. Let us leave the Bishops of to-day as unfettered as Francis Asbury was for the first twenty years of his episcopate. "A third objection is that it might introduce too great disparity among our ministers, the rapidly moving men of comparatively small calibre, or small application, being placed iu too great contrast with men of more solid elements. Well, that dis- parity will exist in any state of things, and the better the system the greater it will appear; but, under our system, the most inefficient preacher that continues in the ranks as a travelling preacher is insured at least this, an appointment for a year at a time. Where is there another denomination in the world that can assure any man in its ministry ap- 204 CBNTENKIAL OF pointments every year, and for at least a year at a time ? I could point you to many churches in other denominations that enjoy mainly the ministry of stated supplies, that serve them three months, six months, and sometimes for a year, and I could picture gifted, studious and devoted men hunting at various bureaus for places where they may preach on Sunday. Now we give to the least equipped man among us at least a place for a year at a time. That is a great deal to do. Ought we, for the sake of those who might itinerate rapidly, to deprive ourselves, in large places, of the growing influence of strong men that can help us meet the problems that certainly do confront us in this day ? " I pass these points rapidly. There are two ways of honoring the memories of the fathers and found- ers. One of them is by adoring their relics. A better way is by emulating their spirit. They achieved glorious results in their day, because they adapted their methods so perfectly to its needs. In their spirit let us move forward fearlessly, adapting our thought, our words, our acts, our legislation, our methods, to the needs of our day. Let every pastor be displaced and be replaced by the hands of the appointing power, and let the relation of each indi- vidual pastor to each particular church be carefully considered at the end of each year. This is not a burning question, let me say. I do not think there should be fretful agitation about it. I only present it here this morning because I could not do other- wise honestly. It is my belief that the change I NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 205 advocate will come easily and ere long. It will per- fect our itinerant plan. It is demanded by the spirit of our times. The extension to five years has pre- pared the way for it. For good reasons, we many years ago removed the limit from the most evangel- istic department of our work, our missions. Our machinery will run more smootlily and more efficiently than ever, when we take off the time-limit brake altogether. " I realize that the grand success of Methodist ministers does not mainly depend upon the length of their terms, or the particular localities in which they live, but upon the faith and the spirit they exercise. A great preacher in early times said : ' I saw the Lord upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims : each one had six wings ; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts ; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried. Then said I, Woe is me ! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar ; and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged. Also I heard 206 CENTENNIAL OP the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us ? Then said I, Here am I ; send me.' The faith that sees the whole earth filled with the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, the spirit of entire consecration and spiritual cleans- ing, and the lips touched with the live coal from God's own altar, will win the world to Christ." The Chairman said : " I feel honored to be able to present to you one who so well fills the editorial chair of Zion's Herald ; one who has the courage of his convictions, and under whose editorship ZiorCs Herald represents now, as well as, if not better than, it ever did before, true, progressive, aggressive, New England Methodism. Dr. Parkhurst, in his trips to the South this winter, gave a great deal of time and study to the question of the Negro Problem in the South. He now speaks to us this morning on 'New England Methodism and the Negro.' It is hardly necessary to introduce to a Boston audience Rev. Cliarles Parkhurst, Editor of Zion's Herald." Dr. Parkhurst said : " Mr. President and Brethren, this is a notable record. It lifts to the highest moral altitude. Men with majestic purpose and martyr faith move before us. The Eleventh Chapter of Hebrews is continued. "American Methodism took its original position on the matter of slavery from the lips of John Wesley. As a religious leader his moral vision was remarkably acute. He was pre-eminently a reformer and of the most aggressive type. He never compromised with sin in any form, and NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 207 he was as abrupt and unsparing in his denunci- ations as John the Baptist. Very signally is this observed if we contrast him with Whitefield. White- field said : ' As to the lawfulness of keeping slaves I have no doubt. What a flourishing country might Georgia have been had the use of them been per- mitted years ago ! ' Twenty years afterward he died, owning seventy-five slaves in Georgia. It is matter for devout congratulation that Wesley never could have made such a shameful record. He saw slavery in Georgia and South Carolina in 1736, and his soul was stirred with fiery indignation against it. His opposition found immediate, emphatic, and perma- nent protest. Four days before his death he wrote: 'American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun.' His ' Thoughts on Slavery ' was the most forceful philippic ever penned. These are sample sentences: ' I strike at the root of this complicated villany ; ' ' I absolutely deny all slaveholding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice, mercy, and truth ; ' ' Men-buyers are exactly on a level with men-steal- ers;' 'Liberty is the right of every human creature as soon as he breathes the vital air, and no human being can deprive him of that right which he derives from the law of nature.' When it is remembered that the ministry and Church universal were assert- ing at this very time, with Whitefield, ' that slavery was a divine institution,' and seeking to sustain the position by supposed Biblical affirmation, it will be seen that Wesley was violently radical and revolu- tionary upon this subject. 208 CENTENNIAL OF " American Methodism was a direct transplant from English soil, bringing these ardent views of Wesley relative to slavery. Asbury and Coke came to this land cherishing Wesley's vehement opposition to the S3'stem. The Minutes of the Baltimore Con- ference of 1780 contain the following questions and answers: 'Question 16. Ought not this Conference to require those travelling preachers who hold slaves to give promise to set them free? Answer. Yes. Question 17. Does this Conference acknowledge that slavery is contrary to the laws of God, man, and nature, and hurtful to society ; contrary to the dictates of conscience and pure religion, and doing that which we would not others should do to us and ours ? Do we pass our disapprobation on all our friends who keep slaves, and advise their freedom ? Answer. Yes.' " That was the position which Methodism took in this land at the first toward slavery. It was the impress indelible that John Wesley put upon Amer- ican Methodism in its inception. Thus the 'irre- pressible conflict' began in New England. The student who goes back to the beginning of the anti- slavery struggle in New England Methodism will come at last to the teachings of the Founder of our Church as the rightful and authoritative source. John Wesley, therefore, was the first abolitionist, and Methodism in this reform antedates all other abolition movements. Our paper is historical, but of course it is impossible in the limitations of time necessarily imposed to do more than to glance at the most important epochs of this struggle. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 209 "Unquestionably the most influential factor in the Methodist Church in the cause of abolition was Orange Scott. I knew little of this man and his work until I have studied him recently, in standard Methodist writers. I am not to discuss the lifelong career of tlie man, nor to approve of his secession from the Church. That was the irreparable mistake of his life. Searching the record, however, without prejudice or preference, and only with the view to learn the facts, I must confess that representative Methodists photograph this man in this struggle against the monster of Negro slavery in such a way as to call forth from me most grateful and enthusi- astic response. If we rightly hold Garrison, Phillips, and Whittier in a kind of veneration akin to worship, then I do not see how we can be just and withhold the tribute of most generous praise from Orange Scott, for his opposition to this great curse. In 1833, when Scott was thirty-three years of age, and then a most successful Methodist minister, his atten- tion was first called seriously to the subject of abolition. For a year, likie Paul in Arabia, he read and pondered over the new call to duty. As Presid- ing Elder of the Providence District, at camp-meet- ings and other public assemblies, he began to pour out his soul against slavery. Then, too, at the invitation of D. H. Ela, publisher of Zion's Herald, he began a series of articles in that fearless journal against the barbarities of the system. He says: 'At this time L subscribed for one hundred copies of the Liberator (Mr. Garrison's paper) for three months, 210 CENTENNIAL OP to be directed to one. hundred preachers of the New- England Conference. The result was as I had anticipated. Before the three months expired a majority of the Conference (one hundred and fifty members in all) was converted to abolitionism.' June 4th, 1835, the New England Conference, sit- ting in Lynn, organized an anti-slavery society on the basis of the immediate and unconditional aboli- tion of slavery, and invited that heroic reformep, George Thompson, to address them. North Bennet Street Church was soon opened to Mr. Thompson on a Fast Day, for a sermon on the same subject. Garrison wrote of the event : ' The primitive spirit of Methodism is beginning to revive with all its holy zeal and courage, and it will not falter until the Methodist Churches are purged from the pollution of slavery, and the last slave in the land stands forth a redeemed and regenerated being.' The New Hampshire Conference formed an anti-slavery society the same year. These Conferences stood together in the leadership of the cause of abolitionism in New England Methodism. " Says Abel Stevens : ' By 1834 the contest was begun in great earnest by the 'Appeal' of a number of the New England preachers and the 'Counter Appeal' of others. The New Hampshire Confer- ence soon after passed decidedly anti-slavery resolu- tions. - The refusal of the bishop to put these resolutions to vote originated a new question on 'Conference Rights,' and the Eastern Conferences were soon rife with both. Meanwhile, Zion's Herald, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 211 the earliest journal of the denomination, and the most vigorous in all progressive measures, became the effective organ of these contests.' " It is a humiliating chapter, but suggestive as a warning, that so many of the great and revered names of our Methodism bowed down before this Baal of iniquity. The great Hedding, as he presides over these two Conferences, in the years 1835 and 1836, undertakes to silence all discussion upon the subject of slavery, and actually exercises his prerog- ative as tlie appointing power to discipline and humiliate Orange Scott ; and only because that man of conscience will not promise to close his lips on the subject of abolition. Wilbur Fislc is elected a delegate to General Conference, at the session of the New England Conference held at Ljnin in 1835, but declines to serve because all of his colleagues are radical abolitionists. In October, 1835, a petition that Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia is presented to Wilbur Fisk for his signa- ture, and he declines to sign it, with a taunting word for all abolitionists. Bishops Roberts, Soule, Hed- ding, and Andrew finally unite in a Pastoral Address, in which they say in closing : ' We have come to the solemn conviction that the only safe, Scriptural and prudent way for us both as ministers and people to take, is wholly to refrain from agitating this subject.' Spirit of John Wesley ! What would he have said at such language ? Thus did those good men seek to quiet and restrain an aroused Christian conscience ; thus did they hope to compromise with the most 212 CENTENNIAL OF gigantic evil of the day. Such an effort lamentably failed, as it should. Compromise with slavery? Compromise with intemperance? Compromise witli wealth when it becomes inordinately selfish and arrogant ? Never ! That word compromise is nei- ther Biblical nor Wesleyan. It is always odious. Methodism, when true to itself, will utterly banish that word from its vocabulary. " The Methodist ministry of New England had in conscience espoused the cause of the Negro, and they would not longer be silenced. Orange Scott became, for a year, the agent of an anti-slavery society, by general and urgent request, and went over the land firing the hearts of the people against human bond- age. Whittier tells with great enthusiasm of a paragraph that fell from Scott's lips the first time that he ever heard him speak. Wendell Phillips could not improve upon it. He said: 'Blind though we be, ay, sir, blind as Samson in the Temple of Dagon, like him, if we can do no more, we will grope our way along, feeling for the pillars of that temple which has been consecrated to the bloody rites of the Moloch, Slavery. Grasping their base, we will bend forward, nerved by the omnipotence of truth, and upheave the entire fabric, whose undistin- guishable ruins shall mark the spot where our grandest moral victory was proudly won.' "In June of 1837, Scott attended the session of the Maine Conference, held at Hallowell. He writes that 'a decided majority of the Conference are abolitionists and the minority are generally looking New EjtGLAlfD METHODISM. 2l3 that way. An anti-slavery society was formed among the preachers, consisting of seventy-five or eighty members.' He also reports that 'New England is redeemed so far as Methodism is concerned.' He affirms that, * In three Eastern Conferences (and there were then only three in New England) there are now more than three hundred abolitionists.' Dr. L. D. Barrows, that man of blessed memory, said at the Methodist Convention of 1866, held in this city : ' These New England Conferences were in advance, even of these New England States (which were in adyance of all other States) in putting on record their protest against intemperance and slavery.' " At subsequent sessions of these Conferences the subject of the slave is first and most earnest. Tlie ministers must and will be heard. Delegates to General Conference are selected from the most radi- cal abolitionists. At the General Conference the delegates from New England unceasingly press the Church to take solemn and unequivocal action in favor of abolition. Indeed, New England Method- ism seems to have been the only type that could neither be threatened nor cajoled into subordination to the slave-oligarchy. It was finally proposed, in the case of Bishop- Andrew, at the General Confer- ence of 1844, to defer action for a quadrennium, and to permit the slave-holding bishop to exercise his Episcopal functions for four years more ; but the delegates from New England, to a man, violently opposed such a humiliating proposition, until they defeated it. Thus loyally and heroically did New 214 CENTBiSTNlAli OV England Methodism espouse the cause of the Negro until victory came. I had intended gratefully to call the roll of the ' worthies,' but even this is not pos- sible. "It was not an easy, play-day struggle. It cost something, as all reform does. Ay, it cost much. They had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings,. yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments ; of whom the world was not worthy ; but they did not fail. " ' They never fail who die In a great cause. The block may soak their gore; Their heads may sodden in the sun, their limbs Be strung to city gates and castle walls; But still tlieir spirit walks abroad. Though years Elapse, and others share as dark a doom, They but augment the deep and sweeping thoughts Which overpower all others, and conduct '* The world, at last, to freedom.' " I could not forgive myself, much less would you forgive me, should this brief sketch close without the grateful mention of one name. In this presence, with this topic, in this church, that name has already been upon every lip. Paul was no more called to the Apostleship of the Gentiles, than was Gilbert Haven to be the Apostle of the Negro. Haven lived for the black man, spoke for him, dared for- him, suffered and died for him. He was the Negro's best friend, the most sincere and self-sacrificing advocate, and helper. When the conscience of our Methodism became sluggish in this cause, then with tremendous energy he awoke it to sensitiveness, and lashed it into vigorous action. He died before his full work NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 215 was done ! His course best marks the attitude of the Church towards the Negro, since the day of his freedom. In that memorable transfiguration day at Maiden, he was best comforted in the thought that ' The Lord will not find fault with me for my work in the South.' His undying affection for the Negro finds expression in the request: 'Let some of my colored friends help also to carry me to the grave.' And his last most urgent and solemn message to New England Methodism — never more needed to be heard than now — was this: 'Stand by the colored man when I am gone.' "Sumner dying cried: 'Take care of my Civil Rights Bill.' " It is scorned, rejected, trodden under foot by arrogant men. Will not New England heed the dying words of these immortal defenders of ' Our Brother in Black?'" Rev. Dr. Daniel Steele, rising upon the floor from the audience, said: "Last Tuesday was the fifty- fifth anniversary of the Boston mob. Every daily paper in the city defended it. Every religious paper apologized for it, but two. One of them is now obsolete. The New England Spectator. The other was Zion's Herald. That condemned it. I have the stat^nent in the Life of William Lloyd Garrison by his sons." Franklin Rand, Esq., former publisher of Zion's Herald, said : " I noticed an omission in Dr. Sawyer's admirable address. I would like to hear him explain a little. Many did understand it, but I presume all 216 CENTEKNIAL OP did not. I wish he would speak of the limitations of the great authority which he claims for the Bishops, which he justified. I want him to explain to the audience that there is a limitation, or revis- ion, to which they are subject in the General Con- ference." Dr. Sawyer said : " The question that Brother Rand has asked of me requires me to say a word with reference to a possible corrective of the great authority of the Bishops, in the matter of making the appointments. They are subject to being reviewed in their action in this matter by the General Confer- ence, the highest court of appeal in our Church. There is a Committee on the Episcopacy, and there is also a Committee on the Itinerancy. And with the aid of those two Committees, all wrongs, if there be any, are likely to be righted. There is one word that I desire to say, which I omitted accidentally: The real heroes of the days when we had a two-year rule were the wives of the Methodist Preachers." The Chairman said : " Let us arise and sing, — " ' Jesus, lover of my soul.' " After the singing, the Chairman said: "A very intimate friend of mine in New York, whom I have had occasion to meet, very often spoke to me of his pastor, and I began to take a great deal of interest in his pastor ; and, later, when I read in the papers of the heroic and successful fight before the New York Legislature, in defeating the Bill, innocent enough in its title, ' The Freedom of Worship Bill,' NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 217 the Bill really meaning that the Catholics wished to obtain control of the non-sectarian institutions of the city, — when I read in the papers of the heroic fight, I naturally had not only a great regard for that pastor, but I had a profound respect for hina as well, and this same clergyman is to speak to us on ' Methodism and the Social Questions of the Day.' I have the pleasure of presenting to you the Rev. Dr. J. M. King, of New York." Dr. King said: "Mr. President and brethren: The importance of Methodism in human history consists in the fact that with it dawned a better day for humanity in a work of God, by a revelation and an inspiration of a new divine purpose, to promote the renovation and salvation of the race. Dean Stanley said, at the unveiling of the tablet in West- minster Abbey, in 1870, to the memory of John and Charles Wesley, that they 'preached those great effects which have never since died out in English Christendom.' And on another occasion, ' The Meth- odist movement in both its branches, Arminian and Calvinistic, has molded the character of the English- speaking Protestantism of the world.' This great writer and thinker certainly responds affirmatively to Tyerman's question in his introduction to his ' Life of John Wesley : ' ' Is it not a truth that Meth- odism is the greatest fact in the history of the church?' " The founders of Methodism originally designed to mold the characters of men, and thus shape their relationships to God and man. They sought to make 218 CENTENNIAL OP men better by inducing them to lead lives that would illustrate their creeds. Orthodoxy has never been the boasted conservator of the inner life of Methodism, but the spiritual life has preserved its orthodoxy, and that often despite the untutored con- dition of its preachers. In New England, Method- ism has rolled away the doctrinal stone that sealed ■the tombs of men ' dead in trespasses and sins.' Not long before Methodism entered New England, men must be members of the church in order to vote or to hold office. This reduced religion to a form and expelled principle ; it prepared men, in a certain sense, for society and business, but not for heaven. In the Calvinistic churches personal experience was not considered a necessary qualification for the min- istry and the exercise of church official functions. Presbyterian synods determined that all baptized persons, not heretical or scandalous, should be per- mitted to partake of the Lord's Supper, and, if edu- cated for the purpose, should be admitted to the ministry. Public ministerial service and private character were not required to be in harmony. Meth- odism here changed social conditions by changing religious conditions. Everywhere and always this had been and must be in the order of cause and effect. " The aggressive preaching, by men who awfully believed them, of the fundamental Scriptural doc- trines as accepted by Methodism, has done much to change social conditions, and, honestly employed, will yet change the face of society. The following NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 219 doctrines, briefly stated, have been the powers employed: free will, placing the responsibility of sin on the sinner ; unlimited atonement, opening free salvation to all ; gracious ability, encouraging and leading the sinner to faith ; witness of the Holy Spirit, leading the convert to communion with God ; possible apostasy, warning him to ' hold fast the pro- fession of his faith,' with the assurance of present salvation ; entire sanctification, inspiring him to press on to every height of holiness. Is it questioned whether doctrinal statement is needed in changing human character? No permanent betterment of society politically, socially, or religiously was ever effected in any other weLy. Dr. Tj^ng said at the Evangelical Alliance meeting in London : ' I came from a land where you might as well forget the proud oaks that tower in our forests, the glowing Capitol we have erected in the centre of our hills, or the principles of truth and liberty we endeavor to disseminate, as to forget the influence of Methodism, and the political, social, and religious benefits we liave secured thereby.' And Dr. Baird calls Method- ism, 'The most powerful element in the religious prosperity of the United States, as well as one of the firmest pillars of our civil, social, and religious insti- tutions.' The historian Bancroft says; 'The Meth- odists were the pioneers of religion ; the breath of liberty has wafted their messages to the masses of the people, encouraged them to collect white and black in church or greenwood for counsel in Divine love and the full assurance of faith, and carried their 220 CENTEKMAL 6E consolations and songs and prayers to the farthest cabins of the wilderness.' Is this relatively as ex- tensively true of us as it was when the historian penned this sentence? "The principal social questions of the day may be classified as follows, for the purposes of discussion : 1. Scientific and Christian Sociology; 2. Remedial Appliances ; 3. The Southern Race Question ; 4. The Condition of Womanhood; 5. Marriage and Divorce ; 6. Temperance and Prohibition ; 7. Com- mon and Higher Education ; 8. The Problem of Wealth and the Laborer ; 9. The Attitude of the Pulpit ; 10. The Sovereign Remedy for all abnormal Conditions. "Prof. Sumner says: 'The function of science is to investigate truth. Science is colorless and imper- sonal. It investigates the force of gravity, and finds out the laws of that force, and has nothing to do with the weal or woe of men under the opera- tion of the law.' But there is such a science as Christian Sociology. Dr. Stuckenberg says : — " ' The following schedule is believed to contain a complete classi- fication of all the possible social relations of the Christian: 1. The family, including husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and more distant relatives; also other members of the household, sucli as persons who are received into the family as members of it, and servants. The whole household is thus Included , and not merely the circle of relatives; and all the relatives are in- cluded, whether living in the same house or not. 2. The particu- lar church to which the Christain belongs, and religious associa- tions in general with which he co-operates; his own denomination; other denominations; the Christian Church. 3. The social circle in which the Christian moves, including his social relations to NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 221 friends and acquaintances. 4. The business and professional rela- tions which the Cliristian sustains. 5. The societies or associations, other tlian directly religious, to which the Christian belongs, whether benevolent, literary, scientific, or whatever their character may be. 6. Chance contact and acquaintances, as in travelling. 7. The community in whicli the Christian lives; the town or the neighborhood, including the political relations to the precinct, ward, county, or district in which he votes. 8. The State and nation to which the Christian belongs. 9. Other nations and the world.' " The author of ' Moral Aspects of Social Ques- tions ' says : — " ' Social science, as well as Christianity, recognizes the fact that men are in a condition of disorder and distress. Its main- spring is the desire to relieve existing evils. The lines on which its work has chiefly run are these: 1. The study of sanitary laws with a view to the prevention of disease. 2. The study of the conditions of social vice in the interests of public morality. 3. The study of the phenomena of crime and of the methods of re- straint and reformation and prevention. 4. The study of jurispru- dence, in all its branches, with the hope of making the laws more simple and more just. 5. The comparison and criticism of methods of education. 6. The investigation of the causes of pauperism. • 7. The examination of the whole structure 6f society, to discover, if possible, whether it is organized on right principles; and what hindrances, political, economical, or customary, are in the way of its welfare. " ' The realm of social science is thus seen to be a broad one and its purpose a high one; and the close relation between social science and Christianity at once becomes manifest. They have a common field of operations; the lines on which they are working are parallel. Christianity takes thought for the welfare of men beyond this life, while social science does not; Christianity reaches out after the ignorant and degraded in other lands, while social science cares only for those at home ; Christianity concerns itself directly and primarily with individual character, while social science studies men in masses. The range of the one is therefore broader than the other; but as far as social science goes, Chris- 222 CENTENNIAL OF tianity goes with it; there is no end proposed by the former which the latter is not seeking to promote. The relation of social sci- ence to Christianity is, in fact, the relation of the offspring to the parent. Social science is the child of Christianity.' " Christianity gives the spirit, but not the science, of a solution of the problem of the equitable dis- tribution of wealth. Its relationship is the same to other problems — it respects and defends every man's rights because he is a man. It unmistakably teaches that the right of property is simply the right of a steward to discharge his trust without interference. John Bascom says : ' The facts of sociology are the most interesting and the most complicated anywhere offered to attention ; they are the most interesting as they pertain to the higher development of the higher life ; they are the mo.st complicated as gather- ing up and combining all other lines of action and as in many ways indirectly affected by them.' " Customs may be divided into social, religious, and civil customs. Social customs may be divided into those which pertain to the family, to classes, and to general intercourse. The family is the unit of or- ganization in human society, and custom is its ruler. Class distinctions next follow, with their tj'^rannical customs, erecting barriers to individual action. Then in regular succession appear the customs which con- trol the social intercourse of diffei-ent classes. From these three germs spring all the social questions demanding solution by every lover of his kind. " The socialist Schaeffle says : ' Socialists pro- nounce the Church to be a police institution in the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 223 hands of capital, and that it cheats the proletariat with bills of exchange on heaven ; it deserves to perish.' Severe this is ; but is not the Church some- times too conservative toward evils ? Does it not pretty easily adjust itself to existing and question- able social conditions? " All social movements left to simply natural tendencies irresistibly move toward tyranny. The tyranny of numbers is just as pernicious and more difiBcultof correction than individual tyranny. Many social questions are solved- through law and public opinion, and these are formulated and controlled through the reason and conscience of man. " Political parties are, in this republic, one of the chief means of gathering, consolidating, and extend- ing a social and political tendency, and these are usually inseparable from each other ; yet back of these is a power mightier thah they, although grudg- ingly recognized by professional politicians. "Godless socialism, in all its thoughts, its hopes, its fears, its equity, and its duty, rests on materialism. But the Christian religion and the socialism it incul- cates rest in the nature of man and in the spiritual laws which are the thoughts of God concerning man as a being stamped with an infinite destiny, the trend of which is determined by faith in the divine thoughts. Sociology not animated by faith is a science without a God. The spirit, character, and teachings of Christ can alone bring order out of a social chaos, because they furnish the conditions of a perfect social state by the regeneration of personal character. 224 CENTENNIAXi OF " Methodism, in its gospel work, must attempt the solution of social questions, because personal ques- tions and all questions affecting personal interest will find their answer in the gospel. The Christian is Christ's gospel unto men, and in him the world has a right to expect to read Christ and His truths. His spirit must be controlled by a passion for human- ity which makes real the brotherhood of man to intellect, heart, and will. Christianity is designed and adapted to produce a perfect system of human society by evolving a perfect manhood marked with the highest excellence as personified in Christ, and, by the order of its being, loving the happiness of all its kin. Honest socialism blindly yearns after liberty and equality. Let the Church of Christ meet this yearning with the supply which Christ furnishes, and godless socialism will become godly. There is no gospel but that of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Any law for making man healthy in body and soul that is not based upon such gospel, is not remedial because it is not divine. " What has been, and what is, the relation of Methodism to the social questions of the day? I suppose the purpose of this gathering to be not only to review past history and indulge in congratu- lations, but to look with a candidly critical spirit into the needs that face us, and to meet them with honesty and courage. Methodism has no relation, and never had, to the social questions of the day other than its relation as a disseminator of the gospel of truth as the remedy for all evils ; an enlightened NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 225 expediency in the method of applying the remedy is all that is delegated to us. While Methodism has done much in solving the social problems in America, it has not been noted for its alliance with the dis- tinctively social classes in society. "It is not my purpose to discuss Methodism's catalogued and prohibited social dissipations and indulgences, for the reason that, on the one hand, the list is not exhaustive enough to be a safe guide ; and, on the other, that its attempted minuteness dis- tracts the attention from the broader principles of righteousness, which once accepted by man, he would not be liable to dwell upon the roll-call of prohibi- tions, but would revel in the liberty of privilege. In my judgment the social problems pressing upon us will not be solved by special legislation of a pro- hibitive character. More gospel and less law of human enactment will make sure of heartier and broader obedience to law. We are in peril of disgusting men by special legislative prohibitions prominently pronounced, instead of winning them by privileges vividly portrayed, following closely upon the preaching of the unamended divine law. The ' thus saith the Lord ' kind of law cannot be too uncompromisingly proclaimed. " These are notably times of remedial appliances. Hospitals and dispensaries, industrial schools and nurseries, and other civilizing agencies are all inci- dents and instruments in the solution of these problems, and an enlightened and consecrated expe- diency will dictate the time and place for their 226 CENTENNIAL OF employment. Methodism has done comparatively little in these lines as yet, although its people have shared largely in the benefactions of these institu- tions furnished by the beneficence of others. " The Southern race question is a social question more largely than anything else, and although our relationship to it has been an earnest one, and in a measure creditable, still we are not altogether blame- less here. Expediency wedded to sentimentalism yet too often strangles right and justice. "Womanhood has been largely emancipated by Methodism from the slavery of an assumed inferi- ority, and from being the plaything of passion, and granted rights and privileges and broad opportuni- ties for usefulness. In leading souls to Christ; in self-sacrificing ministrations to the diseased, the poor and the sorrow-stricken ; in mission-fields ; in mold- ing the character of youth; in temperance, and in all reforms based on the well-being of man ; and in mitigating the horrors of war, genuine Christian womanhood, since Methodism was given of God, has exalted the gospel ideal of stewardship, and that without unsexing itself, or trenching upon the well- defined, natural and Scriptural prerogatives of man. In the lines of industrial, social, and educational action further emancipation must come.' So far as the admission of women to legislative work in the Church and the logical issues of such admission may be considered social questions, Methodism is in the midst of the agony of determining the relation, and our Church was never called upon to settle NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 227 a question more momentous or far-reaching in its results. "In theory and in practice our Church is Scriptu- rally right on the questions of marriage and divorce. Marriage is accounted a divine ordinance. The Discipline declares : — "'No divorce, except for adultery, shall be regarded by the Church as lawful ; and no minister shall solemnize marriage in any case where there is a divorced wife or husband living; but this rule shall not apply to the innocent party to a divorce for the cause of adultery, nor to divorced parties seeking to be reunited in mar- riage.' " On the questions of temperance and prohibition the standard of the Methodist Episcopal Church is easily the leader of the hosts of reform. The Disci- pline declares, and no resolutions of Conferences have improved upon -it in either letter or spirit, — " ' Temperance, in its broader meaning, is distinctively a Chris- tian virtue, enjoined in the Holy Scriptures. It implies a subordi- nation of all the emotions, passions, and appetites, to the control of reason and conscience. Dietetically, it means a wise use of suita- ble articles of food and drink, with entire aifetinence from such as are known to be hurtful. Both science and human experience agree with the Holy Scriptures in condemning all alcoholic bever- ages as being neither useful nor safe. The business of manufac- turing and selling such liquors is also against the principles of morality, political economy, and the public welfare. We, therefore, regard voluntary total abstinence as the true ground of personal temperance, and complete legal prohibition of the traflBc in alco- holic drinks as the duty of civil government. We heartily approve of all lawful and Christian methods to save society from the mani- fold and grievous evils resulting from intemperance, and earnestly advise our people to co-operate in all measures which may seem to them wisely adapted to secure that end. We refer to our General 228 CENTENNIAL OF Rule oil this subject, and affectionately urge its strict observance by all our members. Finally, we are fully persuaded that, under God, hope for the ultimate success of the temperance reform rests chiefly upon the combined and sanctified influence of the family, the Church, and the state.' "One of the most potent factors in the solution of social problems in a republic is found in a free common school system, with instruction and instruct- ors of such high character as to Americanize the children of foreign birth or parentage, and, by pro- cesses of digestion and assimilation, make them a healthful part of the body politic. Thus only can the dangerously heterogeneous be made safely homo- geneous. The late Archbishop Spaulding declared, in my presence, that if the free common school of this country was preserved, it would be principally due to the loyalty of Methodism to the system. We always have been loyal to it, and intelligent patriot- ism demands a continuance of that loyalty, with a jealous care for the improvement and perfection of the system. At no period in the history of the republi* has the demand for uncompromising courage been more imperative in this direction than at the present. " But what of our relationship to that higher form of education, where teachers are prepared to handle great social questions? The Methodist Episcopal Church came tardily to this higher educational work. In our burning zeal to propagate the gospel, we seem to have overlooked what we esteemed minor interests. By the blessing of God, we. have pressed NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 229 into every open door, and planted our doctrines and churches in every neighborhood throughout the entire land. Despite gloomy facts in our early history, it cannot, however, be alleged by any well- informed person that American Methodism has, during the last half-century at least, been disregard- ful of the common education of the multitudinous masses she has gathered into her communion. The distinguished Edward Everett introduced his address upon education, at Middletown, over thirty years since, by this statement: 'The Methodist Church, during the preceding twenty-five years, had accom- plished more for common popular education than any other Christian denomination.' In vindication of her earlier and more primitive attitude with refer- ence to education. Dr. Stevens, the eloquent historian of Methodism, observes, — " ' Methodism was cradled in a university, though it was horn in Epworth rectory. It could not, therefore, be indifferent, much less hostile, to the education of the people, though its poverty and absorption in more directly moral directions for their elevation did not at first allow much scope for its educational measures. Wesley, however, never lost sight of such measures ; and it is an interesting fact that, in the year which is recognized as the epoch of Methodism, the date of its first field preaching, and among the miserablepeople where the latter began, it also began the first of its literary institutions. In its public capacity it has always zealously promoted practical knowledge and educational institutions.' "We need to learn the lesson of concentration of our higher educational interests, until the large names given to our institutions when they were baptized shall represent appliances and opportunities 230 CENTENNIAL OF as large as the name. It must be conceded that Boston is making commendable progress in the direction of genuine university appliances. "The problem of wealth and the laborer faces us whichever way we turn. Methodism is a revival of the spirit and power of Christian truth and life. Warm and energetic, or tender and subdued, its whole system of worship and action, instinct with a joyous and contagious life, the people take to. Springing from them, our sympathies are with them. It h-as taught the churches that it is not the mission of Christianity to hold the rich within its communion any way, but to hold them on the same conditions as it holds the poor. Better without them, if they degrade our standards or attempt to dictate our religious policy. Whenever and wherever it has attempted to accommodate itself to the liberal indul- gences of so-called polite society, it has lost its power, and presented a pitiable spectacle to the world ; and whenever its conspicuous men, in or out of official position, have paid court and tribute to men of wealth as such, they have compromised the spirit and mission of Methodism before the world. Methodism has largely adhered to its original minis- try, and while its poor have, in many instances, become rich, it has not, as a rule, allowed them to divert it from its primary and Christ-like purpose of reaching the multitudes. " But Methodism, we fear, is losing something of the fearlessness with which it once declared the Law of God against individual vices and against the vices NE"W ENGLAND METHODISM. 231 of society. With corruption in the Church, it is powerless to cure the corruption without. The world too often has excuses for laughing at the reproaches of the Church against its follies and its sins. Religious, moral, and social fotces are getting more and more cowardly, I fear, in the presence of giant monopoly and money power. What are we doinig about it ? The legislative and advisory action of Methodism on almost all the social questions of the day is of a commendably high standard. But its prac- tical application of its legislative and advisory action needs, in some particulars, a new baptism of courage. "Methodism is not meeting the social question involved in the problem of increasing wealth and its relation to the laborer who largely produced it. Labor has no rights, but the laborer has. What is an equitable adjustment of advantages between the rich and the poor? President Hill says: 'The ex- alted idea of man that went out from Judea to change the institutions of men was alone sufficient to recon- struct society and inaugurate a new epoch in the history of the world.' Love of wealth was the teaching of paganism, but the love of man is the teaching of Christianity. Cicero said : ' All who live by mercenary labor do a degrading business ; no noble sentiment can come from a workshop.' The sentiment that came forth from the workshop of the carpenter of Nazareth gave a new conception of man. It taught humanity that it was possible to endure poverty without despair, and that riches might be accumulated and used without sensuality and pride. 232 CENTEKNIAii 01* " We are not contributing our legitimate part to the successful solution of these great social problems, when we consider our oi-igin, our history, our theol- ogy, and our numbers. We are making coippara- tively slight impression upon the social conditions of cities, and the centres of populations of composite character. We spend too much time in explaining the reasons why we fail, and assert that conditions have changed, as though that fact relieved us from obligation to forward the gospel remedy for all maladies and all wrongs. After all, no change of conditions can be conceived that can challenge the success of the gospel, unless we confess that the gospel is not designed to be a universal remedy to save the race. The substance and power of Chris- tianity are not altered by changes in times, places, races, classes, climates, or governments. The only recognition given to social distinctions by prophecy is that of smiting. Christ came to humanity, and social distinctions, giving root to social problems, are all of human, and not of divine, origin or purpose. The gospel was made for man as man. Opposition and antagonism it will meet, and principally in social problems ; but it is not a question of debate with those who have this gospel committed to them as to whether antagonism shall ' be met and opposi- tion overcome, but how and when. The gospel is not a thing to be mended. Its original power rested in the personality of Christ, and that power is unchanged in the face of changing con- ditions. NEW ENGLAND MMHODlSM. 233 " We are not, to the extent we ought, reaching the very people to whom we were originally sent ; and it is among the common people — because they consti- tute the masses — that social problems are to be solved ; the higher classes, so called, are lifted out of the lower classes by the lever of prosperity. The leaven must be put in the lump, and not on the crust. " The attitude of the pulpit. An eminent minis- ter, of a denomination of great wealth, addressing his brother ministers recently, said, — " ' Is it not about time that it should be said to the average preaching fraternity : Gentlemen, clear your minds of cant, and try to realize that you have something more to do than to make little groups of men and women comfortable, by promises of rest and felicity hereafter ? What if you should make them feel very uncomfortable, at times, by talking of the hard stern facts in the lives of the infidel millions ? Such talk might prove a wholesome moral tonic to the listless and languid. " ' There is urgent need just now, I take it, my Christian brethren, for such criticism and rebuke to be spoken very plainly into the ears of those who rule in our synagogues. We are very busy about theological refinements, and in advancing sectarian interests. Meanwhile the men who are at the cranks of our social and politi- cal machinery are grinding out their projects with small concern for what we do by such endeavors. While wealth betakes itself to its elegant seclusion, and poverty gathers itself in appalling masses in its neglected and infamous haunts, and dishonesty is under- mining the confidence of the community, and crime fills house- holds with horror, a, dainty Christianity Is looking on from a distance, afraid of soiling its hands in the work of social regener- ation! These are not " smooth things " to prophesy, I know; but " am I become your enemy because I tell you the truth ? " When I think of the mission of Christ's religion to this hard, material age, and mark how little has been done to make it a felt presence and power in the world, I marvel that men can be so strenuously occupied with trifles, and so busy in barren fields.' 234 CENTENNIAL OF " Healthful utterances these ! Needed where they were spoken — needed throughout Protestantism. " Herr Todt places the following epigraph at the head of his book on ' Radical German Socialism and Christianity:' 'Whoever would understand the social question and contribute to its solution, must have on his right hand the works on political economy and on his left the literature of scientific socialism, and must keep the New Testament open before him. Political economy explains the social-anatomy, scien- tific socialism describes the disease, and the gospel indicates the cure.' It is to be feared that more converts have been made to socialism among men of Christian education than to Christianity among socialists. " Morality and legislation give different definitions to crime. Morality never changes its definition ; but in legislation, the crime of yesterday may be the virtue of to-morrow. The law of God is never repealed or amended. Human enactments vary with the sentiment of the time. Permit me once again to quote from a Christian sociologist : — " ' If the laborer has rights, it is because he is endowed with per- sonality. If the distribution of wealth is possible upon other grounds than the rule of the strongest, it is because these personal rights. radiate outward from the man, and project themselves in the sphere of property. If marriage and the family are to be preserved to society, it is through the recognition of personal rights in the domestic circle. If education is to receive its perfection in the complete unfolding of human powers, the spiritual and moral nature of man must be regarded. If legislation is to embody jus- tice and realize liberty, it must postulate the doctrine of personal freedom and of rights and duties as the ground of freedom. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 235 Finally, if crime is to be repressed and extirpated, the moral regeneration of men must be accepted as possible, and the uni- versal reign of mechanical necessity must be denied. The relation of Christianity to these problems is briefly this : it carries the master-key that unlocks e^ery one of them; that master-key is Christ's conception of man. " ' If ever an ideal order is realized by humanity, it vrill be under the leadership of the Christian conception of man, and will require that for its basis. The current agitation of mind over social questions is the best token that the hearts and consciences of men are stirred as they never have been stirred before. ' " The baptism of the Holy Ghost upon Methodist preachers and press would furnish our quota of the solvent of all social questions of the day. Method- ism's relation to these questions is simply a gospel relationship. It has no power'but this. I sometimes fear that we forget this fact, and virtual!}' adore the machinerj' of the system which, unless it be moved at full speed, proves both complicated and cumber- some. It never was designed for freight, but for passenger service. The Holy Spirit's abiding pres- ence would inspire us ; the memory of His past dealings would impel us ; the promise of His assumed coming would draw us. We may be encompassed about with Omnipotence. When Jesus ' ascended on high, He led captivity captive,' and 'gave gifts unto men.' ' When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, He shall testify of Me, and ye also shall bear witness.' ' Ye also.' The Holy Spirit is not our accompaniment ; we are His. Let the office-work of the Holy Spirit be more intelli- gently and more extensively recognized in religious effort, as the sole dependence of the Church for ^36 CENTENNIAL OP effective work. It will give tone and character and potency to religious experience, and heroism and endurance to religious zeal. It will inspire the thought and experience of the pi'iesthood of believ- ers with its personal dignity and personal responsi- bility. It will inspire new plans and purposes for utilizing dormant Christian energies, and Christian- izing the thoughtless and neglected, and for massing the forces of righteousness. Resources of history, character, money, machinery, education, numbers, the press, and the divine promises, all are necessary instruments, but they are strengthless and useless for good, either singly or in combination, until bap- tized by the Holy Spirit ; then, singly, they take on strength, and, massed, they become as omnipotent as God. These human appliances, wielded by the Holy Spirit sent by Christ, shall become, like Him, sweet in sympathy, pure in holiness, vital with love. If the saved sons of Methodism and of our common Protes- tantism would put on the whole armor of God ; if all the daughters of our Ziou would clothe themselves with the beautiful garments of salvation, and, bap- tized by the Holy Spirit, would move together for the renovation of a heritage once uncursed with sin, no pen or pencil could picture the result. Godless temples would tumble ; incense burning to unknown gods would be quenched; air polluted with blasphemy would be purified ; ignorance would flee away ; the flood-gates of intemperance would be closed; the fires of passion would be quenched ; fountains of bitter tears would be dried up, and the fatherhood of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 237 God and the brotherhood of man would be realized ; every hill-top would soon glimmer with the light of truth, and every valley show the temple of our God ; ill the wilderness would waters break out, and streams in the desert, and the ransomed of the Lord would come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sighing would flee away. Let us pray as we sing : — '"Come, Holy Ghost, our hearts inspire ; ' Let us Thine influence prove; Source of the old prophetic fire, Fountain of life and love ! ' " The Chairman said: "It is hardly necessary for me to introduce the last speaker of the morning, for one who has so well filled the leading pulpits of the New England Conference needs no introduction. Dr. D. H. Ela will now speak to you of ' Methodism in New England before Jesse Lee.' " Dr. Ela said: "Mr. President and brethren. I am aware that there is a limit to the capacity to enjoy even so rich a feast and one so grandly served as that which we have been enjoying for the last two days. I have admired the endurance and the capacity for enjoyment of the congregations. But I want to say just now, before I begin, that my paper will have one merit at least, if I have not mistaken. It will be shorter than any other paper presented, and my position on the programme, and my regard for the principles of socialism, will unite to prevent my running over on to anybody's time this morning. 238 CENTENNIAL OF " The theme which has been assigned me is ' Meth- odism in New England before Jesse Lee.' " Methodism is threefold : an organism, a theology, an experience. To the popular mind its polity is represented by the Conference and the Itineranc^^ Its theology is 'free salvation to 'whosoever will.' Its shibboleth of experience is the witness of the Spirit and perfect love. " Methodism in New England was planted by an itinerant ministry, who came uncalled, unannounced, and often unwelcomed, proclaiming their message with the confidence of an inspired prophet; to flee sometimes before the rejecting people, as Elijah fled before Israel and Ahab ; to be received sometimes by the awakened crowd, like John Baptist, with the inquiry, ' What must we do ? ' The seed sown took root and sprang up into the blade, the ear, the full corn. The little class-meeting grew into the society, spread out into the circuit, ripened into the Confer- ence, and fills the whole land as the one compacted, organic body. "Lee came into New England a hundred years ago, on such a mission of aggressive propagandism. He' came as the apostle of experimental Methodism, to teach its theology, and to establish its organism. "The Methodism whose centennial we celebrate to-day, is this connectional body, with its thoroughly elaborated polity and its carefully defined theology ; vital with an aggressive propagandist spirit, and fer- vent and joyful with religious emotion. "Yet, in another and truer sense, these must be NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 239 regarded as effects rather than means of Methodism. There was a spirit before there was a body. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of chaos. Jesse Lee was the fruit of Methodism before he was its apostle. There were Methodists before Methodism appeared. There was a Methodism before the Meth- odists came. " There were foreshadowings of Methodism in spo- radic revolts of individuals against the lifeless form- alism of religion, the cruel theology of New England, and the tyranny of church government; and not less were there foreshadowings, in an awakened spirit of expectancy, which so often precedes a great event, — that eastward-looking of the nations which await Messiah. " There had been revolts against the harsh features of Calvinism all along, from the days when Quakers were flogged and' hanged in Boston, and Mrs. Anne Hutchinson was driven away into the wilderness for proclaiming the witness of the Spirit, the abiding of the Comforter in the soul of every believer. "Methodism, as at first presented to the people, here, as elsewhere, was neither an organization nor a system of theology. It was rather a proclamation of salvation, full and free, to all men. It was as joyous as the news it brought, and the personal experiences it declared. It was as urgent as the needs of the lost sinners to whom it came. It could not wait for men to deliberate before deciding. And so, having declared its message in one community, its heralds must hurry away to another, equally 240 CENTENNIAL OF needy. Thus the itinerancy sprang, unplanned, out of the needs of the people and the burning zeal of the preacher. " In this broader view, Methodism was a crusade for the world's conquest, a propaganda of salvation. Such a Methodism had had its manifestations in the new world before the coming of Wesley's followers, and its disciples and apostles prepared the way for, and welcomed the coming and success of, Whitefield in his missionary tours, sweeping like a meteor of salvation through the length and breadth of the land. The Tennents and their disciples and fellow-laborers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and Edwards with Brainerd and kindred spirits in New England, like the settled ministers Venn and Berridge and Fletcher and others, who gathered about Wesley in England, could not be restrained within the narrow bounds of their own parishes, but must go forth in itinerant labors in the regions beyond; a sporadic itinerancy, prophetic of the later order which Lee represents. " Methodism has been called a revival of primitive Christianity. If it be defined as a revival, there was a Methodism before the Methodists. So early as 1720, Jacob Frelinghuysen, pastor of the Dutch Church at Raritan, N. J., began preaching the distin- guishing doctrines, and using the revival methods of Methodism. Edwards had already, in 1734, passed through the first Great Awakening in North- ampton. And when Whitefield came to New Eng- land, in 1739-40, he found not only welcome from these faithful co-workers, but the revival already NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 241 begun in many places, and the people eager every- where to receive the gospel message. We must discount somewhat from Whitefield's enthusiastic estimates of congregations, as when he declares that he preached to six thousand people in a church which could with difficulty seat twelve hundred, or when he estimates his congregation on Boston Common as equal to one-tenth the whole population of New England. "But, doubtless, he stirred the whole of New England, and gave a new and wonderful impulse to this work of revival, though it did not originate witli him, and was not limited to his ministry. Besides, what were Whitefield and his work, but a part of New England Methodism before the Methodists? It is in this very tide of Calvinistic Methodism, which never in America took on distinctive organi- zation, and whose influence has been too little recog- nized in our summaries of Methodism, that much of its larger fruitage may be found. We may suspect that from Whitefield's deep communings with the Tennents, and with Edwards's masterful mind and soul, as well as from his Scottish correspondent Erskine, sprang some of that Calvinistic dogmatism which led, so soon after his return to England, to his break with Wesley, which he so heartily repented later. But, on the other hand, we can only conjec- ture how much the zeal and fervor of Edwards were quickened by the inspiration of Whitefield. " We may not attempt to tabulate the results of these revivals, and may simply note that the num- 242 CENTENNIAL OF bers of converts in New England are variously esti- mated, by sober historians, at from twenty-five thousand to forty thousand, resulting in one hundred and fifty new church organizations, besides the large number of churches created out of divisions of old churches ; that very largely the aggressive vitality of the Baptist Churches dates from Whitefield's ministry, aind that the Free Baptist Church was founded by a Whitefield convert, whose son, venera- ble for large usefulness, for talent and piety, still lives in the superannuated ranks of the Methodist ministry, in which he has spent his long life. " We must note, too, that this earlier Methodism, like the Wesleyan, was attended by some not alto- gether wholesome conditions in the churches affected, resulting in many schisms, and the organizing of rival churches. Nor were there wanting, to com- plete the parallel, strange physical and mental _ phenomena. The woiiderful trance of Mrs. Tennent, one of that Presbyterian-Methodist family; the ecstasy of David Braiuerd, and the rapture of Mrs. Edwards, and her loss of physical strength, alternat- ing with unusual bodily exercises, all remind us of the physical manifestations attendant upon the preaching of Wesley. The historian also records, that, in the revival commencing with the founding of Dartmouth College, there were remarkable dreams and visions, and wonderful experiences. " The influence of earlj Methodism was felt in the New World, in a quarter where, perhaps, it would be least looked for, and where it has been least recog- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 243 nized, — in founding and shaping new institutions of learning. "The great mass of the early preachers, unlike their first leaders, were not educated men, and scho- lastic training has not characterized the body of the itinerant ministry. " Princeton has held a low estimate of Methodist scholarship. Yet Whitefield was the friend and counsellor of the founders of Log College, their co- laborer in evangelistic work, took Gilbert Tennent along with him in his first visit to. Boston, and prayed and labored with them in the plans which resulted in the establishment of Princeton. Is it proof that the Tennents were Methodists, that Whitefield says that he and his sons are secretly despised _by the synod generally, as the Methodists are by the brethren in England? Samuel Davis, President of Princeton, was the friend and correspond- ent of Wesley, and when he, with Gilbert Tennent, visited England to secure funds for Princeton, he took counsel, and received encouragement and aid, from Wesley. " Dartmouth College received its title and a por- tion of its endowmeat from that distinguished mem- ber of the British Nobility and associate of Lady Huntingdon, and patron of Whitefield, and that Methodist, Lord Dartmouth. When his parish church at Chittenham had been closed against Whitefield by the rector, this Nobleman, with his family, stood in the crowded churchyard and lis- tened while Whitefield preached from a tombstone. 244 CENTENNIAL OP and afterwards entertained the preacher and his associates at his mansion, where the same evening Whitefield administered the Sacrament, and Talbot exhorted, and Venn closed the day with prayer and , thanksgiving. It was of Dartmouth that the Meth- odist poet, Cowper, wrote as — " ' One who wears a coronet and prays.' " It was to this same Lord Dartmouth, member of Lord North's cabinet, and Secretary for the Colonies, that Wesley addressed his remonstrance and plea for the American Colonists, calling them an oppressed people, asking for nothing more than their rights. " Doctrinally, there was Methodism before the Methodists. " If there be one doctrine which has been held and preached by Methodists with more persistence than another, it is that of the witness of the Spirit ; viz., that the Holy Spirit does make himself known to the human spirit, and does testify to the personal relationship of the soul to God. This is to the indi- vidual the final assurance of regeneration, without which there always lingers a doubt of personal accept- ance with God, which all obedience and faith cannot quite remove. The calm, following the struggle at the mourner's bench ; the joyful shout, following the tears and agony ; sprang from the assurance of the witnessing Spirit. This has been regarded as pecu- liarly Methodistic, and was originally exclusively so, and was by opponents denounced as fanatical, to be frowned upon and restrained. But the latest biog- NKW ENGLAND METHODISM. 245 rapher of Jonathan Edwards declares that 'the impulse of the Great Awakening was a theological conviction, which first took shape in Edwards's mind, — a belief in the immediate action of the Divine Spirit upon the human soul.' God was seen to hold as direct and immediate a relationship to the soul, as he held to the external world. (Allen, p. 134.) " This is said with reference to Edwards's earlier declaration of ' the Divine immanence, as constitut- ing the reality of the outward world,' and to his earlier philosophic dictum, that space is necessary, eternal, infinite, and omnipresent, and space is God (p. 44). The same writer says of Edwards's own conversion, that 'at this time neither the name (term) nor the process for which it stood were as familiar as they have since become.' Edwards is uncertain about his own spiritual condition, because he is uncertain what conversion requires or includes. "But, in the Great Awakening, this principle of direct and personal action of the Holy Spirit upon the soul, cognized by the soul, became the foundation of Edwards's doctrine of conversion. However this doctrine may have been latent in the teachings of Calvin, as the biographer of Edwards claims, he agrees that it had not been operative in the theology of the Reformed Churches. English and Scotch Cal- vinism received it from New England, where first was required a statement of experience, wrought by the Holy Spirit within the soul, as a condition of admis- sion to church membership. Nay, the same author suggests, erroneously, that Wesley caught, from the 246 CENTENNIAL OF reports of the Great Awakening, his first idea of the possibility of such a work in England, and notes that three months after his reading of these reports oc- curi-ed the first instances of 'bodily effects' under his preaching. " The significance of this requirement of personal witness of the Spirit is the plainer when we remem- ber that, heretofore, New England had not required that her ministry should be converted men, and that, later, Edwards was driven from his parish because he rejected the ' Half-way Covenant,' and required pro- fession of faith in Christ as a condition of admission to the Lord's Supper. "Even the doctrine of Christian perfection, or per- fect love, which perhaps more than any other teach- ing of Wesley has occasioned great reasoning among his followers, and great opposition from without, even this doctrine finds its examples in the. Great Awakening, and its defence in the writings of Edwards. " Of all the experiences recorded by Edwards, and used in proof of the divine power manifest in this work, none is more marked than that of Mrs. Ed- I wards. Mr. Edwards had not heard, nor had Mr. Wesley then proclaimed, the theory of a second divine work, following in Christian life upon an act of personal consecration, and an exercise of faith, for the cleansing of the heart from all sin, and the filling it with the fulness of love and peace. The doctrine, Methodistically stated, would not have fitted into the scheme of Edwards, and would have NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 247 been rejected by him as little less than blasphemous. Yet he describes, in the most particular manner, an experience of his wife, which would have been received in any of Mr. Wesley's societies, or among the adherents of Lady Huntingdon, as a clear case of sanctification. Nay, it can hardly be surpassed, for clear and full detail, by any instance among the saintly experiences recorded by Wesley. Mrs. Ed- wards, it must be remembered, was of excellent family. A woman of remarkable beauty and grace of person and manner, of rare womanly and intel- lectual power, thoroughly educated and trained in the best society in New Haven, of devout spirit and fully in sympathy with the work of her husband, for whom she had the most exalted admiration. " It was during the second Great Awakening at Northampton, or, rather, when its force was partly spent, and when there began to be symptoms of reaction and opposition, that she says, in a narrative written at the request of her husband, and published by him, that she was led to make a new and more thorough self-examination and self-consecration. She had before given up all to God, except on two points ; viz., her good name, and the esteem and love of her husband. In this new and complete consecration she found peace in the text, ' Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect ? ' And she declares, ' My safety and happiness and eternal enjoyment of God's immutable love seemed as unchangeable as God himself. " ' Melted and overcome by the sweetness of this 248 CENTENNIAL OP assurance, I fell into a great flow of tears, and could not forbear weeping aloud. The presence of God seemed so near and so real, that I seemed scarcely- conscious of anything else.' She sought to test the sincerity and completeness of her consecration, by the questions whether she would be willing to endure her husband's censure and displeasure ; whether she would be willing to have another minister surpass her husband in usefulness and honor, as God's instru- ment, even in his own parish, or to suffer the loss of the esteem of their people and be driven forth from the parish, if it were the will of God ; even whether she could submit to hell torments for a thousand years. By all these tests she found her- self absolutely surrendered to the will of God. Lis- tening to the preaching of the word she is filled with joy. Again and again, in meeting and at home, in company and alone, in private devotion and in social religious conversation, her bodily strength gives way under the stress of spiritual ecstasy. At different times she sinks helpless to the floor, she leaps invol- untarily to her feet, she lies faint with joy, over- whelmed with a sense of God's love. Mr. Edwards testifies to her bodily and mental health during all these experiences, to her carefulness in all domestic and social duties, and he calls her experience, ' the riches of full assurance.' He says that he saw many instances in Northampton and elsewhere of the same kind, though none so high in degree. "It ought to be noted, as perhaps an incident of her theological training, that Mrs. Edwards, not- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 249 withstanding her high experience, did not regard herself as free from sin, but was led by her clearer sight of the divine holiness to perceive more fully the sinfulness of her own heart ; and this notwith- standing that, so closely did she come to the divine, God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ seemed as distinct persons, both manifesting their inconceivable loveliness and mildness and gentleness, and their great and immutable love for her. There is nothing more striking than this in the seraphic rapture of Fletcher, or the ecstasy of Hester Ann Rogers. " Others, not of our communion, have claimed for Methodism a broader comprehension than we have here indicated. A distinguished minister and writer of the Presbyterian Church a few years ago wrote ; — " ' It is common to think of the Methodist Episco- pal Church as the Methodist Church of the country. It really represents only the Wesleyan type. The Calvinistic type is still dominant in the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Reformed Churches. Method- ism is, indeed, the dominant factor in American Christianity at the present time.' This he calls 'an earlier type of Methodism in America, which gained even greater triumphs for Christ and his Church a half-century before the Wesleyan type made any impression on the country.' The same writer calls Edwards ' the theologian of Methodism.' "Of course we must bear in mind that this view is taken from the Calvinistic side of Methodism, — the side which the American disciples of Mr. Wesley have scarcely recognized. But when we remember 250 CENTENNIAI, OF the efforts of Wesley to accommodate the differences with Whitefield, and to avoid the division among Methodists on the questions of election and perse- verance, and so to avoid the bitter war of words which followed, between the two factions, we may well question which would have been better for the world, union or separation. Possibly only a neutral party can justly measure the relative benefits to the world of these two Methodisms, — the stream of Wesleyan Methodism a great, strong, ever -increasing river, flowing between well-defined banks of polity and doctrines, with here and there a schismatic bayou, bursting through to find another outlet to the sea, or the great current of Calvinistic Methodism, which, never becoming a distinct river, poured its abundant waters into other -and older channels, making the flood-tides and overflowing banks and healthful streams of Presbyterian, Congregational, and Reformed Churches, and which makes this broad and inclusive Methodism the dominant factor in American Christianity, which may be said, in this sense, to embrace the whole of Evangelical Chris- tianity in America." The Chairman said: "Dr. Rogers, Secretary of the Committee, will say a word or two.' Dr. Rogers said : " We desired to have some representative women to speak on this platform. Miss Frances E. Willard was engaged to speak, but at a late hour, just as the Committee separated for the summer vacation, word was received from her that she would not be able to speak. Afterward the NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 251 Committee agreed to invite Miss Jane M. Bancroft, recently elected to a Professorship in the Ohio Wesleyan University, to fill the place, but the letter was not received by Miss Bancroft for some time. But at last, at a late day, she replied that she had not received the letter, and suggested that we have brief letters of five minutes from different women instead of speeches. Tliis suggestion was adopted. I will call on Dr. Crawford to read the letter from Mrs. Dr. George M. Steele, after which I have two or three brief letters to read." Dr. G. A. Crawford read the letter from Mrs. Dr. G. M. Steele ; Dr. C. S. Rogers read letters from Mrs. Bishop Newman and Miss Jane M. Bancroft, after which Rev. R. W. Allen pronounced the Bene- diction. H M OS > & Iz; o H 09 O n Q |zi b O CHAPTER VI. Thursday Afternoon. Epworth League session, Rev. W. I. Haven in the chair. The Chairman said : " Let us unite in singing the third hymn : ' Blest be the tie that binds.' " The Chairman said : " We will be led in prayer by the Rev. Dr. N. T. Whitaker, of Chestnut Street Church, Portland, Me." After prayer, the Chairman said : " Arminian Meth- odism really began when the mother of the founder of our Church was converted from Calvinism through the power of both human affection and divine convic- tion. In her household she trained up her boys and girls in the knowledge and the love of God, and in the fear of His righteousness. And out of that household sprang that broad and generous movement of which we are a part. And into the life of that movejuent, within a hundred years, has come the consolidation of all the different young people's societies existing in our Church, forming an organization which bears the beautiful name of the old rectory where our founder was born. " The work of this organization is six-fold : It looks after its finances, has its treasury, and a committee C253J 254 CENTENNIAL OF for that purpose. It looks after its correspondence, and has its secretaries and officers for that purpose. Its prime work is the work of spiritual, aggressive revivalism. (Amen !) I know of no Chapter that does not hold a weekly young people's prayer meet- ing. There may he a few such, but they are few. And I know of many who have been persuaded to give themselves to Jesus by the influence of these young people's Epworth League prayer meetings, who have thus been drawn into the Church, to its altars and its services. First of all, ahead of every- thing, conspicuous above everything else, is this department of Christian activity. But the League also stands for all that effort for which Mr. Wesley stood, and which we as a Church have heartily main- tained. The League has its literary department, its department of mercy and help, its department for Christian entertainment of those who need recreation as well as intellectual culture and the sympathy of mutual service. In all this land this movement is endeavoring to carry on the work of God through our common Methodism. " And let me say here that the ideas and ideals of this League were not taken from any other organiza- tion whatever, but sprang up out of our own life, and have been developed out of our own work. The pledge came away back, years ago, from a camp meet- ing out in Illinois, where the Holy Spirit was poured out upon some young people, and they bound them- selves together to carry on the work of their Master. And the different movements have taken shape and NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 255 united together from a sort of spontaneous generation of the work of the Holy Spirit, poured out upon our young men and women and their helpers. It is not a young man's work. It is not a young woman's work. It is preparing the Church for work when, side by side, brothers and sisters, they will carry on the whole work of the Church in all its different departments. " Last night I was kept awake to a late hour by the sound of the beating of drums, and the music from brass instruments, and the tramping of feet, and the flashing lights on the window-pane, of the moving torches. And when I rose to see what was going on, and noticed that those who were playing the instru- ments were striplings, and those who marched in the procession were nothing but boys, mj'' curiosity was excited, until I was told it was the marching of the Sons of Veterans, from our suburban towns. And I said, ' These Epworth Leagues gather together the sons and daughters of veterans, of men and women who have supported and been consecrated for the name of the Lord Jesus, and whose great Captain is on high, and under whose banner and obedient to whose call they mean to g^, forth for the winning of souls unto righteousness and the joys of true holiness.' "It is my privilege to introduce as speaker, this afternoon, one of our chief shepherds, who has led us always in the right way, and whose voice we will all be glad to hear as an inspiration, as he speaks of the ' Missionary Enthusiasm of Methodism ' — Bishop W. F. Mallalieu." 256 CENTENNIAL OF Bishop Mallalieu said : " Some years ago I was in Epworth, in England, and I saw the buildings of the place were around a cross roads. And I noticed that, at the intersection of the roads, was an old stone cross, which they told me was eight hundred years old, or more. And futher, they said that John Wes- ley, when, from time to time, he visited his old home, would stop from whatever direction he came, mount- ing the pedestal upon which this stone cross stands, and would tarry long enough to preach one of his gospel sermons, and then hasten on his journey. To my mind, in some sense, that serves as an illustration of the theme for our consideration at the present moment : 'Methodism as a Mission Foece.' " The past of Methodism is secure. It has outlived the period of youth and experiment. It has risen above prejudice and contempt. It has overcome opposition and persecution. It occupies to-day a position of the vastest importance, and most com- manding influence : — " ' See how great a flame aspires, • Kiudled by a spark of grace ; Jesus' love tlie nations fires, Sets the kingdoms on a blaze. " More and more it spreads and grows, Ever mighty to prevail ; Sin's strongholds it now o'erthrows, Shakes the trembling gates of Hell.' " Methodism is, and always has been, a mission force, because of the personality of its founder. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 257 " Every great movement of humanity has back of it a personality. " We shall best understand the movement, if we study the personality. " The greatest religious movement of modern times is represented by Methodism. The personality of John Wesley is stamped upon Methodism. " Methodism is the creation of Wesley. ' He em- bodied in himself not this or that side of the vast movement, but the very movement itself.' * For more than fifty years ; or, rather, from the year of his own entrance upon a conscious experience of pardon, until his death, his hand guided, his counsels controlled, and his will directed the development of Methodism. " ' Few things in ecclesiastical history are more striking than the energy and the success with which he propagated his opinions. He was gifted with a frame of iron, and with spirits that never flagged.' f " He was intense in his convictions, was fearless to the utmost degree, and possessed a high and holy purpose as changeless as fate. " The best and truest blood of England was in his veins. Its type was illustrated by one of his own kindred in the fateful field of Waterloo. The Duke of Wellington, in not a few respects, was like John Wesley. " The mother of Wesley, one of the noblest women that ever trod this earth, transmitted to her son her own exalted spirituality, thoroughly mingled with practical Saxon common sense. * Greene. t Lecky, 258 CENTENNIAL OP " Wesley possessed, to an extraordinary degree, mastership of men, and the capability of organiza- tion. He knew by intuition how to adapt means to ends. He had all the essential qualities of superb leadership. "But it took many long, weary years of training to fit him for his work. Moses needed forty years in the schools of Egypt, and forty more in the deserts of Arabia, before he was prepared to lead God's people out of bondage, and build them up into a nation. " It cost Martin Luther a score or more of years of conflict, study, doubt, and arduous toil before he was ready to lead humanity out of the thraldom and darkness of Romish superstitions. " When John Wesley was thirty years old, there were only few, if any, of his age in England who were his equals in scholarship, and he continued to be a student as long as he lived. " One writer says of him, at the age of twenty-one : ' He is a sensible and acute collegian, baffling every man by the subtleties of his logic, and laughing at them for being so easily routed ; a young fellow of the finest classical taste, of the most liberal and manly sentiments.' " But while thus talented and accomplished, he was passing through the severest spiritual trials. God let him grope in darkness for many years, that he might, all the more surely, lead the blind. God let him bear heavy burdens, that he might more fully sympathize with despairing souls and crushed humanity. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 259 "The Pentecostal Church received the command to go into all the world and preach the gospel, before they received the baptism of the Holy Ghost and the enduement of power. So in the soul of John Wesley was begotten the mission spirit, long be- fore he found the joy of salvation, through simple faith. " It was this inward monition that sent him, while yet he lingered amid the delights of glorious Oxford, out among the poor and neglected ; it wa-s this which sent him to the almshouses and the prisons to help the poorest, and cheer, and instruct, and save the vilest. It was this which sent him out to the wilds of the new settlements in Georgia, to labor for the salvation of hard-hearted and godless men and women. "When, therefore, the power of God's saving grace reached his heart, it is no wonder that he cried out, ' The world is my parish.' It is no wonder that he plaimed ' to spread scriptural holiness over all lands.' " Hence I say that the personality of John Wes- ley, which was the personality of blood, of he- redity, of scholai'ship, of experience, of deathless purpose to win this world for Clirist, this per- sonality impressing itself upon Methodism has made it a mighty mission force, and further, every real, and genuine spiritual son of Wesley bears the stamp of his personality; and so this force has multiplied and intensified as the years have rolled along. 260 CENTENNIAL OP " ' He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat; O, be swift, my soul, to answer him ; be jubilant my feet; Our God is marching on.' " Methodism is a mission force because of its purpose. ^ It most profoundly believes that this world, in due time, is to be brought into subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every real Methodist feels this in his soul. " Methodism believes that the conflict of the ages will never cease till He whose right it is shall reign ; till His dominion shall extend over all the earth, breaking in pieces and consuming all opposing forces. " The trumpet-bearing angel of the King of kings has never yet been created, that shall sound a retreat to call off the militant host of God from the embat- tled fields of earth. And so Methodism aligns itself with all holy angels, and with the triune God for the conquest and salvation of this redeemed world. And this purpose makes Methodism a dauntless mission force. " Again, the doctrines of Methodism logically in- volve the ideas of expansion, of universality, of adaptation, and of ultimate acceptance by all right- thinking men. " Methodism teaches for doctrine, the universality of the redemptive work of Christ, and so the uncon- ditional salvation of all who have not wilfully transgressed the law of God. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 261 " It teaches that every man has a fair chance in this life. ' For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being under- stood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they [the heathen] are without excuse.' '• Calvinism can have no post-mortem, or any other probation, in this world, nor in any other. Metho- dism needs no post-mortem probation, since the awards of judgment are based on righteousness and not on caprice. "Methodism stands in the presence of fallen and lost humanity, and shouts, and sings with tones of a boundless love and triumphant faith. " ' Ye who have sold for naught, Your heritage above, Shall have it back unbought, The gift of Jesus' love; The year of jubilee is come, Return, ye ransomed sinners, home.' " ' O, for a trumpet voice. On all the world to call, To bid their hearts rejoice On Him who died for all ; For all my Lord was crucified ; For all, for all, my Saviour died.' " With a complete atonement, so complete that no soul of man has ever been, or ever will be, left out, with an all-including invitation, it follows logically that every soul that comes to God in penitence and faith, will find pardon, peace, comfort, joy, the witness of the Spirit to the fact of his adoption; and, if the light be followed, and duty done ; and if 262 CENTENNIAL 01* consecration be renewed, and all-inclusive ; and if faith be steadfast, then the soul will come to know the uttermost salvation, the deliverance from the guilt, the power, and the pollution of sin; will come, indeed, to know that perfect love which is the fulfilment of the two greatest commandments, and the antepast of heaven. "The common sense of humanity knows that a heaven and a hell are necessities of the moral govern- ment of a just and holy God. " And then follows the question ; How maj^ we make the most of life ? How escape the doom of the impenitent and incorrigible ? How gain the blissful home of the pure and the holy ? "Methodism, standing on the plane of humanity, opens the door of hope, by the authority of God's word, to every soul of man ; offers to him a consist- ent and rational theology that can be worked out experimentally, with the results already indicated. No wonder that a very hungry world listens with gladness, and accepts such an evangel. No wonder that Methodism is a mission force. " Finally, the outcome of a hundred and fifty years shows that Methodism is a mission force. The Methodist members on earth number over six mil' lions ; all told, members and constituent members, more than thirty millions. " The victorious banners of Methodism float in all zones, and in all longitudes. Led on by men of mighty faith and impetuous zeal, the Methodist preachers have gone forth to win immortal triumphs NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 263 in all lands. They have gone to toil with equal loyalty and devotion beneath the burning sun of the tropics, and the chilling frosts of the icy north. And ever from their lips, as they onward press, we hear theory, '^ plus ultra,' — more beyond, — and on they go to conquer the whole world for Jesus. " Surely the record of what has been dared and done in the first century and a half of Methodism, proves it to be a magnificent, God-inspired mission force. " The glorious past ought to make every Methodist of to-day an enthusiast for his cause, his Church, his Christ. If each one of us can come to feel the touch of thirty millions, if each one of us can in- carnate in himself the swing of conquest, and the inspiration of victory, then, indeed, shall the future be grander than the past, and God's recording angels shall be kept busy with wilting down the new and multiplied achievements that shall usher in- the glory of the millennial morning. " On earth, or in heaven, may we all be ready to celebrate, with all the angelic hosts, the ultimate coronation of our Lord Jesus Christ." The Chairman said : " When Jesse Lee preached upon Boston Common he knelt upon a table, gave out his text, sang a hymn, and there is no doubt, though it is not recorded, that he ' took a collection.' It has been deemed wise by those who have managed this enterprise to have no collections taken here at all, and the expenses are all borne by private offer- ings. But it is deemed proper that these exercises should not close without our having an opportunity 264 CENTENNIAL OF to put our hands in our pockets and give something to help keep the name of Jesse Lee as fair in the far north-west of our country as when Jesse Lee came here in the north-east. Brother Taylor will say a word, and we will take an offering." Rev. Bro. E. M. Taylor said : " You have made the very speech that I would have made. It has seemed that we have had such a hallelujah time in our history, bringing out the results of our founder's work, that we ought to be ashamed to go away sim- ply enjoying for ourselves ; and if that old hero could join us, he would say, ' Put your hands In your pockets and carry on, in another part of the world, something that bears my name.' " There is, in Alaska, a Home bearing the name of Jesse Lee, for the purpose of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to those people, as it was done here a hundred years ago. And would it not be a good thing for this meeting to take a collection, and give it in that direction? Two things are wanted there, the room to be furnished for the purpose of bringing scholars together in a mission school, and the furnishings. A teacher is waiting to go, if the funds can be raised. She has entered her name on that list. The speech I have to make is this — an appeal in the name of the memory of that old hero whom we celebrate to-day, and in the hope that this specified work may be carried on." (Brethren were appointed to take the collection, and about forty dol- lars were received). The Chairman said : — " Sometime we may have the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 265 opportunity to attend a Methodist celebration in Alaska, if you will only get it well started. Let us rise and sing number eleven : ' Jesus shall reign where e'er the sun.' " The Chairman said : — " There is one story ot Jesse Lee that I have not heard told in this Convention. It seems to me it is proper for it to be mentioned now. It is said that when he was coming up here into New England he brought a Virginia preacher along with him, in order that the people might see what eloquent workmen they had in that section of the country. And on the way he told this Virgin- ian preacher that the New Englanders were very scrupulous to have all the food that they provided eaten up ; it was a sort of rule in a New England house that whatever was put on the plate must be eaten. And then he also told the people where he stopped, that this gentleman from Virginia was a very modest man, and a very big eater, and that he would always say, 'I do not want any more,' but that he should be supplied without any further remark. So when the meal time came, and they were sitting, the host at the head, Mr. Lee upon one side, and the Virginia gentleman on the other, the host helped the gentleman very bountifully, and before he finished, suggested that he should have something more. He paid no attention to his declin- ing, but filled up his plate a second time. When he got through the second plate, the host tried it again, and, in spite of the protestations, the plate was 266 centenniaij of bountifully filled the third time. And before he got to the end of that third plate, he said, ' Courtesy or no courtesy, I can't eat any more.' And he went back thoroughly satisfied that New England was not proverbially niggardly. "Our programme shows that we are liberal pro- viders. And now I have the pleasure of introduc- ing Dr. S. F. Upham. He is to speak of the ' Heroic Element in Early Methodism.' I might almost say it is to be an address on the heroes by one of them, for he has gone out from us, from the pleas- ant pastorates of Boston, Lynn, and Springfield, to labor in the wilds of New Jersey, and bring to Christ some of the theologues there." The Heroic Element in Eaely Methodism. " We all believe in heroes. Even Carlyle, churlish and arrogant, said that he believed in heroes, and wrote in his clumsy way concerning hero-worship. The truth is, we are so made that deeds of genuine self- forgetfulness commend themselves to instant admira- tion. ' By an instinct sure and swift,' says a great writer, 'we know when a human soul rises to the grandeur of a rare occasion.' Nor are we quicker to see than to acknowledge this sublimity. Praise is as spontaneous as it is generous. Paul is at Miletus. He is no longer young. He is Paul the aged. Send- ing for the Ephesian elders, he addresses them. He has had a sad presentiment and expresses it. He is confident that bonds and imprisonment await him, but he declares, ' none of these things move me, neither NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 267 count I my life dear unto myself, so that I may fin- ish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.' " Now it is immaterial whether you consider Paul as a fanatic, or as speaking the words of truth and sober- ness; no one can stand in the midst of that weeping assembly, and look upon the face of that man, and listen to his resolute words, without a generous glow of admiration. " On Bunker Hill, now within the corporate limits of this old city, stands a tall granite shaft. What is its meaning? It stands there to com- memorate the deed of the ' embattled farmers,' who, with pick-axe and spade, and within hearing of the ' All's well ' of the British soldiers on Copp's Hill, were on the morrow to strike a blow for human liberty, which should be felt throughout the world and to the •end of time. No American can visit that spot without emotion, for that sultry June day witnessed deeds of heroism as grand as this world has ever seen. " So, too, those books that recite the achievement of heroism are the favorites of our leisure hours. " ' The hero or heroine,' says Professor Lipscomb of Vanderbilt University, ' is the illuminated centre whence the lustre streams over the page.' This charm draws the student to Plutarch, enlists his intensest sympathy with Joan of Arc, and stirs a Christian with emotions over 'Fox's Book of Martyrs.' 268 ^ CENTEKNIAl, OF " Who can read the story of that most illustrious American, General Grant, without admiration? It is autobiographical, and this is well. " Emerson says, ' Every man's biography is at his own expense. He furnishes not only the facts, but the report. I mean that all biography is autobiog- raphy. It is only what he tells of himself that has come to be known and believed.' " Grant was great when he led the armies of the Republic and crushed an infernal rebellion. He was great when he stood at Appomattox and received, with quiet dignity, the sword of the chief Confederate general. He was great, when, during the years of the darkness and confusion of reconstruction, he brought out the nation into a large and wealthy place ; but he was greatest, when, having received more honors, in the old world and in the new, than ever came to any other military captain in the world's history ; when, having lost all his prop- erty through the rascality of others, and when, feeling the cold hands of death clutching at his throat, he sat down to write the story of his life, that those whom he loved might not be left in poverty. " That life, embodying all that was noble in patriot- ism and lovely in virtue, evincing an utter absorp- tion of all interests in the holy one of his country, is, and will forever be, an inspiration to heroic endeavor. "To-day we have to do with another class of heroes, but none the less real or great. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 269 " 'Not from the battle fields, Borne on their battered shields, By foes o'ercome; But from a Sterner fight In the defence of right, Clothed in the conquer's might We hail them, true.' " There never were grander heroes than the early- Methodists. And there are no deeds recorded on the pages of human history more chivalrous or valiant than theirs. Indeed, Methodism is a record of moral heroism, unsurpassed in any age of the Church. Their heroism showed itself in several ways. " 1. In their self-denial. This element certainly enters into all genuine heroism. There is an abandon- ment of care, pleasure, everything, to a higher purpose. "Milton expressed the thought when he said, ' Whoever would write a great poem, must make his life a poem.' And he lived up to his standard. " Agassiz refused to accept a large sum of money, for a course of lectures, saying that he could not leave his work to make money. " In this sentiment, the great scientist did not affect to despise money. None knew its use or appreciated its advantages more than he, but he felt that he must forego the pleasures of the acquisition and possession of wealth, that he might devote himself to one purpose in life. " Now the early Methodists gave up the world. They gave a most emphatic and affirmative answer to the question, — ' Dost thou renounce the devil 270 CENTENNIAL OF and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, with all the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow or be led by them ? ' " They did, indeed, 'renounce the world.' They became singular in the world ; yet they lived above it. They gave up all ; yet they gained all. " Let me be understood. Those early Methodists were not monks, nor monkish. Theie was nothing mediaeval about them. A favorite hymn with them was this : — " ' Not in the tombs we pine to dwell, Not in the dark monastic cell, By bars and grates confined. Freely to all ourselves we give, Constrained by Jesus love to live The servants of mankind.' " There is an impression among some that those old Methodists were ascetics. They did not visit the theatre, indeed they did not, and they were not always whining around because they could not go. This is true — but they were happy — for they 'enjoyed religion.' I have heard it said that they were Puritans. Far be it from me, in this presence, and in this New England metropolis, to say a word which by any possibility can be construed as a reflection upon the purity of motive, the nobility of character which belonged to those noble men, known in English and American history as Puritans. " They believed in the free state, the free school, and the free church. Here on these bleak and inhospit-. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 271 able shores, they set up the standard of Christianity, they opened the broad pathway of knowledge, and this wilderness and solitary place was glad for them. " Still it must be said, their type of piety was not attractive. They lived chiefly in the shadow of Sinai, amid its thunders and awful voices. They had come ' unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire,' and, as in the olden time, so terrible was the sight, that they did ' exceedingly fear and quake.' " But those early Methodists had ' come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable com- pany of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.' " Methodism was a joyous religion. Its unceasing song was : — " ' O how happy are they Who their Saviour obey. ' " A happier set of mortals never lived than those early Methodists. They abounded in good cheer, and sometimes, out of the most scanty materials, created a world of sunshine. They understood the true philosophy of human life ; they were in the world, but not of it ; they used the world, but lived above it ; they were dignitaries of a kingdom to 272 CENTENNIAL OP which this world contains no equal. Princes of the blood royal were their inferiors, for they felt that they were lifted into a sacred alliance with Jesus Christ. The World (not the outward, beautiful, natural world), but that moral world, in which the spirit of evil reigns, — that world 'they gave up, and scorned to strive with the potsherds, for they had a better and more enduring substance. " They seemed singular, and provoked contempt, but what cared they? Intimidated they never were. " Their self-denial appears in another form, namely, in the plan which they adopted for carrying their joyous type of Christianity to them who knew it not. I refer to the itinerancy. " Dr. Buckley, in an able article in the Methodist Review, on this subject, published a few years ago, said : — - ' If there had never been such a constitution as that now existing in the Methodist Episcopal Church ; if such a plan of ministerial distribution had been brought out in theory, and submitted for acceptance or rejection, without previous successful experiment, there is no reason to suppose that one vote in a thousand would be given for its adoption.' " The thought is a true one, and well expressed. "The system in the early times bore with special severity upon the preachers and their families. The circuits were largS ; the distances from point to point were accomplished with great hardship ; the parsonages few, and none of them furnished; the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 273 salaries small and irregularly paid. But the weary itinerant pushed on over the hills of our New England, and through the snows of our rigorous winter, singing as he went : — • " ' The love of Christ doth me constrain, To seek the wandering souls of men, By tears, eutreaiies, groans to save, And snatch them from a gaping grave.' " History furnishes nothing to compare with it. Said DeCourcy: 'Armies are marched over the world at the command of rulers, but for the officer there is authority, and for (he common soldier there is the court martial, and -for both, bread as motive for moving with the column.' " Romanism has created a hierarchy that obeys, but the priests are reduced to automatons in the grip of the iron system. But Methodist itinerants, waking the echoes of the primitive forests with their songs, were not machines, but men, holding in abeyance abstract rights, for the greater glory of God. " Father Scarlett, in the early years of his ministry, married a couple, a young man who had inherited a farm, and one of the finest young ladies in the charge. Their prospects for life, as they started out together, were exceedingly bright. This j^oung man, however, soon acquired the habit of drinking, and things went on from bad to worse. At last he mortgaged his farm to the tavern keeper, and, after a few years, unable to pay the interest on the mortgage, the tavern keeper foreclosed and took the farm. The man's Avife had been compelled to separate from him. He was a poor, 274 CENTENNIAL OP wretched, miserable drunkard. One bitter cold night when he had been to the tavern, somebody had treated him, he staggered out and fell in the snow, and in the morning was found frozen to death by the roadside. " It happened that this Father Scarlett was stationed in the neighborhood, and was sent for to attend the funeral. He knew the circumstances. To his aston- ishment, the tavern keeper was master of ceremonies, and came in with the widow, and took his seat at her side at the head of the coffin, and motioned to Father Scarlett that it was time to begin. The old hero stood up and said : ' The man who is in his coffin here to- day, my friends, was murdered. Usually when a murder is committed, the murderer flees before the face of avenging justice. But in this case things are changed. He is here, and is the master of ceremo- nies, and sits right there,' pointing right to him. The man was stunned, and hardly dared to say a word. Then the old gentleman recounted the circumstances ; told the story ; offered a word of prayer, and closed the services. Somebody said to Mr. Scarlett; 'You've got him mad with you; he is terribly angry, and is swearing vengeance on you.' He said, ' I have simply done iny duty, I can take care of myself.' " The next morning, as he went out to the barn to take care of his horse, he saw the tavern keeper com- ing up. Said he, 'Mr. Scarlett, do you think there is any salvation for any such fellow as I am ? ' ' That depends upon circumstances.' ' What must I do ? ' ' The first thing you must do is to go down to your NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 276 tavern stand and go out of that infernal business.' 'I'll do it. I made up my mind to do that. I haven't slept a wink all night.' ' There is another thing you must do. You must restore to that widow that farm you have stolen.' ' Well,' he said, ' I don't know about that.' 'Well,' said the old man, 'You will be damned as sure as there's a hell if you don't do it. There's no hope for you. You have got to make res- titution.' And, after thinking it over a little while, with streaming eyes he said, 'I will do it.' Then Father Scarlett said, 'Let us go into the house where it is warm ; ' and there he ' prayed him through.' And in the judgment of charity he lived a Christian life and died forgiven. " But it required pluck. It was really great to do that thing. And when you are making up your list of heroes, it will not do to leave such a man off. " Not far away from the station, on the Old Colony Railroad, in the town of Norton, Mass., in a lonely grave-3'^ard, may be seen a lonely grave, marked by a plain head-stone. A hero sleeps in that grave. A young man whose name was Zadoc Priest, a native of Connecticut, converted under the labors of Lee and Asbury, soon heard the divine call to preach. He was sent to the old New London circuit. He was but twenty-five years of age, slender in form, and the exposure of that awful winter planted in him the seeds of disease. The following year he was sent to the Warren circuit. He reached the home of Father Newcomb and said, 'I have come here to die.' He lingered a few weeks, and then in holy 276 CENTENNIAL OF triumph, with the shout of a conqueror, ascended to a throne. He was the first Methodist preacherHo fall on New England soil, and his sepulchre is with us to this day. A hero he was, and when he went up, received the glad ' All hail ! ' from those whose faces see God. " Another illustration : Bishop Soule was holding a conference in one of the Southern States. There was an appointment in a certain malarious district, where, for several successive years, the preachers sent to the charge had died. But there were human beings living there, needing the gospel, and some- body must go and proclaim it to them. The Bishop fixed his mind upon a certain bright, healthy young man, and determined to send him. The closing session of the conference came. The old hymn was sung, as only Methodist Preachers can sing : — ' And let our bodies part.' " The Bishop announced the fatal circuit, and coupled with it the young man's name. He sprang instantly to his feet, and his face aglow with enthu- siasm, exclaimed, 'Bishop, I'll go, and thank God that I have any appointment.' He went and died. " One other illustration: Elijah Hedding, our Elijah Hedding, was no ordinary man. Dr. Burton, in his Yale lectures, caUs him 'the great Bishop Hedding.' Indeed, he was a man of no ordinary abilities, a preacher of remarkable clearness of thought, and a scholar of no mean attainments. " Referring, not long before his death, to the first ten KEW ENGLAHD METHODISM. 277 years of his ministry, he said, ' All the pay I received for those first ten years was $450, or an average of $45 a year. One year I received on my circuit, exclu- sive of travelling expenses, #3.25.' Did he speak complainingly of all this? Let the old hero answer: ' I had been fiftj' years and one month in the ministry before my health gave way. I have suffered a great deal, have been persecuted, the most abusive and slanderous stories have been circulated against me ; men have come to my meetings armed with clubs, intending to assault me ; but if I had fifty lives, and each afforded me an opportunity for fifty years' labor, I would cheerfully employ them all in the same, blessed cause, and, if need be, would suffer the same privations.' May my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I ever cease to revere the memory of such heroes. " Then heroism manifested itself ; " 2. In their undaunted courage. They were of the stuff of which martyrs are made. " They feared neither man nor the devil. Having put off the ' old man,' they did not put on the old woman. Some of the old preachers were good speci- mens of 'muscular Christianity.' None of them subscribed to the doctrine of Pascal, that ' disease is the natural state of Christians.' They did not proclaim their own dyspeptic musings, and walk around like moving gravestones. They were hale, hearty, natural men and women. " They believed in the Church militant, and some- timeSj.when under stress, interpreted that phrase with 278 CENTENNIAL OF considerable literalness. At camp meetings, when the wicked came in like a flood, the wicked have been known to tremble and fall; while the saints demonstrated beyond a question, that the power to cast out devils still remained in the Church. " There was a sturdiness about those old preachers which commands our admiration. They aimed, in every sermon or address, to accomplish something. They were seldom circumlocutory. It was not hard to understand them. They called things by their right names. They wielded a sledge hammer, and 'a sledge-hammer cannot always measure its touch like a graver's tool.' "But more than this. To be a Methodist, here in New England, one hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago, meant much 'more than it "does to-day. Then to be a Methodist meant social ostracism and contempt. " In 1809, Elijah Hedding was appointed Presiding Elder of the New London District. The district was territorially large, but pecuniarily small. To accomodate himself as bgst he could, Mr. Hedding fixed his place of residence in a certain town in Hampden County in this State, There was, at that time, a law in force in the State, providing that when a stranger moved into a place, if the authorities of the town warned him to leave it, and he did not, and afterward became a pauper, the town was not obliged to support him, but the expense of his sup- port fell upon the State. Now a ' vagrant Methodist preacher, ' as they termed Mr. Hedding, moved into NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 279 town. They knew he would be a pauper, so it was proposed to ' warn him out of town.' The proposi- tion, however, though seriously entertained, was not carried into effect, and the poor ' vagrant ' was allowed to remain. " It is true, gloriously true, that Methodism here in New England, as in almost every other place, began with the poor. They flocked to our altars as doves to their windows. But that very fact, which was and is the fflor^ of Methodism, kept away the aristocratic and fashionable, who went in large numbers to. the established churches, and thanked God that they were not as other men are, especially those Methodists. " When Lee entered Boston, in 1790, a wide-spread apostasy from the faith of Puritanism had already taken place. There was, indeed, at that time no open schism in the Puritan body, for the clergy moved very slowly and cautiously. Their aim was to inculcate a total indifference to all religious doctrine. Confessions of faith were deemed of no importance. The clergy freely mingled at ordinations. The sermon might be strictly orthodox, and the charge to the clergyman loosely heterodox. " In the pulpit of the ' Old South ' stood the Rev. Dr. Eckly, a man of deep learning and charming eloquence, but adrift on a stormy sea of doubt. " The Rev. James Freeman was the pastor of King's Chapel, once the aristocratic church of the Anglican Establishment. He stood high in social position, had excellent taste, and fair talents, and, with a 280 CENTENNIAL OE* cultured voice, read the liturgy, from which, how- ever, all prayers to Jesus, and the Trinitarian Doxologies, had been carefully taken out. " Time fails me to speak in detail of the other pulpits of this metropolis, when the unheralded stranger, Jesse Lee, took his stand on Boston Common. Suffice it to say that, of the twelve Puritan Churches in this city, in 1790, only one maintained its adher- ence to the doctrines of the Westminster Confession. " There were two men, — be their names spoken with reverence, — Dr. Samuel Stillman, and Dr. Thomas Baldwin, pastors of the Baptist Churches, who boldly proclained the evangelical doctrines. They sowed in tears, and but for Christ in despair. The good seed fell in sterile soil, and seemed to mock the hope of a resurrection. " It was not, ie it remembered, with the sterner features of Calvinism that Lee and his co-laborers here, in this city, had to contend, but with a form of Christianity, negative in its teachings, and out of which had been taken- the central trust of the faith, viz: forgiveness of sins through faith in a divine and atoning Saviour. " Thirteen years after the coming of Lee, there came to Boston another man, and his coming marks an era in the ecclesiastical annals of this city. "William Ellery Channingwas a man preeminently endowed, of wide culture and fervid eloquence. He was not an iconoclast, striking right and left, but of gentle disposition, and, at the beginning of his ministry, disposed to be conservative. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 281 "He hated Calvinism as cordially as Jesse Lee, but, unlike him, made his fiercest attacks upon the doctrine of the deity of our Lord. " Says a writer on the Unitarian controversy, — ' Dr. Channing was the forerunner of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who talked about the divinity of humanity, invested Jesus with a transcendental halo, and proclaimed himself a seer, of Theodore Parker, versatile, eloquent, who denied the supernatural, of O. A. Bromeson, brilliant, somewhat vacillating, but possessed of a strong religious nature, which led him to say to Dr. Channing ; ' My heart and my soul cry out for a religion which has a mediator in it.' And three days after joined the Roman Catholic Church.' " Dr. Channing was cotemporary with Elijah Hed- ding, whom he probably never saw, if indeed he ever heard his name. It was a long way from Federal street to Methodist alley. "If, on some Sunday evening, after the crowds which filled Federal Street Church had gone out, Dr. Channing had gone down to the little humble chapel, he would have found a master of exposi- tion and argument in the pulpit, and he would have found the chapel filled with a hearty, happy com- pany of worshippers, who expressed, in warm and holy song, their faith as it regarded Calvinism, in these words : — " ' Lord, I believe were sinners more Tlian sands upon tlie ooean sliore, Tiiou liast for all a ransom paid, For all a full atonement made.' 282 CENTENNIAL OF " And as it regarded the Boston apostasy, in these words : — " ' The Holy, meek, unspotted Lamb, Who from the Father's bosom came, Who died for me, e'en me to atone. Now for my Lord and God I own.' " Lee and his associates were not persecuted in Boston. Boston had too much politeness for that — they were just let alone. At their first coming, no hospitable homes were opened, but they were made to feel the sting of scornful contempt. ' Who is Jesse Lee ? ' was the question doubtless often asked, in this modern Athens, and with an intonation very significant. ' Did he ever tarry at Cambridge ? ' And ' Who is this company of people, worshipping at the North End, noisy, enthusiastic, and talking always about ' Experiencing religion? ' " I submit, it took men and women of nerve, of gen- uine heroism, to withstand such opposition ; and such heroes were the early Methodists, that, despite the sneering and the frowning, they boldly pro- claimed their belief in the Divine Man, on whose brow were thorn-marks, and in whose hands were nail-prints, and by the faith of whom, they received a peace and a holy joy, which made them invincible. " Brothers and Sisters of the Epworth League ! Cherish the memory of your heroes ! Never be ashamed of that zeal, that divine fire that made luminous the path the fathers trod, and that flamed and glowed around them, as they passed from earth to heaven. Never be guilty of speaking lightly of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 283 the cradle of piety in which you have been rocked. — Be Methodist Epis9opaliaus — broad, intelligent, loyal. Believe in your traditions. Recognize in Methodism a great evangelistic movement, with which the hope and destiny of this Republic are closely linked. " Give no cowardly and equivocal attachment to the Church. Say with the heroic spirit of the fathers and mothers of our Communion, ' This people shall be my people. I am with them in the song and prayer, with them around the altar where souls are converted and made happy ; with them amid the cry of the penitent, and the shouts of the people ; with them amid the Pentecostal thunders of the revival, and hope to be with them forever, where many millions pour forth a volume of praise, louder than the roar of the ocean, or the voice of the storm.'" The Chairman said : " I am trying to think of some- thing suitable to sandwich in between the dullness of this speech just delivered, and the address of our brother, who comes from the city with its twenty- story buildings. I ran across an incident in refer- ence to Phillips Brooks. Mr. Brooks has a friend in Philadelphia, by the name of McVickar, who is a little taller than he is, and these two gentleman, together with a third who measures over six feet, went to Europe together. On the way over, one said to the other, ' I am a little sensitive about our all three being so big, and perhaps when we go together to any meeting, we had better separate, so as not to be so conspicuous.' They came to the city 284 CENTENNIAL OS' of Leeds, and there they saw it announced that a gentleman from America would speak to the work- ing people of Leeds about folks seen in America, and about American institutions. So they went, and they sat in different parts of the house. After the lec- turer had been going on for some little time, he said : ' One of the peculiar characteristics of Americans is, as in the case of the Japanese, that they are below the ordinary stature. He . could not understand it, but the American people as a whole, were rather small people. And, now, if there happens to be any American person present, will he rise?' Up got Mr. Brooks, who said, ' I am from America, and I am over six feet in height.' 'And perhaps,' said Mr. Brooks, ' there may be some other American here.' When up got Mr. Robinson, who said, 'I, too, am from America.' And by that time the audi- ence was convulsed, and the lecturer, of course, non- plussed. When Mr. Robinson said, 'There may be some other one from the States.' When up got Mr. McVickar, who said, ' I am six feet, four inches tall,' and he fairly overthrew the orator's remarks. " Now the Epworth people are young people, yet 'our programme is a pretty tall programme, and the best of it is still to come from our brother, Rev. Dr. F. M. Bristol." Rev. Dr. Bristol said : " Beloved Methodists of New England : I have three pictures in my mind whenever Boston is mentioned ; pictures painted in indelible colors by the instruction of my early years. One is that of Daniel Webster delivering his oration NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 285 at the laying of the corner stone of Bunker Hill Monument. Another is the picture of Joseph Warren climbing through the window into the Old South Church, and delivering his brave denouncement of standing armies in time of peace. The other is the picture of that Methodist itinerant, Jesse Lee, under the Old Elm on Boston Common, singing the song and preaching the sermon that laid the founda- tions of New England Methodism. Now, it is not disparaging the brave utterances of Joseph Warren, nor the eloquence of Daniel Webster, to say that Boston and New England owe more to that sermon under the Old Elm than they owe to that address in the Old South Church, or to that classic oration on Bunker Hill. Boston and New England are to be congratulated on the influence of a hundred years of evangelizing. Christianizing, and liberalizing Metho- dism. " My ancestors sleep in Connecticut, and they doubtless heard Jesse Lee in 1789, when he came to New Haven. But I entertain the hope that there was not one of them present at the first meeting, because Jesse Lee gives us to understand that, when he was through preaching, no one invited him home to dinner ; so that, for obvious reasons, we are not anxious to trace our ancestry back to that first sermon. I understand that the citizens of Boston did not invite him home, but there was one man who ' flocked about him,' from Lynn, I believe, and. took him home to dinner. " We have the fashion of characterizing our Metho- 286 CENTENNIAL OF dism according to geographical locality. But we shall find that we mean more than a geographical differentiation when we speak of New England Methodism, Southern Methodism, and Western Methodism. The difference is not essential and doctrinal, it is true. Southern Methodism is an old-fashioned, conservative, hospitable, fervent, disciplinary Methodism. Western Methodism is not, as some think, a ' wild and woolly Methodism,' but a dashing, alert, progressive Methodism. It is what they call a ' hustling ' Methodism, but I should not use that word here in these relations. New England Methodism is a cultured Methodism ; it does not like to forget that it sprang from Oxford University ; a Methodism that believes an enlightened mind may be twin-angelic with a sanctified heart; it is a Methodism that thinks and believes, and it believes because it thinks ; a Methodism that is loyal to all truth, and hails it as her own ; and welcomes every new discovery as but another star to lead wise men to Christ. New England Methodism is as nearly as possible that type of Methodism which the Epworth League would spread throughout the length and breadth of this land, and bring future Methodism up to. " The mission of the Epworth League is to the young people of Methodism, hence to all future Methodism. It does not entertain a narrow and shallow idea in confining its great work to the young people of Methodism. It believes in the powers and opportunities of youth. I love the soft NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 287 rich tones of an old violin, and the mellow peal of bells that have chimed for a hundred years, but not as I love the sweet accents of an old man's gracious speech. I love old pictures that time has toned to a beauty beyond the touch and the grace of art, but not as I love an old man's face, every line of which is a history, and every ^mile of which is a poem. I love to look upon the shaggy top of an old oak with a hundred tempests in its fibres, but not as I love to look on the form of that grand old man, who, through the toils and struggles of the years and decades, has come to wear that hoary head which is a crown of glory because found in the way of righteousness. The old are the history, they are the hallowed and inspiring memory of the Church. But the hope of the Church is in her youth, that strong and handsome youth, full of prospect and ambition, with the health of the winds on its cheeks, with the light of the stars in its eyes, with the swell of the ocean in its heart, with the spirit of the century thrilling through its veins, with the prophecy of coming milleniums chiming like cathedral bells in its brain, — this youth of Methodism is the hope of the Church, it is the hope of the country. Our fathers' blessings rest upon our heads, as we go forward to do a work which they themselves acknowledge was never so crowded upon the Church as it is to-day. " If I were to have a picture of Moses, I think I should take it when he was climbing the sunny slopes of Pisgah to meet the angels when his work was done. If I were to have a picture of David, I should take it 288 CENTENNIAL OF when from his bowed head the white locks were flowing over David's harp, and those fingers once strong for battle were trembling on the sobbing strings, and David, with twenty Shakespeares in his singing soul was breaking forth : ' I have been young, and now am old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread.' If I were to have a picture of John, I should like to have it after he had seen heaven opened, after the eternal sunshine had settled on his head. But , there are other por- traits that I love to look upon, that of Joseph, that of Caleb, that of Joshua, that of great Daniel facing a whole empire, and standing true for God and temper- ance in his age ; young men of mighty faith and courage, men devoted, loyal and righteous. " And so, while I love to look upon the old of the Church, and look upon the work that they have done, there is also a charm in the very prospect of what God has for the young in the Church of to-day. " When I open this old discipline of 1789, I read at the very opening this question and answer: ' What was the rise of Methodism, so-called, in Europe? Answer. In 1729 two young men read- ing the Bible saw they could not be saved without holiness : followed after it, and incited others so to do. i In 1737 they saw likewise that men are justified before they are sanctified, but still holiness was their object. God then thrust them out' (those young men) ' to raise up a holy people.' " Is there not significance in fact that Methodism sprang from young brains and young hearts? Are KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 289 there not high and very comprehensive things to be accomplished by Methodism, through this marshal- ling of her forces in the Epworth League of the nineteenth century ? This is one cf the great ques- tions of the day with Methodism ; ' How shall we reach the young ? ' Then there is the other question ; ' How shall we hold the young people ? ' •' Now there is nothing to my mind more indicative of growth than the fact that a multitude of great questions are constantly presenting themselves to the Church. If there were no new problems before us, it would be an indication that we had ceased to pro- gress. If we had no great questions facing us it would be a proof that we were behind the times, had lost the progressive spirit of the age and were not living up to the privileges of the hour. The very fact that these questions come : ' What shall be done that the layman may have a more pronounced voice in the administration of Church affairs ? ' ' Shall women be admitted into the General Conference ? ' 'Shall the pastoral term be extended, or the time limit be removed ? ' ' What shall be done with our young people, to use them more mightily for the glory of God ? ' And, ' What shall be done to hold our young people true to Methodism?' The fact that these questions come, simply proves that Methodism is moving on, and is indicative of the health of our glorious Church. It is evident that when we come up to this question, we meet one of the great problems that God would have us solve. And now, it will not do to say that the very methods 290 CENTENNIAL OP which will care for the old will care for the young people of the Church. Some will say: 'Let the young people come into the general prayer meeting and that will be all that will be necessary. Let the young people come into the class meeting, where the adults and aged are, and they will receive all needed sympathy and strength there. Let them listen to the preacher as from the pulpit he preaches to the gen- eral congregation on the standard doctrines which edify the experienced and thoughtful, and there will be no need of an Epworth League.' " Now it is not true in the Church of God, any more than it is true on the farm, or true in our educational system, that the same methods that will care for adults will care for the children and for the young peo- ple. I remember once, when I was on a farm, the boys wanted me to ride a green colt. I said ' How shall I hold him ? ' ' As you do old Bill.' Then I rode the colt, and away he went, but he did not hold. Away he went until he came to a fence, — I went on, but left him behind. I simply discovered that I could not hold a colt as I held old Bill. The Church cannot hold the- young people in the same way and by the same influences and with the same kind of inspiration with which it holds the staid old saints. One daj'' I was set to work to plant cur- rant slips, and I went to work to plant them among the bushes, but the gardener said to me, ' My boy, you must plant these on the sunny side of the house.' We are coming to learn that there is a sunny side of the Church, and if there is any member of the Church NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 291 that needs to be planted on the sunny side, it is the boy and girl, the young man and the young woman. We have to recognize the fact, and that it is demanded for the best growth of the young people. " This is conspicuously an age full of opportunities to the 3'^outh. There was never an age when young men and women were so independent as to-daj'. There was never an age when the average intelligence was so great. There was never an age when the young people were infidels to so large an extent, or when to them amusements had so great a fascination. Never was there an age when ' society ' so engrossed time and attention. It is the hour for us to rise up and ask the question : ' How shall we hold our young people, and keep them loyal to Methodism ? ' " The instruction from the pulpit in the past, I think you will admit, has been too largely directed to the adults, and to those old in years. But we find the necessity upon us of preaching to the young people, as well as to the old people. You will find that seven-tenths of the preaching of the past has been to the old folks rather than to the young people ; but it is dawning upon the pulpit of this age that it is quite as necessary to preach the young people into grace as it is to preach the old folks into glory. " For a number of years local organizations have been springing up in the Church in New England, in Illinois, in Michigan, and further West, each of which has had some central idea which the young people of that locality wished to emphasize. That 292 CENTENNIAL OP idea may have been holiness, or the social idea, or the temperance idea, or the literary, or the Chautauqua idea. ^' In the providence of God, and we believe by His direction, there came to the mind of the Church the great thought of the unification of all these important interests in one ; and, as none of these organizations had a legal standing in the Church, or had any vital, legal, disciplinary connection with the Church, it was thought wise and providential that they should be gathered into one great, legal, dis- ciplinary society, that should be known as the Young People's Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To this end a convention was called in Cleveland, with the result of which you are familiar. I have sometimes thought that the men who had the charge of organizing this society, will have pleasure in the thought of it, and the memory of it, through all their days. Honor to them ! " "We have in Indiana a poet, — James Whitcomb Riley, — of great pathos, if not of excessive reverence, who wrote a poem on ' Jim.' You will remember that this Jim was a jolly, big-hearted sort of fellow, but ' consumpted-looking,' and he worked in a shoe factory. He came to die. When he passed away, his friends were saying good tilings about Jim, but the man who worked next to him in the shop summed up his opinion of him in these words : ' When God made Jim, I bet )'0U He did'nt do any- thing else that day but jes' set around and feel good.' " And I have sometimes thought that that company of NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 293 wise and godly young Methodists who secured the organization of these societies into the Epworth League, 'jes' did'nt do anything else' for a whole month but ' feel good,' and they have been singing praises ever since, and the whole Church is catching the song, a new pean of battle and victory. The League has grown to the number of 250,000 members and has a bright, wisely edited organ in the Upworth Herald with a splendid list of 25,000 subscribers. I do not think that the growth of any similar organization can parallel this of the Epwoith League. It will become the most powerful society in existence, in aggressive work for the glory of God and for the salvation of the young people of the country. The first aim of the Epworth League is to promote a high development of spiritual life in the hearts of the young people. Without deep spiritual fife, without holiness, without the power of the Holy Ghost upon us, Methodism has no excuse for existence. (Amen.) It is spiritual power, or it is no power. It has not a machinery, it has not a ritualism that is sufficient to preserve it from dry-rot, if it lose the power and the life of the Holy Ghost. This fundamental feature of the Epworth League is the presence of the Holy Ghost with the young people, manifested in their renewed consecration to God and the advancement of the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in absolute separation from the world, and giving of themselves up to the one work of promoting holiness, that fundamental Wesleyan and Methodist idea. 294 CEKTBNNIAL OF Just as we read that those two young men were thrust out to spread holiness, so we believe that this Epworth League has been raised up, and these young people are thrust out, to spread Scriptural holiness among the youth of this land. " The second great aim of the League is educational. It believes in the power of an idea. It believes in the glorious influence of knowledge. It believes in the elevating, enlightening might of a good book. You will remember that Wesley calls that tlie turning point in his life where he took up Jeremy Taylor, and Law, and Thomas k Kempis, and read ' Holy Living ' and ' Holy Dying,' ' The Imitation of Christ,' etc. From the reading of these books he himself dates the change in his whole religious and spiritual career. Many a Christian dates his turning to God, or giving himself to the ministry or to the missionary field, at where he read some godly book which God had indited, as truly as he had ever indited a sermon preached in the fear of the Lord and in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. " In teaching our children loyalty, we present to them the histories of our country, the Life of Washington, the Lives of the Signers of the Dec- laration of Independence, and the biographies of the great, good, and heroic of the past. We bring to their view, and to their knowledge, history which we believe should be taught in our public schools in the English language ; and we believe the Constitution of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, and the Emancipation Proclamation should be taught NKW ENGLAND METHODISM. 295 in the language of Washington, Adams, Webster, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Lincoln, and not in the language of a foreign country. And, as "we would promote national loyalty by teaching the youth about the great political heroes of the past, the wonderful history of the yesterdays, and instill into their minds the spirit which inspires the song of Whittier and Longfellow and Lowell, so, for the promotion of Methodist loyalty, should we educate the young people of the Church in the great Methodist classics, in the history of the Church, making them familiar with the lives of such heroes as Wesley, Coke, Asbury, Lee, and the other great men who laid the foundations of Methodism. " I remember that, after my conversion, I took up four books, and they had as much to do in fashioning me as any other influence. They were the Bible, Arthur's Tongue of Fire, D'Aubigne's History of the Reformation, Stevens' History of Methodism, and History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, — won- derful books. I said if I should ever have boj'S, if God ever blesses me with children, they shall read these great histories and these great biographies of men who have been mighty for God. They will fill tliem with the heroism of the past, as it was indeed in the days of the Fathers. So our Epworth League proposes and outlines a course of instruction in this direction, so that the young people, as they come to their activities, will come thoroughly Tersed in the History of Methodism, in the Constitution of Methodism, thoroughly en rapport with the spirit and 296 CENTENNIAL OF genius, purpose and progress of Methodism. The League encourages the chapters to establish libraries, and thus open up before the minds of the young people courses of study in all directions of Christian knowledge. " It will be found that the Chautauqua idea is thoroughly Wesleyan; that Wesley, in giving to the world that Christian library of twenty-five volumes or more, (finally condensed into twenty-five), became the father or grand-father of the Chautauqua idea. He had collected extracts from the best Christian literature that he could laj-- his hands on, and had condensed them into this library for the instruction of the people. He even insisted upon his preachers, as they went forth to instruct the people, giving them literature. ' Let them have the books,' was his order. " I have abetter in my hand, written and signed by John Wesley ; it was written to a layman. I will read a few lines from the letter. By the way, some one was saying this morning that the early Metho- dists were ignorant and unlearned. But at the same time our founder insisted upon an educated ministry and an educated people, for he is here giving instruc- tion to a young man for the ministry. He said he should at least read a little Greek and Latin every day. There it is, back in the beginnings of Metho- dism ; ' a little Greek and Latin every day.' " I read : ' You will do well to meet the children constantly, and to establish as many prayer meetings as you can; over and above the other advantages NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 297 attending them, they are excellent nurseries for young preachers.' (Out of these prayer meetings are to come the preachers of the future.) ' Then you sliould, without delay, establish the Methodist Disci- pline in all the country places. The spreading of the books is always a means of increasing awakening in any plaCe.' " There we have, back there in 1781, the ' spread- ing of the books,' the increasing Methodist literature ariiong the people, as a means for increasing spiritual power and revival awakening. And so, I believe, the more highly we educate our j'oung people, the better we prepare the way for sweeping revivals, for pro- found convictions on the part of the rising generation. " The next idea is the social one. Christianity was never intended to destroy the social instinct. It was intended to foster and promote its cultivation. In ministering to the social needs of pure, intelligent young people, the Epworth League, in the providence of God, has a mission broad as Methodism, nay, broad as American society. "'Society' is an ambiguous term. We hardly know what that means. When you say a certain gentleman is a ' society ' man, we are in doubt as to what is meant. In Methodism it sometimes militates against the high religious character of a woman if we say she is a ' society ' lady. We think we can hardly depend upon that brother at the prayer meet- ing, if we say he is a ' society ' man ; while the ' society ' sister is rarely found in class meeting. Then the dance is associated with ' society ' ; the 298 CENTENNIAL OP winercup is associated with ' society ' ; the theatre is associated with ' society ' ; and our young people are coming in contact with ' society.' "What must be done? Some effort must be put forth for holding the young people to high ideals of character in this day when a degenerate ' society,' a worldly and godless ' society,' has such fascination to the young people. High ideals must be placed before our young men and women. There are nobler pleasures then these we have mentioned, — pleasures which the human heart may indulge in to the glory of God, — and these pleasures must not be -denied to the young people of Methodism. It is a part of the mission of the Epworth League, to place before our young people the pleasures that will minister properly and righteously to their social life. Wes- ley's idea was perhaps not the idea that we should advance to-day. He said the students of the college should be indulged with nothing that the world calls ' play.' ' Let this rule be observed with the strictest attention, for those who play when they are young will play when they are old.' "In this age we do not believe in that sentiment. It is not insisted upon by the spirit of Methodism to-day. We do believe that there is harmless play for the children in this glorious paradise of American Methodism; and there are harmless amusements and delights and pleasures for the grow- ing young people, which should not be denied them by the strictest piety and by the truest conformity to all the laws of God and the Church. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 299 " Finally, this Epworth League has a mission in organizing the young people of Methodism for work, evangelistic work, — work of the young people, by the young people, and for the young people. Only twenty-five per cent, of the young men of America go to church. Five per cent, only are members of the Church. Ninety-five per cent, of all the -fre- quenters of saloons are young men. Of the 500,000 arrests annually made in our great cities, at least 375,000 are young men, and 100,000 are minors. " Is there not a work for the Church to do in reaching and saving the young men of the country before they are destroyed by intemperance and crime ? Visit the penitentiary, and you will find that a majority of the convicts are young men, and the average age is below twenty-five years. Is there not something for the Church to do for these young men before tlie prison becomes their doom ? The Epworth League has a mis- sion to the swarming millions of young men, to reach them with the warmth and generosity and sympathy of the young heart, as no other power and influence can possibly reach them. The Epworth League has spread from Maine to California, and from the lalies even unto the *gulf. More, this glorious work has spread to Canada, to China, and to India, and will soon be in every land beneath the burning sun. Thank God, the Epworth League is in the South. And may I not say here in New England, — generous- hearted New England, liberal-minded New England, sweet-spirited New England, — may I not say, that I entertain the blessed hope that this League will be 300 CENTENNIAL OF one of the grandest instruments in the hands of Proy- idence for uniting this glorious, this mighty, American Methodism into one great, advanced, all- conquering host ? " I know that the young heart, the young brain, the progressive public spirit of the South is crying out for the union of the hearts of the Methodists of America. When Mr. Waller, delegate from the Wesleyan Conference, made his address at the Gen- eral Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he said : ' I have thought what a wonderful power this Methodism in America would be if it were all one and united ' ; and like a shaking, mighty wind did the applause sweep through that assembly. And many a young man came to me with tears in his eyes and said : ' We believe in the union of hearts and sympathies as Methodists. God speed the day when we shall see eye to eye and be one in heart, as we are one in origin and one in faith.' " In the name of our common schools and our com- mon liberties, against an alien Romanism, we raise the banner of a loyal and united Methodism. In the name of home, humanity, and native land, against the united forces of the rum power, we raise the white banner of a united, total-abstinence and prohibition Methodism. In the name of our common Master, who will conquer and sweep back the tide of sin, against the alliance of the world, the flesh, and the devil, we raise the banner of a united, pure, and Holy Ghost American Methodism. May God unite us, and may God use this Epworth League to bring NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 301 up a generation that shall be mightier even than the generation that has gone." The Chairman said : " Let us all sing, — ' Arise, my soul, arise.' " The Chairman called upon Bishop Foster to pronounce the benediction. LYNN COMMON CHUKCH. CHAPTER VII. GKAND BANQUET IN OLD PANEUIL HALL. Hon. C. C. Coebin in the chair. After a half-hour of social conversation, renewal of acquaintances, and formation of new, the six hundred guests gathered in the main hall, balconies, and gal- leries of the one " Cradle of Liberty," at six o'clock, and, after taking their places at the richly provided tables, the Chairman of the evening said : — " Upon an occasion like this ; when our hearts are all aglow with praise to God, it seems proper that first of all, we sing — " ' Praise God from whom all blessings flow.'" After the singing, the Chairman called upon Bishop Willard F. Mallalieu to invoke the divine blessing, which he did. The Chairman then said : " The gathering of Meth- odists in which all keep their seats would be out of place. I have asked Rev. Dr. Brodbeck to lead us in singing — " ' Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love;' two verses ; and you are requested to stand as a matter of comfort." [303] 304 CENTENNIAL OF After the singing, the Chairman said : " Ladies and gentlemen would be a title far too formal for one Methodist to use as he addresses others in a place like this. Brethren and sisters : I congratulate you and ourselves together that this evening finds us in this time-honored place ; here where men have gath- ered in darkest days, when all hearts fairly wavered, but have gone forth to ring out the songs of hope and cheer. It is not well that he who presides over gatherings like this should be allowed to have much to say. If he were given to talk, it would be well for you to remind him of the story of the Irish pre- siding officer, who was greatly troubled by a man in the congregation who would persistently jump up and be ready to make a speech on all occasions. After the fellow had made two or three speeches, the presiding officer said, ' Down there ! What we want of you is silence, and mighty little of that.' " I do not wish to give you the opportunity to say that of me. Nor do I hope that our good brethren on this programme, that says five-minute speeches, will need to have a reminder. In the olden time a brakeman upon the railroad train was a man of con- siderable importance. He had the power to stop the train. In these latter days, with automatic brakes doing the work, the ability to stop the train lies in the power that carries the train. Will my brethren and friends who are the speakers please bear in mind I am but a brakeman, and that they are automatic, and can shut off when they will, and keep it all in mind? NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 305 " Methodism in New England. How our hearts thrill with the thought of the wonderful things done in this hundred years gone hj. Daniels, in his History of Methodism, says : ' Methodism is divine. It sweeps in the gale ; it glows in the fire ; it speaks with the tongues of Pentecost.' A man that would represent New England must bring all these elements to bear ; he must be a man filled with life, united to all into which has been breathed the breath of lives ; he must be a man of power that breathes life into dead bodies. And when one man is found that thor- oughly represents New England, he must have these elements in him. It was the pleasure of the General Conference to elect from New England one man who thoroughly carries with him in all the acts of his life these elements that make so large a part of New England Methodism. Out on the frontier, in the far South, wherever work is found to do, there our New England Bishop is ready to do that work. It is my pleasure to present to you one who needs no intro- duction to a New England Methodist audience. I present to you Bishop Mallalieu." Bishop Mallalieu said : " Sisters and brethren : An hour like this certainly comes to any of us but once in a lifetime. Many whom we have known may have desired to see this hour and participate in these religious anniversaries, which we have been permitted to share, but they have passed on before, and we are left to rejoice together in this auspicious hour. " We are certain that, when we have passed away, 306 CENTENNIAL OF others will follow us who will look forward eagerly, and with joyous anticipations, to a repetition of grander services and ceremonies and anniversaries than these in which we have participated. Let us thank God for the past. Let us look forward with joyful hope for the future. I believe that, and espe- cially within the last few years. New England consti- tutes the choicest spot of all this earth. I have not seen all of it, but I have seen much, and noticed it carefully. But I believe there is no place like New England. I look upon its scenery, its rock-bound shores, its broad ocean, its towering mountains, its delightful valleys, its singing brooks, its rivers hasten- ing to the sea, its skies as blue as any that hang over Italy, and I rejoice in this heritage God has given us. But if I were asked the question, 'What is the choicest portion of New England?' I should cer- tainly say Massachusetts. It is a great misfortune not to be born in this highly favored State. I congratulate myself on the good taste and judgment of my father and mother in making Massachusetts their home. And though our honored Governor, who is with us to-night, had the misfortune to be born in another State, I certainly appreciate his good judment in leaving that and making Massachusetts his home. And if I were to pursue this thought just a little further, I should say that of all Massachusetts, Boston and vicinity, the vicinity including the towns immediately around about her, is the choicest part of the Commonwealth. And if I were to select the place, the spot' pre-eminent above all others in Bos- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 307 ton, full of glorious and glowing memories, inspiring every patriot's heart with high and holy devotion, I should select the very spot where we are gathered together to-night. « Thank God for New England. Thank God for Massachusetts. Thank God for Boston. Thank God for Faneuil Hall. Now, with malice toward none, and with charity for all, if I were asked where the best people are in Boston and vicinity, I would say they are in Faneuil Hall to-night. The choicest pick of all New England. And if my wife were only here, I would make it more personal still. " Of course this is a time for memory, and I some- times think that no living man has more occasion to thank God that Jesse Lee came to New England than I. I was brought up in my early life on the Westminster Catechism, and if I had not changed my diet, I am inclined to believe that I should have starved to death. But I rejoice that Jesse Lee came from the Southland and preached this gospel of a full and free salvation all through this region of country, and at last it reached me and brought me hope and joy and blessing. A friend of mine (and, perhaps I can illustrate my thought by this little anecdote) was riding on the cars not a great while ago with that somewhat famous man, Robert Inger- soll, and he said to him, 'Mr. Ingersoll, will you tell me what, in your opinion, accounts for the im- mense growth of Methodism in the United States?' — ' Why,' said Mr. Ingersoll, ' I will tell you what I think about it.' Said he, ' You Methodists believe 308 CENTENNIAL OF ill a God, and you believe in a devil, and you believe in heaven, and you believe in hell, and you keep talking to people about these things until tliey believe in them. And then,' said he, 'your God is a being that stands ready to boost a fellow if he will only try to climb.' And for an infidel, it is one of the best summations of Methodist theology I have heard for many a day. I only wish that that man would just try to climb, and see how God would help him. I am sure he would find he was very nigh, a God not very far off in time of need. "I was talking, once on a time, with a Democratic candidate for Governor. I will not tell you anything more about him than simply say this, that I went to get a subscription to pay off a church debt in his town, and he said, 'I don't believe in churches anyway, and particularly in so-called Methodist churches.' Said I, 'What do you know about Methodist churches?' I had never seen the man before. He is an eminent lawyer in this city. Now I will not 'give him away.' He is not in this hall, although some of his relatives are pretty near me now while I am talking. ' Why,' said he, ' I have been to a Methodist meeting twice in my life.' Said I, ' You can't judge of Methodism by two meetings any more than you can of a building by bricks.' — 'But they are a morose, unhappy set of people. They won't let their members go to the theatres.' I thought of him to-day when Dr. Upham was speak- ing of those who could not go and did not want to. And I said to him, as I pulled my chair up to him, New ENGLAND MEiHODISM. 809 ' Look me over from head to foot.' He didn't know what was coming, of course. And he began to look me over to see what was coming next. 'Now, do you think,' said I, ' that I look like an unhappy, morose, discontented, and sour kind of man ? Now, don't I look as happy as a Turk ? ' Now, I don't know how a Turk looks. My friend. Dr. Buckley, may be able to explain. ' And,' said I, ' I want you to understand that I don't look half as happy as I feel, for my soul is filled with the joy of God's salva- tion, and what I wish is that you had it, too.' So I exhorted him a little on the old Methodist line. The feeling of my heart is, — ' Oh that the world might taste and see the riches of his grace ; The arms of love that compass me would all mankind embrace.' For the Methodist gospel takes in Democratic can- didates for Governor as well as other people. "Now there is just this that I wish to say, by way of exhortation and improvement. The blessin'gs God has showered upon us, these hundred j'ears, bringing us in that short space from that fourteen thousand to more than four millions of members in this country — (when we count all the membership of all the Methodist Churches) — the increase of our wealth, of our social position, bring responsibili- ties that only can be discharged by us when we exer- cise the mightiest faith in God, and when we bring to the altar of service consecrated hearts and lives, and all possessions with which he has dowered our being here in this life. 310 CENTENNIAL O^ " And so, as we turn our faces toward the second century of our New England Methodism, my hope and prayer, my unspeakable desire is, that God would lead us to give ourselves and all we have and all we hope for, to His blessed service for the kingdom of Christ and for the good of humanity. And let us resolve this one thing, that we will rise above the past that sought to punish crime with vindictive wrath, that sought later with remedial efforts to save the crimi- nal and society, and let us rise to that supreme height of Christian privilege that demands that we shall speak and labor for the prevention of poverty, ignorance, and sin, and so make this New England of ours to bud and blossom with beauty, like the gardens of our God. Oh, that with one heart and with determined faith we may enter upon the work of the second century of our New England Methodism ! " The Chairman said: "A hundred years ago Mas- sachusetts had scarcely as many inhabitants as has the city of Boston this evening. In all that long chain of years Massachusetts has had the influence of the Methodist Church, not simply making church members, .but making good citizens, citizens that have done honor to the State, that have given "but little trouble to the rulers thereof. In all tliese long years, — a hundred years, — Massachusetts has been honored constantly by the men that have held the highest positions within the State, who have occupied the gubernatorial chair. But in all these years no man has done more honor to the State, no one has made himself more truly a brother to every NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 811 man who thinks well and does well, than he who fills that chair this hour. I have the honor to pre- sent to you the Governor of the State of Massachu- setts, His Excellency J. Q. A. Brackett." (Applause.) " I think these cheers. Governor, cover not only the fact that we honor the Governor of Massachusetts, but the next Governor of Massachusetts." Governor Brackett said: "Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen ; I thank you most sincerely for this very kind and cordial reception. In the Memorial Address delivered by my friend, your brother, the Rev. J. W. Hamilton, upon the eigthy-fifth anniver- sary of the sermon of Jesse Lee, under the Old Elm on the Common, an address which I have had the pleasure of reading, he relates that when, in 1740, in the month of September (just a century and a half ago last month), George Whitefield came from Rhode Island to Boston, he was met on the road by the Governor's son, accompanied by a dele- gation of ministers, who received him with great gladness and tendered to him the hospitality of the town. Whether the Governor's son welcomed him on his own account, because of his personal friend- ship and admiration, or was deputed by his father to extend an official greeting, I do not know. But to-night, my friends, the Governor of the Common- wealth sends not his son or any other deputy, but comes himself in person to this grand Old Cradle of Liberty, to offer his earnest official and personal greeting, not to a solitary Methodist minister coming from another State, but to this vast concourse of the 312 CENTENNIAL OF clergy and the laity of that denomination, who have assembled within these walls, these time-honored walls, to celebrate the consummation of a century of noble achievement by a time-honored Church. " While in the civil polity of Massachusetts the Church and State are separated, the State in spirit and in sympathy, through me as its representative, to-night, with great gladness, clasps hands with the Methodist Church, in this fitting commemoration of the close of a hundred years of New England Methodism. While Massachusetts makes no dis- tinction between the different religious sects which exist within her boundaries ; while she gives to each its due for what it has done in promoting the spirit- ual welfare of her people ; while she respects the principles and opinions of each ; while she rejoices to see them all working together in harmony, not warring with one another, but, like the divisions of one grand army, warring with the common foe of righteousness, each in its own way, by its own methods, upon its own lines, laboring for the salva- tion of men, and for all that makes for the coming good ; it is becoming that, on this occasion, by the presence and voice of her Chief Executive Officer, she pay her respects especially to this great denomi- nation, which includes within its membership so large a proportion of the citizens of the Common- wealth, and which views with satisfaction and joy to-night a century radiant. " While others can more intelligently and appro- priately narrate what the Methodist Church has NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 318 done for the religious development of Massachu- setts, it is just and proper that, speaking as a civil officer, I in a word acknowledge its contri- butions to the political and moral progress of the State and the Nation. History tells that this was the first Church to recognize officially the Consti- tution of the United States, and to pledge its loyalty to the government. It tells, also, how it has ever stood up for liberty and the rights of men ; how earnestly and undeviatingly it devoted itself to the anti-slavery cause, when it cost something to do it ; «arly declaring the incompatibility of slave- holding with membership in its communion. And it has shown like devotion to the temperance cause, and to every other good cause. In its attitude towards these and other great reformatory move- ments which have blessed the Commonwealth and the Republic, it has ever kept abreast with the best and most advanced sentiments of Massaehixsetts, and has made itself one of the civil as well as ecclesiasti- cal forces which have shaped the character and the destiny of the Commonwealth. Its career has been rich in accumulated years; it has been richer still in accomplishments. One centennial stage in that career has just been completed ; another now begins. That the second century may equal the first in use- fulness, in helpfulness, and in glory, is the best prayer I can offer for it to-night. " Mindful, Mr. President, of the five-minutes' rule which the body wisely adopted for the limitation of these speeches, and noticing that the minute hand of 314 CENTENNIAL OF the clock has already passed beyond the space to which I am entitled as allotted to me, and not desir- ing to overstep this limit, I will close with this brief salutation, and with this expression of my apprecia- tion of the honor and pleasure of being invited to be present and to take part in the exercises of this memorable Anniversary." The Chairman said: "To-night we rightly congrat- ulate ourselves upon the fact that the Methodist Church is a strong Church, — strong even in New England. But it was not always thus. There was a time when the Methodist was a ' feeble folk.' And in that day they had to look beyond New England to find willing hearts and ready hands to minister to their needs. It was from Maryland, it was from Baltimore, that there came the help that was needed in the early days of the Methodist Church in New England. And upon this evening it seems most appropriate that one who represents the Methodist Church- in Maryland should have a place in our gathering of joy. I have the pleasure of presenting to you the Rev. A. M. Courtnay, D.D., of Baltimore." Rev. Mr. Courtnay said : " Mr. Chairman. Shall I say ' Sisters and Brethren ? ' It is a strange use of language for me. Down our way we do not so speak. We simply say ' Brethren,' on the theory that the ' Brethren ' embrace the ' Sisters.' "I find myself fortunate, sir, in being numbered among those who have been invited to this place, especially since we were certified that it should be the last for a hundred years. And to me it is an NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 815 element of the happiness of the occasion that we are assembled in Faneuil Hall, where generals fill all the place. But, sir, I crave the courteous privilege of saying a few words in answer to many questions that have reached me about ' My Maryland.' You will pardon me for my provincialism. I have found it necessary to be a little self-asserting these last few days, in order to preserve my self-respect. "Nor am I able to neutralize the charm of this seductive Boston, so that I may go home to Mary- land thoroughly loyal, but by busying myself with the thought over and over again, Baltimore has this among other things : we have a good deal of Meth- odism in Baltimore. My good friend, Dr. Buckley, last evening notified you that Methodism did not begin in New England. I am happy to inform him this evening, — and I have suspected sometimes that in his studies of ' origins ' he mixes dates a little, — I am happy to inform him this evening that Methodism in America began in Maryland. We had the Wes- leyau importation direct. The first preaching, the first converts, the first class, the first society, the first native preachers, both itinerant and local, the first school of learning, and the first General Conference. Why, sir, the very glory of our history would but deepen and darken our shame if we should prove unworthy of it, and recreant to the high duties it imposes upon us. I think modern Methodism in Maryland has been worthy its ancestor. In the city of Baltimore there are twenty-eight Roman Catholic churches, a like number of Presbyterian churches, a 316 CENTENl^riAL OS* like number of Baptist churches, twenty-four Lu- theran churches, thirty-five Protestant Episcopal churches, and one hundred and thirteen Methodist churches. In other words, our churches and chapels number within nineteen of the aggregate number of all other Protestant churches in the city. We have, perhaps, the first and second among the splendid church edifices of Methodism, in this country. As I hope to return to Baltimore, I shall not venture to say which is first and which is second, the First Church or the Mount Vernon Place. But the strength of our Methodism is to be found chiefly in a score of churches, less pretentious in architecture, less conspicuous in position, but crowded with earn- est and fervent and active Christians. What I tell you of the cit)' is true, even in a greater degree, of the State of Maryland. I will take you through whole counties where there are hardly any people but Methodists. I think now of one county in which there is a little Roman Catholic church in the county town, but not a Presbyterian church, not a Lutheran, not a Baptist church, not a Congrega- tional, nor, indeed, a church of any denomination except the Protestant Episcopal and the Methodist Churches. We Methodists in Maryland are consid- ered rather a conservative folk. We do hold fast to the traditions of the Elders. We have churches that, to a considerable extent, kneel in prayer. We believe in revivals, as I am persuaded you do also. In matters of church polity, it may be of interest to these ministerial brethren for me to say that, a few NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 317 years ago, but eleven of the two hundred members of our Conference voted for an elective Pi-esiding Eldership. Last spring but thirty-one voted for the equality of Lay Representation. As to the present pending question, I think our people generally are very much in the mood of a young fellow in our city not long ago. I was at a debate at the Maryland Club the other night, and I was non-committal. When I heard the predictions of the protectionist fellow, his speech seemed to be so shallow that I was disposed to join the free-traders. But when I heard the free-trade man speak, his arguments were so hollow that it left my mind in equilibrium. And there was a debate of Character and Religion, and when the Churchman plead his cause, I began to be in doubt. But, when the Agnostic spoke, he was so full of policy that really, he said, ' I hope we won't have any more debates in our Club.' " Our newspapers have been full of debates over the pending question ; but it seems to me that, as yet, the mind of the people is in equilibrium. " If I were from the South, I should be disposed to take issue with the brilliant generalization of the witty and imaginative editor of The Christian Advo- cate, who said to you last night that the distinctive characteristic of Methodism in the South was a sort of burning ardor that holds principles in a muddy solution, that needed to be precipitated into crystal- lization of exact statement and logical inference,- by the infusion of New England brains. It is true, sir, that New England Methodism is fervor plus brains, 318 CENTENNIAL OF but hardly correct that Southern Methodism is grace minus brains. " I say I should be disposed to dispute that. Mary- land belongs neither to the North nor to the South. We are in the midst of the great vital currents that flow both ways, in the very centre of moral and intellectual influences that come from the North and from the South. "I remember, sir, this evening, that in the early days of Methodism, there was no volume so keen and critical that treated of the great Calvinistic controversy as that written by Asa Shinn on ' The Atonement ; ' and, sir, among all the past editors of The Christian Advocate, there has perhaps been not one more noted for his brilliancy, for his accuracy, and for his profundity than Dr. Thomas E. Bond ; while the 'Defense of Our Fathers,' by John Emory, popular no longer because he treats of a controversy the fires of which are burned out, will yet remain forever the ablest plea for the validity of our minis- terial orders. " But, sir, I must be mindful of the limit so grace- fully placed by our Chairman this evening. I am here to acknowledge the courtesies you have ex- tended, through me, to the Methodists of Maryland. I am here to bid you, brethren beloved, a farewell. I shall go away carrying with me vivid memories of your warm welcome, and I bring to mind the words that John Lee wrote to his elder brother, Jesse, from Baltimore, on Ms way to Virginia to die, when he said, ' I feel that I have left half of my heart in New ( NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 319 England.' So I bid you a good-by, with the meaning of the old Saxon phrase, ' God be with you.' " The Chairman said : " When I listened to the statement of the Doctor with regard to the strength of the Methodist Church in Maryland, it seemed to me only proper, had the band occupied its place, to have asked it to play 'Maryland, my Maryland.' Rev. Dr. Clark has a series of Resolutions which he will at this time, if he pleases, present to you, as Chairman of the Committee on Resolutions, as that Committee did not report at the Centennial gather- ing held in People's Church." The following resolutions were presented by Rev. Dr. W. R. Clark, and enthusiastically adopted : — Wheebas, The closing of the first century of New England Methodism is an event inducing grave reflections upon the respon- sibilities devolved upon us by our marvellous growth and far- reaching influence, therefore, — Eesolved, In the name and on behalf of one thousand Christian ministers and one hundred and fifty thousand Christian laymen, 1. That in stepping upon the threshold of the second century of our history, we feel admonished, both by our history and our hopes, to guard sedulously against the ingress upon us of a lax liberalism and worldliness, and of adhering enthusiastically to our time-honored landmarks of Christian doctrine and holy living — these being the primal forces which have given us leadership among powerful religious bodies working for the salvation of men, and which have so conspired to lift the religious thought of New England into a clearer atmosphere and a broader horizon. 2. That we reciprocate the fraternization now extended to us by sister denominations, and bid them Godspeed in their noble work. 3. That all caste distinctions based upon race, color, or previous condition of servitude, are rebuked alike by the genius of Method- ism and the precepts of Christ. 4. That the dogma of the union of Church and State, and all 320 CENTENNIAL OP hierarchical Interference with our public schools or civil affairs, are a burlesque upon Christianity, and a daring effrontery, by a foreign ecclesiastic, which we as citizens of this Kepublic have endured to the very verge of forbearance. 5. That the secularism of the day demanding an elimination of all ideas of God from the administration of our government, is at war with the first principles of government, and the life of the Republic. That the-name of God sliould be distinctly recognized in our Federal Constitution, and He should be revered as the Ruler of nations. 6. That the Gospel of Christ is the sovereign remedy for moral evils, and that the moral questions now agitating the country — notably the temperance reform. Sabbath observance, the Bible and moral teachings in the public schools, the relative claims of capital and labor, civil service reform, and the purification of politics, can reach a proper and permanent solution only on the principles enun- ciated by the Sermon on the Mount. 7. That the prevalence of intemperance is a loathsome affront and menace to our homes, altars, social and civic life, and the liquor traffic is a burning curse equalled only by the absurdity of assuming to lessen it by licensing it. 8. That all our literary institutions, our joy and pride, need vastly greater benefactions than they have thus far received, to so broaden their instruction as to keep them in touch with the rapidly advancing standards of education. 9. That we hereby solemnly protest against the opening of the gates of the approaching Columbian Exposition on the Sabbath, as a direct violation of tlie law of God, and of the statutes of Illinois, a wanton trampling upon the religious traditions, precedents, and institutions of the country, an outrage upon the most cherished sentiments of thirteen million communicants of Christian churches, and an authorization of an organized godlessness, which would strike at the foundations of the Republic. 10. That this banquet, honored by the presence of six hundred representative men and women of our churches, by his Excellency the Governor of this Commonwealth, His Honor the Mayor of this city, with other distinguished guests, and last but not least, our beloved resident Bishop, is as significant of our growth and influ- ence as the spectacle it presents is beautiful and charming. Resolved, That a copy of the above ninth resolution be signed NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 321 by the president and secretary of this convention, and forwarded to the commissioners of the Columbian Exposition to be held in Chicago in the year 1892-'93. The Chairman said : " It was a Boston girl who said that she would rather be a lamp-post in Boston than the Mayor of Buffalo ; but that was before the Ex-President had been made Mayor of the city of Buffalo. It was a Boston woman who lived with the thought that to be born in Boston was bliss enough for any ordinary human being. She found herself once just outside the city of Boston, and, coming across a mile-post marked '1 M. from Boston,' she said, 'How beautiful, how touching! I'm from Boston.' It was another woman from Boston, so the story goes, though I was not there and cannot vouch for it, who found herself one day at the gates of Paradise. St. Peter, standing at the gates, said to her, as she approached, ' From whence did you come ? ' She said, ' I come from Boston.' He said, ' You can enter, but I give you fair warning, you will be disappointed.' " And Boston, a hundred years ago, was a city of but eighteen thousand inhabitants. It was but a small affair, and yet mighty in the power it exerted. It has gone from eighteen thousand to almost four hundred thousand population. In all these days the Methodist Church has been loyal to every interest that has proved for the best good of the city. To be the presiding officer over any people may be to the credit of the one that presides ; but to preside over a body of men and women that represent the best elements of the community is a high honor. 322 CENTENNIAL OF This evening it is my pleasure to present to you one who has the right to preside over the Methodists of Boston. I present to you the Mayor of the City of Boston. His Honor, the Mayor, Thomas N. Hart said : " Although from another communion, I will dare to say, Brethren and Sisters. Let me thank you for this opportunity to say briefly what Boston owes to Methodism. It is interesting to remember that Charles Wesley and George Whitefield began their New England preaching in Boston, and that Jesse Lee established New England Methodism on Boston Common ; and the seeds planted by Wesley and Lee have grown beyond all expectation, for, unless we are erroneously informed, the Methodists are now the most numerous of all Protestant denominations in this country. You have occupied the golden mean between all extremes. You have helped to soften the creeds once taught in the pulpits of Mas- sachusetts. Your good works have kept pace with your growth in opportunities and wealth. You have given us the Boston University, one of the greatest institutions of learning in the world." (At this utter- ance, one hundred and thirty members of the School of Theology in Boston University, sitting in a body under the balcony, arose, and with college gusto, cried out their "Three cheers for'Boston University.") "Its Law School is a special honor to Boston. Another branch of the same great University, it is safe to call the greatest Conservatory of Music known to the nineteenth century. In the name of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 323 Boston, I thank you for the good you have done, and continue to do, both here and throughout our common country." The Chairman said : " May I ask the Rev. Dr. Rogers to read two letters that are in his possession, one from Dr. Abel Stevens, another from the private Secretary of the late Gen. Fisk ? " Dr. C. S. Rogers said : " There was one voice to which we had hoped to listen here this evening. Early in the season, the Committee wrote to Gen. Fisk, asking him to be present and participate in these pleasant exercises to-night. The answer to that communication, from his Private Secretary, I will read to you. It is dated June 21, 1890." Dear Sir, — Your favor of June 18, to Gen. Fisk, has been sub- mitted to him. He has been very ill, but is slowly climbing up. He says there is nothing he would more gladly do than make the ten-minutes' talk October 23. He has positively declined to make any engagements for the future ; but he is coming to believe this talk to be among the possible things. He will now consent, hoping and praying that his health may be soon restored to him. He bids me send his very kindest wishes and remembrances. Tours sincer^', M. F. Park, Private Secretary. " I need not say that very soon after this Gen. Fisk passed to his reward, and his face is hidden to earth. " It was thought that any celebration of this sort would not be complete without the presence of the Historian of Methodism, if it were at all possible to have him with us. And, therefore, the Committee very early wrote to Dr. Stevens, in his home in Cali- fornia. I have here bis brief reply, dated June 9, 1890." 324 CENTENNIAL OF CoRONADo, Cal., June '9, 1890. Rev. Db. Rogers. Bear Doctor, —Thanks for your kind letter of 3d inst. Its generous invitation touches my heart, and, were I a young man, I should respond to it, at once, affirmatively, and march again, as I did forty-five years ago, into Boston, with buoyant steps, to join in your triumphant jubilee. What hath God wrought among you since that, to me, ever-memorable 4th of July, 1834, when I opened old Church-street Chapel — my first pastoral charge in Methodism ! But I am in my 76th year, and the burden of my age forbids long or distant campaigns. I can be with you only in spirit. I pray God to crown the occasion with His own " Grace and Glory." Tours truly, Abel Stevens. The Chairman said : " I will ask Dr. Brodbeck to lead us in singing a single verse : — " Jesus, the name that charms our fears." After the singing, the Chairman said : " Methodism may well count herself fortunate in the fact that she has had noble representatives on the walls of Zion, proclaiming a free and full salvation ; but she may also well congratulate -herself that her success has not been dependent on her clergy. The laymen of the Methodist Church hSve done much, and are yet doing much, to give it reputation and add to its power. And, upon an occasion like this, it is no small honor as a layman to stand before you a repre- sentative of the Church. But to be a layman woi^thy of that position, is an honor any man might well covet. This evening there stands, or will stand, before you one who rightly has a high place in the regard of New England .Methodists. I desire to present to you my friend and brother, the Hon. E. H. Dunn." NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 325 The Hon. E. H. Dunn said : " Mr. Chairman. A great change has come over the theology of Massa- chusetts during the last one hundred years. And to-night FaneuilNHall throws open wide its doors, and the Governor of the old Commonwealth comes and welcomes the Methodists in this old ' Cradle of Liberty.' "A hundred years ago, when Jesse Lee came to deliver his first sermon in Massachusetts, to the people of Boston, no friendly church opened its doors to welcome him. But I am glad to-night that I am a native of the old Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and that she has grown liberal in her theology, and to-night every Christian denomination to be found on the face of the globe finds protection within her borders. "Much has been said within the past two days about Jesse Lee, and the few noble men who labored with him in planting the seed of this denomination in New England. These men did their work nobly and well. They made sacrifices of ease and comfort to themselves. All honor to their names and to their memories. Nothing has been said or done within the past few days from which we would detracf a single word, from the eulogies pronounced upon them. But we should not forget that these men in their labors were aided by godly men and godly women in the laity of the Church. We should not forget that the Methodist Church of New Eng- land owes much to its laity for its success and its prosperity, in its churches and in its educational 326 CENTENNIAL OF institutions. We should not forget, as we stand and look back over this century, but we should remember to-night the men and the women who labored in those early days to plant the seed which has pro- duced such a wonderful harvest. There sit, in this gallery at my right, ten of the direct descendants of the first man that was converted in Boston, under the preaching of Jesse Lee. We should not forget the men whom we loved to honor when living, and whom we love to think of and honor while dead. The names of the elder Claflin ; the younger Claflin ; the name of Sleeper; the name of Rich; — but it is useless for us to go through the long list. I simply wanted to remind you that they are not forgotten. It was my delight, when a boy and a young man, to stand in this hall, and to listen to Webster, Everett, and Sumner, Choate and Garrison, to Phillips and the host of other great men, who, through their utterances, did 'much to prepare the people of this Commonwealth, the people of this country, for universal liberty, which came to the country a few years ago. To these men have been erected mon- uments of bronze, of marble, and of granite. It is right and proper that this should be so. Inscribed upon these monuments are the the records of their utterances in life, and a record of the services which they rendered to their countiy. They stand as edu- cators to the rising generation and to generations that are to come after us, as these inscriptions will remind them of the teachings and liberty-loving utterances of these men, and from these monuments NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 327 and these inscriptions the young men that follow us will gather inspiration for the centuries in which they live. " If you go to London and enter St. Paul's cathe- dral, built by one of the most eminent architects of the world, you will find upon a tablet there, a plain simple tablet, the name of Sir Christopher Wren, — the man who designed the magnificent cathedral. If you ask, as you look about this temple, for the monument of this great man, they will tell you to look around you, and, looking around, you behold this beautiful temple, and that stands as a monument to the memory of the man who built it. " The men who first came to New England, who laid the foundations of the Methodist institutions, the clergy and the laity, have nearly all of them passed away. There are no monuments of bronze, of marble, or of granite, to commemorate their names, or their deeds, or their sacrifices. But if you ask me to-night for a monument to these men, I say to you, as they say in the cathedral of St. Paul's, when they ask for the monument of Sir Christopher Wren, I say, ' Look around this Hall.' Here is a monument worthy of these men. Here sit one hundred and thirty of the young men who are being educated right here in the city of Boston, in sight of Boston Common, in sight of the spot where Jesse Lee deliv- ered his first message to the people of Boston. These young men are being educated right in the heart and centre of Boston, and they, with the six hundred others that have gone from the same institution, will 328 CENTENNIAL OP soon go out to the uttermost parts of the -earth, to deliver the same message which Jesse Lee delivered on Boston Common. This surely is a monument to their memory, far-reaching and outliving the monu- ments to the men of whom I have spoken. « This temple is called ' The Cradle of Liberty.' May we not call it to-night ' The Cradle of Universal Liberty ' ? And may we not -unite with that the teachings of the Methodist Church, ' Universal Chris- tianity ' ? Let them be united one and forever." The Chairman said : " To be a Bishop of the Methodist Church is to hold a position of the high- est honor. To hold a position of such honor and usefulness that it would seem wrong to remove him from that place, even to make of him a Bishop, indicates that one holds a most exalted place in the ranks of Methodism. It is given to but few men to occupy such a position as that. But we have one with us this evening to whom, but for the fact that he exerts a power greater than any Bishop of the Church, the Church would long since have said, ' Occupy, occupy the other place.' He is a man whom we all know. He is a traveller, a scholar, an histo- rian, possessed of information upon ten thousand subjects, and lacking knowledge upon only one, and that is the age of Zionh Herald. I desire to present to you the Rev. Dr. Buckley, Editor of The Christian Advocate." Rev. Dr. J. M. Buckley said : " Mr. President, I have been, and still am, an attentive reader of ZiorCs Herald, and I find something interesting in it every NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 329 week, on every page. But the one mystery of that paper is this : It stands absolutely alone in the world, as a case of an old maid who tries to make herself out older than she is. " Mr. President, it has been said that a man who indulges in reminiscences is himself one. But an advertised series of reminiscences of a hundred years, must certainly exempt any person from the charge. Thirty-one years ago I heard my voice in this hall, as a representative of New Hampshire. I had not spoken five minutes before a deep and solemn voice was heard from yonder gallery, uttering these por- tentous words ' Dry up ! ' But, Mr. President, I have refused to obey that mandate, from then till now. " Now, Mr. President, I congratulate the Governor of this State on his magnificent opportunities. I read that he was last night the honored guest of a fraternity of persons (the Baptists) who, in the early history of Massachusetts, if I am not mixed on the facts, had some little embarrassment in these parts. So that we are not the only body that have experienced a great change. " But, sir, I count myself particularly honored to-night. In 1881, in the city of London, an CEcu- menical Conference of Methodists was held. We are a wonderfully imitative people. The Church of England held what they called ' The Pan-Anglican Council.' The Presbyterians held, in Belfast, a ' Pan-Presbyterian Council,' and the Methodists an ' CEcumenical Conference ' in London ; and, when it 330 CENTENNIAL OF occurred, for the first time in the history of England, the Lord Mayor of London was a Wesleyan Method- ist and Local Preacher, and he invited a large number of the delegates, in fact, the whole bodj^ to be present ; and . on that occasion, in that ancient Mansion House, with the insignia of his of&ce upon him, and with the devices and emblems of royalty about him, he gave us an account of his experiences in conversion, and lined a hymn of nearly sixteen stanzas, which the entire concourse sang in that building. Next to that, Mr. President, I shall always put the meeting in Faneuil Hall, with the Governor of Massachusetts to welcome us. " A devout Congregationalist minister once called upon a Methodist, and said to him, ' I write my sermons with the utmost care, and I don't have any conversions ; and you don't prepare yours at all, I am told, and you appear to have great results. Please explain to me the secret. I cannot tell why I have not greater success.' — ^'Well,' said the Methodist Preacher, ' you said you write down every word you are going to say. And while you are writing, the devil looks over your shoiilder and sees every word you are writing, and he goes about and fortifies every sinner in the community ; but,' said he, ' when I get up to preach, I don't know, and the devil don't know, what I am going to say.' "When I had the honor to deliver five lectures before the students of Andover Theological School, at the request of the Faculty, I called upon Professor Park, of immense activity and influence even in NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 331 advanced years. He expressed regret that he could not hear the lectures, hut said he had always taught the students to preach extemporaneously, ' For,' said he, ' I remember an occasion in my early ministry when there was a minister who was to preach and he could not come. Other ministers being present, they asked them to take his place. Every one de- clined. Some because they had no manuscript; some because of difficulties of the throat; and all of them because they had not expected to preach. Looking about the house, tiiey saw a plain Methodist minister, and went up and asked him if he' would not preach. He did so. And,' said Professor Park, ' he took this wonderful text " Then the wise said unto the foolish, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out." ' "There is considerable of what maj'- be called eloquent drooling about Christain unity. A minis- ter was once making a speech, and he said, ' What is the reason we cannot all unite ? There are the Episcopalians, separated from us by a liturgy, and we have considerable of it. "Why cannot we unite ? And there are the Presbyterians, the difference is in the form of government. They don't recognize Bishops. And the Congregationalists, and they have declared that Arminianism is no bar to installation, and they are picking up our ministers, good, bad, and indifferent, as fast as they can, and why should we not unite ? And there are the Baptists, separated from us only by a stream.' — - Well,' said a Baptist brother, ' we'll meet you half way, brother.' True 332 CENTENNIAL OF Christian unity recognizes distinctions, but can sink them on the ground of a common faith in the eternal truth. When I see a Congregationalist church going up, I thank God. If I should thank him with a little more fervor for a Methodist church, would that imply that I am a bigot? "I met a man in the valley of Chamounix, and said to him, ' Are you an Englishman, or an Ameri- can?' He said, ' Oh, I'm an' American.' — 'So am I.' A little while afterwards he asked me what my native State was, and I said, 'New Jersey.' — 'That is my native State.' I felt great pleasure to discover he was an American, and greater happiness to know that he came from my own State. I said, ' Are you a Christian ? ' — ' Yes, I am.' We skirmished around a little while, and he said, ' What are you ? ' — 'I am a Methodist Episcopalian.' — ' So am I.' I was glad to get down to the fact that we were of the same State and Church. " When do Christians all agree, And their distinctions fall ? When nothing in themselves they se% And Christ is all in all." " But, as a certain eloquent preacher once said, I must begin to prepare to get readj'- to close. "A Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal church once said to me, ' Why in the world don't you come into the Church?' Said I, 'I am in the Church.' Said he, 'Why don't you come in under the broad panopoly of the historic episcopate ? ' — ' Why,' said NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 333 I, ' if my father, who was born not manj' miles from the spot where Bishop Mallalieu's father was born ' — (By the way, the Bishop was over there, and he told them, — I got it in an English paper, — that he had been around the world extensively, and on the whole he had not seen a finer place than old Eng- land. And then I heard him here to-night say that he had got back here, and had not seen a finer place than New England.) " I proved to this Protestant Episcopal Bishop that if my father had never left the Church, I should never have had any hope in this world or the world to come. My father was converted at a Methodist altar, and was stationed at a place far from any place he had ever heard of; and he was put to board with a man who had two daughters, and, before the year was over, the elder had made arrangements to become a Methodist preacher's wife, and, to quote from Artemus Ward, 'of whom I am which.' I told that story to Henry Ward Beecher, who was my neighbor in Brooklyn, and he said, 'That reminds me of what my father said to me once : " Henry, I came very near marry- ing Nancy Eaton instead of your mother. Now, Henry, if I had, would you have been you?" ' " And now, my brethren, I do not expect to see another occasion like this. I have made up my mind, however, that the only way to enjoy long life is to grow old and then die in peace. My creed is tliat the man who lives only in the past is a fossil ; the man who knows nothing of the past is a fool, and the man who cares nothing for the past is a 334 CENTENNIAL OP freak. Every man should look hopefully forward to the future, and put his fundamental faith, not in the human race, or the men of the age, but in Him who is above all, in all, and around all, by whom things consist, and will continue, according to the sublime law of evolution in revelation, which has respect to the happiness and holiness of sentient beings, every man receiving according to what he hath done, whether gqod or evil. That is my creed, briefly expressed." The Chairman said: "It was my good fortune, two years ago last May, to step one day into the General Conference, holding its session in New York. As I entered the Opera House, and found a seat, a gentleman arose from his seat and commenced to speak. I did not hear the name announced. I said to a gentleman, ' Who is that man speaking? ' — ' Who is that man ? Don't you know ? That is one of the brighest men in the Methodist Church, the Rev. Dr. Bristol.' " Rev. Dr. F. M. Bristol said: "Mr. Chairman, Christian Brethren : Since I arrived in Boston, this morning, I have been trying to find the Chairman of this meeting, to learn what my subject would be here to-night, that I might prepare an ' extempora- neous address.' I have not been able to find him until this evening, and he tells me that I may speak five minutes on anything. I find myself in the em- barrassment of the Scotch fiddler who, returning home from an all-night party, was hailed with the significant remark : ' Ah, Sandy, it's a long road to NEW EKGLAND METHODISM. 335 Dunkeld this morning ; ' and replied, ' Ah, ma laird, it's no the length, but the breadth.' " I am troubled, not with the length of my time, but with the breadth of my theme. It is an honor to speak five minutes on anything in Faneuil Hall. "I want to thank you for the privilege of feasting with you in* celebration of the fast of Jesse Lee, and in Faneuil Hall, which does not belong to Boston exclusively, any more than Plymouth Rock belongs only to Plymouth. Faneuil Hall belongs to the nation. As I stand here, in the presence of these portraits of illustrious men, I feel that silence on my part would be much more eloquent than anything I can say. Here are Sumner, Lincoln, and Webster. " If you will read Charles Sumner's scholarly oration on the ' True Grandeur of Nations,' Abraham Lincoln's short but mighty oration on the field of Gettysburg, Daniel Webster's great oration, as he delivered it there in the Senate, in defence of the Constitution, you will have the gospel of American patriotism and American politics. Methodists have a right in this ' Cradle of Liberty,' which has been kept rocking up to this present time. But for the loyalty, patriotism, and devotion of New England Methodism, and the Methodism of this whole north- land, I question whether we should have any liberties to-night to talk about. So that the Methodists have a right in this notable and historic structure. When the Chairman said I could speak about anything, I thought of the greatest things in existence. Boston is one of them. Boston remains, and in all Ameri- 336 CBNTENNIAIi OF can history will remain, the greatest American city. N^ot greatest in acres, and in the height of its temples, but greater in a higher and more lasting sense. " On all important questions, social, political, and religious, the eyes of this country, even to the Golden Gate, are fixed upon this glorious city of Boston. " Shall I speak of Chicago, which is perhaps the next greatest thing, stretching from Lake Michigan to sundown, extending her borders to accommodate the World's Fair ; — Chicago, which somebody here said was known by many eastern people only as the place where they hung some Anarchists? But don't let it escape your minds that they hung the Anarch- ists, and ended Anarchy there. They did it in the spirit that came from New England. We look to Boston, especially at this time, because you have fought one of the great battles that is upon us in the city of Chicago, and in the whole West. The ques- tion that is of deepest interest at the present time is whether the Tiber is larger than the Mississippi, and whether we shall have the Common School preserved, which was handed across to us by this glorious New England. The conflict here in this city has been ended. The conflict is coming to us in the city of Chicago. We have been encouraged by your loyalty and devotion, and we are learning, with you, that the safety of our American institutions depends as much upon having the right kind of man in the office of Mayor as upon having the right kind of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 337 man in the Presidential chair. These cities are the centres of power in the country. The power that controls the city controls the country ; and, if Chris- tianity would hold this country for liberty and for God, it must do it by evangelistic work in the city. As the crowds come over from foreign lands, and pour into our great Chicago, we plant Sunday schools and missions in their midst, and evangelize them, putting from fifteen thousand to twenty thou- sand dollars into this city mission work annually, and calling into the field students from Garrett Biblical Institute, who are able to study through the week, and preach the gospel on the Sabbath. "Methodism is one. And though, as I said this afternoon, we speak of a New England Methodism, a Western Methodism, a Southern Methodism, yet in a greater and profounder sense our Methodism is one. You look like the Methodists of Chicago; a little better perhaps. And I can assure you, after a ministry of thirteen years in the city of Chicago, that I can tell a New England boy when he comes there. There is the stamp of New England upon him ; the New England decency ; the New England chastity of speech ; the New England mildness of manners ; the New England love of home ; the New England devotion to New England ; and that New England purpose for righteousness which he brought from the home of his mother in Massachusetts, ov Connecticut, or Vermont. And wherever I meet a New England boy, I meet a clean boy. He is the safest acquisition we can have to our Church and 338 CBNTENNIAI, OF society in the West. Methodism is one, because the blood of the West has flowed from these Eastern veins. Many of your children are with us, and they are there to represent the spirit of their fathers, and are doing it grandly. My grandsires rest here in Connecticut, and every man in the West, of Ameri- can extraction, loves to claim kinship with the noble dust that sleeps along these shores. We all belong to one Americanism and one Methodism, and there is not, in the best sense, a Western Methodism, and an Eastern Methodism, and a Southern Methodism, but one united homogeneous Methodism, filling the land. "I heard the actor Florence once, on shipboard, out at sea, recite an amusing experience. It was, doubtless, but a recitation found in humorous litera- ture. An Irish guide invited the traveller to visit a museum where might be seen the skulls of many great men. With enthusiasm the guide held up a skull which he assured the traveller was the skull of a famous Irish chief of the early days. ' And this is the foine skull of the great Irish poet, Shakspeare, who wrote Hamlet, Othello, and Julius Caesar. And this noble skull is the skull of that other great Irish poet, by the name of Robert Burns.' Thus skull after skull was ' exhibited until, at the end of the table, the guide took up a small and shapely skull crying, 'And here, sor, is the skull of Shakspeare who wrote Hamlet, and ' — ' But hold,' cried the traveller, ' you told me that large, fine skull at the top of the table was Shakspeare's.' — ' True for you,' NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 339 said the guide, 'and so it is. That was Shak- speare's skull when he was a man, and this was Shakspeare's skull when he was a boy.' " No more absurd was the Irish guide than is he who attempts to find essential differences in the Americanism or the Methodism of the East and the West, the North and the South. Our great Method- ism has but one skull, one brain, one heart, one body, one source of life and power, and it is taking this country for the evangelical Christianity of one ' Lord, one faith, one baptism.' "Permit me to thank you, as a Methodist preacher from the West, for the kindness with which you have received me. Yet I know your courtesy is not only extended to me personally, but also to the city of Chicago. We shall expect you to visit Chicago in 1893. Our homes will all be open to you during the World's Fair, and all our friends, cousins, aunts, and relations froin the East will be heartily wel- comed. "In closing, let me say, we want that Resolution which was just read by your Committee, relating to the opening of the Fair on Sunday, to ring across this continent. There is very little doubt in the minds of our Chicago people that this World's Fair will be kept open on Sunday. I know this. And the fundamental idea with the managers is to keep it open for ' Revenue only, ' fearing that it cannot be made a financial success unless open on Sunday. Let the ministers of New England and New York, and Maryland and California, send in appeal after appeal. 340 CENTENNIAL OP by their Resolutions, to the managers, against the opening of the Fair on Sunday, and the pulpit of Chicago will thunder all around against this pro- posed desecration of the holy day. We will do all we can to help you fight the battle for the preserva- tion of our Christian Sabbath." The Chairman said : " That is a breath from the western prairie. Let it sweep. And the east wind of Boston, coming in contact with the western prairie, will give new power and bring us new life. " This evening you have listened to one from the West. In one of the most important New England pulpits there is a man who came from the West, a grand type of what may be called Western Meth- odism here in the Modern Athens of America. I have the pleasure of presenting to you the Rev. Dr. Brodbeck." Dr. W. N. Brodbeck said: "Mr. President; Mothers and Sisters ; Fathers and Brethren : Some time ago a minister, or speaker of a certain class, was holding forth before an immense audience, and announcing some dangers which threaten us in our religious and political life. And among other things he announced that 'Anti-Christ will come.' An Irishman out in the audience said, 'Faith, Mister, ' he has come ; and they just hung four of them in Chicago.' " Chicago is a wonderful place. But, Mr. Chair- man, I feel a good deal of hesitancy in standing here at all to-night, as I remember that there are many brethren who, because of long residence in New NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 341 England, and long service in the Methodist ministry, are more worthy to occupy the place than myself. And I have wondered somewhat, since receiving the invitation to speak, upon just what ground it was given. And I have concluded that perhaps the Com- mittee had three reasons for selecting me, and invit- ing me to be one of the speakers on this memorable occasion. " First, I have imagined that they did so because they desired some one to speak during this Centen- nial who had come here during this present" century. Among the many venerable brethren who have spoken with such positiveness about the things with which they were so familiar, which happened a hun- dred years ago, and which they were able to talk about from observation, it is certainly fitting that one should speak to whom these things are a matter of history. "Another reason, I think, for my selection, was that they desired some one to speak about New Eng- land who could do so calmly and judiciously, with- out the peculiar mental intoxication which comes from having been born in Boston. That there is such a condition of mind which threatens one born in or near Boston, I think you have had sufficient evidence in the speech of our honored Bishop Malla- lieu, in the early part of the evening. I don't mean by this that a native Bostonian cannot confine him- self to truth and facts when speaking of Boston, but that his imagination becomes very elastic and very susceptible. 342 CENTENNIAL OP " The Chairman of the evening has told every story about the women of Boston that I ever heard, but one, and I may tell you that. There is a good woman whose husband died, and she desired to pro- cure for him a beautiful and suitable monument. She selected it, and then she wanted a suitable inscription put upon it, that would embody her thought with regard to him and his present condi- tion. And after many had been suggested to her, the man finally gravely suggested, ' How would this do, " Gone to a better country ? " ' — ' Ah,' sighed she, 'but you forget that my husband lived in Bo'ston.' "The other reason I think, perhaps, why I was invited, was that you might have the example of the beneficent effects of New England upon a transfer. Now, it is always dangerous to transfer anything from a mild to a rigorous climate. I remember, when I was starting to come to Boston, that I had a favorite horse, and I was anxious to bring that part of my household ; but, upon writing to a friend, he warned me against attempting it, because the change was very hard on horses, and they usually died, and some of my brethren in my church reminded me that such also was the fate that would befall me. But I think you can see that, although I have been here four j-ears and a half, I still live and move and have my being. " Now, Mr. Chairman, I do not know of anything that I could better do in the few moments that I may occupy than to name a few things in connection with New England Methodism, which I have found NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 343 to be very different from the Methodism with which I had been familiar all my days, until the time I came to New England. "And the first thing was your pew system. Dr. Buckley referred to that last night. During my Christian life I have come in contact with it but very little. I was reared under the influence of Ger- man Methodism, and, of course, we knew nothing of the kind. And although I was pastor for fourteen years, in the city from which I came, I never in all that time was pastor of a church where the pews were either sold or rented, and I think there are but two churches there where this is the condition. "You remember that it has not been so many years ago since, in the West, families did not sit - together. I think it was in the General Conference of 1852, in our own city of Boston, that John Inskip was arraigned because, in a church in the city of New York, he had broken over the accustomed rule, and allowed men and women to sit together. In Cincin- nati there was a church called Union Chapel, which went off and set up by themselves because families were not allowed to sit together, and had a sort of independent existence until all came to their position. " Another thing is your monthl}'- Communion, and your monthly reception of members. In certain sections of the West, with which I am familiar, this does not pertain. The Communion Service occurs once in three months, and there we ' open the doors of the Church ' at every service. Sabbath mornings and evenings the ' doors of the Church ' are opened, 344 CBNTENNlAIi OF SO that, if any one wishes to come in, he may come in. Many of you know the story told of one of your ministers, who supplied the largest church in Cincin- nati, Morris Chapel. He was from New Hampshire. The first Sabbath he was there the Presiding Elder was present at the service ; and just before the new pastor arose, the Presiding Elder leaned over and said, ' I think it would be a good thing to open the doors.' — ' Well, if you are too warm, just have them opened. I am perfectly comfortable.' It was a plirase he had never heard. " Another thing that impressed me as different in New England, is the expectancy, on the part of the ministry, of immediate fruit. In the West, I think, as the brother expressed it the other day, many of the Churches seem to expect to do all their work in a month or two of the winter ; but during the remainder of the year it is a very unusual thing to hear the invitation given to seeking souls to come to the altar and seek Christ. I found it different here, and thank God for it. I believe there is no section in Methodism where the ministers look for the imme- diate fruit of their labors as they do in New England. The seed is sown, the invitation is given, and the sheaves gathered at once into the granary. It is a good thing. " Another thing that impressed me very much was the fidelity of the members of the Church to their own individual church. I think that pertains in New England as in no other section of the country I have known. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 345 " Another thing is the fidelity of young converts ; and I say to you now that it is to the western man a very gratifying fact, in connection with your New England. It seems to me that, when a native New Englander is really convinced of sin and converted, the element of stability which appears in the New England character in every direction, manifests itself in his adherence to the Lord Jesus Christ, and his fidelity to the Church of God ; and it is grand, and it brings great comfort to the heart of a minister. " But I remember that another brother is to speak. I simply want to say these things to you, brethren, as coming from one who comes from abroad. I want to congratulate New England Methodism upon its achievements in the past, and its prosperity in the present. If there is any one reason why I should have a right to stand here to-night in this place it is that, while I am only an adopted child of New England, and that only of a few years' duration, I defer to no native son of this goodly section in my admiration or my love for, or my loyalty to. New England and her Methodism. I want to say to you to-day, I believe that in New England we find the best type of Methodism to be found anywhere in our land, and so far as I know, in any land under the shining sun." The Chairman said : " It is but proper that the last speech of the evening should represent the Mission Element in the Methodist Church. In all this hundred years the Church has been stretching out her hands, not only to men of the land, but to 346 , CENTENNIAL OF men of the sea. I have the honor to present to you the last speaker, the Rev. Dr. Bates." Dr. L. B. Bates said : " Mr. Chairman, Parents and Children ; a mistake has been made somewhere, by someone. Had it not been for the sailors, Jesse Lee would never have come to Boston, because his ancestors would never have crossed the Atlantic. Had it not been for the sailors, Boston would have been an Indian village to-night. The wigwam would have been on Beacon Street and Columbus Avenue. "For three nights and two days we have been celebrating, and I think, Mr. Chairman, that, in the introduction of the last speaker, the sailor has been referred to ; but it is the only time. The sailor was the only speaker on Boston Common, when Jesse Lee preached that memorable sermon on the 11th of July, 1780, whose speech has come down to us. And for the first time now, during this Convention, your attention is called to his speech. Jesse Lee said, in illustrating his sermon, that those who at- tempted to gain heaven by works were like men row- ing a boat with one oar ; and those who attempted to gain heaven by faith were, like men rowing a boat with one oar. A sailor shouted in the congregation, says a Boston paper, ' Why don't he scull ? ' What Mr. Lee's reply was we do not know ; but, knowing the man, it must have been pointed, for, a little time after, on his way from Boston to Lynn over the old Maiden turnpike, before there were any bridges this side of Maiden, two lawyers rode up, one upon either side of him. Supposing he might be an itin- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 347 erant preacher, they said, 'Are you a Methodist- Preacher ? ' — ' Yes.' — ' Do you preach without notes ? ' — ' Yes.' — • Don't you sometimes make mistakes ? ' — ' Yes.' — ' What do you do when you make mis- takes ? ' — ' Well, gentlemen, if they are worthy to be corrected, I correct them. If not, I let it pass. For instance, I was preaching the other day, and I wanted to quote this text, " All liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brim- stone ; " but, instead of liars, I said lawyers. I did not correct it.' One of the men said, 'Are you a knave, or a fool ? ' — 'I am between the two.' They rode on, and the Methodist preacher had the ground. " On that memorable occasion on Boston Common, when he had finished, he said, ' I am a stranger. I have given you the gospel as it has been given to me. If any of this company will come forward and take my hand, and by so doing, pledge himself to meet me in heaven, I will thank God.' " When Brother Bidwell was the pastor of Old Bromfield-street Church, twenty years ago, an old lady, over ninety years of age, who was dying, sent for him, and said to him, 'I was there and heard Jesse Lee. I looked upon the crowd, one by one, as they went away and left the stranger standing there. Though a little girl, I went up to him, and took him by the hand, and said "Mr. Lee, I will meet you in heaven." ' She died in the faith, and the little girl who gave her hand to Jesse Lee, on Boston Common, on the 11th of July, 1790, shakes hands with him, doubtless, now around the throne above. 348 CENTENNIAL OF " Brothers and sisters ; If we project Methodism, if our sons, and if our sons' sons shall project Methodism for a liundred years to come, throughout this land, and all other, lands, we shall not do it by our might ; we shall not do it by our money ; we shall not do it by our social standing ; we shall do it by our consecration to God. If Methodism throws herself out for a hundred years to come, over this and over all other lands, she will do it by her consecra- tion to God. Oh, when that grand hour shall come, sir, when the gospel shall prevail from north to south, from east to west, and in all lands, may they rejoice in the faith that saves us to-day, and which gives us the hope of a glorious immortality at the right hand of God." The Chairman said : " I think you will all ac- knowledge the fact that the automatic brakes have worked very well. There has been but little work except to guide. I ask you to remember that this occasion should be to us only an inspiration for greater work and influence, to make of us stronger Methodists and stronger Christians. As we close, I will ask Dr. Brodbeck to lead us in singing a single verse, — " A charge to keep I have, and then I will ask the Bishop to pronounce the Benediction, thus closing our Centennial Gathering." After singing heartily the above stanza, Bishop W. F. Mallalieu pronounced the benediction, and the Etreat Centennial Celebration came to a close. o H oa O m S o W o w . CO " H O Pi CHAPTER Vin. PEOGKESS OP THOUGHT IN THE METHODIST EPIS- COPAL CHUECH, DURING ITS FIRST CENTURY. BY REV. GEOKGE M. STEELE, D.D., PRINCIPAL WESLETAN ACADEMY, WILBRAHAM, MASS. Two characteristics of Methodism have been promi- nent in all its history. One of these is that meta- physical, speculative theology has been kept entirely subordinate to practical and spiritual religion. The other is that common sense rather than scholastic logic has been the test of its doctrines. Of course, religion in any form implies some kind of theology. In the order of thought this may be a condition pi'ecedent and thus, in a certain sense, paramount ; but in practice it is the reverse. A hundred years ago a man might become a Method- ist by evincing " a 'desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to save his soul," and by conduct which accorded with this desire. Simple as this condition is, it implies a somewhat positive, substantial creed. If there were wrath of so terrible a nature there must be some being as the corresponding subject of it; and hence a doctrine concerning God. "Wrath to come," taken in connection with the saving of the soul, would indicate another world, the existence of the soul, its immortality, the retribution due to sin, C361] 352 CENTENNIAL OF a doctrine, therefore, concerning sin and a possibility of salvation, hence some notion of redemption and eternal blessedness. But, as a matter of fact, Wesley and his coadjutors started out with the generally accepted doctrines of the Church of England. Not that they laid any very great stress upon them as constituting a theo- logical system, or made them, as such, of much prominence in their preaching. They were tacitly assumed. Pre-eminent among these assumptions were the great practical doctrines that men were sinners, and that, because of this, they were exposed to the wrath of God, and were liable to eternal and inconceivable wretchedness ; but that a way had been provided, through the infinite love and infinite wisdom of God, for their deliverance, and that, on their part, repentance and faith in Jesus Christ was the one and only method of securing this. Of course, a multitude of minor facts, opinions, and doctrines were implied, and, as time went on and the work advanced, they came more and more to the front, and demanded definition and limitation. Among the first of these was the so-called Calvin- istic theory, concerning predestination, election, and reprobation. This was early settled by the Wesleys and those in theological sympathy with them, by adopting the Arminian theory of universal redemp- tion and human free agency. There were other doctrines pertaining to regeneration andsanctification, the witness of the spirit, and some cognate notions, which were both made more prominent and more NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 353 thoroughly defined than before, in the English Church. The doctrine of baptismal regeneration, which has been inherited by this Church from the Roman Catholic Church, was theoretically adhered to by Wesley in all the early part of his ministry, though practically always becoming of less and less account with him. Still it remained virtually in the Wesleyan ritual, and traces of it have existed even in our Own Book of Discipline within the easy memory of some of us. The following may be regarded as a substantial summary of the salient doctrines held by British Wesleyans, at the time of the organization of the American Methodist Episcopal Church : — - The Bible was regarded as an authoritative revel- lation from God to man, and whatever it said was to be taken as the word of God. The human race was believed to be in a condition of great moral disorder, with powerful tendencies to all manner of evil, with moral taste so perverted that what was good was repulsive to it. Men were thought to naturally hate God, to have such a disposition to go wrong that nothing in their own constitution was able to overcome it. Because of their relation to Adam, inheriting from him not only liis depravity but also his guilt, all who were born were held to be deserving of eternal punishment. To remedy their infinitely bad condition, it was held that Jesus Christ took upon him the penalty due to the race, and suffered to an extent which satis- fied the divine justice in the same sense that it 354 CENTBNKIAL OP would have been satisfied with the eternal punishment of all the individuals of the sinful race. In order that he might be qualified for this under- taking, it was necessary that he should be a being of infinite attributes, and, therefore, divine, and thus equally with the Father worthy of homage and worship from all intelligent creatures. There was also accepted the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, who, together with the Father and the Son, constituted a divine Trinity of persons, but one God. It was also believed that every one who penitently trusted himself to Christ received the forgiveness of sins past, that he was justified ; and that, in addition to this, a marked change was wrought in his dispo- sition and affections, and moral and spiritual tastes, so that he became, in respect of what he loved and what he hated, a new creature. This disposition was regarded as capable of increase and development, into perfect conformity to the will and mind of God. Their life was believed to be a probationary state, and whatever could be done for the moral restoration of any individual must be done here. Their proba- tion ended, there was no further hope. A man dying impenitent, unbelieving, and unforgiven, was doomed to eternal punishment in a lake of fire and brimstone ; but a genuine believer in Christ would be received into everlasting habitations of infinite joy and blessed- ness. I have given, in a brief, and, no doubt, imperfect manner, the main features of the Wesleyan theology ITEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 355 o£ one hundred years ago. On some of the points the coloring is perhaps softer than strict historic statement would require, but I believe there is no exaggeration. Of this system it may be said that the great prac- tical elements remain to-day as they were when our Church was organized, and, indeed, as they have been from the time of the Apostles. The philosophical or speculative features have undergone some changes. It is, of course, impossible to indicate all the varia- tions, or to group in any profitable form, the move- ments of thought on all the subjects embraced in the above summary. We are to remember that not all change of opinion is improvement, and that there may be movement without progress. We are also to note the fact that a change in the views of a few, or even of a considerable number, is hardly entitled to be regarded as affecting the general attitude of the Church. It is only desirable, on the present occasion, to indicate such changes as have made marked modifi- cations in the general expression of the denomination. Perhaps the most obvious changes have taken place, so far as American Methodism is concerned, in the doctrine of the natural moral condition of men. As we have seen, the views entertained by Wesley and the early British Methodists were substantially Augustinian, and differed in scarcely any respect from those of the Calvinists. Man was regarded as totally depraved in the most radical sense, his dis- position thoroughly perverse and devilish. And it was believed that he inherited not only this bad con- 356 CENTENNIAL OF dition from his original ancestors, but also their sin and guilt ; consequently that all children are born into this world deserving of punishment. Without any very obvious agitation on the ques- tion, nevertheless, in process of time, a marked change has taken place in the views entertained among us on this subject. I suppose that all but a small minority of American Methodists to-day would repudiate the doctrine that any man was responsible or punishable for Adam's or any one's sins except his own ; that Adam was in any sense, so far as this mat- ter is concerned, any one's representative ; and that hereditary guilt, in its proper sense, was anything but a monstrous conception. The views generally enter- tained, though certainly not always consciously framed by the individuals holding them, are some- thing as follows : — Man inherits the derangement and depravity of the first parents, induced by their sin. This is of the nature of perverted moral tastes, and disposition such that, if a man were left to himself, he would inevitably go wrong, wholly violating and ignoring the divine law, and so compassing his own utter destruction. But it is denied that this condition does of itself imply sin in the proper sense of that term ; conse- quently it is held that in men, previous to actual trans- gression of known obligation, there is no guilt, and, of course, no desert of punishment. It is lield, furthermore, that man is not left to himself. When the first man sinned, he became subject to the penalty of death and all that was implied therein. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 357 Under the original dispensation he must have perished, and, of course, the whole race must have perished in him. The sole effect of his sin in that case, on his posterity, would have been that they would have had no existence. But under the dispensation of redemp- tion it became practicable to continue the race under conditions which would be fair and just to them, since not only what was lost in Adam, but much more than that, would be restored in Christ. Hence the doctrine that every child born since the fall is the off- spring not only of Adam, but also of Christ. Here we have a very marked difference between the views now entertained and those accepted one hundred years ago. On the subject of the atonement, the movement of thought has been less definite and less positive. While we, as a denomination, are far enough from those views of Christ's character and work which virtually do away with the atonement, there certainly has been an abandonment of those mechanical and commercial features of the doctrine toward which we find a certain tendency in_ our earlier writers. A bald statement of the theory, as formerly held, would be something after tliis form: Man having sinned, it became necessary to the ends of the divine government that the penalty thus incurred should be fully paid. If this were inflicted on the proper sub- jects of the sin, eternal suffering would be the lot of the whole race. The only way in which government could be maintained and justice vindicated, and at the same time the salvation of the sinner secured, was for 358 CENTENNIAL OP an infinite being to become a substitute for man, and endure the whole punishment due the latter. This was accomplished in Christ, the divine Word made flesh. The sufferings endured by him were a satis- faction to the violated law, thus leaving man free from the guilt and condemnation which he had incurred. In our own Church, at present, there is a consider- able variety of opinion on this subject. A few go to the verge of heresy, and some, doubtless, beyond that, so far as to do away with the essential elements of the atonement altogether. On the other hand, there are some who hold the more rigid substitutional theory, that Christ's sufferings were equivalent to what would have been suffered by men, had not he been put in their place; that by this sacrifice of himself he appeased the divine wrath and saved the honor of the divine government, which would otherwise have been impaired by the forgiveness of human sin. But I believe that the more generally prevalent view, not by any means articulated, nor perhaps even fully realized, is that, whatever obstacle there was on the divine side to man's justification, Christ has re- moved it. It is the conviction that there was such an obstacle, and that it was infinitely great ; but what was the nature of this obstacle there is far less effort than formerly to determine, and there is something, at least, of a disposition to rest in the belief that this is one of the matters that belong to God, and so does not practically so much concern us. It is felt that, ill this great sacrifice, there was an expression of God's NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 359 infinite hatred of sin as a horrible thing, and at the same time, and in the same act, of God's infinite love for the sinner. But there is, further, a growing belief that this offering of the Divine Man was not for the sole pur- pose of removing the great obstacle in the way of the divine forgiveness. The power which he has brought into the world, and which he is still exerting here, of influencing and attracting men to him and to his methods of life, imparting this influence to them, and making manifest in those who accept him his life and power ; and this, too, aside, in some sense, from the peculiar work of the Holy Spirit, is a great and essential fact of the redeeming office which he came to discharge. This is quite distinct from the somewhat superficial " moral influence " theory, as it is popularly understood. That attributes the saving power of Christ to his example and the influence of his character in the world. If I mistake not, the great majority of thoughtful persons among us would regard such a view as unsatisfactory and every way inadequate. Closely connected with the object of Christ's sacri- fice, in its relation to the divine government, is its effect upon individual souls. One prominent feature of the Augustinian theology was that, by Christ's offering of himself, he wrought out a complete and perfect obedience, of such extent and value that it became a substitute for the righteousness of men. Hence, to all who accepted Christ, his righteousness was imputed, and it was reckoned as their own. Out 360 CENTENNIAL OF of this, naturally and logically, grew the doctrine that man could have no proper righteousness of his own, and that, however sinful and imperfect man might be, if he only had faith in Christ, Christ's righteousness would avail for him. Hence came the worst form of Antinomianism, and many other notions revolting to common sense. Now, while Wesley and his associates strenuously denied these extreme views, and made powerful argu- ments in confutation of them, they did, nevertheless, make very free use of the terms which imply, and, in- deed, assert, the imputation of Christ's righteousness. They undoubtedly regarded this obedience of the Son of God as in some way reckoned unto believers, and as making up for their lack. But it is certain that, in our day, and in our Church, this expression is seldom or never heard. , The general belief, I think, is that there is no more imputation of Christ's righteousness, in the proper sense, to the believer, than there is of Adam's sin to the unregenerate ; that what Christ does for us in this respect is not to furnish a right- eousness of his own to take the place of ours, but to give us power to be ourselves righteous — to form and fashion an individual character after the pattern he has shown. In the department of eschatology there has been a varied movement of thought* among us, as in other denominations. There has been some drifting toward the currents of radical and rationalistic views on the question of the resurrection and the general judg- ment. A few have taken up with the theory of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 361 Hymeneus and Philetus, so far as those who are dead are concerned, "that the resurrection is past ah-eady." More, perhaps, while giving no certain sound con- cerning the general resurrection and final judgment, reject the doctrine of a physical resurrection. But the prevalent conviction among us is that, while the old formulas by which the doctrine of the resurrection of the body was expressed are to be considerably mod- ified, there is a natural meaning to be attached to the Scriptural phrase of the resurrection of the dead, which cannot consist with any view which does not imply a new body, — spiritualized and etherealized, it may be, but some way a reconstruction or outcome of the natural body, and that this reconstruction will take place at some future time, and in connection with a general judgment. It is also undoubtedly true that the old doctrines concerning future punishment are either much mod- ified or somehow very loosely held, by certain of our people to-day. It is nearly inevitable that, when any great principles have been put in a somewhat severe and extreme form, or held in a mechanical way, a reaction from them will proceed in many cases to the , opposite extreme. So among us a few, at least, hold only in a vague and indefinite way some mild doctrine of future punishment. Others soften the conception of the penalty, so that, at least, it no longer shocks and terrifies, or operates effectually on the mind of the evil-doer. Some, also, no doubt, believe in a hesitaf^ ing way in the possibility of a future probation for, at 362 CENTENNIAL OF least, some souls. But as a Church, while declining the use of terms which represent the destiny of the finally impenitent as a process of merely physical tor- ture, we still hold firmly to the belief that the soul persisting till death in sin and unbelief becomes eter- nally lost. Our Church has also felt the influence of the recent agitation concerning the character of the Bible. While a few among us have doubtless fallen into the belief that it is not only not wholly inspired, but that much of it is mere poetry, fable, and legend, the great mass of our members and ministers hold the view that, as a whole, it comes from God, and that what it says, when fairly interpreted, God says. Undoubtedly here, as in other cases, there has been a progress of thought since the beginning of the century, and that the doctrines concerning the Bible which would formerly have been so stated as to give us the impres- sion of a mechanical and arbitrary process of inspira- tion, are now stated in other and more reasonable forms. Probably where, in the elder day, a writer would have given us a view of the divine agency as that of mere dictation, from which the human agency was wholly excluded, one of our present writers would represent the inspiration more in accordance with the natural meaning of the term, and would regard the writers of the sacred books as wholly human, and yet as wholly inspired. I have given, at some length, the instances of varia- tion of thought, and endeavored to point out the particulars in which there has been genuine progress, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 363 as well as to allude to those in which change does not imply progress. It is true there have been, and still are, heretical tendencies among us; but these are doubtless not greater nor more numerous than we should naturally expect; while, so far as the great fundamental and practical doctrines are concerned, we remain on the ancient foundation. ASBUBT FIKST M. E. CH0ECH, SPEINGFIELD, MASS. Rbt. C. a, Littletibls, A.M., Pastor. CHAPTER IX. THE INFLUENTIAL PREACHERS NEW ENGLAND METH- ODISM HAS EURNISHED TO THE DENOMINATION. BY REV. D. SHERMAN, D.D. Though planted in a hard soil and confined to nar- row limits, the people of New England have exerted a wide and salutary influence upon every part of the Republic. Bringing with them from the Old Home the best type of civilization, their ideas and men have penetrated every part of the continent, and, in the West especially, have molded the civil and religious institutions. The West is little more than New England magnified and intensified. New England has contrib- uted her young life to build the West ; in all the great centres you find our young men with home-born ideas and habits. Brains, enterprise, and money are New England's contribution to the West, far and near, a contribution whose value cannot be over estimated. The civil influence of the East on the regions beyond is paralleled by the religious. The several de- nominations have followed the advancing populations with a blessing. In this work the Methodists have borne honorable part. Their ideas, methods, and men have gone far beyond New England. In this paper we only make note of the preachers who have made their influence felt far beyond New England. And, CSCB] 366 CENTENNIAL OF to insure reasonable brevity, we present them in groups, based on lines of service. New England has made a handsome contribution to the Episcopal forces of the Methodist Church. Of forty-two general superintendents, chosen since the founding of the Church, ten were born or trained in New England. The ten make some of the most considerable men in the board; their names are household words to the remotest borders of Metho- dism. Soule, Hedding, Hamlin e, Janes, Baker, Clark, G. Haven, E. O. Haven, "Warren and Mallalieu are the names of recognized leaders in the sacra- mental host, who have had a large hand in the up- building and outspread of the great Church in which they are overseers. Look at them I Few men will better endure scrutiny. Joshua Soule was a statesman, a leader, an inspira- tion, who in the civil domain would have been a duke, a prime minister, a conqueror, or a party manager borne upon the shoulders of his henchmen up to the high place of the presidency. He was born in Bristol, Me., Aug. 1, 1781, and died in Tennessee, Mar. 6, 1867. He was orator, book agent, and, in 1820, was elected bishop. Because the conference had voted for an election for presiding eldership, he refused to be ordained. Four years later, the Church stepped down, and this ecclesi- astical Bismarck stepped up by a re-election and ordi- nation as bishop. His triumph gives a measure of the man ; ideas, courage, energy put him at the head and kept him there ; a high churchman and an aristocrat, he very naturally followed the South in the secession. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 367 Elijah Hedding, the associate and fast friend of Soule, was a solid and sensible man, with a legal mind, a warm heart, and a steady purpose. Born Jan. 7, 1780, just over the border in Pine Plains, he early- removed to Vermont, where the Methodists found him. He died April 9, 1852. He was chosen to the Episcopacy with Soule in 1824, and made a great rec- ord. As a judge of law, he was the John Marshall of the Church, his decisions being usually clear and con- sistent. His brain was level ; he surveyed truth in its wholeness. As a pillar in the Church of God, he stood firm and constant ; he was one of the fixed quantities ; men could lean hard against him without fear of going over. He was altogether an honor to the people who acknowledged him as a leader. Leonidas L. Hamlin was born in Burlington, Conn., May 10, 1797, and died in Iowa, Mar. 22, 1865. Though born in the East, his training and life were in the West. In the stormy conference of 1844 he was, on the strength of a single speech, elected to the Episcopacy. On account of ill health he resigned in 1852. He excelled as a preacher, a thinker, a writer, even more than as an administrator and leader of men. Ill health gave an ascetic and gloomy aspect to his life. He wanted in sunlight. Men were driven by his arguments and appeals rather than warmed by the rays of light and heat from a great soul. Edmund Storer Janes was the complement of Hamline. "Warm, enthusiastic, a zealous preacher and accomplished platform speaker, he was also a great administrator. He knew men and affairs, had 368 CENTENNIAL OF tact, energy, push, and indomitable perseverance. Born in Connecticut, April 27, 1807, he died in New York, Sept. 18, 1876, honored by all who knew him. Osman C. Baker,- born July 30, 1813, and deceased, Dec. 30, 1871, was an elegant scholar, an educator, and a gentleman, modest in his bearing and elevated in purpose. He came to the Episcopacy with Scott, Ames, and Simpson, in 1852, as the favorite of Hedding, who appreciated his method, scholarly taste, and knowledge of the Discipline and the rules of ecclesiastical administration. He was sound, sensible, cultured rather than strong, either in the pulpit or as a leader of men. His work on the Discipline is An authority. Davis W. Clark was born in Mount Desert, Me., Feb. 25, 1812, and died in Cincinnati, May 23, 1871. An able educator and laborious preacher, he was elected to the Episcopacy with Thomson and Kingsley, in 1864. Though not brilliant, he had a genius for work, and held a large place in the esteem and con- fidence of the Church. Gilbert Haven, born in Maiden, Sept. 21, 1821, and died Jan. 8, 1880, was a unique man, a genius, and the best loved and hated person in the Church. As a writer, conversationalist, and platform talker he was versatile and electric. He drew about him a group of friends who felt his heart beat, and swore by his red beard. As a paragraphist and letter writer, he had few equals, in the Church or out. To those who came near him there was an inexpressible charm in his conversation, distinguished for intelligence and a NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 369 ready flow of genial wit and humor. He knew how to laugh, and was not devoid of the capacity for crying. The gift of management was born in him ; he was a natural bishop, with his hand ever on the machinery. However much they hated, men were drawn into his orbit, and felt the power of his personal magnetism. E. O. Haven was unlike his cousin. Versatile, preacher, teacher, professor and president of college, editor, writer, jack-of-all-trades, and, in spite of the old saw, good at each, he was a sound, and ready, and conservative man. Respected by everybody, he drew nobody to the inner chambers of his heart. In sym- pathy with the best ideas, he was never able to under- stand the nature of a radical like Gilbert Haven, and could never understand what use the world had for the species. Henry W. Warren and Willard F. Mallalieu are living New England specimens, of which the Church is not ashamed. Warren was born in 1831, in Wil- liamsburg, Mass., and Mallalieu was born in Sutton, in 1828. The former was elected to the Episcopacy in 1880, and the latter in 1884. Warren is brilliant with pen and tongue ; a pulpit orator with the bril- liancy without the warmth of Simpson. Mallalieu is the indefatigable worker. He warms with the French enthusiasm, and pursues the battle with the steady energy of a Grant. With pen and tongue he is ever ready, and to excel him, one must be early and always at it. 2. The educators of New England have made themselves felt in far-distant regions. The corps of 370 CBNTENITIAL OP Methodist educators contains noble names — Fiske, Olin, Cummings, Raymond, Foster, Patten, Adams, Allyn, Raymond, Cooke, Steele, NewhaU, Hinman, Allen, Torsey, Warren, and H. F. Fisk. In this noble band, Wilbur Fisk easily occupies the first place. He is the pole-star, around Vhich the con- stellations revolve. He led the way. He taught the Methodists how to educate, and trained not a few of her teachers and leaders. Above any other, he inspired the denomination with an enthusiasm for education. He founded Wilbraham and Middle- town, whose light penetrates the distant places of Methodism, and reminds us of the indebtedness of the Church at large to New England. Of those who followed Fiske, we should not pass without emphasis, Olin, Cummings, Miner Raymond, and W. F. Warren, names ever memorable in the educational annals of New England. Olin was a giant, physically and mentally. He lived in the South, and was president of Ran- dolph Macon, before he came to the Wesleyan, in 1842. Like Demosthenes, he blended intense feeling with logical force. His sermons were torna- does, sweeping all in their path, by the energy behind the elements. Olin was followed by Cummings, who presided in turn over three universities, leaving his mark upon each. A man of strong mind and will, an indefati- gable worker on large and noble plans, he reared his own monument, in brick and stone, at Middletown ; and what was even more remarkable, rounded out NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 371 a great life at Evanston, by deeds which would have honored a young man. But in natural gifts and aptitude for his work, Miner Raymond was one of the best of our New England educators. With a strong, logical mind, he held the key to other minds, and knew, as few men do, how to develop and mould those com- mitted to his care. To be associated with such a teacher, is in itself an education. For educa- tion is not in college buildings, or old foundations, but in men who know how to touch other souls. As Fiske gave form to Wilbraham and Middletown, so Warren has stamped, with his own ideas and methods, Boston University, which must forever stand as the expression of his life work. Writing, speaking, and books, have been but secondary to this great work for the ages. 3. Three of our notable book agents were born on New England soil, viz., Ruter, Bangs, and Porter. Martin Ruter was born in Charlton, Mass., April 3, 1785, and died in Texas, May 16, 1838. One of the famous preachers of his time, self-educated and eloquent, he was principal at Newmarket in 1818, and president of Augusta College in 1828, and of Alleghany College in 1834. He did much to enthuse the denomination in the causes of learning and missions. In 1820 he was chosen book agent in Cincinnati, and served the Church well in that department. Nathan Bangs was the • Jupiter Tonans of the early Church, for which he spoke, wrote, planned, 372 CENTENNIAL OP and labored through a long life. Born at Bridge- port, Conn., May 2, 1778, he died in great peace, May 3, 1862. His life was crowned with honors, and his name is still, through all the Church, as ointment poured forth. To few men is the Metho- dist Church so deeply indebted as to Nathan Bangs, preacher, editor, historian, controversialist, and book agent, missionary secretary, and what not. From 1820 to 1828, he was book agent at New York, and managed to free the Concern from debt, to extend the sales and improve the character of the issues. He established the Christian Advocate and Methodist Magazine. James Porter, preacher, author, controversialist, platform speaker, man of business, and ecclesi- astical lawyer, became book agent in New York in 1856. He was known to the extremities of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and his power was felt. 4. New England has contributed to the Church at large some conspicuous editors and writers. To go no further, there are Merritt, Stevens, Wise and Cobleigh. Timothy Merritt was a strong, sensible, sound, as well as a devoutly pious man, a leader of the thought of the Church. He was born at Barkham- stead. Conn., Oct. 2, 1775, and died in Lynn, Mass, in 1845. He wrote much for the early numbers of Zion's Herald, and, in 1832, became editor of the Christian Advocate in New York, whence his influ- ence was felt through the whole Church. A half century ago, Abel Stevens, the boy NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 373 preacher, created a sensation among New England Methodists, charming the people, first, by his electric speech, and later by the sentences which flowed from his pen. As editor of Zion's Herald, and later of the Advocate, he became a literary power over the whole Church. As the historian of Methodism, his name mnst forever remain fresh in the recollection of all intelligent Methodists. Daniel Wise, though not born on the sacred soil, will be remembered as New England's contribution to the writing corps. As editor of Zion's Herald and the Sunday-school publications, he will be long remembered. He has always known how to address youth, in speech and volume. But New England does not forget Cobleigh, the preacher, the earnest worker, and editor of Zion's Herald, and later, editor of the Methodist Advocate, and president of the East Tennessee College, who gave his life to the Church. 5. To name all the preachers who have won fame beyond New England, would not be easy. "We must satisfy ourselves by naming a few. The list already given, contains the names of preachers who won fame in the pulpit, and something more, which gives them a place in the above lists.- Studley, Trafton, the two Hatfields, J. O. Peck, and I know not how many more have won on preaching lines. In view of the whole, it will be conceded that New England Methodism has made a worthy con^ tribution to the preaching and administrative talent of the Church. ST. JOHN'S M. E. CHUKCH, SOUTH BOSTON, MASS. Rev. Lonis Albbet Banks, D.D., Pastor. CHAPTER X. METHODISM AND THE COUNTRY TOWNS. BY EEV. C. A. PLUMEB, OF THE EAST MAINE CONFERENCE. Methodism has been defined to be " Christianity in earnest." Christianity has four elements : 1. It is a system of doctrines concerning rational and spiritual beings, moral relations, and destinies; 2. It is a personal life, beginning in the conversion of the individual, and so maintained that its fruits abound in his daily walk ; 3. It is an organized embodiment of such personal religious lives, for its own extension in the conversion of other individuals ; 4. It is a system of rewards, to be bestowed in a future life. Methodism is Christianity aroused from the sleep of the formalism of the State Church of Great Brit- ain, and the erroneous theology and lifeless church- ism of the Puritans of the last half of the eighteenth century. Methodism, in its beginning, was a personal relig- ious life with the Rev. John Wesley. In its intro- duction into New England, it was that same personal religious life in the Rev. Jesse Lee and his co- laborers. It holds, as a fundamental principle, the doctrine of Wesley, which does not consist in con- [375] 376 CENTENNIAL OF fessions and articles, in theories and speculative philosophies, but in a personal religious life. Its first question addressed to adult subjects for baptism, " Dost thou renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that thou wilt not follow nor be led by them ? " declares the importance with which Methodism holds and teaches this new life. This importance is also revealed in the questions addressed to all persons seeking admission into the fellowship of the Methodist Episcopal Church. " Do you here in the presence of God and of this congre- gation, renew the solemn promise contained in the baptismal covenant, ratifying and confirming the same, and acknowledging yourself bound faithfully to observe and keep that covenant ? " " Have you saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?" And to each candidate seeking the privilege and authority .to minister at her altars, Methodism propounds the searching inquiries : " Have you faith in Christ ? "' "Are you going on to perfection ?" "Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?" "Are you earnestly striving after it ? " Let none infer from this that Methodism has no doctrinal basis, for it has. The position of Method- ism is this : — It teaches personal religion first, and through that religious life it seeks after the knowl- edge of God and his truth. " If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine." It is unto them whose " life is hid with Christ in God " that NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 877 the " Spirit of truth " shall show the things of Christ. Mr. Wesley said, " The world is my parish ; " the world ; not the crowded cities alone ; but the world. The people of the cities and the country towns are both the children of God. They are brethren. They are the parish of Methodism. Methodism has a relation to every person on this round earth, and each person demands that the purity and warmth of a divinely religious life shall be ever found at Meth- odist altars and in Methodist homes. The country towns of New England, as a part of this parish, claim our attention at the present time. It is no disparagement of these rural hamlets that Mr. Lee preached his sermon, from which the beginning of Methodism in New England has been dated, under the spreading branches of the historic old elm on Boston Common. The tones of that sermon had hardly ceased to reverberate through the foliage of nature's temple, when the country around waked unto the presence and preaching of the devout man of God. The personal appearance and manner of preaching of Mr. Lee, at that time, were described as follows : — " Lee was stout, athletic, full of vigor, of muscle, and feeling. His face was strongly marked by shrewdness, tenderness, and cheerfulness, if not humor ; his manners by Tinpretending dignity, remarkable temperance in debate, and fervid piety, mixed frequently, however, with vivid sallies of wit, and startling repartee. The manifestation of hon- homie gave him ready access to the popular mind." 378 CENTENNIAL OP His co-laborers with himself, and their success- ors, were aflame with the spirit of Wesley; and from the hamlet, the lone farmhouse, the camp of lumbermen in the depth of the forest, and the fish- erman's cot by the sea, they heard the call, " Come over and help us." So faithfully was the response to that call given, that a community can scarcely be found in New England, which has not been reached by the Methodist itinerant. In many of the sparsely settled parts of the country the people were without religious organiza- tions. Many of the younger people had never heard preaching, and many of the older people had almost forgotten the joyful sound. In such communities, the itinerant was welcomed with great eagerness. The people listened gladly to his message. He was the joyful messenger, welcomed by the watchmen of Isaiah ; — " How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation." Many of the people believed the glad tidings, sought and found the plain gospel truth, as preached to them, to be the way and the life. In the older and more densely settled farmings districts, the older churches were present, and the social influence, wealth, and culture were claimed by those churches. The most contradictory religious doctrines were entertained. The Sabbath sermons were long dissertations, with formal divisions, upon the Divine Sovereignty, Predestination, Election, NEW" ENGLAND METHODISM. 379 Reprobation, and kindred subjects. The social gatherings were oftentimes seasons of heated relig- ious controversy. In these communities the itiner- ant was by many received and treated as an intruder, though he was gladly welcomed by others, espe- cially among the poor. This continued until many of the early Methodists came to think that their especial mission was unto the poor and middle classes. The same results followed their preaching in these country hamlets, which have been noted as fol- lowing their labors elsewhere. Multitudes were turned away from sinful habits, and converted unto the Lord Jesus. The old themes have been banished largely from most of the evangelical pulpits, and the people are invited to the Lord Jesus, who " tasted death for every man." They are now taught that it is the Christian's privilege to have the witness of the Spirit, a full assurance of present salvation. Aside from these changes, to be noted in the pulpits of the older churches in New England, so many converts have gone from Methodist altars into their folds that the spirit of intolerance and exclu- siveness is fast passing away, and mutual sympathy and respect are to be observed among the members of the different churches. There is a hearty co-op- eration in the great work of building the kingdom of the Lord Jesus on earth, each family knowing that the others have an important part in bringing about the grand consummation. The itinerancy and the special and peculiar ser- 380 CENTENNIAL OP vices of Methodism, the old time quarterly meeting, the love-feast, and the class-meeting, have a wonder- ful adaptation to meet the wants of the people in the country towns. The value of Methodism in these towns may be gathered from the following facts : — 1. Many of the pillars in the most flourish- ing churches in the city stations, as well as in the country charges, have been gathered from these country homes ; 2. Seventy-two per cent of a large body of ministers, whose birthplace is known to the writer, are the sons of rural districts and country hamlets, leaving but twenty-eight per cent who came from the homes and churches of the cities and larger villages. That the numbers and character of the rural pop- ulation, in some parts of New England, are rap- idly changing, must be apparent to each careful observer. This decline in numbers follows the inventive genius of the age, affording to the hus- bandman such mechanical helps that two men are doing the work formerly done by six or eight men. In the adjustment of her work in the rural districts, Methodism must consider that the population, in many parts, for many years to come, if ever, will not be much above the present numbers. The change in the character of the population follows the removing of large numbers of the most enterprising and prosperous families to the more fer- tile farming districts of the central and western parts of the country; and the abandoning of the farms by others, that they may engage in manufacturing and NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 381 trading ; and the coming of another people to culti- vate the abandoned farms. What is the duty of Methodism to these com- munities? Is her mission accomplished when she cares for her own, and leaves the new population to themselves or to the care of others? The world is the parish of Methodism. She holds a re]#tion to each individual. So long as there is a family or an individual whom she may help, her work is not finished. It is her duty to carry the gospel unto these people. The Lord Jesus was never more highly honored than when the multitude crowded him in the moun- tains of Galilee, bringing with them their "lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet." What a throng was that ! What a company to gather at the feet of one who called for followers ! What a people to engage in the cause of a reformer who went about doing good ! What a host from which to enlist the soldiery of the King of truth and purity ! But he healed them all, and they glorified the God of Israel. It is the mission of Methodism to bring those without the knowledge of the gospel, those having a lifeless gospel, those having humanly devised rit- uals, which have been substituted for the truth of the gospel, and the spiritually diseased and dead of every sort, and lay them down at Jesus' feet. Standing to-day amid the harvests of the first cen- tury of toil in New England, and in the light of the rising sun of the second century, Methodism 382 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. should take to herself the mind of her Divine Mas- ter. She should go about doing good ; to be eyes to the blind, hearing to the deaf, healing to the sick, comfort to the sorrowing, life to the dead, pardon and purity to the guilty, salvation to the lost. CHESTNUT STKEET M. E. CHUECH, POETLAND, ME. Rev. N. T. WmTAKEE, D.D., Pantor. CHAPTER XL JOHN Wesley's aeminianish: whence was it? BY KEV. K. H. HOWABD, PH.D. Chaplain McCabe awhile since somewhat inad- vertently declared: "James Arminius gave us the Arminian theology, and the Arminian theology un- fettered the mighty soul of John Wesley." On this I would remark : — 1. James Arminius did not give us our Arminian- ism. The Arminian theology has, in point of fact, been in existence ever since the days of the apostles. It was the original apostolic theology. It assumed a more definite and sj'stematic form after Augustine, and as a reaction against his extreme views, and was known as Semi-Pelagianism. As the creed of the State Church at that remote day, however, was Augustinian, and as the creed-makers of the past have usually been of the Augustinian faith, the more moderate, rational. Biblical, Christian, and apostolic views of the Semi-Pelagians were mostl3% though never wholly, suppressed. They survived the Middle Ages ; they survived the Reformation, which was, for the most part, intensely Augustinian, the Augustinian party finding its chief representa- tive and ablest advocate, as is well known, in John Calvin. Indeed, from this period, so deeply does [38D] 386 CENTENNIAL OP the latter seem to have impressed his ideas upon the thought of the age, the dominant faith was known by his name. Luther was decidedly Augustinian, St. Augustine having, from the first, been his favorite author. Melanchthon was moderately Augustinian. Meanwhile, the freedomists, as Dr. Whedon, I think, was accustomed to call them, — and by the way, it is a strange circumstance that there seems never to have been evolved any one general term by which to designate the distinctive theology, anthro- pology, and philosophy of Methodism, now denomi- nated Arminianism, — these freedomists, after the conflicts of the Reformation had subsided, were found abounding, to some considerable extent, in the Netherlands. One of" these, it would seem, had issued a book in defence of the views of his sect. This work, involving naturally a vigorous attack upon the prevailing creed, was considered sufficiently formidable to call for the appointment of the ablest theologian of the day to answer it. The man selected for this important work was none other than James Arminius, the bright particular star of the famous University of Leyden. He proceeded to address himself diligently to his task ; but, instead of refut- ing the arguments of his opponents, he became him- self a convert to them. Unable to answer their arguments, he was candid and honorable enough to confess the fact. He was convinced that "Ar- minianism " was of the Bible after all, and he accord- ingly gave to it his hearty assent and scholarly indorsement. KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 387 2. Arminius, therefore, did not give to us that system of theology that, for convenience, has come down to us by his name. He did do much to give this oldest theology reputation, to elaborate and give to it systematic form and literary expression. His followers did still more. The writings of Episco- pius, who not only spoke eloquently, but wrote ably in support of these doctrines, constitute a per- fect thesaurus of materials for Arminian polemical purposes. With many others of like precious faith, notably Witenbogaert and Grotius, he suffered much, including exile and loss of estate, on behalf of the cause. It was this same Episcopius, a Leyden pro- fessor, first a pupil, and then a successor of Armin- ius, who afterward so ably represented and defended this persecuted faith, at the famous synod of Dort, where, while Calvinism formed a fresh statement, 'Arminianism, or the " Remonstrant " theology, as it was thenceforth called, was condemned, and was declared to be a vile heresy, and, as such, was to be considered outlawed, and, if possible, by means of political as well as ecclesiastical penalties, to be stamped out of existence. ' 3. Meantime, the man who, during this stormy period, really did most for Arminianism, from a strictly theological point of view, was Phillippus Limborch, the author of "A Complete Body, or Sys- tem of Divinity, both Speculative and Practical, founded on Scripture and Reason." This was trans- lated into English by Rev. William Jones, and printed in London by John Darby, in 1713, This 388 CENTENNIAL OP Phillip Limborch was professor of Divinity at the Remonstrant College, at Amsterdam, and his work on Systematic Divinity is an imperishable monument of learning, and is, perhaps, the best statement of Arminian theology extant. To what extent this grand work of the united Watson and Fletcher of his day and nation may have been studied by the early Methodist theologians, while giving birth and form to their " new divinity," under the terrific fire of Calvinism, I am unable to say. I am frank to say that, in some respects, I prefer the divinity of Lim- borch to that of Watson. It is more intensely Arminian, in the sense of making moral character, sin, etc., absolutely personal, while his teachings generally seem to me clearer, more rational, and self- consistent, and less tinctured with Calvinism, than those of Richard Watson. Limborch and the later Remonstrants have been characterized by our con- servative orthodox Wesleyans as leaning altogether too much towards rationalism. In reality, these Dutch theologians were simply a little ahead of their times. The late Dr. Whedon shook glad hands with every one of them. Take a single point: the English Wesleyans, from Wesley, Adam Clarke, Richard Watson, and Fletcher, down to this present, have been very conservative, in fact, Calvinistic, on the doctrine of sin, insisting that, instead of guilt being absolutely personal, it can be, and is, trans- mitted from Adam to all his posterity forever. American Methodists have been less uniform in their views on this subject. Only a small minority, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 389 however, I think, will at present be found to hold and teach a doctrine of sin of a pronounced Wesleyan type. While our American Methodism really has no recognized credenda on this particular point, doubtless nearly all of the rising generation of Meth- odist preachers and theological professors hold that sin, in the sense of involving guilt and penalty, and requiring literal atonement, confession, and pardon, is, and must, in the very nature of the case, be abso- lutely personal. Now let us turn to Limborch (see Preface, p. 14) : "The current opinion of the Calvin- ists and Schoolmen is that Adam's sin was imputed to his posterity, and that we are all born with origi- nal guilt about us. Now, we own, to be sure, that infants are born with a less degree of purity than Adam was created in ; but we deny that this corrup- tion is sin." In the body of his great work, the author elaborates this view, maintaining, and this one hundred years before Wesley, precisely the doctrinal position on this subject of sin occupied by young Methodism in America to-day. 4. But was it this Arminianism of Arminius, Episcopius, and Limborch that finally "unfettered the mighty soul of John Wesley " ? Whether John and Charles Wesley had, or had not, before becom- ing Christians, bestowed much critical and profound study on the doctrinal basis of their faith, may we not inquire; — Did not the same truth that " unfettered " the souls of the Wesleys, also unfetter the great soiil of Calvinistic Whitefield, of Lady Huntingdon, and of scores of other Calvinistic Methodists, no less 390 CENTENNIAL OF evangelical or spiritually-minded than were the Wesleys themselves ? No amount of study, devoted to the history of Christian doctrine, has' yet revealed to me that, previous to the definite shaping of his own theology, John Wesley had ever read a line of the writings of Arminius, or of the Remonstrant Theologians. I can nowhere find that he anywhere acknowledges any personal indebtedness to these elder Arminians. It is true that he named his first considerable periodical The Arminian Magazine, and so he identifies himself with that school ; but does he anywhere intimate that he imported from Holland what has since become the world-wide Methodist theology, and, practically, now the working the- ology of universal evangelical Christendom ? It is one of the strange things, not easily accounted for, that in all his writings, while he has favored us with the history of his theological opinions in refer- ence to other cardinal points of his system, he has left us little or nothing to shed light upon this point of supremest interest ; nor have Methodist historians and biographers of Wesley seemed to deem it a matter of great moment to thoroughly investigate this subject. From the few hints dropped incident- ally by Mr. Wesley's biographers, we reach the conclusion that John Wesley's Arminianism was practically original with himself; i.e., he obtained it from his mother, and the independent and prayerful study of the word of God. It would seem that, as early as 1725, while reading Thomas h, Kempis and Jeremy Taylor, in the interest of heart purity, he NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 391 was greatly offended by incidental expressions, in the works of these authors, denying not only God's love to all, but the privilege of living in a state of conscious salvation. He writes to his mother rela- tive to these paints. She promptly replies, taking the strongest possible grounds in favor of the doc- trines of free grace, and the witness of the Spirit. Wesley at once and most cordially acknowledges the obvious soundness of her views ; and from that time, notwithstanding the general prevalence and popularity, particularly in high places, of the Calvin- istic doctrine, John Wesley seems never to have had one moment's doubt in reference to the orthodoxy, or Scriptural character, of the doctrines he had thus early espoused. Henceforth the characteristic doc- trinal features of Wesleyan Methodism are to be free salvation and the witness of the^ Spirit. I close with two observations : — 1. Has the Methodist Church, even yet, meas- ured up to an adequate realization of its indebted- ness to Susanna Wesley? Has it realized that Arminian Methodism had its original inception in the heart and brain, in the spiritual life and sancti- fied common-sense, of the mother of the Wesleys ? 2. Is there not something specially impressive and significant in the fact that Wesley's theology was apparently providentially developed ; that, instead of its having been laboriously evolved through pro- tracted speculation, or lengthened argumentation, or controversial conflict, it was born of the Spirit in his SQul, and as an original inspiration fresh from the mind and heart of God ? STEPHEN OLIN, D.D. CHAPTER XII. THE CELEBRATION ON THE COMMON. On July 11, 1790, Rev. Jesse Lee, unable to find a public or private building in Boston in which he might preach, delivered the first Methodist sermon in Boston under the " old elm " on the Common. It seemed fitting to the Boston Preachers' Meeting that, one hundred years afterward, this event, of such significance to our beloved Church, should be com- memorated on the same spot. Accordingly, on July 11, the young sprout from the " old elm," itself now a goodly tree, was surrounded by a large company of Methodists, who had assem- bled to celebrate the introduction of Methodism into Calvinistic New England. Since the substance of much that was said on that occasion may be found in the report of the exercises at the People's Church, we append only the witty and appropriate poem com- posed and read by Rev. Alfred J. Hough, pastor of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, Montpelier, Vermont, and the admirable address of the Rev. L. B. Bates, D.D., of East Boston, Mass. THE AREOPAGUS OP JESSE LEE. We are in Athens ! So it seems to us. This is Mars' Hill — the Areopagus. C3930 894 CENTENNIAL OF Tonder, as far as human eye can see, Stretches in glory the ^gean Sea; The skies above us wear a Grecian hue, Soft, tender, deep and delicately blue; The market is the same —its noisy ring Is thronged with seekers after some new thing. The towers, the toilers with the spade and pen, What are they but Athenian, towers and men ? It would not seem a rude surprise to meet The noble Socrates on any street. Or Phidias, busy as in days of old, Hearing a new Athena, clad with gold. The scene is Attic — earth, sky, sea, and sun — And what is Bunker Hill but Marathon ? Hither came one like Paul, long years ago, Whom no one knew, and none desired to know ; A preacher with a message in his breast Grand as Paul bore the Athens of the West, • From Alexandria Troas; shared Paul's fate. The ostracism of religious hate. All doors were closed against him; shunn'd and bann'd, He walked his own as in a foreign land. Grim Orthodoxy reared, where'er he trod, A massive altar to an Unknown God, And where its shadow fell he found no space For his sweet story of abounding grace. 'Twas better he should stand outside all doors Of human fashioning, on God's broad floors, In His great temple, as Paul stood that day The men of Athens mocked and went away. Up to the shelter of this elm tree's shade Rode Jesse Lee, serene and undismayed ; Fastened his steed securely to a limb, Bai-ed his broad brow, stood forth, and sung a hymn. The soul that has heaven's message full and clear Will speak that message somewhere. Lee spoke here. The picture of that apostolic saint Apelles would have loved to sit and paint. Smooth was his face, and bronzed by sun and breeze; His tightly buttoned coat reached to his knees ; KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 895 In lines about the moutli his mind had wrought An open secret of its inmost thought. His eyes were large, and seemed to throb with lights Like far-ofE stars upon a windy night. His lips liad strength and sweetness in their curves; From head to foot he seemed all soul and nerves; The spiritual tides rose in his frame so high There was but little left of him to die; Long flaxen locks down o'er his shoulders strayed. And when he sang the hymn, and as he prayed, The little group that gathered round him drew The nearer to his side; the voice was new — Magnetic, tender, human, full of change. Now soft, now loud, and of the amplest range. The hymn o'erflowed with soul in every part, The prayer leaped living from a great, warm heart, And when the sermon honored God's vast plan. Time-circling in its sweep, to rescue man — The little children borne safe home above. The vilest sinner sought in pitying love. The heathen world wrapt in its wide embrace — The people knew why in the preacher's face The churches shut their doors : they bowed the knee To iron law and merciless decree. Narrowed God's love to an elective plan. And Calvinized the glorious Son of Man. The hour had come. God found His servant; sent Him to this place, as Paul to Athens went, Eepeating here that one transcendent page Of Attic history in a later age. Music, and art, and culture, sea and sky, Conspire to group before the mental eye That master-scene in Paul's siiblime career. All the Athenian elements were here. This Common was Mars' Hill, and this elm tree The Areopagus of Jesse Lee I As Paul at Athens did — The Unknown God, Eevealing with one sermon-stroke he made Full-rounded Truth. The revelation stayed — Here he declared upon this sacred sod r- 396 CENTENNIAL OF On earth — a cross, wide, deep as sin had grown; In heaven — a rainbow round about the throne; The human will, free as the light that streamed: The Spirit's witness in a soul redeemed; A life of perfect love o'ercoming fear — That was the revelation Leb made here! And this elm tree, from root to spreading limb, Became a bush on fire that day to him. 'Tis fitting we should crown as best we can That epoch-making sermon and the man, Our great apostle: on this spot of earth New England Methodism had its birth. Pure as the light that filled its natal day, Free as the winds that bore its voice away. Broad as the heavens that arched its cradle o'er. Grand as the sea that broke on yonder shore, Growing in beauty as the years sweep by, A hardy, out-door plant that will not die. Skeptics may doubt and pessimists may sneer, The world has moved since Jesse Lee preached here. And could our great apostle tread once more Kew England's Athens, every church's door Would welcome his approach ; the full and free Salvation he proclaimed beneath this tree Would greet his ear and thrill his noble heart, And he would know that he had borne some part In bringing near, and bearing far abroad, A gospel worthy of the Son of God, And cry, perhaps, in one of his death-strains: "Glory, glory, hallelujah! Jesus reigns ! " The name of Athen's poet, warrior, sage, May fail to keep on the historic page. Forever it will shine, undimmed and fair. Because St. Paul once preached a sermon there. And till Mars' Hill shall fade, remembered not. New England Methodism to this spot Will turn with loving eyes, and to this tree Where her Pauline apostle, Jesse Lee, Stood forth redeemed, in manhood's highest worth, ■ And preachqd the sermon that announced her birth. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 397 Tour poet's lines, like those of Cleanthes, Will only live because of scenes like these, Some Kaphael must arise to paint for us, Lee, preaching on the Areopagus Of this new Athens, under some vast dome, As Raphael's Paul stands preaching now in Boma HISTOmCAL STATEMENT. BEV. L. E. BATES, D. D. Boston's Old Elm, that fell during the great gale of February 15, 1876, had been standing here for an unknown period. It was called " Boston's oldest inhabitant." The tree belonged to a species of the Elm family known as the American, or white elm, which is much admired and cultivated abroad for its gracefulness of growth. In the descriptions of it, given in books and papers, by the older inhabitants of Boston, it has always been called the " Great Tree "; but the infirmities of age, and the memorable associations connected with it, have by common con- sent changed the majestic to the venerable, and, during the last fifty years of its life, it was univer- sally called the " Old Elm." Before Washington or Winthrop, the tree was. Before Blaxton bought ground of the Indians, before Trimountain or Shawmut was the name of Boston ; when Chickatawbut was Chief Sachem, and sat with his council in the shade of the trees, the great elm stood forth in the light of the sun. It was a patriarch among all the trees of its kind, on the coast of New England. The associations con- nected with the Old Elm have put it to almost 398 CENTENNIAL OP every use under the sun, from a gibbet of infamy to a " Liberty Tree " of the Revolution. Under the law which banished Quakers from the Colonies, and punished them with death if they returned, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson were convicted, and hanged on the Common, probably upon this tree. Mary Dyar, who was reprieved through the intercession of her son, after her foot was on the fatal ladder, only escaped to meet a similar fate the next year ; and " the lifeless forms of Margaret Jones, of Annie Hibbins, and, perhaps, other victims of judicial murder, may have depended from these same limbs, during the reign of the witchcraft horrors." The late Samuel G. Drake, Esq., in his "History of Boston," narrates an early incident connected with the history of this tree. The incident occurred July 27, 1676. He says : " Another of the Nip- muck Sachems, called ' Sagamore John,' influ- enced about one hundred and sixty Indians to surrender at Boston. One among them. Old Ma- toonas, he brought in by force, being bound with cords. He was immediately condemned to death; for he was not only father of him who was hung in Boston several years before, but he was charged with being the first to commit murder in Massachu- setts Colony in this war. His betrayer, ' Sagamore John,' was desirous that he and his men might be the executioners ; wherefore Matoonas was carried out into the Common, and being tied to a tree (doubtless the Old Elm), they then shot him to death." Very near the Powder House, which also stood in NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 399 • close proximity to the tree, on the third of July, 1728, occurred the duel between Benjamin Wood- bridge and Henry Phillips, young men of the highest respectability, who both loved and lost the young lady for whom they fought.' Woodbridge was thrust through with a sword, and left dead upon the field, while Phillips was hurried out of the country. This affair led to the enactment of the well-known, but none too rigid. New England law upon duelling. During the struggle of the Colonies for indepen- dence, the neighborhood of the Great Elm was one of places of resort for the " Sons of Liberty," who fre- quently caused the tree to be illuminated with lan- terns on evenings of rejoicing, and on festal occasions. It also served for the exhibition of popular feelings of indignation, for many a Tory was hung in effigy from its branches. Perhaps it in this way acquired the name "Liberty Tree," which it bore in 1774, the tree originally bearing that name having been taken down, as it is designated on a map of Boston, engraved that year. The Rev. Jesse Lee gave to the tree a religious association, in fitting contrast to the deeds of bigotry and persecution, enacted in the name of religion, when the great elm served no higher purpose than a gallows for the innocent. Long enough had the " Lord poured out his fury upon the trees of the field, that they should burn and not be quenched," as the people so sacrilegiously imagined it. We therefore date a new era, and a period of better things, from the evening of Sunday, July 11th, 1790. 400 CENTENNIAL OF Jesse Lee was born in Prince George's County, Virginia, in 1758. In his fifteenth year he was con- verted, and united with the Methodist society. At nineteen years of age he was a class leader in North Carolina, and shortly afterwards began to exhort. He was licensed to preach while in attendance at a Conference in Virginia. He thus speaks of the scene : " The union and brotherly love which I saw among the preachers exceeded everything I had ever seen before, and caused me to wish I was worthy of a place among them. When they took leave of each other, I observed that they embraced each other in their arms, and wept as though they never expected to meet again. Had heathens been there they might well have said, ' See how these Christians love one another ! ' " Impressions received at that Conference induced him to join the itinerancy. Before the end of the year he was on his way to North Carolina, with a colleague, to form a new and extensive circuit. The next year he was regularly appointed to labor in that State, and being now fully in the sphere of his duty, he was largely blessed with the comforts of divine favor, and went through the extensive rounds of his circuit "like a flame of fire." About this time, while on a visit to Charleston, South Carolina, he heard something of the religious condition of New England, from a citizen of Massa- chusetts, and became at once deeply desirous of preaching the gospel in New England. But the way did not open until the summer of 1789, when we find NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 401 him preaching his first sermon at Norwalk, Conn., on June 17th. He continued preaching in various parts of Connecticut until the fall, when he returned to his 'Southern home. Early in the summer of 1790, we find him again in New England. On the ninth of July he enters Bos- ton, and at once " seeks a place where he might publish the word of salvation ; but every effort was fruitless." For two days he persistently pressed his petitions upon an indifferent people, meeting here and there a threatening opposition. Finally, turning from the churches, he determined, like Whitfield before him, to go into God's first temples and preach under the trees. Accordingly, he gave notice on Saturday of his intention to preach on the Common on the afternoon of the ensuing Sabbath. A few friends were found ready to go with him, two of whom carried a table for his platform or pulpit. The table-bearers were Joseph Snelling and Thomas Restieaux, both of whom afterwards became mem- bers of the first Methodist society organized in Bos- ton. The former was also the first to enter the Methodist ministry from that society. He lived for many years, a useful and effective preacher. He labored for a time in the Methodist Protestant Church, but later came back to the Methodist Epis- copal Church " to die among his brethren." He often delighted in recalling this early association with Lee, and the fact that he witnessed the entrance of Washington into Boston, at the end of the siege, when the British had withdrawn. 402 CENTENNIAL OF Thomas Restieaux lived a faithful, Christian life, and died a member of the Methodist Alley Church. When Jesse Lee preached here one hundred years ago, a carpenter loaned him a table, which he used as a platform. The table used for a platform to-day was made expressly for that purpose by the carpenters of Meridian-street Bethel, East Boston, and Avill be presented to the New England Methodist Historical Society. At the time appointed Lee found but few persons present; but he took his stand upon the table, and began to sing a Methodist hymn — a never- failing experiment in calling the people near. Then, kneeling before his congregation, he offered a simple but fervent prayer. One who was present says, " When he entered upon the subject matter of his text, ' Ye must be born again ' (John 3 : 7), it was with such an easy and natural flow of expression, and in such a tone of voice, that I could not refrain from weeping, and many others were affected in the same way. When he was done, and we had an opportunity of expressing our views to each other, it was agreed that such a man had not visited New England since the days of Whitfield. I heard him again, and I thought I could follow him to the ends of the earth." It was estimated that between two thousand and three thousand people gave quiet and solemn attention to his warning voice. A Boston paper of that date contains the follow- ing : " On Sunday evening last, as a Huntingtonian NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 403 Methodist preacher was holding forth to a large con- course of people, assembled by the novelty of the circumstance on the Common, he took occasion to observe that he Avho professed repentance without faith, was like a man rowing a boat in troubled waters with one oar. ' This man,' said he, ' must go over first on one side, and then on the other, but will never get ahead.' On which a sailor, one of the audience, said pretty audibly, with an oath, ' Why, then, don't he scull ? ' " No intimation is given that the preacher replied, but no man would have been more likely than he to reply, for his ready wit was known in all the churches. In after years, when a single vote defeated his election to the Episcopacy, it was said that he was "too full of wit and humor for the bishopric." When this came to his ears, he responded that it would not be natural to assume the gravity of the office before receiving it. " Put me in," said he, " and I will sustain its dignity." Few men possessed more power over an audience than Lee. As long as he was refused admission to the churches in Boston, he continued his ministry to the crowds on the Common. Lynn had opened her doors, and extended to him a welcome. Yet, with all the persistency of the woman who pleaded with the unjust judge, and with all confidence in the ultimate and triumphant success of his preaching, he remained in Boston until God opened one of the alleys in the town, and the people permitted, and even assisted, him to build a house of worship there, 404 CENTENNIAL OP Much of the money for building, however, he begged in Southern cities, and brought it to the builders with his own hands. The long line of continuous Methodist history in this city, therefore, began at or near this spot, and to Jesse Lee must be ascribed the origin of Methodism in New England. When this first sermon was preached here, Wesley was yet alive, and Methodism possessed little or none of the worldly power which it has to-day. Boston had less than twenty thousand inhabitants, and, instead of the State House, the old monument stood in front of the preacher on Beacon Hill. There were only seventeen churches in town, and the travel to New York was by stage, the journey consuming four days and four nights. After one hundred years, Boston has nearly three hundred churches and about 75,000 church members, and the lightning trains take us from Boston to New York in about five hours. New England has to-day hundreds of churches, and more than 600,000 church members. " What hath God wrought ! " Jesse Lee entered New England in 1789, a solitary stranger. When he died, in 1817, it was traversed by more than one hundred itinerant ministers. He formed its first Methodist class, of three members. When he fell, Methodist societies dotted the land from Long Island to Canada, and from New York to New Brunswick. When he joined the Church, it comprised less than twelve hundred members, and ten preachers. When he died, it reported more than two hundred NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 405 and fourteen thousand members, and nearly seven hundred preachers. Jesse Lee continued for a number of years as an itinerant between the South and the North, the last ten years of his life being spent in the Middle and Southern States. In the summer of 1808 he paid his last visit to New England. On the 23rd of July he preached in Lynn, and met with a cordial welcome. On the 29th, he preached at Portsmouth, N.H. On he moved, down into Maine, crossing the Penobscot and the Kennebec, preaching nearly every day and evening. In his journal he says : " I spent forty- three days in Maine, preaching forty-seven sermons." From New Hampshire he returned to Lynn and Bos- ton. Bidding his disciples farewell, he hastened to his summer home. The last eight years of his life he spent chiefly in the South. During this time he was, for a number of years. Chaplain in the Congress of the United States. On the 24th of August, 1816, he was present at a camp meeting held in Hillsboro, on the eastern shore of Maryland, where he preached his last sermon from 2 Pet. 3:18;" But grow in grace." The congrega- tion was much moved by his preaching. At the close he was taken ill, and gradually failed, until Sept. 12, when he died. Among his last words were these: " Glory, glory, glory, hallelujah ! Jesus reigns I " " Oh happy, happy soul ! In ecstasies of praise, Long as eternal ages roll, Thou seest thy Saviour's face. 406 CENTENKIAL OF Redeemed from earth and pain, Ah I when shall we ascend, And all in Jesus' presence reign With our translated friend? " On Sunday evening, July 11, 1875, while the Old Elm was still standing, the eighty-fifth anniversary of Jesse Lee's preaching on Boston Common was observed with religious services. Three times has Jesse Lee been buried. His dust now rests in the Methodist Cemetery of Baltimore. On July 11, 1876, the monument given by New Eng- land Methodists was placed above his grave, with appropriate services. From July 11, 1790, to July 11, 1890, it is said that religious services have been held each year, near this spot, conducted by some itinerant Methodist preacher. I am certain that a Methodist preacher has preached here each year for the last twenty-five years. Fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters; Let us preach the same gospel. First ; Redemption provided through Jesus Christ. Second ; Whosoever will may be saved from his sins. Third ; All may have the witness of the Spirit. Fourth ; Purity of heart, holiness of life, a godly conversation. Fifth ; The second coming of Christ, to judge the world in righteousness. Sixth ; The resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment of all men; homes in the infinite glory for all the faithful; banishment from the presence of God and the glory of his power for the finally impenitent. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 407 Let us preach these old doctrines, with the Holy Ghost moving us, as he moved the Fathers, and one hundred years from to-day our sons shall see Amer- ica Christianized, and the gospel of our Christ prevailing everywhere on our globe. Our Year Book for 1890 gives the following, viz. : — Methodist Church Members on this continent, 5,053,926 In the world, 6,331,112 Methodist population of the world, 30,000,000 FATHEK TAYLOE. CHAPTER XIII. FATHER TAYLOR. Fujiyama is the sacred mountain of Japan. It is not a part of any range. Tradition says that it was raised in a single night. Rearing its head more than twelve thousand feet above the level of the sea, it stands distinctly outlined against the sky. Some- times clouds crown its head. Sometimes the gold of sunset makes for it a glorious background. It presents so many different aspects, as the atmos- pheric conditions change, tha% people greet one another with the question, "Have you seen Fuji to- day ? " It is always unique, impressive, grand. Such was Father Taylor among men. The story of New England Methodism cannot be fully told without a sketch of his character and life, because it is possible to train and use such a man only by a theology as broad, and a system as flexible, as the theology and system of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Born in Richmond, Va., December 25, 1793, he had no knowledge of his parents. At seven years of age he ran away with a sea-captain, who had asked him if he did not wish to be a sailor. When a boy of seventeen, he was providentially landed in Boston, where he was converted to God, through the preach- [409] 410 CENTENNIAL OF ing of Rev. Elijah Hedding, afterwards the Bishop, the blessed influence of whose memory is yet with us. Embarking shortly afterward upon a privateer, he was captured by the British, and finally landed in Dartmoor Prison.. At the request of his fellow- prisoners, the chaplain, who had been appointed to minister to them, was relieved of that duty, and that work was given into Taylor's hands. Here began that marvellous career, which culminated in a world- wide fame. When he was released from prison, the question of his life-work was settled. Shortly after his return to this country, he was licensed to preach by the quarterly conference of the Brorafield Street Church, in Boston. For a number of years he worked at various occupations, preaching on Sundays, and doing his best to remedy the defects in his education. We can hardly forbear telling the story of those years, so full were they of hard work and persistent effort. In the spring of 1817, Amos Binney sent him to Newmarket Seminary, the only Methodist school in America. Here he remained only six weeks, the presiding elders pressing him into service. His first station was Marblehead, where he married Deborah Millett, who exercised a strong and wholesome influ- ence upon this untutored genius. In 1819 he joined the New England Conference, which then covered all the New England States, and numbered a few more than one hundred members. He was sent to Scituate Circuit. Our younger min- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 411 isters may be interested to know that this circuit included the following towns: Scituate, Hingham, Cohasset, Hull, Hanover, Marshfield, Duxbury, Plympton, Hanson, Pembroke, Weymouth, Quincy, Dorchester. This appointment was followed by others, in various parts of Massachusetts, until 1829, when he was sent to Boston to take charge of a chapel which the Methodists wished to have used in the interest of sailors. He had been successful in his various pastorates, but here he began his true life-work. The little chapel soon became too small ; and the " Seamen's Bethel" was erected in 1833, principally through the benevolence of the merchants of the city. Here he held absolute sway until 1868, when failing health compelled him to relinquish control, at least nomi- nally. No words can do justice to the character of this wonderful man, or to his wonderful preaching. Indeed, to describe his preaching would be to de- scribe his character, since his personality found its fullest expression in his pulpit work. He was majes- tic in all his proportions. His heart was large and warm ; his mind was clear and active ; his sympa- thies and antipathies were strong, and found free expression ; he was as gentle as a woman, as brave as a grizzly bear, and as arbiti-ary as a Czar. During all of his ministry in Boston, the Bethel was a centre about which universal interest revolved. His love compassed the communicants of all denom- inations, without in any degree weakening his loyalty 412 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. to the truth, as it found expression in the belief of his own people. Wit, sarcasm, pathos, — in fact, every play of human mind, — found expression in his speech. Sailors worshipped him; the cultured ad- mired him, and went to hear him preach ; all believed in him and loved him. Conferences were convulsed by his sharp sayings, or moved to hallelujahs by his eloquence. His like was never seen in the world, and never will be. More nearly than any other man, did he embody the devotion, freedom, and consecra- tion of Methodism. It was just at the turn of the tide, in the dark of that midnight morning, April 6, 1871, that his spirit floated off "this bank and shoal of time," and made the happy harbor for which he had so long and faith- fully sailed.^ 1 In the preparation of this short sketch, the editor has made free use of " Father Taylor, the Sailor Preacher," by Gilbert Haven and Thomas Kussell. I pi m Iz; o o i o H P n t» P^ Eel Izi iz; to CHAPTER XIV. WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY. The history of the origin and growth of Wes- leyan University has been often told. Each decade, however, brings forward a generation of young peo- ple to whom this history is entirely new. That it is called for again is certainly a favorable omen, inas- much as the realization of- the future of Weslej'an is largely dependent upon the knowledge and appre- ciation each generation has of what it has done and what it can do. On its material side its history is much like that of most denominational colleges, — a history of small beginnings, of great discouragements, and of con- stant struggle with poverty. Chartered in the year 1831, and opening its doors to receive students on the 21st of September of that year, an inventory of its outfit would have shown property valued at thirty thousand dollars, and an endowment pledged of four thousand dollars. An inventory at this hour would show buildings, grounds, and apparatus valued at five hundred thousand dollars, and an endowment just above one million dollars. Its library of thirty- eight thousand volumes, laboratories, and observa- tory, well equipped, and its faculty numbering in all twenty-one, place it in the front rank among [415] 416 CENTENNIAL OF American colleges. No one can tell the story of the sacrifices, the prayers, and the heroic giving, that have entered into the struggle to carry Wesleyan on to this hour. It may now be assumed that she has a " physical basis of life " that warrants the largest hopes for a most vigorous future. President Bradford P. Raymond was born in Stamford, Conn., April 22, 1846. He graduated at Lawrence University in the class of 1870, and after a course in theology at Boston Theological School, served six years as pastor in the New England Southern Conference. After a year of study abroad, and during the third year of a pastorate in Nashua, N. H., he was called to the presidency of his alma mater. Here he remained six years. He was elected to the presidency of Wesleyan in December, 1888, and took up the work in September, 1889, at the opening of the college year. We cannot stop to call the roll of honor. But as we turn to look at the inner life of Wesleyan, we mention the names of two men prominent in the earliest years of her history. In the college library may be seen " the outfit in which he [Rev. Laban Clark, D.D.] used to ride his early circuit — saddle- • bags, whip, and homespun suit — deposited in a chest made from the wood of the first Methodist church in Ameirica." Methodism had done its work '. on horseback up to this hour. These sacred relics, as they lie here in state, mark the hour of transition from the old to the new. Dr. Clark, like the true prophet, foresees the exigencies of the time. The NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 417 qualities of the young denomination are to be put to the test. The permanence of its work must be assured by the establishment of permanent institu- tions, and especially of educational institutions. The early itinerant in his homespun habit (" Solo- mon in .all his glory was not arrayed like one of these ") on horseback was not the symbol of perma- nence. Learning that the military academy located in Middletown could be purchased, he immediately made himself responsible for the money, carried the matter before the Church, secured the needed help, and well may be called the " father of Wesleyan University." The name of the first president, Wilbur Fisk, must also be mentioned. When Cokesbury College burned in 1795, Asbury wrote to a friend, saying : " The Lord called not the Methodists to build col- leges." More than twenty-five years elapsed before anything was done to meet the demands of higher education. The people were generally of the opin- ion tliat there was more evil than good in the colleges. The students of the various colleges of New Eng- land were nearly all unbelievers. Dr. Fisk's mother warned him, as he valued his soul, against entering the educational work. And yet, rising above all the discouragements, with clearest insight and sub- lime faith in the gospel, he insisted that these schools ought to be the very centre of revival influences. As one reads his life, he could easily believe him to be a man living in the ninth rather than the fourth decade of this century. He sees clearly that the 418 ■ ' CENTENNIAL OE great desideratum in a college is the great teacher. The consideration he gave to the natural sciences and the modern languages, his theory of govern- ment, and his idea of the religious possibilities of the college, show him to have been untrammelled, broad-minded, and clear-headed. He fought the battle with poverty and with prejudice and fear for Wesleyan University, and died with this prayer on his lips : " Oh, if I could feel that our people — our brethren in the ministry — were alive to the inter- ests of the University, how it would cheer my departure ! " His central idea was, that the highest culture and the deepest piety must be wedded in these educa- tional institutions of the Church. This thought appears again and again in his writings, and among the memorable words of his last days were these : " Education must go hand in hand with religion, or the world will never be converted without a direct, miracle from God." Wesleyan has been one of the most conservative of our colleges. It was not easy to bring the minds of either trustees or . faculty to the changes that must come. Dr. Curry, the great editor, massive and mighty, did not take kindly to any modification of the curriculum. It was a very hesitating vote that admitted women to the privileges of the college. New departures in the line of schools of law, medi- cine, and theology were' early proposed to President Fisk, but were not- favored. They were too expen- sive. And yet changes. , haye beea agoing on. The, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 419 work in science has been extended ; elective work is liberally provided for in the last two years .of the course ; the young ladies are here, in their own home, and are demonstrating every day the wisdom of the vote which opened the halls of Wesleyan to them. The work done at Wesleyan has always been thorough, and of a high grade. Whatever may have been the limitations in appliances, the standard has been high from the first. Located in the midst of the best colleges of New England, it was necessary to keep her requirements well to the front along with these colleges. And although the number of students has never been large, — the average of her classes being twenty-seven, — she has exercised a most potent influence, especially through the schools and pulpits of the denomination, for the best work. Her graduates have given more than six thousand years of service as teachers. There is scarcely an institution in the denomination that is not indebted to Wesleyan for traditions, methods and teachers. She has gone into all the world through her alumni, urgent ever with demands for the best work, and stubborn in adherence to those demands. She has given to the world not less than ten thousand years of ministerial work. These results are not such as can be weighed on hayscales, or made apparent to the senses ; but they are the most real, the most enduring and valuable by far, that any institution has given or can give to the world. They justify the faith of Fisk in the schools of the Church. The steady growth of her classes from six in 1833 to 420 CENTENNIAL OF forty-five in 1886, like that in buildings, in library, in faculty and endowment, — and this notwithstanding the multiplication of schools of every grade in the denomination, and notwithstanding her rigid adher- ence to purely college work, — and the growing influ- ence of her alumni, especiallj'^ in the schools and the pulpit, show the quality of her work in the past, and warrant the highest hopes for the future. What of the future ? As the preparatory schools made the college a necessity, so have the colleges made the university a necessity ; and into that field of higher work, so attractive and so full of promise for the future, both of the State and the Church, Wesleyan is about to enter. She is just becoming conscious of her powers, and is delighted with the prospect of a free use of them. Let it not be supposed that any- thing will be rashly done. She believes in evolution — of a certain type — rather than revolution, and proposes to provide the conditions for the best work possible in the lines she will take up. During the present year there has been quite a large number of applications for post-graduate work. For such as are ready to do resident work, courses will be laid out and be carried out. Several such applicants are at hand, and will take work in biology and chemis- try. Actual demands for resident work will be met. Facilities will be provided as the demands grow, iu all the lines of work belonging to the " philosophical faculty," as understood in the division of labor in the German university ; and the history of the past is the warrant offered for the work of the future. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 421 The recent gift by Dr. Ayers of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the movement initiated by the trustees to add another two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to that sum, have inspired new life, and awakened among all the friends of the institution the largest hopes and very great activity for the realization of these hopes. The alumni were never so influential as now, the trustees never so confident, the appliances never so adequate, the endowment never so great. Some improvements will be made this year. Provisions for heating all the buildings from one plant are under consideration. A new dormitory, new gymnasium, and a hall for chemistry and biology, are among the demands that must be met in the near future. By faith we see these buildings, now growing to beautiful and stately proportions, and by faith we dedicate them to the ideal of President Fisk, to the cause of humanity and the triumph of Christianity. To this good work Wesleyan welcomes all coadjutors that strive for the realization of that sublime ideal. CHAPTER XV. BOSTON TJNIVEESITY. Just twenty years ago last May, Boston Univer- sity was chartered. The record of these two decades has had its shadows, but as a whole it may be doubted if the history of the higher education in America anywhere presents a success more brilliant. To the management of the Herald ^ it has seemed emi- nently fitting that here, at the conclusion of the twentieth year, some sketch of the progress and achievements of the University should be laid before our patrons and the general public. The more we have investigated the documents and the facts, in the preparation of this sketch, the stronger has the conviction grown. The founders of Boston University were three remarkable men : The Honorable Lee Claflin, a sen- ator of the State, a man whose wise charities reached to every part of the country if not to every part of the world, was the first to propose and urge upon his brethren the establishment of a college in the New England metropolis. Isaac Rich, Esq., a man who, in his line of business, came to hold the very first place in the United States, a man of faultless 1 See Preface. [422] NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 423 proportions, vivacious air, and admirable judgment, was the first to pledge to the enterprise his fortune and to utter the creative fiat. The Honorable Jacob Sleeper, grave, wise, genial, handsome, experienced in educational administrations, gentle as a child, yet immovable as a rock, was the providential man to add to the gifts of the others and to guard and strengthen the original foundations. Closely allied with these was the son of the first, the Honorable William Claflin, who as Governor of the Common- wealth approved and signed the original charter of the University, and who as most important member of its Corporation has for twenty years borne the burdens and cares of its presidencj'. The debt of the University to his generous and effective support cannot here and now, if ever or anywhere, be fully set forth. Quite as little is it possible to state the relative influence of Gilbert Haven, of David Patten, of John H. Twombly, and other trusted counsellors, in the shaping of the views of the founders and in bringing them to the ultimate and decisive action. Sufiice it to say, that it was a group of royal souls in the midst of which the University was born, and that to them, as by a spiritual elective affinity, other royal souls have been drawn, who in hours of need and peril have shown a generosity, a courage, and a loyalty which the founders themselves could not easily have surpassed. In the midst of this group stands the educator whose mature life has been wrought into the very fabric of the institution. Though we have not sue- 424 CENTENNIAL OF ceeded in obtaining permission to sketch his life and work, we shall tell no secrets if we say that President Warren is Massachusetts-born, a gradu- ate of Wesleyan University in the class of '53, a member of the New England Conference, and now in his fifty-seventh year. To take any part of the space remaining for the present sketch of the insti- tution, for the sake of devoting it to a fuller account of the University's first and only President, we are strictly forbidden ; and in view of all which remains to be said, we yield for the present to the restrictions imposed. What, then, is the story of these twenty years? What has been accomplished through the agency of the new University? First of all, more than two thousand men and women have been trained for the higher professions and callings in life, and have taken their places as educated leaders in human society. Large as this number is, it does not include the many who, from failure of health or want of funds, failed to complete the studies they had undertaken. The more than two thousand are graduates in full and regular stand- ing, and they are scattered widely through the world. Yesterday a letter arrived from India, giv- ing account of a just held alumni reunion in that far- off country, and stating that fourteen were present. This week the faculty have had reminders from other representatives in Japan, Korea, and Chili. Call at Massachusetts State House, and in the Executive Council you shall find one, in the Senate another, in NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 425 the House of Representatives eleven. Last summer one of them was made president of the oldest Meth- odist University in the world ; another, on the oppo- site side of the earth, was made president of the new- est. These are specimen facts simply, and they could be greatly multiplied. Again, a new and original type of university organization has been initiated, and in the measure of its age exemplified. This fact is not as widely known as it will be fifty years from now. Far-reach- ing principles are embodied in the inmost structure of this institution — principles which at the time of its organization had never been incorporated in a liv- ing university, at least in the combination here attempted. At the last meeting of the Beta Chapter of the university Convocation, the President, on invitation, instanced and expounded some of them; but the subject is too Vast for adequate treatment in the present paper. In a history of education in Massachusetts, soon to be published by the United States Government, some fuller statements and illus- trations may be expected. Suffice it here to state — what President Warren has elsewhere said — that "with its prospective system of co-ordinate under- graduate Colleges, its diversified yet co-ordinated and interordinated Faculties of professional and other post-graduate instruction, and finally, with its all-unifying Convocation and Senate, Corporation and Council, the University presented to the world a unique type- of university organization, structurally symmetrical and perfectly articulated at the start, 426 CENTENNIAL OF yet capable of greater progress in comprehensiveness, with accompanying growth in unity, than any that had ever before been seen." In view of this fact, it has been studied with great attention by all organ- izers of the more fecent American universities, and even by the professional educators and scholastic administrators of the Old World. Again, more than any other of its age or re- sources it has uplifted the standard of professional education throughout the United States. At the time of its organization there was not a thoroughly respectable law school in this country. In many the course of instruction was less than one scholastic year ; in none did it exceed two. In the Harvard University Law School the entire instruction was given by three persons. As President Eliot has often stated, there was no examination for admission, none for promotion to the second year's standing, none for graduation. Even this meagre and testless course was not graded, — that is to say, was not arranged according to any rational or pedagogical order of subjects. In many other schools in different parts of the country, the instruction offered was in quality and quantity inferior even to that maintained in Cambridge. In many of them attendance upon two lectures a day for six months, and a prompt payment of fees, secured the only honors or advan- tages they could offer. The projectors of Boston University believed it time for an advance movement. At the outset, therefore, they adopted statutes of organization pro- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 427 viding for a course of instruction scientifically graded and extending through three scholastic years. They also organized, as teachers of it, a larger and abler faculty than any other in the country. Strict exam- inations at every stage of the student's progress established public confidence and gave value to the professional degree. As a result, a few years later, the good example was followed at Cambridge ; and at present two or three other American schools are adjusted, or are about to adjust themselves, to the new order. Similar facts could be stated respecting medical education. The state of this branch of professional training resembled that of the legal branch. The Boston University School of Medicine was the first in the country to present in due combination all elements essential to a radical reform. It enume- rated and illustrated them in its early circulars. A paper entitled, " Hopeful Symptoms in Medical Edu- cation," published in volume sixth of the " Univer- sity Year Book," startled and stimulated every medi- cal faculty in the country. The School was the first to offer four years' courses in medicine and surgery, and to revive the long-lost baccalaureate degrees. So in the theological field. It is not generally known that the School of Theology was the first in this country to make the historic, systematic, and philosophic study of the religions of all peoples and of all ages an integral and permanent part of the theological curriculum. It makes a like claim with respect to systematic, comprehensive, and con- 428 CENTENNIAL OP tiniious instruction upon the subject of Christian Missions. To this day Harvard gives its theological degree to men who have no knowledge of the origi- nal language of the Old Testament. Boston Univer- sity has never given so much as a certificate of graduation to any candidate who had not completed the regular three years' course in that sacred tongue. This same theological school was the first to place in a second division in every class all students whose preliminary academic degrees were inferior to a solid baccalaureate in arts, or were lacking altogether; and the first to restrict the first theological degree to students successfully completing the full three years' curriculum in the first division. It was also the first to utilize upon a large scale the best lecturing ability of the whole country, whatever the special communion of the lecturer. Despite — or shall we rather say in consequence of? — these new and exacting regulations, the Univer- sity, in the number of its professional students, quickly, distanced the only two others which at that time maintained the three corresponding faculties. The aggregates of the professional students at New Haven, Cambridge, and Boston for the four years 1874-1878 were as follows : — YAI-E. HARVARD. BOSTON. Inl874-'75 206 351 352 In 1875-76 217 372 414 In 1876-77 191 436 440 In 1877-78 193 422 425 Totals 807 1581 1631 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 429 From which it appears that the aggregate in Bos- ton University was fifty more than Harvard's, and was more than double the entire aggregate of Yale's. Of course a showing of this kind was alarming in the extreme to the time-honored leaders of New England education. It called for fresh plans and larger resources and higher ideals ; and if the new millions of money which, since 1878, have been se- cured for Yale and Harvard, have enabled them to make a somewhat better relative showing, both the millions and the improved showing are in no small degree ascribable to the brave leadership and friendly stimulation of their younger metropolitan sister. Our assigned space is exhausted, leaving as yet unnoticed what many are wont to consider the best, or among the best, of the results of these twenty years. The establishment of a living -and positive and powerful evangelical leaven in the heart of Bos- ton's culture ; the improved tone and spirit of metropolitan and New England Methodism; the newly created opportunity to develop, by life-long teaching, great and renowned teachers in all depart- ments of human knowledge; the honor of creating the first University ever organized from foundation to capstone without irrational and unjust discrimi- nations; the gallant services of the institution in the recent contest between Harvard and the other New England colleges with respect to the A.B. degree ; the unique, charm of life in the College of Liberal Arts ; the unexampled possibilities of the School of • All Sciences; the developed and daily-developing 430 NEW ENGLA^STD METHODISM. vitality and power and promise of the whole compre- hensive organization; the concurrently developing needs in every part and department — all these are essential constituents of the record which must here be left unfinished. Fortunately the readers of the Herald have not now heard from the institution for the last time. CHAPTER XVI. EAST MAINE CONFEEENCE SEMINAKY. The East Maine Conference held its first session in 1848, and this question was prominent : Shall we establish a Conference Seminary? Some were of opinion that the funds which should be available for the project had already been placed at the disposal of the seminary of the Maine Conference. Some believed that the State could sustain but one semi- nary of a high grade. Discouragements were many. But the wide territory comprehended by the Confer- ence, the absence of competition within its bounds, the impossibility of persuading attendance of pupils at a school remote from their homes, and above all the necessity of a school peculiarly identified with the Conference — these were arguments so strong as to overcome all objections. Twenty-four trustees were there appointed, who held their first meeting in Bangor, Aug. 8, 1848. Asahel Moore was chosen president, and W. H. Pilsbury, secretary. A year later, in consideration of a proposition made by David Higgins in behalf of the citizens of Bucksport, who agreed to donate in lands and otherwise to the amount of twenty-five hundred dollars, and further influenced by the beauty and convenience of the location, the trustees voted to erect a Seminary in [433] 434 CENTENNIAL OF that village. How humble was the project may be seen from a clause in the charter which authorizes the trustees to hold property " the annual income of which shall not exceed three thousand dollars." A brick building for chapel and recitation-rooms was completed in 1851. Rev. Loren L. Knox was elected principal, and Miss Jane Johnston precep- tress, and the school was opened Aug. 20 of that year. The faculty consisted of Mr. Knox and Miss Johnston; the students numbered thirteen gentle- men and fourteen ladies. It was soon evident that without a boarding-house the effort would be a failure, and a plan was formed to raise $25,000 for erecting a boarding-house and endowing the school. To secure this sum, 743 schol- arships were sold, covering an aggregate of over 31,500 terms of instruction, at a price ranging from 11.11^ to $0.66| per term. That is, the trustees agreed to provide free tuition to a term average of over four hundred students during a period of twenty- five years ! The funds thus secured were sufficient to construct the building, but left no endowment with which to make good the pledges of instruction. Failure followed, and, in 1856, the seminary closed its doors. In 1858, at the Annual Conference, Rev. Ammi Prince was appointed financial agent, with instruc- tions to raise $5,000 to meet immediate liabilities, and $25,000 for a permanent fund. In 1859 the agent reported that he had deposited with the treas- urer pledges and certificates of deposit to the amount NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 435 of 125,000, and the seminary was re-opened. From this time forward, the rigid economy in management and the devotion of a corps of teachers, overworked and underpaid, would have secured the institution against financial embarrassment except for the exist- ence of the scholarships, which increased in value as the school prospered. In 1883, because drafts from the endowment were endangering the existence of the school, Rev. Mr. Prince was again appointed agent. His labors resulted in re-establishing the endowment, and in securing the surrender of nearly all the scholarships. With this achievement the immediate dangers which threatened the school were removed, and its permanence is assured. The foundations of the school were laid with many prayers, much self-denial, aijd an earnest con- viction of the duty of providing a thorough and sys- tematic course of training. Its support has been maintained by the strenuous efforts of men and women who have sacrificed as they liave given. The institution has never received any large donation. It is noticeable that from the beginning it has chiefly depended upon the efforts of the members of the Conference, men of large hearts and small incomes, who have set a noble example while they have soli- cited the contributions of the churches, that the annual deficits might be honorably met. These deficiencies have not been due to extravagance, but to a recognition of the demands of the times for in- creasing facilities to meet the needs of the young men and women whose culture depended upon the privileges here furnished. 436 CENTENNIAL OF Principal Chase was born in Woodstock, Me., in 1842 ; prepared for college by himself and at Kent's Hill ; was graduated from Wesleyan University in 1869; received the degree of Ph.D. from Colby Uni- versity ; joined the Maine Conference in 1872, and was transferred to the East Maine Conference in 1884. His work as an instructor covers about twenty-five years, two of which were at Wilbraham, twelve at Kent's Hill, and six in his present position ; the other years were in the public schools of Maine, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Since the re-opening of the school, the principals have been: Mr. R. P. Bucknam, 1859 to 1863; Rev. James B. Crawford, 1863 to 1869 ; Mr. M. F. Arey, 1869 to 1872; Rev. George Forsyth, 1872 to 1881; Rev. Morris W. Prince, 1881 to 1884 ; Rev. A. F. Chase, 1884 to the present time. Miss Eliza A. Flanders was preceptress from 1859 to 1861 ; Miss ElmiraLowder, 1861 to 1864 ; Miss Calista C. Meader, 1864 to 1869; Miss Etta C. Stone, 1869 to 1873; Miss Jennie C. Donnell, 1873 to 1877 ; Miss Malvina Trecarten, 1877 to 1879 ; Miss Emma O. Pratt, 1879 to 1881 ; Miss Amanda M. Wilson was elected in 1881, and retains the position. No sketch of this school, however brief, should omit its representation in the late civil war. From the " War Record of the Seminary," as prepared by N. B. Webb, it appears that 286 of her pupils served in either the army or the navy. This comprehends, in enlisted men, of the male students above nineteen years of age who were connected with the school NEW BNGLAJSTD METHODISM. 437 from its opening until 1865, no less than thirty-five per cent ; a fact which is a just cause for pride. Not many years ago, a venerable woman, in mak- ing her will, gave her savings to this school " because so many students were there converted." In this idea appears the highest occasion of the school's suc- cess. The spirit of the founders still exists in its religious life. Earlier statistics are lacking, but dur- ing the past six years within its walls, over two hun- dred students have begun a Christian life. Any questions which arose at the outset regarding the need of an East Maine Conference Seminary, have been fully answered in the work it has already accomplished. The various departments of instruc- tion are in good hands. The lines of study are extended so as to meet the needs of the times. The labors of the teachers, encouraged and supplemented by the pastors of the churches and other friends, have, during the past few years, developed an extraor- dinary increase in attendance. In 1884 the aggre- gate attendance was 291 ; in 1885, 344 ; in 1886, 402; in 1887, 478 ; in 1888, 491 ; in 1889, 526. It is safe to say that few similar institutions can show such progress. This increase is largely due to the fact that the young people of limited means, in Eastern Maine, find they can obtain at this seminary first-class privileges at a low expense. The students are enthusi- astic to give the school a good name, to increase attendance, and to furnish a satisfactory basis for soliciting endowment. Visitors are impressed with the maturity and 438 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. excellent deportment of the students, and^ the sur- passing beauty) of the location and of the surround- ing scenery. Nature has performed her share in furnishing opportunities for every, educational and moral privilege. At the same time, there is a demand for more instructors ; the boarding-house should be enlarged; the recitation-rooms are small in size, insufficient in number, and imperfectly furnished ; a part of the recitations are held in a building rented from the town and remote from the boarding-house ; the students have three flourishing literary societies, and should have permanent quarters adapted to their interests; the cabinets are extensive, but are so crowded they cannot jaeld proper benefits; a library of nearly four thousand volumes and a large assort- ment of current papers, magazines, and reviews' have no suitable room for their arrangement and use ; the grounds need extension and ornament ; the chapel has for many terms failed to accommodate more than three-quarters of the pupils at religious or other ser- vices, and is altogether inadequate to answer to the needs of this growing school. In spite of these disadvantages, the growth continues. Here is a pressing demand for such an endowment as shall guarantee to the future of this Seminary a constantly increasing power for good. H M H C5 O O S I H h I O I? >; S 05 < CHAPTER XVII. MAINE WESLEYAN SEMINAET. The educational movement which resulted in the Maine Wesleyan Seminary, originated in the minds of two excellent men, who, at about the same time and independently of each other, conceived the idea of a Christian school. One of these men was Elihu Robinson, a Methodist class-leader of Augusta, who, in 1820, established a boarding-school in his own home. The other w^as Luther Sampson, a farmer of Kent's Hill, who, in 1821, was one of five incor- porators of the Readfield Religious and Charitable Society, and donated to it " about ten thousand dol- lars in real and personal estate." The objects of this society were numerous; but, in 1823, it was specified that a part of this gift should be appropri- ated to the purposes of a school on Kent's Hill. In February, 1824, at the urgent solicitation of Mr. Sampson, Mr. Robinson removed his school from Augusta to Kent's Hill, into a boarding-house that had been erected, and assumed the general manage- ment of the institution. In December of the same year, by a new act of incorporation, the school took the name of " Maine Wesleyan Seminary." The institution opened as a manual-labor school, the young men being allowed to pay the most of [441] 442 CENTENNIAL OF their expenses in labor on the farm or in the shops. This feature brought a large attendance, but brought, also, financial ruin. Unskilled labor could not be made remunerative ; and after a trial of some twelve years, the system was abandoned. The income still continued to fall below the expenses until 1840, when the crisis came. The school was bankrupt ; all its alienable property was sold for the benefit of its creditors, and still several thousand dollars were left unpaid. In 1844 Rev. D. B. Randall was appointed agent, and succeeded in cancelling the debts of the institution and in raising funds for a new Seminary building. In 1853 an effort was begun, with Rev. S. Allen, D.D., as agent, to raise funds for a new boarding-hall. After a long and discouraging strug- gle, this enterprise was crowned with success, by the erection, in 1860, of Sampson Hall, the present capa- cious boarding-hall. In 1871 the stately Bearce Hall took the place of the former Seminary building; and in 1883, Blethen Hall, an elegant president's home, appeared upon the campus. It will be instructive to notice some points in the history of this, one of the oldest and most successful of our schools. 1. It was conceived by laymen, and has been blessed to an unusual degree by the counsels and benefactions of laymen. Prominent among these are Luther Sampson, Reuben B. Dunn, Samuel R. Bearce, Eliphalet Clark^ and William Deering, with others perhaps equally generous and wise. The largest share of its present wealth has come from the large gifts of a small number of laymen. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 443 2. It has had, from the first, the hearty co-opera- tion of the ministers and churches of the Maine Conference, and has availed itself of the services of the best scholarship to be found in Maine Meth- odism. 3. The most important force in the success of the school has been the genius of one man — Rev. H. P. Torsey, D.D., LL.D., who became its principal in 1843, the dark days of bankruptcy and ruin, and continued in the ascendency until the days of great- est triumph were past, in 1871, and was not com- pelled, by failing health, to retire until 1882, thus completing thirty-eight years of remarkable useful- ness. But, while the internal affairs of the school were so ably managed by Dr. Torsey, its external interests, among the churches and the general public, were promoted with almost equal ability by Dr. Stephen Allen. Happy the institution that has two so powerful friends ! 4. The success of the school has been largely due to its high standard and aggressive spirit. It early gained " a reputation for thorough scholarship" — a reputation that secured to it a liberal patronage even in the days of financial ruin, and which it has jeal- ously guarded, and with like results, until the present time. It was amon^ the first schools of like grade to establish courses of study, and to present diplomas to its graduates. As early as 1830, a department for women was opened. In 1860 this became a women's college — the first college in Maine, and one of the first in New England, to confer regular collegiate 444 CENTENNIAL OF degrees upon women. Special departments in music and art were also added at an early date. It was manifest, from the first intimation of a change in the presidency, that the mantle of Dr. Torsey should fall on some one who combined with the ripe scholarship and other general qualities re- quired in such a place, acquaintance with the work- ings of this particular school. This was best to be found in a graduate, educated under Dr. Torsey, and capable, if any man could be, of taking up the work where that great educator laid it down. Such a man was found in Rev. Edgar Moncena Smith, then a mem- ber of the Centi-al New York Conference. Dr. Smith was born in Livermore, Me., in 1845, being thus^ when called to preside over his alma mater, thirty- seven years old. He graduated at Wesleyan Uni- versity, holding the first rank in the class of 1871. After one year in the pastorate and two years at Wesleyan University, as instructor in mathematics, he became, in 1875, pastor of Trinity Church, Provi- dence. After three years at Trinitj^, and three as pastor at Newport, R.I., h(? spent several months abroad. The Doctorate in Divinity was conferred upon him in 1887, by Wesleyan University. Presi- dent Smith's administration of the affairs of the school is characterized by tact, foresight, and discre- tion, — qualities without which he would not have brought the institution so successfully out of some peculiarly embarrassing circumstances. As a teacher, Dr. Smith is clear, enthusiastic, and thorough. His ideal is constantly the Christian school. That evan- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 445 gelizing spirit and power which pre-eminently char- acterized his work as a pastor, is the chief character- istic of his work as an educator. The eight years of his administration have been a most successful epoch in one of the most successful and useful institutions of the church. The institution now offers to its patrons five liter- ary courses of study, a Conservatory of Music, an Art School, a Commercial College, and a Normal Department. Its work is thoroughly systematized and specialized, each department being well equipped and in the hands of teachers whose time is given to it exclusively. The board of instruction numbers seventeen teachers and assistants. The most of these enjoy the benefits of liberal culture and years of experience, and have been in the service of the school since the re-organization of the faculty at the opening of the present administration. It has always been regarded, by the trustees, as a matter of great importance to retain the services of their faithful and efficient teachers. The policy of the school is conservative progress. The modern folly of a short and easy way to an edu- cation has not been accepted; nor is it believed that play can produce the mental fibre which results from severe discipline. A prominent position is therefore given to matliematics and the ancient languages, and, in all classes, the text-book occupies a large place. Yet it is thought that a study is not the less valuable because it is made practical or interesting. Therefore the text-book is liberally supplemented, in 446 CENTENNIAL OP the natural sciences and in English, by practical work ; in the ancient and modern languages by easy conversations, sight-reading, and glimpses at local history and customs; in history and literature by collateral reading ; and in psychology and evidences by familiar lectures. It is thought that the impor- tant branches of music and art should be brought within the easy reach of our young people ; that those who are to teach should have the privilege of entering training-classes ; and that those who desire a business course should be able to take it under the best conditions. The location is an important characteristic, which carries with it several others equally important. Like all schools, this is located in the most healthful spot in the most healthful State in the Union ; but, unlike some schools, it is in a country district in the vigorous old State of Maine, where all great men are born. The most of its students come from the farms, and are, therefore, honest and industrious, which is more than can be said of some young people who come from other sources. The real estate of the institution is valued at one hundred and five thousand dollars, and its invested funds amount to about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. Its average income, for the past few years, has been about twelve thousand dollars, and its average expenses about the same. The annual attendance for the last half-dozen years, by aggregate of terms, has ranged from six hundred to six hundred and fifty students. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 447 Improved methods and the development of special departments have rendered new accommodations necessary; and an agent is now in the field, with good prospects of success, soliciting the needed funds. CHAPTER XVIII, NEW HAMPSHIRE CONPEKENCE SEMINARY. The New Hampshire Conference Seminary will celebrate its semi-centennial in a few years, having • opened its halls for students in Northfield, N. H., September 3, 1845. About one hundred persons have been connected with its faculty during this time, many of whom have attained distinction as teachers. The following persons have held the presi- dency of the institution : J. Augustus Adams, A.B., 1845-46 ; Rev. R. S. Rust, D.D., 1846-50 ; Rev. J. E. Latimer, D.D., 1850-54 ; Rev. C. S. Harrington, D.D., 1854-60 ; Rev. C. W. Cushing, D.D., 1860-61; Rev. R. M. Manly, A.M., 1861-63 ; Rev. Henry Lummis, D.D., 1863-65 ; Rev. L. D. Barrows, D.D., 1865-71 ; Rev. J. B. Robinson, A.M., 1871-77; Rev. L. D. Barrows, D.D., 1877-78 ; Rev. S. E. Quimby, A.M., 1878-85 ; Rev. D. C. Knowles, D.D., 1885-. President Daniel Clark Knowles was born at Yardville, N. J., was graduated at Wesleyan Univer- sity in 1858, and was for several years connected with educational work as teacher in and principal of the New Jersey Conference Seminary. He was an officer in the Union Army in the dark days of the Rebel- lion. He entered the pastorate in 1867, at Lawrence, Mass., and has since been connected with both the [449] 450 CENTENNIAL OF New England and New Hampshire Conferences. Six years ago he accepted the responsibility of rais- ing fifty thousand dollars for the Seminary, and the following year was called to its presidency. He has had the supreme satisfaction of seeing its new build- ing erected, and its halls filled with earnest students. His interest in the school was first awakened by the zeal and earnestness in. its behalf of his father-in-law, Dr. L. D. Barrows. In 1852 the institution was chartered as a Female College, with power to confer certain degrees on lady graduates. The institution therefore combines the prerogatives of a female college with those of an ordinary preparatory school. TJie first edifice erected was seventy feet by forty feet, built of brick, and located in Northfield. In 1858 two wings were added to this building, making a large, convenient, and imposing structure. In 1862 this building was burned to the ground, and the school was for a time greatly crippled for lack of accommodations. ' By a special act of the legislature, the, site was then changed to the present location in Tilton. Three buildings were erected. The one on the west was occupied by ladies, with dining-room and kitchen attached ; the centre building was devoted to cabinet, chapel, and recitation-rooms ; and the east building to gentlemen. From defective foundations these buildings soon became dilapidated and dangerous. In 1884 the trustees resolved to raise fifty thousand dollars for a NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 451 new structure. While this money was being col- lected, the east building was burned, and a new necessity created for better accommodations. In 1887 the present edifice was built, and is one of the most complete school-buildings in New England. It is two and a half stories high, with a large hall and four elegant society rooms in the upper story. The rooms for students are on the first and second floors, together with the recitation-rooms. These rooms are large, airy, and well ventilated. The building is heated throughout with steam, and furnished with an abundance of pure water, with all modern conven- iences, such as bath-rooms, closets, etc. Special at- tention has been given to have the drainage perfect. This noble structure stands on an elevation over- looking the village, and only about three hundred yards from the depot. The scenery is unsurpassed in loveliness. The windings of the Winnipesaulcee River, the cone-like form of Mount Kearsarge, the variegated hillside and valley, complete a picture of rare beauty. The town of Tilton is fast becoming noted for its internal improvements, charming location, and the spirit and enterprise of its citizens. Prohibition does prohibit, for there is no open sale of liquor in the town. The saloon and the open bar are banished, and a drunken man on the street is a rare sight. The people take great pride in their homes and sur- roundings. Some of the stores are elegant in their appointments ; while fountains, statuary, parks, and delightful walks, well concreted, greet the visitor on 452 CENTENNIAL OP ever}"- hand. The town is abundantly supplied with the best of water, and the streets and many houses are lighted by electricity. An elegant and costly public library, well stocked with excellent books, is open to all pupils and citizens without charge. Three churches, well sustained and equipped, — Methodist, Congregational, and Episcopal, — offer religious advantages to the community. The State Soldiers' Home is soon to be erected on an elevation near the village, a home confessedly located in Tilton because the enterprising and moral citizens have banished every saloon from the village, and out- lawed the accursed traf&c in alcohol. In this pure natural and social atmosphere the New Hampshire Conference has fortunately located its educational institution. For twenty years the school was without means of support except its income from tuition and board. It has, however, secured from various sources an endowment fund of eighteen thousand dollars, besides the special gift of $30,500 by Dr. N. G. Ladd, to found the Ladd Professorship. The greatest need of the institution is an addition of fifty thousand dollars to its endowment funds, thus enabling it to command and hold the best teaching talent in the market. Already faith discerns the needed funds, for friends are multiplying, and generous bequests are being made to the school. No finite mind can set forth the moral, spiritual, and intellectual forces set in motion by this school. In common with all our Conference seminaries, it NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 453 has aided in shaping the convictions, and fashioning the characters, of the thousands who have enjoyed its advantages. Hundreds of young men and women have been led to Christ within its halls, and by him have been lifted up to a higher plane of living. The intellect, heart, and will of thousands have been inspired by the sanctifying forces of the godly men and women who have constituted its faculties, whose example and loving admonitions have become a living, though invisible, factor in our national life. Its sons and daughters are scattered from Atlantic to Pacific shores, and foreign lands have felt the reviving touch of its ministers. Every profession, every le- gitimate line of business, has representatives from its halls. Mention might be made of senators and congressmen of national reputation, of several mil- lionnaires in the business world, of many men in professional life in the State, of multitudes of ministers prominent in the pulpits of our own de- nomination, as well as those of other communions, who have received in this Seminary their intel- lectual training in whole or in part. About seven thousand different students have been enrolled in its catalogues. It is fitting, therefore, to say that the State and the nation would be essentially poorer in intelligence and character had it never existed. The money contributed to sustain it has been returned to society in manifold productiveness. Its founders and friends have been justified in all they may have sacrificed to give it permanency. ■8 .8, H I g I i i § I CO ' H ■§ 3 "" W "^ f^ J m S S ^" o i CHAPTER XIX. VERMONT METHODIST SEMINAHT. August 13, 1832, Captain Alden Partridge and Hon. D. A. A. Buck addressed the New Hampshire Conference at Lyndon, Vermont, on the subject of founding and maintaining a literary institution within its borders. The Conference appointed a committee, of which Solomon Sias was chairman, to consider the subject referred to. This committee reported that " in their opinion the time had come for the Conference to extend its patronage to a liter- ary institution within its borders ; " and recom- mended that " a committee of seven be appointed to entertain propositions for locating this literary and scientific institution, with power to make contracts and enter into any arrangements necessary to carry the contemplated object into effect." The report was adopted, and seven leading members of the Conference appointed. Of three towns desiring the school, Newbury was selected because of the central and very desirable location, and because the town offered to contribute six thousand dollars, which was half the estimated cost of the buildings. The Semi- nary was chartered in November, 1833, and opened in September, 1834. Funds were solicited by the first treasurer, Timothy Morse, and the building [455] 456 CENTENKIAL OP erected under his direct supervision, from plans furnished by Wilbur Fisk of sainted memory. Rev. Charles Adams, D.D., whose very useful and distin- guished life ended in Washington, D. C, only a few weeks since, was the first principal, with Bishop O. C. Baker, assistant, and Miss Elsie French (later Mrs. Joel Cooper), preceptress. Thus was founded what is to-day the Vermont Methodist Seminary. A brief sketch of those early days may be of interest. Dr. Adams remained in charge of the school for five years, during which time the attend- ance increased from 122 to 326, and the institution came into very general favor throughout the Confer- ence. He was succeeded by Bishop Baker, who likewise held the office for half a decade. Under his wise and popular management the success and pros- perity of the past were not only continued, but greatly augmented. It is not too much to say, that very few men ever wielded so strong an influence over their pupils as did Bishop Baker over the young men and women of Newbuiy, during his ten years of service there as teacher and principal. In addition to the duties incident to his office. Bishop Baker organized and taught a class in systematic theology. Later this developed into the Newbury Biblical Institute, which, in 1846, was moved to Concord, N. H., and is now the School of Theology of Boston University. In 1844 Bishop Baker resigned to enter the pastor- ate, and was succeeded by Clark T. Hinman, D.D., afterward founder and first president of the North- NEW ENGLAin) METHODISM. 457 western University. From 1848 to 1854, the semi- nary was under the management of Joseph E. King, D.D., for the past thirty-five -years president of Fort Edward (N. Y.) Collegiate Institute. His adminis- tration may be styled among the most brilliant and successful in the entire history of the school. One very important measure of that period was the estab- lishing of the Female Collegiate Institute, chartered in November, 1849, and "designed to afford young ladies a thorough, systematic, and liberal course of study." The Institute has gathered to its fostering care many of the brightest and best young ladies of the Green Mountain and Granite States, and num- bers among its hundreds of graduates some of the strongest and noblest women of the land. The principals for the remaining fourteen years at Newbury were : Prof. Henry S. Noyes, Dr. C. W. Gushing, Rev. F. E. King, Rev. George C. Smith, Rev. S. E. Quimby, and Rev. S. F. Chester. For the first ten years Newbury Seminary was peculiarly fortunate in its location, being central to the Conference, and in one of the quietest and most charming of New England towns. But in 1844 the^ General Conference designated the eastern portion of this State as the Vermont Conference, and in 1860 joined to it the Burlington and St. Albans Districts. Soon after the division of her territory, the New Hampshire Conference established a seminary under her own control and patronage. These changes in Conference boundaries left Newbury at the extreme eastern side of its patronizing territory. 458 CENTENNIAL OF Springfield Seminary, which was established about 1845, and for a time was quite a rival of Newbury, was not more central; nor did it seem wise to longer divide the patronage between the two schools. Moreover, funds were needed to repair the old buildings at Newbury, or to construct new ones. To several members of the Conference, and to the trustees of both institutions, this seemed the time for a union and removal to a more central location. Accordingly, after much discussion and a spirited canvass of the advantages offered respectively by Newbury, West Randolph, Northfield, Waterbury, and Montpelier, a removal was agreed upon, and the last-named place selected. To_ the enterprise, the town contributed the grounds formerly used for the United States Hospital, and valued at twenty thou- sand dollars. November 6, 1865, the Seminary was rechartered under name of the Vermont Conference Seminary and Female College, and in the autumn of 1868 was moved to its present location. The boarding-house furnishings and school apparatus were brought from Newbury, while Springfield con- tributed the entire proceeds from the sale of that property. Thus, by mutual consent, the two semi- naries were merged into one, having a location central to the Conference and State. After the removal, changes in the board of instruc- tion were altogether too frequent, there being no less than five different principals during the first eight years. Yet the school did good work, and enjoyed a fairly good reputation. In 1877 Rev. J. NEW ENGLAKD METHODISM. 459 B. Southworth entered into an agreement with the trustees to assume the financial responsibility, and manage the institution for a term of five 3'ears. Although successful for a time, yet by reason of financial embarrassment, he resigned before the lease expired. In March, 1882, the trustees again assumed control of the property, which ought never to have passed out of their hands. In constructing the new building, the Seminary became burdened with debt, so that later its usefulness, if not its existence, was seriously imperilled. The most important and suc- cessful effort for the removal of this incubus was made in 1882, when Rev. J. D. Beeman was elected president. In five years he increased the attendance by nearly one hundred per cent, raised over thirty thousand dollars in form of annuities, and a perma- nent scholarship fund of about fifteen thousand dol- lars. While many and very necessary improvements have been made in the buildings and outfit, it is a matter of sincere regret that some portion of the old debt remains, for which no provision has been made. During the first forty years of its history the Seminary was without endowment. However, in 1875, Noah Granger began the task of raising a fund of fifty thousand dollars. He has secured pledges for over four-fifths of that amount, about half of which has been paid in and invested. His faithful, unyielding, and heroic efforts claim from every friend of the school prompt and grateful recognition, and plead in terms stronger than words for the remaining ten thousand dollars. 460 CENTENNIAL OF Principal E. A. Bishop was born in Wrightstown, N. J., August 24, 1852. He fitted for college in a small private school near home (New Egypt, N. J.) ; graduated from Wesleyan University in 1878 ; taught in Bordentown Female College one year; was prin- cipal of Durham (Conn.) Academy two years; and was called to Vermont Methodist Seminary in 1881. Vermont Methodist Seminary as it is to-day : — 1. The location is most healthful and delightful. The grounds are one hundred feet above the town, and fully six hundred feet above sea-level. They are distant from the principal streets about a half- mile, so that the school shares all the advantages of a large town, but escapes the disadvantages. In every direction may be seen hills and valleys of surpassing beauty ; while twenty miles to the west, in full view, is one of the highest peaks in the Green Mountain system. Within a few months, the class of 1890 has secured a handsome fund to be expended upon the campus. Among the improvements will be nicely-plotted base and football grounds, tennis- courts, ornamental trees, fine walks, and a fountain costing in the vicinity of one thousand , dollars. With these improvements it is confidently asserted that these will be among the most attractive school- grounds in New England. 2. The Seminary edifice, completed in 1872, is a substantial four-story brick building, one hundred and fifteen feet long and sixty-five feet wide. The boarding-house is a frame structure, containing accommodations for one hundred and fifty persons. NE"W ENGLAND METHODISM. 461 The three sub-boarding houses offer rooms for about seventy students. The buildings are all lighted by electricity, and plans are making whereby the brick structure may soon be heated by steam. 3. The Seminary has always been favored in the class of students gathered in her halls. From the days of Judge D. N. Cooley, the sainted Professor Harrington, Hon. Alden Speare, Dr. George M. Steele, Mrs. C. S. Harrington, and Mrs. C. P. Taplin, until now, her boys and girls have come with less money than character, with less conceit than down- right ability and stalwart purposes. The teacher who stands before such students is prompted to his best efforts, and is sure of their profound attention. 4. Founded through the self-denial and self-sacri- fice of godly men and women, the subject of their devout and earnest prayers, this always has been a Christian school. During its history, hundreds, and probably thousands, of the students have been brought to a saving knowledge of Christ, and as many more have come into the enjoyment of a clear experience, and a deep love for his service. Within the past eight years those wonderful days at New- bury have been lived over again. In this time two hundred have sought the Saviour, and hundreds more have learned of "the deep things of God." Rarely does a student complete his course without coming to feel and confess his need of the divine Teacher. 5. Since 1882 the aggregate attendance by terms has risen from three hundred to over- six hundred 462 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. and twenty-five, with good prospect that it will soon reach seven hundred. This remarkable growth may be attributed to two causes: (a) Higher grade of instruction. The teachers have been selected with much care, and sometimes at much greater expense. The departments are coming to have more than a local reputation. While others might be mentioned, we refer to the music only. Here are found a full line of good musical instruments, including a two- manual pipe-organ of twenty-one registers, a director who is a recognized master in his profession, and an arrangement whereby our graduates may, without. examination, enter the last grade of the New Eng- land Conservatory. (J) The intense loyalty of the students and graduates. They found in the school a pleasant home, with their fellow-students delightful associations, and in the religious meetings the strongest and deepest emotions to right living. No institution is likely to fail of prosperity whose thou- sands of students remember it with deep gratitude and love. CHAPTER XX. WBSLEYAN ACADEMY, WILBRAHAM, MASS. The Wesleyan Academy was first established at Newmarket, N. H., about 1818. Whether the school, which has had its local habitation as well as its name at Wilbraham since 1824, is identical with that of Newmarket, is possibly open to some debate ; for it has never been absolutely settled wherein personal identity consists, much less that of corporations, and even, singularly, of newspapers ! Be that as it may, while no one could ever properly claim that the Academy at Wilbraham was legally the same as the one at Newmarket, it has been maintained, with some show of consistency, that the educational enterprise was one, and that only the locality was changed. What had been a failure in New Hampshire, devel- oped into vigorous life in Western Massachusetts, and has been for many a year one of the great schools of New England. The charter for the school at Wilbraham was secured in 1824, and the school was opened with seven students in the fall of 1825. Wilbur Fisk, elected its first principal, could not give his whole personal attention to the duties of his new office till near the close of the first academical year; but under the preceptorship of Mr. Nathaniel Dunn, [467] 468 CENTENNIAL OP who has but recently died in New York City, the nvimber of students rapidly increased; and long before Dr. Fisk had been called to the presidency of the college at Middletown, it had become a popular resort of students, not only from many parts of New England, but from the Middle States and the South. After Dr. Fisk there were two or three principals who for various reasons were only briefly at the head of the school. The first who directed its affairs for any considerable time was David Patten, from 1834 to 1841. These seven years constitute a period of steady prosperity and growing efficiency. Mr. Patten was succeeded by Charles Adams, and he, in 1845, by Robert AUyn. In 1848 began the principalship of Miner Raymond, the longest, and in many respects the most successful, of any in the history of the Academy. It was under Dr. Raymond's administra- tion that the new buildings, Fisk Hall, Binney Hall, and the magnificent new boarding-house at present known as Rich Hall, were erected. The old frame boarding-house was burned about 1857. This, on the whole, was a blessing ; but the large new struc- ture which took its place perished in like manner almost before the school was fairly settled in it. This appeared almost like a fatal calamity, as none of the money to meet its expenses had been raised, and the cost above its insurance had been about thirty thou- sand dollars. But with an energy that overcomes the greatest obstacles. Dr. Raymond and the friends of the Academy succeeded in replacing the destroyed building with a still handsomer one; and when NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 469 Dr. Raymond resigned, in 1864, few institutions under the patronage of the Methodist Chui'ch were equipped with finer facilities for secondary education than this. Dr. Edward Cooke was elected principal in 1864, and occupied the position till 18.74. Everything was favorable to the success of the school during this period, and for a series of years the number of stu- dents was greater than for any other equally long period since its foundation. Dr. Cooke was suc- ceeded by Nathaniel Fellows. This period was one of great depression to all the business interests of the country, and our schools and colleges suffered severely. The Wesleyan Academy was no excep- tion. The new principal made a good and sturdy fight, and a successful one. There was no increase of the debt, but, on the other hand, a diminution, while the educational facilities were not diminished. The remarkable feature in the history of the institu- tion is, that for nearly sixty years it had never a dollar of endowment. All its current expenses were met by the receipts from students, and these were always at a moderate rate. Not only was there no endow- ment, but for nearly half of this time there was a debt which had been originally incurred by the burning of the second boarding-house, and which averaged about twenty thousand dollars, sometimes! increasing, and then again being diminished. It is a remarkable instance of a school of high order maintained entirely by its patronage, and yet its cost of education so low that even those in the most 470 CENTENNIAL OF moderate conditions could avail themselves of its privileges. The present principal, Rev. Geo. M. Steele, D.D., who has served since 1879, was born in Strafford, Orange County, Vermont. His father was Rev. Joel Steele, for about forty years a member of the New England Conference. When about nine or ten years old he left home, and spent the remainder of his boyhood, till twenty-one years of age, on a farm in the town where he was born. The opportunities of schools were few and small, but he had two winter terms at Newbury Seminary before he was of age. At this Seminary ' he finally prepared for college. After some preliminary struggles, he ventured to enter the Wesleyan University, in 1846. The fight was a hard one, but a good one, and he graduated in 1850. After this, three years were spent in teaching at Wilbraham. Uniting with the New England Con- ference in 1851, he took his first appointment at Warren in 1853, and had successive pastorates at Fitchburg ; Lowell, St. Paul's ; Lynn Common ; Church Street, Boston ; and again at Fitchburg. In 1865 he was elected president of Lawrence Univer- sity, in Appleton, Wis., where he remained fourteen years. The college, like most of our new Western institutions, was endowed with unlimited poverty ; but, like many others of them, it did a work in the educational line which the Church and the country would have been poorer without. Dr. Steele has been three times ^ member of the General Confer- ence, has travelled in Europe, and has written quite NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 471 largely for the press, both in our own church periodi- cals and in magazines and reviews outside. He is the author, also, of several text-books which have found more or less acceptance. During the present administration the affairs of the Academy have been prosperous. The debt, which under Principal Fellows had been consider- ably reduced, in part by a legacy of the late Amos B. Merrill, Esq., and in part by the careful management of the resources, was, owing to the small number in attendance at first, increased under the new principal, running up from about seventeen thousand dollars to more than twenty-three thousand dollars within the three years. But from this time an effort was made first to liquidate it. An agent was appointed to raise funds for this purpose. Under Dr. Crowell many thousand dollars were raised, and many thou- sand more were saved from the current income of the corporation, so that in 1887 the debt had wholly disappeared. Much had also been expended in the mean time in adding to the facilities and attractions of the school, so that, at present, there are few schools of its grade that are better furnished for its purposes than the Weslej'an Academy. Besides this. Dr. Crowell was successful in securing several thou- sand dollars towards the beginning of an endowment. There are now fifteen thousand dollars of productive funds, and in addition to these some eight thousand or ten thousand dollars of annuity funds which have been paid into the treasury, but upon which the donors claim interest during their lives. There 472 CENTENNIAL OP are also other funds which are on their way to the endowment of the institution. In short, its financial condition was never so good as now. There are two paramount lines of educational work in the Wesleyan Academy. These are indi- cated in the two principal courses of study : the col- lege-preparatory and the academy courses. The former is what its title implies, and is intended to be as complete and effective as it is possible to make it. The latter is intended to give a thorough, substantial, and sensible training to such as cannot, or think they cannot, take a full college course. It has proved of vast advantage to a grieat multitude of young people. Around these lie several collateral, or special, courses. The musical department is one of high character and more than ordinary popularity. The art department has also, within the last few years, had a remarkable development, and attracts many pupils. The commercial department presents all the advantages of a business college, and, espe- cially under its present direction, is unusually free from the objectionable features of such schools. There is a course in industrial science which is of great value to a certain class of students. The instruction in elocution has been for some years a marked feature in the institution. Physical culture is carefully attended to, and the gymnastic training here is on the strict scientific principles that are applied in only a few of our secondary schools. For some years the scientific study of the Bible was peculiar to this among almost all our denominar NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 473 tional schools. We are happy to state that this is no longer the case. The method of Bible study- introduced by Dr. Steele, at the beginning of his administration, and which was looked upon with much doubt by many wise educators, has now been adopted, we are assured, in some forty other institu- tions ; while other schools and colleges have intro- duced similar, though not identical, schemes. The government of the Academy, while intended to be watchful and strict, still admits of that indi- vidual freedom which is essential to all self-govern- ment. For it is the policy of the school to cultivate this ; and it is the prevailing conviction that, if a young person does not learn to govern himself, no matter how careful and rigid the rSgime may be, it will prove a failure. CHAPTER XXI. EAST GBEENWICH ACADEMY. The East Greenwich Academy, though bearing a different name and conducted under other auspices, originated in the year 1802, and was known as Kent Academy. It is, therefore, the oldest of our Meth- odist institutions of learning. It had then but a single building, sixty feet by thirty, and two stories in height, a few feet in front of the spot on which the present Academy building stands. Upon its organization in 1841, the Providence Conference adopted measures for the establishment of a Semi- nary within its bounds, which resulted in the pur- chase of this Academy. No other of our Conference schools has so beautiful and excellent a location. It stands on elevated ground on the western shore of the Narragansett Bay, presenting a view of both shores for a distance of twenty miles. From the observatory may be seen with the naked eye, Warren, Bristol, and the cities of Providence, Fall River, and Newport. Persons who have visited Europe have pronounced the view equal to that of the Bay of Naples. Its seaside advantages, the mildness of the climate, and the healthfulness of the location, render it a most desirable spot for the life of a student. It is easily accessible, as it is on the main [475] 476 CENTENNIAL OF line of railway from New York to Providence and Boston. Upon the purchase of the property, the trustees proceeded to the erection of a large and commodious boarding-hall, which in 1868 was remodelled and enlarged at the cost of about fifteen thousand dol- lars. They purchased additional ground, securing a campus of five acres in extent. A few years later the private residence known as the Winsor House was bought; and in 1858 the present Academy build- ing proper, one of the three on its grounds, was erected. It contains a very superior chapel, commo- dious recitation-rooms, art room, rooms for literary societies, offices, cabinet, laboratory, library, and reading-room. Across the street from the boarding- hall is the principal's residence, acquired in 1888, with convenient and elegant parlors for use in the social life of the school ; although he and his family, with the faculty, board with the students. All these buildings are warmed with steam and lighted by electricity. After the school came into Methodist hands, Ben- jamin F. Tefft was the first principal. He became known throughout the church as editor of tlie Ladies' Repository. The gentlemen who held the office the longest, previous to the coming of the present prin- cipal, were Robert Allyn, six years, Geo. W. Quereau,' four years, and J. T. Edwards, seven years. Rev. Francis D. Blakeslee, D.D., now at the head of the institution, has been longer in service than any other of our New England principals; and of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 477 those who were in that office, in Methodist literary institutions, when he took charge of the Academy in 1873, very few now hold the same position. He is of good Methodist stock, the son of the late Rev. George H. Blakeslee, of the Wj'^oming Conference, and was born at Vestal, Broome Co., N, Y., in 1846. In the war of the Rebellion he was a clerk in the field, and in the office of the quartermaster-general at "Washington, in 1863-65 ; but at the age of eighteen he resigned his place, to which a salary of one thou- sand two hundred dollars was attached, for the pur- pose of completing his preparation for college. He became a student at Wyoming Seminary, at Kingston, Pa., then in charge of that widely honored educator, Dr. Reuben Nelson. He graduated with the first class of Syracuse University, in 1872, having pre- viously served eight months in the pastorate and one year as a high-school principal. On his gradua- tion he entered the ministry ; and when in his first appointment, at Grovelan'd, New York, in the Gene- see Conference, he was called to his present position, where he remained until 1884. After his resignation he travelled some eight months in Europe. Soon after his return he was appointed to the charge of the Thames Street Church, in Newport, R. I., from which he was recalled to the Academy in 1887. He again visited Europe in the summer of 1889, and during his absence Wesleyan University conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. Under his administration the school has greatly prospered, the number of its pupils rising higher than at any former period of its history. 478 CENTENNIAL OF Like most institutions of its grade, the Academy has experienced checkered financial fortune, being dependent on its income from term-bills to meet its current expenses. In its necessities, which have not been few, it has found noble and beneficent friends, but until recentlj'' it has been without endowment. In 1888 it received from the estate of the late Ste- phen T. Olney, of Providence, the sum of forty-three thousand dollars, of which thirty thousand dollars constitutes a permanent fund. It is hoped that this is but the beginning of such an endowment as will largely multiply the facilities of the school, and enable it to do even better work than it has hitherto done. The school has now twelve departments of instruc- tion, including, in addition to the common English branches, several graduating courses. Ladies, as well as gentlemen, are admitted to them, and they find them fully equal to those in many of the so-called female colleges. Competent inspectors pronounce the instruction in English of a very superior grade. The college preparatory courses are adapted to the wants of those who propose to take the full curric- ulum and those who can take only a scientific or Latin-scientific course. Testimony is not wanting from some of the best colleges to the excellent prep- aration received here, and the standard is fully maintained. The instruction in the Commercial Department is as full and thorough as that given in the best commercial colleges, and at considerably less cost to the student. As a rule, its graduates do NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 479 not find it difficult to obtain satisfactory positions. Its Music Department has, from the days of- Dr. Tourj^e, who founded here the first Conservatory of Music in America, been a specialty. The pupils are brought under the same systematic drill that would be given them in the best conservatories in Europe. The Department of Elocution is not a mere accident of the school, but receives the entire time of the instructor. Two years ago a Normal Department was opened, under the charge of a competent teacher, with the special advantage of a practice school in which the pupil is enabled to test the instruction received. Its utility and success thus far are very marked. In every department the school is doing good, honest work, and is proving itself worthy of the renewed attention turned to it in recent years, and of the fullest confidence of its friends. The school is Methodist — that is, under Methodist domination and control; it is, moreover, emphatically a religious school and under decided religious influence. Not only is the Bible a text-book, but a large proportion of the students are members of some Christian Church, a number are preparing for the ministry of the gospel, and seldom does a term pass without conversions to Christ. In this respect it lias been greatly blessed during the present year. CHAPTER XXII. LASELL SEMINARY FOR YOUNG WOMEN, AUBXJRNDALE, MASS. Lasell Seminary was founded in 1851 by Ed- ward Lasell, professor of chemistry in Williams College, and incorporated in the same year. It was, fortunately, placed in Auburndale, a ward of New- ton, charming and healthful in situation, a city of beautiful and refined homes, and so near to Boston as to command all its advantages. Professor Lasell lived only long enough to see his plans for a girls' school of high rank successful. For ten years after his death the work was carried on by his brother Josiah, and his brother-in-law, George W. Briggs. In 1862 Rev. Charles W. Cushing became principal and proprietor. In 1873 he sold the Seminary and grounds to twenty prominent men of Boston, who became a body of trustees. They refitted the insti- tution with steam-heat, gas, new furniture, pianos, etc., and in 1874 made Mr. Charles C. Bragdon principal. He soon proved to be the right man for the place. Though young (only twenty-six), he had had seven years' experience in teaching. Graduated by a university at home, he had entered one abroad, and, while continuing his studies, gained much from [481] 482 CENTENNIAL OF travel and keen observation. Of great energy and perseverance, and "extraordinarily independent mind and character," he takes the broadest, views, yet is patient with the smallest detail. He put a deter- mined shoulder to the wheel, and the progress, year by year, has been phenomenal. In 1874 there were twenty pupils in Lasell Seminary ; now there are more than six times as many. The building was doubled in size in 1881, at a cost of over thirty thousand dollars, yet every year from thirty to forty applicants are refused for want of room, the persistent policy being in favor of a small school. And while paying off heavy debts, the improvements, without and within, make the old place almost unrecognizable. The present adminis- tration began with a debt of sixty thousand dollars. This has .wholly disappeared, and over seventy-five thousand dollars have been put into the institution in real or personal property. The school has had less than twenty-five dollars in gifts from all sources. Among these improvements are the pictures that turn the beautiful studio into an art gallery, adorn the walls everywhere, and fill the folios and the cabinet. There are a goodly number in color, oil, and water — a fair number originals — with many photo- graphs and engravings. In all, the catalogue has nearly nineteen hundred, and additions are frequent. The collection was mainly made by the principal in Europe, where he takes summer parties of the pupils and their friends. The library is the nucleus of a fair one for refer- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 483 ence. The old dining-room has given way to a large and handsome successor. The old gymnasium is now a well-fitted laboratory for class and individual work. The new gymnasium, built in 1883 — an uncommonly fine one — is in charge of a pupil of Dr. Sargent, of Cambridge, is carried on upon the principles of which he is the chief apostle, and is in some sense still in his care. Twice a week, instead of the daily gymnastics, a military drill of half an hour takes place under a trained military officer. Light wooden guns are used. These exercises give erect position, graceful carriage, and, not least, prompt obedience. The lower story holds a ten-pin alley and natatorium. The water in the ample tank is heated and often changed. An accomplished instructor in swimming is employed. A resident physician looks after the health, habits of dress, recreation, etc., of the pupils, with a hint here or there, or perhaps a radical change. With the care and regular hours, many a weak girl gains strength. Fainting and hysteria have gone out of fashion, and to be " delicate " is no longer in good taste. One teacher is devoting herself to the training of the nerves, having recently studied the subject in London. The direct object is not health — though it must serve it — but concentration of the faculties to obtain the highest activity, by self-control. The regular course in Liberal Arts consists of four years, for which there is one preparatory year. The department of music, vocal and instrumental, is well 484 CENTENNIAL OF known for its satisfactory results. Pupils often come to Lasell for this specialty, which is accepted as an elective among the branches necessary for graduation. This is also true of drawing and paint- ing, and the opportunities in both music and painting are much enhanced by the nearness to Boston, a centre for art in both particulars. While the language course, ancient and modern, is full, the effort is constantly made to emphasize the mother tongue. Some girls come for only one or two years. As far as may be in that time, they are trained to speak, read, and write correctly, and have some taste for good books. One teacher gives all her time to English, another to elocution, with like intention ; and much time and emphasis are given to history and literature, with a specialist for the highest English classics. Much help is derived, also, from courses of occasional lectures by specialists brought to the school, or heard in Boston. Principal Charles Cushman Bragdon was born September 6, 1847, at Auburn, N. Y., lived six years there, and two at Springfield, Mass., then successively in Waukegan, Aurora, and Evanston, 111. He is the son of Maine parents — Charles P. Bragdon, for many years a member of the Maine Conference, and Sarah W. Cushman of East Poland, also a member of the Maine Conference, though for a shorter term, and not enrolled. His father died at Evanston when he was thirteen years old ; his mother is living there in excellent health. Charles C. entered the North- western University in 1860 ; taught in Elgin Acad- NEW ENGLAND METSODISM. 485 emy the winter of 1863-64; enlisted in the 134th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in the spring of 1864; and was honorably discharged in December of the same year; re-entered the University and graduated in 1865^ taught Latin, Greek, and German in Dick- inson Seminary, Williamsport, Penn., 1865-67 ; was in the office of the Little Corporal, Chicago, till August, 1868 ; taught Latin and Greek in Wesleyan College, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1868-72 ; studied at Tii- bingen, Germany, 187^-73; taught Latin, Greek, and German at Jennings Seminary, Aurora, 111., till June, 1878 ; came to Auburndale, August, 1874, as principal of Lasell. In June, 1869, was married to Kate E. Ransom, of Williamsport, Penn., and has two children. In 1877 Lasell took a new departure. Believing the chief business of women to be home-making, and seeing that the conflict with the present dire domestic problems is often greater than they can bear, experts and specialists were brought to counsel and instruct. Mrs. Helen Campbell treated of domestic science in general; Mrs. Croly (Jennie June), of dress; Miss Marion Talbot, of Boston, gives annually a course of lectures upon home sanitation. This, with practical illustrations, visiting buildings to examine the plumbing, etc., is a feature of the school of much importance — a unique one, it is believed. J\Iiss Parloa began giving demonstrations in cooking, and has had several worthy successors ; while volunteers and advanced pupils cook in small classes, and prizes are given for the best bread. Dress cutting and 486 CENTENNIAL OF making have long proved a success ; and one notable class of juniors, at their reception, wore dresses of their own handiwork, and served the guests with viands of their own cooking. Millinery is taught, also photography, short-hand, and type-writing. Some pupils have found in these lines their natural power, and means of pecuniary profit. Lasell is a pioneer in another direction. In 1882 Mr. Alfred Hemenway, of Boston, gave a course of lectures explanatory of the principles of common law. This has become a yearly course ; but now, in 1890, he also sends a lady, a practitioner of Boston, who especially emphasizes the peculiarities of the law as applied to women. The girls receive her simple, untechnical instruction gladly. They begin to understand that women have suffered bitterly from ignorance on these points. With all the practical work, the standard of the school has constantly risen. Algebra is now a stud}'' of the preparatory year, and the demands for entrance to the freshman class are on a scale com- mensurate with this level. The work in history, literature, English, and natural sciences, is especially ample. Mr. William T. Rolfe has a class in Shak- speare, and eminent specialists in various depart- ments use all the time that can be spared in the most valuable lectures, free to all pupils. The per- sistent refusal to gratify a natural ambition for a large school, bears its fruit in the more careful attention to those who share its many rich oppor- tunities. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 487 The pupils edit and publish a monthly, the profits of which form a loan-fund to help girls in education. The pupils are not required to pass regular or foreknown examinations, nor to recite in public on any occasion. The whole plan shows intelligent and fearless consideration of the serious problems of the education of girls. The overflowing patronage proves the estimate of thoughtful parents of their solution at Lasell. CHAPTER XXIII. HISTORIC MILESTONES OP METHODISM IN NEW ENGLAND. 1736-1890. BT REV. FREDEKICK BUREILL GRAVES. 1736. Charles Wesley was the first Methodist preacher ever in New England, or in Boston. He preached in King's Chapel. 1740. George Whitefield arrives at Newport, R. I., September 14. George Whitefield preached before the Colonial Legislature at New Haven, October 23. 1772. Richard Boardman preached in Boston, and gathered a few together into a society, which, how- ever, perished after his departure. 1775. While at Charleston, S. C, Jesse Lee had a conversation with a merchant's clerk, who was a New-Englander, and then formed the determination to carry Methodism into New England. 1776. Enoch Mudge, born in Lynn, Mass., June 21, was the first native preacher of Methodism in New England. 1781. Joshua Soule (Bishop) born in Bristol, Me., on August 1. 1784. William Black, an Englishman, from Nova Scotia, preached in Boston, Qctober 17. [488] NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 489 1787. Freeborn Garrettson, passing through Bos- ton, preached there. Cornelius Cook preached in Norwalk, Conn. 1789. Jesse Lee is commissioned by the New York Conference to introduce Methodism into New England. Jesse Lee preached his first sermon in New Eng- land at Norwalk, Conn., June 17, under an apple- tree which stood on the green border of a public highway. Jesse Lee formed the first class in New England at Stratfield, Conn., September 25. The first circuit in New England embraced Nor- walk, Fairfield, Stratford, Milford, Reading, Dan- bury, Canaan, besides some small parishes, like "Mutton Lane." The first New England layman, Aaron Sanford, was received at Reading, Conn., December 28. 1790. Freeborn Garrettson on his way to Boston accompanied by "Black Harry," is overtaken by Jesse Lee, bound for the same place. " Black Harry " (Harry Hosier) was the negro servant of Bishop Asbury, but an eloquent preacher and exhorter. He travelled with Asbury, Coke, and Garrettson, preaching often with signal power. Yet he could not read. Jacob Brush, George Roberts, and Daniel Smith arrive at Dantown, Conn., February 27, to assist Lee in his New England labors. Jesse Lee preached his first sermon on Boston Common in July. Garrettson, stopping at Provi- 490 CENTENNIAL OP dence, had missed the opportunity to supersede his brother. Jesse Lee preached in the house of Benjamin Johnson, Lynn, Mass., December 7. The first chapel erected in New England was at Easton (formerly Weston), Conn. It was called "Lee's Chapel." The first presiding elder in New England was Jesse Lee, appointed by the Conference of 1790, held in New York. The second presiding elder was Jacob Brush. 1791. The first Methodist society in Massachusetts was formed at Lynn, February 20. The first Methodist church in Massachusetts was dedicated at Lynn, June 26. Asbury enters Connecticut. He preaches at New Haven, to a congregation in which is Dr. Ezra Stiles, president of Yale College. "One district and part of a second, five circuits and seven preachers, constituted then the ministerial arrangements of Methodism for New England, dur- ing the ecclesiastical year 1790-91." This is a small gain ; but when it is remembered that Method- ist ministers were characterized, in those days, as " wolves in sheep's clothing," and drummed out of the villages by a mob, it is a great record. 1792. The first Methodist society was organized in Boston, July 13. The first Conference held in Massachusetts, and probably in New England, was at Lynn, Mass., be- ginning August 3. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 491 1793. The first printed attack was made on Meth- odists, in a pamphlet containing a sermon by Rev. Mr. Williams, of Tolland, Me., and a letter of Dr. Huntington, of Coventry. The first love-feast was held in Boston, July 30. Jesse Lee enters Maine for the first time on Sep- tember 6. The first Methodist sermon preached in Maine was "in a little village called Saco," by Jesse^Lee, September 10. 1794. The first Methodist chapel erected in Rhode Island was at Warren, in September. The first class in Maine was organized at Mon- mouth, in November. The first administration of the Eucharist in the Province of Maine was at Readfield, December 14. The first circuit formed in Maine was known as the Readfield Circuit. Philip Wager was the first regular itinerant preacher in Maine. The first layman in Maine was Daniel Smith, sub- sequently a local preacher. 1795. The first Methodist church dedicated in Maine was at Readfield, June 21. The corner-stone of the first Methodist chapel iu Boston was laid on Methodist Alley, August 28. 1796. Zadok Priest was the first itinerant preacher who died in New England. At the house of " Father Newcomb," in Norton, Mass., he breathed his last, June 22, at the age of twenty -seven. The first Methodist chapel in Boston was dedicated on Methodist Alley, May 15. 492 CENTENNIAL OP 1797. The first presiding elder of the Maine Dis- trict-was Joshua Taylor. Leonidas L. Hamline (Bishop) born in Burlington, Conn., May 10. 1798. The first Conference held in Maine was at Readfield, beginning August 29. 1800. Jesse Lee preached the dedicatory sermon of the church at Kent's Hill, Me., where, twenty-one years later, the Maine Wesleyan Seminary was estab- lished. Methodism was first preached in Vermont at Lunenburg. The first Methodist missionary to Africa was con- verted at Hallowell, Me., under the preaching of Epaphras Kibby. 1^01. Isaac Rich, a distinguished patron of educa- tion, born at Wellfleet, Mass., October 24. 1802. The first camp-meeting held in New Eng- land was at Haddam, Conn., on the Middletown Circuit (Lorenzo Dow's Journal gives it 1805, at Bolton, Conn.). Jacob Sleeper, one of the greatest philanthropists of the last generation in New England, born in New Castle, Me., November 21. 1803. The first session of the New England Con- ference that was held in Boston was in the church on Methodist Alley. The first preaching in New Hampshire was at Dalton. 1806. The corner-stone of the Bromfield Street Church was laid, April 15. , NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 493 1807. Edmund Storer Janes (Bishop) born in Sheffield, Mass., April 27. The first meeting-house on the Vermont District was erected at Barnard. 1812. Osman Oleander Baker (Bishop) born in Marlow, N. H., July 30. Davis Wasgatt Clark (Bishop) born on Mount Desert, Me., February 25. 1816. , On the last day of March Bishop Asbury died. " When he commenced his labors in this country there were about six hundred members ; when he fell, it was victoriously^ at the head of two hundred and twelve thousand." 1818. The Wesleyan Academy was established at Newmarket, N. H. ; subsequently removed to Wil- braham in 1825. Wilbur Fisk, the great Methodist educational pioneer in New England, enters the ministry. 1819. The name of Edward T. Taylor (Father Taylor) appears in the Minutes for the first time. 1820. Erastus O. Haven (Bishop) born in Boston, November 1. The first New England Oonference Minutes were published July 1. 1821. Gilbert Haven (Bishop) born in Maiden, Mass., September 19. 1823. " This [the formation of the ' Society for Giving and Receiving Religious Intelligence '] gave rise to Zion's Herald, printed by Moore and Prouse under the direction of the committee of the society of which Elijah Hedding was president. The first 494 CENTENNIAL OP number was issued January 9, 1823, on a small royal sheet, the pages measuring only nine by sixteen inches. Such was the origin of the first weekly publication of Methodism in the world — a paper which has had an unsurpassed power on the great questions and crises of the church." 1825. The Maine Conference was organized. 1828. Willard Francis Mallalieu (Bishop) born in Sutton, Mass., December 11. 1831. The Wesleyan University obtained its charter. Henry W. Warren (Bishop) born in Williams- burg, Mass., January 4. The Boston Wesleyan Association formed. The first total abstinence address delivered in New England was by Mark Trafton, at Rumford, Maine. 1835. " Camp-meeting John " Allen received on trial in the Maine Conference. An anti-slavery society organized by the New Eng- land Conference, sitting at Lynn, Mass. The New Hampshire Conference also formed one. 1839. The first meeting of Methodists in East Boston, September 29. 1841. "Providence Conference Seminary" (now East Greenwich Academy) established. 1846. The New England Education Society was organized. 1849. The Maine Wesleyan Board of' Education incorporated in August. 1851. The New England Methodist Book Deposi- tory established. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 495 1862. Probably the first formal action taken in New England concerning lay delegation to General Conference, was by the New England Conference, when it was voted that the preachers should take a count of the legal voters on lay delegation. 1866. The Methodist Centenary Convention held in Boston, June 5-7. 1867. The Boston Theological Seminary was re- organized from the old Methodist General Biblical Institute, in Concord, N. H. 1868. The Boston Methodist Social Union was established, December 13. 1869. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society was organized in Boston. Boston University incorporated. The present en- dowment of the University is a million and a half. 1871. The first New England Conference to elect lay delegates to the General Conference was the East Maine ; and Eliphalet Clark, M.D., was the most prominent and tireless advocate of the measure in the State. 1873. The semi-centennial of Zioris Herald cele- brated. 1880. The New England Methodist Historical Society was organized May 3. Bishop Gilbert Hayen died, January 3. " Meth- odism, which had in New England only six hundred members in the first year of Jesse Lee's ministry here, and which numbered at the death of Bishop Asbury two hundred and twelve thousand in the whole country, could count up a grand total of 496 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 1,755,018 communicants when Bishop Gilbert Haven breathed his last, reckoning only the particular body of Methodists to which he gave his great and useful life." When the whole world, with its bright green spots of Methodism, comes into the field of vision, how marvellous and wonderful, under God, has been the work accomplished ! 1883. The Wesleyan home at Newton organized. 1886. The fine estate on Mount Vernon Street was purchased and remodelled at a total cost of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, for the use of the School of Theology of Boston University. 1889. The New England Deaconess Home incor- porated. The indebtedness on People's Church, Boston, entirely cancelled. 1890. Centennial celebration of Jesse Lee's preach- ing on Boston Common, in July. CHAPTER XXIV. TYPICAL CHUKCHES. BROMPIELD STREET M. B. CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS. The first Methodist class in Boston was formed on July 13, 1792, in the house of Samuel Burrill. In August of the same year, the "Methodist Religious Society in Boston " was formed. The " First Method- ist Preaching House " in Boston, located on Methodist Alley, was dedicated in 1796, but was not entirely completed until 1800. In 1806 the building became too strait for the number who desired to worship there, so the Quarterly Conference authorized the trustees to procure a lot, and erect a second chapel. The lot at the corner of Park and Tremont streets, where now stands the famous Park Street Church, was available ; but the trustees, as a measure of economy, bought a lot on "Broomfield's lane," and proceeded to erect a chapel. The building, costing seven thousand dollars, was completed in a remark- ably short time, and was dedicated Nov. 19, 1806. The dedication sermon was preached by the Rev. Samuel Merwin. The difiSculties between the United States and several of the governments of Europe, leading to various political complications, which seriously crip- [497] 498 CBNTfiNNIAL OF pled the business of New England, brought this young society into sore straits financially, notwith- standing the benevolence of th^t prince of laymen, Amos Binney. In the Journal of the General Conference of 1808, we find the following : " A petition was laid before the Conference from the new Methodist meeting- house in Boston, stating their great embarrassment, and praying relief in any way the General Confer- ence may devise. Brother George Pickering prayed the Conference to appoint a committee to devise ways and means for the relief of the trustees of the Boston meeting-house, and report to the Conference. Carried." A few days thereafter, the following record appears : " The committee in the case of the Boston Meeting- House reported as follows, viz., — 'That the Confer- ence agree that Brother Pickering, or some other person, be appointed to raise a subscription in any part of the connexion to assist in defraying the enor- mous debt on the new church : and that the Confer- ence give a certificate specifying that they have recommended the measure.' Moved, from the chair, that a subscription be opened for the relief of our brethren in their difficulties concerning the Boston meeting-house, to be placed in the hands of all the presiding elders. Carried." Thus the South was again called to the aid of New England. Rev. George Pickering, to whom was given the task of soliciting help, went as far south as the Delaware River, and returned with three NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 499 thousand three hundred dollars. Charleston, S. C, sent two hundred and fifty dollars; and the New England Conference, at its session in Barnard, Vt., subscribed two hundred and forty dollars. Notwith- standing these contributions, the debt increased until it i-eached eighteen thousand dollars. The writer does not know the causes which produced this re- sult. This debt was removed in 1815-16, under the ministry of Elijah Hedding and Daniel Fillmore. The first organ was placed in the church in 1835. The building was remodelled and partly rebuilt in 1848. This involved another debt, which was removed during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Cummings. This building was destroyed by fire, Dec. 7, 1863. The present edifice was completed the next year. Another, and the last, indebtedness was removed during the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Ken dig. Many eminent ministers have been pastors at Brom- field Street, and many, converted at its altars, have gone out to pi-oclaim the glad tidings of salvation, in various parts of the world. There is probably not a Methodist church in Boston, which Bromfield Street has not helped to build. Wesleyan Univer- sity looked to this church for years ; and out of it, largely by means of the libei'ality of Isaac Rich and Jacob Sleeper, came Boston University. Business has now shut the church building in on every side, and the character of the work has mate- rially changed; but we confidently look for a grand future yet for this historic old Church. • 500 CENTENNIAL OF ST. John's m. b. chukch, south boston, mass. BY KEV. FREDEKICK BUERILL GRAVES AND THE EDITOR.* The history of a church organization is generally the history of a community, but the history of St. John's is that of several. Its remotest roots rest back in the religious soil of nearly eighty years ago. The origin was humble, the struggles many, and the triumphs not few. In 1810, when South Boston was a pasture, in the home of a Mrs. Robinson, an aged widow lady, religious meetings were held under the leadership of Bro. Thomas C. Peirce, of Milton, the father of Dr. Peirce, late editor of Zion's Herald. He worked at his trade as a carpenter during the week, and preached on the Sabbath. Soon the house of Mrs. Robinson becoming unsatisfactory, the meet- ings were held for a few months, in 1811, in a small building rented for the purpose ; and this in turn proving too small, Bro. Peirce, with his own hands, built a small house of worship on the land now occu- pied by the Hawes Place Church. For four years, as a local preacher, he successfully ministered to the people of South Boston ; then joining the New Eng- land Conference, he was stationed elsewhere. When building the church structure, he expected to pay for it by the weekly contributions and the sale of five- dollar shares. But he was disappointed, for many years afterwards he wrote : " All the support I had for my labor was a public contribution on the Sab- 1 This sketch is condensed from an article in Zion's Herald, written by Rev. Mr. Graves, with additions by the editor. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 501 bath, which usually amounted to from seventy-five cents to a dollar, with a week's board now and then." The next pastor, Rev. Zephaniah Wood, who became infatuated by the strange doctrines inculcated in " Worcester's Bible " published at the time, carried bodily the church property and a large majority of the society with him, into Congregationalism. Now such is the origin, not only of the First Methodist Church, but the first church of any denomination, in South Boston. The Methodists chopped down the trees, made a clearing, built a church, and the Con- gregationalists stepped in and enjoyed it. But God's work failed not. Mrs. Robinson's sitting-room is metamorphosed into a magnificent church, and Bro. Peirce is the pioneer of a long line of Methodist preachers. There was an interregnum of about eleven years, when another effort was made to establish a Method- ist Church, and a suitable building was erected. The principal supporters of this new enterprise were the workmen employed in the glass-works ; but shortly afterwards the proprietors failed, and with them the church. And this time the Baptists took possession. So strong, however, were the Methodist affinities of some, that meetings were continued in private houses, until 1834 the third attempt was made. A place for holding the meetings was secured at the corner of Broadway and A Street. No less a personage than Rev. Abel Stevens preached the first sermon to a congregation of eight people. From one place to another, beset with difficulties on every hand, the 502 CENTENNIAL OP few migrated until the famous year of 1839, the cen- tenary of Methodism, when it was determined to build a suitable structure. On the 19th of June, 1840, therefore, the Centenary Church was estab- lished, prospered, and was enlarged about ten years later. At this juncture, after twenty years of per- sistence, the denomination had obtained a permanent footing, which was to secure for it a wider useful- ness and a larger following. Indeed, so large had the church become, that it was thought best to estab- lish a second church, and the Dorchester Street was founded. The leaders in this movement were Martin L. Whitcher, William H. Miller, F. M. Knights, D. P. Nichols, S. C. Fisk, and Seth K. Crowell. During the pastorate of Rev. J. L. Hanaford, at the Centenary, it was deemed advisable to erect a new structure. Broadway was the location selected. On this spot the daisies once blew, and English troopers galloped hotly over the green grass. But it was per- haps a mistake that there was not effected a union of the Centenary and Dorchester Street Churches ; but ultimately, as will be seen, such a union became necessary to the complete success of Methodism. Here again, however, disaster was met, which crip- pled the church. The new structure was finished, except setting the windows and putting in the pews, when the terrific gale of September, 1869, toppled the spire upon the roof, crushing it and levelling the church to its foundation. The members of the church and congregation, the community, and the contractors, rallied, however, and rebuilt the present NEW ENGLAl>rD METHODISM. 503 structure. In the spring of 1870 it was dedicated, and the first pastor was the distinguished Rev. Mark Trafton, who on the occasion wrote a hymn whose opening stanza indicated the breadth of his mind and the depth of his heart : — " We rear this house, O God, to thee. Not here Thy presence to confine; For heaven's broad, bending canopy, Unmeasured, unexplored, is Thine." The new church was erected at a cost of sixty thousand dollars, only a third of which was paid, leaving a large interest debt to be annually met, which was to be a source of discouragement. Suc- ceeding the pastorate of Bro. Trafton came such princes as Revs. Willard F. Mallalieu (now Bishop), Lewis B. Bates, John H. Twombly, and Joseph H. Mansfield, who, with one exception, was the last regular pastor of Broadway. It was in the pastorate of Rev. J. H. Twombly that over a third of the debt was paid, of which Bro. M. H. Barstow gave one-half. This lightened the load, and succeeding pastorates were then made more spiritually successful. The following officiated as pastors of the old Centenary Church: Revs. Chester Field, Ralph W. Allen, George W? Mansfield, Edward A. Manning, Jeremiah L. Hanaford, whose work was in each of their ways successful and beneficial to the end in view, — the upbuilding of souls in Christ, and so the upbuilding of the Church which is His body. To tell all the struggles, the trials, the sacrifices, the joys, the bless- ings, the feastings, would enlarge too much. 504 CENTENNIAL OF Meanwhile the Dorchester Street Church had been steadily growing and prospering under such working pastorates as those of Revs. James M. Thomas, Chester Field, Edward W. Virgin, William Butler, William McDonald, F. K. Stratton, John C. Smith, Jesse Wagner, Nelson Stutson, N. T. Whitaker, and M. E. Wright. A glance at the above names will start many a story of courage, of fidelity, of work, of pul- pit influence, which must down, like Hamlet's ghost, else it will cover too much space. Many of them have long been on the Conference roll, and their names are inextricably interwoven with the histoiy of the New England Conference ; one, like Dr. But- ler, has left the impress of his power in lands far remote from ours, but which will abide, as well, the day of His coming. Repeated efforts were made to unite the Dorchester Street and Broadway churches, but without success. The concentration of forces, as in an army, it was thought, would increase the power and usefulness of Methodism. The spreading-out process has generally resulted in only indifferent success to the separate churches. One church for a definite area might be a good general plan. But finally, about three years ago, while Rev. M. E: Wright was pastor of Dorches- ter Street, and Rev. G. A. Crawford was supplying the Broadway pulpit, a union was effected, to the benefit of all. Besides bringing many noble men and women to enlarge the membership and power of the Broadway Church, the other church brought what was so sorely needed at the time — four thou- NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 505 sand six hundred dollars towards the debt. Bishop Foster christened the new and promising church "St. John's," which appropriate title it will always bear. Rev. M. E. Wright, as the old pastor of the Dorchester Street Church, was appointed to have charge of the new one. Rev. G. A. Crawford, who had been appointed financial agent by the trustees, still retained that office, and when he handed in his accounts, twenty-six thousand dollars of the debt was cancelled. And while speaking of this, it may be interesting to know that this sum was not raised without active work by Bro. Crawford, and a great deal of self-sacrifice on the part of those of whose life the church was a vital part. A good lady of three- score and ten, who kept boarders, subscribed fifty dollars ; and in order to pay it, discharged her cook. By such Christ-like devotion the property was saved, to be used for many years, we trust, for the glory of God and the spread of his kingdom. With the disappearance of that terrible debt and the union of the two churches, a new era began. The people took courage and began to push the work. The two years' pastorate of Rev. R. L. Greene, D.D,, was marked with grand success. When he was removed because of the greater need of People's Church, his departure was much regretted. Dr. S. L. Baldwin succeeded him, but was soon re- moved to the office of our Missionary Society, in New York. Not long after, the Rev. L. A. Banks was transferred from the West, and given this impor- tant place. Under his administration, St. John's is 506 CENTENNIAL OP demonstrating its right to a place in the community. Here we have the largest membership in the New England Conference. The story, in its details, would read like a romance. " Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea ; and there was a great calm." TREMONT STREET M. B. CHURCH, BOSTON, MASS. Who would think of associating Concord and Canton Stre'ets with the country? Yet it is not so many years ago that the dwellers in that region were few, and the village located there was known as " Hardscrabble." Here lived a number of loyal Methodists. The nearest churches of their own denomination were on Church Street and Warren Street. They must have a place nearer their homes. Meetings were first held, in 1846, in a small -hall on the corner of Canton Street and Suffolk Street, now Shawmut Avenue. Preaching services were only occasional until the next year, when a church was regularly organized, and the Rev. Dr. Peiree appointed pastor. The hall was not long sufficient for the demands made upon it, and a church-building was erected on the corner of Suffolk Street and Williams Street, now Pelham. There were in Boston, at this time, seven other Methodist churches, some of whose members, moving into this part of the city, joined the new church, and added very materially to its strength. Among the valuable accessions, at about this time, were Noah K. Skinner, Charles W. Peiree, Pliny NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 507 Nickerson, Alden Speare, James P. Magee, Harum Merrill, Amos B. Merrill, and Alexander Campbell. Some of these j'et abide : others have " crossed the flood." The name of the church was changed, in 1852, to Hedding Church, in honor of Bishop Hedding. The last pastor of this church was Rev. Henry W. War- ren, now Bishop. It was during his pastorate that it became evident that still larger accommodations would be necessary, and so the edifice on Tremont Street was begun. The corner-stone was laid July 30, 1860, Bishop Baker presiding over the ceremo- nies. The church. was dedicated January 1,1862, Rev. John P. Newman preaching in the forenoon, and Rev. Thomas Sewall in the evening; Bishop Baker taking part in the dedication. The picture, to be found elsewhere in this book, hardly does justice to what is, in many respects, the best and most churchly of Methodist church edifices in Boston. Standing well within the limits of a large lot, it has light and air from every side. It is a refreshing sight in summer, surrounded by green- sward, and half hidden by trees and vines. The pulpit of this church has always commanded the best talent. The first pastor was Rev. L. D. Barrows, the only one of its pastors not now living and in active service. Following him came William S. Studley, for two terms, J. A. M. Chapman, George S. Hare, Daniel Steele, John E. Cookman, W. E. Cookman, W. E. Huntington, S. F. Jones, and the present pastor, W. N. Brodbeck. Revs. L. T. Town- 508 CENTENNIAL OF send and W. McDonald have also supplied the pulpit. The history of the church is one of which no man need be ashamed, and it bids fair to do yet a grander work in the years to come. PEOPLE S CHUECH, BOSTON, MASS. Not to know something about the People's Church is to prove one's self unknown. Has, the name not rung in the ears of all Methodists for a dozen years ? Conceived in the fertile brain of Rev. J. W. Ham- ilton, D.D., it yet had, in title to church property, in officiary and membership, a predecessor on Church Street. The Church Street building was the third Methodist Chapel erected in Boston. Here great battles were fought and great victories won. Here representatives of the " Thundering Legion " divided their time between calling sinners to repentance and making assaults upon the prevalent theology of New England. In April, 1876, Dr. Hamilton was sent to this church, it being understood that he was to make an attempt to carry out, in this locality, the plan of a church for the masses, — a plan which hqtd so long filled his heart and thought. The members of the church were ready for the enterprise. A lot of land was secured at the corner of Columbus Avenue and Berkeley Street, and work on the new edifice was immediately commenced. The corner-stone of the chapel and parsonage was laid May 27, 1877, by Rev. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 609 D. Sherman, D.D., presiding elder of Boston dis- trict. To tell the whole story of the subsequent years of toil and sacrifice, on the part of all connected with this enterprise, would be to exceed the limits of this book. "Through tribulations deep, the way to glory is." By every honorable means, the indefatigable pastor sought to arouse an interest in the work, and to secure a practical response to his appeals. The very life of the workers was wrought into the fabric of the new church. The corner-stone of the church-building itself was not laid until July 3, 1882, and the building was not opened for worship until Sunday, February 10, 1884. This was the beginning of a " feast of fat things," lasting eight days. Bishop Simpson preached the first sermon, which was his last. The revision of the stenographer's report of that discourse was the last work that that beloved Chief Pastor did. He was followed, in this jubilee, by such an array of talent as has seldom graced any public occasion. All felt that now a great undertaking was securely upon its feet, and that, henceforth, it would "run and be glorified." In 1885 the Rev. Charles E. Davis succeeded Brother Hamilton in the pastorate. For three years he wrought nobly, demonstrating both the sincerity of his devotion and the soundness of his judgment. He, in turn, was succeeded, in 1888, by the present pastor. Rev. R. L. Greene, D.D., under whose admin- istration the mortgage has been paid, and the church- 610 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. building finally and truly dedicated. By the benev- olence of Brother E. H. Dunn, of Boston, the church now has a magnificent organ. The writer regrets exceedingly that the limitations of space should make impossible the full sketch, which might, at least, do partial justice to this great enterprise. But the history of People's Church has just begun. Out of the conflict it comes purified and invigorated, and with full faith in its future under the blessing of God. Methodism has reared, in the heart of Boston, the first church that was called or could justly be called, The People's Chuech. CHAPTER XXV. TYPICAL CHUECHBS — continued. COMMOK STREET M. E. CHURCH, LYNN, MASS. KEV. J. D. PICKLK3, PH.D. Lynn Common Church was organized by Rev. Jesse Lee, February 20, 1791. The original mem- bers were eight, viz. : Enoch Mudge, Sr., and his wife Lydia ; Benjamin Johnson, Sr., and his wife ; Mary Lewis; Hannah- Leigh ; Ruth Johnson and Deborah Mansfield, afterwards Ramsdel. The first sermon was preached on the fifth of the previous December, in Mr. Johnson's house. By the following May the membership had in- creased to fifty-eight. Hundreds flocked to hear the new, fresh, and powerful presentation of the gospel. From the house they adjourned to the barn ; and, in just six months from the opening sermon, the founda- tions of a small church — thirty-four by forty-four feet — were laid. The building was pushed with such energy that it was dedicated twelve days from its beginning ! It had plain seats, and was not lathed and plastered for several years. The church had alternating seasons of prosperity and declension, but gradually forged ahead. The [511] 512 CENTENNIAL OP second house of worship was commenced in 1812, and dedicated June 3, 1813, by the pastor, afterward Bishop Soule. Improvements were subsequently made, during various pastorates, notably that of Dr. Wm. R. Clarke, — 1858, — when enlargements and re-arrangements necessitated closing the church for a time. The church continued to prosper, until it outgrew its quarters, and agitation began for the building of the third and present edifice. After the usual delays, discussions, and disruptions, the present magnificent brick structure was erected and dedicated, in 1879, during the pastorate of Rev. C. D. Hills, D.D. A comfortable parsonage forms a part of the present property held by the trustees, and the value of the whole is about one hundred thousand dollars. The present membership is about seven hundred. During the progress of the century, Comfiaon Street has thrown off branches as follows : St. Paul's, Saugus, South Street, Danvers, Maple Street, Boston Street. Trinity, Wyoma, St. Luke's, and the High- land Church are later products of the parent stock. Swampscott and other towns near by, and, indeed, many others in the Conference, owe much to the aid and stimulus given by this old church. She will soon call her children and grandchildren home to Thanksgiving rejoicings for a hundred years of organized life. Some of the noblest men in Methodism, among them those who afterwards were Bishops Hedding, Soule, and Mallalieu, have served at her altars. She NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 513 stands at the threshold of her second century, with "neither her eye dimmed, nor her natural force abated ; " and, from her commanding position in the heart of the community, she expects to do and dare great things for God. NOEWALK, CONN. " Csesar invaded and conquested Gaul, but greater than that was Jesse Lee's invasion and conquest of the intellectual and ecclesiastical empire of New England. He did not subjugate these forces to him- self, but b}'^ the moral and religious impact he gave them, they became new forces in society, and have never since fallen into their former state of desuetude. They never will. Methodism has been their reju- venation. She did not enter the new field for the purpose of supplanting the churches already there, but rather ' to hold the ancient faith to its best tra- ditions, give shape and vigor to its evangelical agencies, and so help it on to the power it has be- come in the Christianity of these times.' The task which Methodism thus undertook was a most difficult one. It was beset with numerous and stubborn obstacles. But Mr. Lee, nothing daunted, set out from New York in the name of God, and on the eleventh of June, 1789, entered Connecticut. The following is Mr. Lee's own account of the introduc- tion of Methodism into Norwalk : — " ' Wednesday, June seventeenth, I set off to make a further tour in Connecticut than any of our preachers had been. I am the first that has been appointed in this State by the Methodist Con- 514 CENTENNIAL OP ference. I set out with a prayer to God for a blessing on my endeavors, and with an expectation of many oppositions. At four o'clock I arrived in Norwalk, and went to one Mr. Kogers, where one of our friends had asked the liberty for me to preach. When I came, Mrs. Rogers told me her husband was from home and was not willing for me to preach in his house. We told her we would meet in the road rather than give any uneasiness. We proposed speaking in an old house that stood just by, but she would not consent, saying we would tread the grass down. So the others went and gave notice to some of the people, and they soon began to collect, and we went to the road where we had an apple-tree to shade us. When the woman saw that I was determined to preach, she said I might preach in the old house; but I told her I thought it would be better to remain where we were. So I began on the side of the road with about twenty hearers. After singing and praying, I preached from John iii. 7, Ye must be born again. I felt happy that we were favored with so comfortable a place. Most of the congregation paid particular attention to what I. said, as if they understood something of the New Birth. After preaching I told the people I intended to be with them again in two weeks, and if any of them would open their homes to receive me, I should be glad; also if they were willing, we would meet in the same place. Some of them came and desired 1 should meet at the Townhouse the next time, so I gave my con- sent. Who knows but I shall yet have a place in this town where I may lay my head ? ' " When Mr. Lee arrived in Norwalk, he found there the Congregational Society, organized not far from 1652. As a rule in the New England settle- ments, the Congregational Church began simultane- ously with the town. The early Records of Norwalk contain this entry : 'At a meeting of the inhabitants of Norwalke, the 3d of January, 1659, agreed and voted that there should be a Meeting House built by the joint occurrence of the inhabitants, 30 foot in length, and 18 foot in width.' Thus early did the town house its first religious organization. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 515 "When Mr. Lee came to Norwalk, there is no reason for believing that he found the religious con- dition of the people and churches substantially differ- ent here from what they were in otlier parts of New England. If this be so, there was surely abundant need for his coming. An iron-clad prejudice against the advent of any new sect instantly confronted him. This was natural but unreasonable. Monopolies are never generous. They never see room for any other than themselves. In this respect religious organiza- tions much resemble all others. Nevertheless, Mr. Lee proposed here to set up his banner — and did. Tradition locates ' the historic apple-tree ' under which the first Methodist service was held in the Borough, on or near the little triangular green in front of the old ' Sherman house ' on Main Street. There is no good reason for questioning the correct- ness of the location. The second was held in the Town House on 'the hill.' How many attended, how it resulted, and what Mr. Lee further proposed respecting Norwalk, we know not. He has left no record or hint whatever on these points. There is no evidence that he ever visited or preached in the village of ' Old Well,' the predecessor of South Nor- walk. This village is first named in the Records of the Town February 17th, 1782, when a guard of eighteen soldiers were ordered to be stationed there for its defence. While with scrupulous accuracy he mentions the date on which classes in several other places were formed, he nowhere makes any mention of the time when the class in Norwalk was organized. 516 CENTENNIAL OP The omission seems inexplicable. This being the point where he formally began his ecclesiastical inva- sion, we naturally look for a somewhat detailed state- ment as to the results attending these first efforts, but ^e look in vain. He has left no history relating to Norwalk, except that which covers his visit on the 17th of June. By remembering two facts, however, we are helped to a conclusion on the point in ques- tion which is probably correct. The facts are : — " 1. That wherever Mr. Lee preached, more or less people were soon converted. " 2. That as soon as in any place there were two, three, or more converts, he formed them into a class. "Both these statements are true of every other place, of which he makes special mention, while mak- ing the tour of New England. There is no assign- able reason why they may not also have been true of Norwalk. We believe they were, and conclude that Methodism began its organized life here sometime in July or August, 1789. Where this little nucleus of the future Church met, who became its leaders, through what vicissitudes of prosperity or adversity it passed, the present generation knoweth not. Its history has never been written. Its record is in heaven, not on earth." Norwalk became a part of Fairfield Circuit in 1793, and prosperity was enjoyed for a number of years. This was followed by a season of depression, lasting until 1801, when new fires were kindled upon their altars, and a new zeal took possession of the NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 517 little class which had been upon the point of dis- banding. Their renewed activity brought upon them severe persecution. Denied the use of the schoolhouse and other public buildings, they builded for themselves. From grace to grace, and from one building to another, ever increasing in numbers and broadening in influence, Norwalk, where Jesse Lee preached his first sermon in New England, has come to see the spiritual children of that old hero outnumber all the other Protestant communions of the world. ASBURY FIRST M. E. CHURCH, SPRINGFIELD, MASS. BY KEV. C. A. LITTLEFIELD, PASTOR. The early history of Springfield Methodism is obscure. Bishop Asbury visited Springfield as early as July 15, 1791. Other itinerants soon followed. Preaching continued up to 1815, when the small organization that had been formed was connected with Tolland Circuit. Springfield became a separate circuit in 1819, D. Dorchester, the pastor, preach- ing alternately at the Water Shops and Armory Chapel, on the hill. In 1820 a chapel was erected at the Water Shops. It was subsequently called Asbury Chapel. It was a plain structure, 28 by 36 feet, unpainted on the interior. From this time until 1860 the fortunes of Asbury Chapel were varied. Union Street and Pyn- chon Street churches were organized, but Asbury Chapel never lost its identity. In this year the Rev. S. Jackson was appointed pastor. 518 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. The new church-building was erected on Florence Street, in 1866, Bishop Simpson preaching the dedi- catory sermon. The name was then changed to Florence Street, but in 1890 the name was changed to Asbury First M. E. Church. The present mem- bership is two hundred and eighty. CHAPTER XXVI. TYPICAL CHUECHES — concluded. CHESTNUT STREET M. B. CHURCH, PORTLAND, MB. BY N. T. WHITAKER, D.D., PASTOR. The Chestnut Street M. E. Church was organized in October, 1795. It will celebrate its centennial in five years. Its history reveals great success in the face of many and most serious embarrassments. The first Methodist sermon in Portland was preached by Rev. Jesse Lee, on September 12, 1793, in the Second Parish Congregational Church, Rev. Elijah Kellogg pastor. It was his second sermon in Maine. Jesse Lee, in his " History of the Methodists," says, " The first time we preached in ■ Portland was on the 12th day of September, 1793." "The first class formed in the town of Portland was about the first of October, 1795." "The first Quarterly meeting for that cir- cuit was held in Portland on the 4th day of December, 1795. We here administered the Lord's Supper for the first time in that circuit." This class consisted of six persons, — "Samuel and Sarah Homer, Daniel and Polly Lewis, and probably Theophilus Boynton and wife." From the organization of this church until 1804, Portland and the adjoining territory was called the [519] . 520 CENTENNIAL OF Portland Circuit, and was served by Revs. Joel Ketchum, Philip Wager, Jesse Stoneham, Nicholas Snethen, John Finnegan, Timothy Merritt, Joshua Soule, Asa Heath, Reuben Hubbard, Philip Hunger, and Joseph Wicker. Preaching-services were held in the house of Theophilus Boynton until 1801, and then for three years in the town schoolhouse. These early Methodists were subjected to the most bitter persecutions, yet their gatherings often wit- nessed scenes of Pentecostal power. Converts were multiplied, most of whom united with the other Portland Tjhurches. "In 1798 Bishop Asbury visited Portland and preached in widow Boynton 's back- room to about twenty-five persons, chiefly women. Text 2 Peter ii. 9. 'In the afternoon I preached to about double the number on Philip, iii. 8.' " He visited the town again in 1807. Under the leadership of Rev. Joshua Taylor, and with money collected by him in Portland, New York, and Baltimore, on March 10, 1804, the St. Paul's Episcopal Church edifice was purchased, moved to the corner of Federal and Congress Streets, opposite Chestnut Street, and repaired at a cost of about five hundred and eleven dollars. It was rededicated by Rev. Joshua Soule, afterwards Bishop Soule, assisted by Joshua Taylor, in August, 1804. In June, 1804, the Portland " circuit " became a " station," with Rev. Joshua Taylor pastor. The entire expense of the society during that year was $184.22, including the salary of pastor and presiding elder, which reveals the straitened circumstances of its membership. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 521 In 1808 the church edifice was found too small to accommodate the steadily growing congregations, and land was purchased and a new church erected on Chestnut Street, at a cost of $1,878.39. It was dedicated to the worship of God February 11, 1811, Rev. Epaphras Kibby pastor. Eleven years later, during the pastorate of Rev. David Kilburn, the Chestnut Street M. E. Sunday School was organized, " with J. B. Gaboon, later Mayor of Portland," as superintendent. Three years later, during the pas- torate of Rev. Ephraim Wiley, a remarkable revival of religion was experienced, which spread to the other evangelical churches, and changed the moral character of the whole town. Its elevating and ennobling influence is felt even to-day (1890). It is called, in history, the Great Revival. Revivals have been frequent in the church since. Indeed, her constant, earnest, united, self-sacrificing religious work, and frequent conversions to Christ, merit for her the name of the Revival Church. In 1828 a second Methodist Episcopal Church was organized on Park Street, the Chestnut Street M. E. Church edifice being too small for the great crowds that attended the Methodist services ; yet so great was the spiritual power of the mother church that she soon enlarged her "meeting-house," and built a chapel (in 1829) on Cumberland Street for her social service. The church edifice was again en- larged in 1836. In 1856 the present church-building was erected. It was dedicated July 8, 1857. It cost, with the 522 CENTENNIAL OF interest paid before the complete liquidation of its indebtedness, eighty thousand dollars. The payment of its debts was accomplished by the heroic leader- ship of Dr. J. R. Day, and the splendid management of Dr. C. J. Clark. It was improved during the pastorate of Dr. A. McKeown at an expenditure of 1783; during the pastorate of Dr. J. W. Bashford at an expenditure of f 2,908 ; and during the present pastorate at an expenditure of $10,000. The society has possessed two parsonages : one on Chestnut Street, which cost 11,178 ; and its present parsonage, the gift of the Ladies' Social Circle, cost- ing $6,158. Chestnut Street M. E. Church is a mother church, having had nine children, of whom seven are in a flourishing condition. In 1842 the Casco Mission "was set off with a separate pastor and two hundred and fourteen mem- bers. Out of the Casco mission grew the Methodist churches at Harpswell, at Chebeague Island, and at Peak's Island." In 1844 she planted a Sunday school on Brackett Street, under the superintendence of S. R. Leavitt, which led to the organization of the Pine Street M. E. Church, in 1845. In 1846 the Cape Elizabeth M. E. Church was set off from the Chestnut Street M. E. Church, with fifty-four members, and, at about the same time, the Cumberland M. E. Church with thirty-five members. In 1849 she established a Sunday school under the superintendence of S. R. Leavitt, on Munjoy NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 523 Hill, which led to the organization of the Congress Street M. E. Church, with ninety members, sixty of them being transferred from the Chestnut Street Church. In 1857 the M. E. Church at Ferry Village was set off from Chestnut Street Church, with sixty-six, members, and also the Woodford's M. E. Church. The following ministers have served the church since it was set apart as a station, in 1804 : — Joshua Taylor, 1804-5 ; David Batchelder, 1806 ; Joel Winch, 1807-8; Epaphras Kibby, 1809-10; Martin Ruter, 1811 ; John Lindsay, 1812 ; Daniel Filmore, 1813-14 ; Eleazer Wells, 1815 ; Joel San- born, 1816 ; Elijah Hedding, 1817 ; Charles Virgin, 1818; Solomon Sias, 1819-20 ; David Kilburn, 1821- 22 ; Josiah Scarritt, 1823 ; Phineas Crandall, 1824 ; Ephraim Wiley, 1825-27, 1834-85 ; Stephen Lovell, 1828-29, 1836 ; W. H. Norris, 1829-30, 1834 ; John Horton, 1830-31; G. T. Cox, 1831-32, 1836-38; G. G. Moore, 1832 ; Charles Baker, 1833 ; J. B. Hus- ted, 1833 ; Joseph H. Jenne, 1837 ; George Webber, D.D., 1838-39, 1844-45; Moses Springer, 1839-40; John Hobart, 1840-41 ; J. L. Francis, 1841 ; W. F. Farrington, 1842-43; H. M. Blake, 1844; Eaton Sliaw, 1846-47 ; C. F. Allen, D.D., 1848, 1864-66 ; William McDonald, D.D., 1849-50 ; Alonzo Sander- son, 1851; Joseph Colby, 1852-5; Charles W. Morse, 1854-55; Henry Cox, 1856-59; H. B. Rigaway, D. D., 1860-61 ; William R. Clark, D.D., 1862-63 ; E. R. Keyes, 1867-68 ; S. R. Bailey, 1869 ; Israel Luce, 1870-72 ; S. F. Jones, D.D., 1873-76 ; J. R. 524 CENTENNIAL OF Day, D.D., 1876-78 ; Charles J. Clark, D.D., 1879- 80; Andrew McKeown, D.D., 1881-83; J. W. Bashford, Ph.D., 1884-86; N. T. Whitaker, D.D., 1887-90. The following have been licensed as exhorters by the Chestnut Street Quarterly Conference : — David Hill, Alvah Clark, Mr. Pickard, John Prince, Joseph Shoot, Samuel Newman, Thomas Files, H. C. Lovell, George F. Millward.. The following have been licensed as local preach- ers: — Edward Whittle, William Fisk, S. Snowden (col.), Timothy Wolcott, Stephen Bennet, Jonathan Place, Joshua Taylor, William Gardner, William Pierce, Joseph Reed, Jr., R. Lombard, Jacob Dixon, Phineas Libby, Charles Cummings, G. F. Cox, J. R. Marr, Eaton Shaw, H. P. Winter, George F. Millward. The following have been recommended for the travelling connection : — Orlando Hines, Timothy Barlow, Ed. Cook, D.D., Eaton Shaw, Stephen Lovell, J. L. Francis, C. C. Mason, Alpha Turner, Moses Springer, Cyrus Cum- mings, W. S. Jones, C. J. Clark, D.D. The following ministers were converted in the Chestnut Street M. E. Church vestry : — J. F. Carney, Samuel Payne, S. F. Pearson, George Ballon. The Sunday school connected with this church has a wonderful history. It has had fifteen thousand members ; numbers to-day six hundred and fifty, and is the largest in the State of Maine. More than two NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 525 thousand persons have found Christ while members of this school. Forty ministers of the Lord Jesus have been students in its classes. Its Epworth League was organized first as an Oxford League, in 1887 ; has to-day one hundred and thirty-one reliable members, and is rapidly increas- ing, being united, energetic, and spiritual. The church has also a Junior Epworth League, numbering seventy-six members. The Woman's Foreign Missionary Society and the Woman's Home Missionary Society have large and ijifluential auxiliaries in this church, which has also a Mission Band numbering fifty members ; a vigorous Young Men's League, and Young Ladies' League, doing aggressive Christian work ; a Dorcas Circle, and a Ladies' Social Circle, engaged in special benev- olent and social work. The estimated amount given by Chestnut Street M. E. Church for charitable purposes aggregates one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. In church benevolences she has long been the leader in Maine Methodism. Her aggregated membership, since 1795, is 4,557. She is to-day the largest Protestant Church in the State. In the concluding words of Rev. Joshua Taylor's sketch, entitled "The Rise of Methodism in Port- laud," " May God grant that peace, harmony, and success, and great grace, may attend the society and congregation, and that a bountiful increase may attend the efforts of all his servants who shall in succession labor among this people ! " CHAPTER XXVII. ziok's herald. BEV. FREDERICK BUKRILL GRAVES. It is less interesting to read about a newspaper than to read the newspaper itself. But this is not always true. There are some, both religious and secular, which are as dry as an open . country road in summer, when the thermometer is one hundred degrees in the shade. I have seen them. They have not a five-o'clock-in-the-raorning atmosphere about them. However, I believe I may safely say that there is no religious newspaper, official or un- official, in our wide connection, which is more alert and active, more thoughtful and religious, more homelike and better adapted to all ages and classes of readers, than Zion^s Herald. Its history, and the object of its publication, must be of wide interest, because both are unique and peculiar. ITS HISTORY. It is an evolution. It is not an upstart. Century plants grow : mushrooms spring up. Methodism had a hard and weary struggle with the religious conservatism of New England in the early days. From the first preaching of Jesse Lee, it had been [526] NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 527 misrepresented, caricatured, and misunderstood. The press of New England was not cordial in its welcome to the new sect, and the secular papers only infre- quently permitted a defence of the itinerants and their heretical (?) doctrines to appear in their col- umns. And so, naturally, the Methodists felt that they must have an orgaji of their own. As early as 1815, the New England Missionary Magazine, edited by Martin Ruter, was published by Isaac Hill, at Concord, N. H. Then six years later was organized "The Society for Giving and Receiving Religious Intelligence," from which arose Zion's Herald. It was printed by Moore and Prouse, but under the direction of a committee of the society. But not until January 9, 1823, did the first number appear. It was a folio sheet, so small and insignificant in comparison with the elegant, large quarto sheet of to-day, that we should not have wondered if our fathers had grumbled. But they did not". The price was the same, and they cheerfully paid it. Arrangements were not yet completely satisfac- tory, and a Conference committee decided to pur- chase the plant of the printer, and place the paper in the hands of one of their number, Solomon Sias. So well and skilfully did he administer the affairs, that, at its close, September 30, 1827, all the liabili- ties had been met, and instead of the existence of financial embarrassment, as heretofore, he turned over to his successor a property worth over eight thousand dollars, and a subscription list of about six thousand. Before this time the Book Agents 528 CBNTENKIAL OP at New York had been in New England, and ex- pressed a desire to purchase the paper. They had seen its success. They understood the evident desire of New England Methodists for a special paper for themselves. Undoubtedly they thought they could overcome that provincial feeling, and turn it to the advantage of the Book Concern at New York. But they did not properly or accurately measure that feeling, nor indeed did the trustees of the Confer- ence, who agreed to the sale of the paper. Most of the preachers erred, also, in being willing to give it up. All blundered, except the New England Meth- odist people. They had been overlooked. And so, though the paper was printed in New York, in con- nection with Tlie CJiristian Advocate and Journal, a.i\di known as The Christian Advocate and Journal and Zion's Herald, it was obliged to come back in about four years after its sale, in response to the demands of the people. And here it has remained ever since, loyally supported by them. I have no desire in this place to enter into the controversy in regard to the claim of Zion's Herald, that it is the "oldest Methodist newspaper in the world." The evidence offered by either side in the dispute is not so clear or convincing as to settle the case ; though, as far as an argument which can be made from the facts able to be presented, is concerned, it is, in my judgment, with the Zion's Herald, and not The Christian Advocate and Journal. The question is, however, of no material importance. But two clerical opponents of "the united paper" NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 529 ill New York, Benjamin Jones and Shipley W. Wilson, started a small sheet, known as The Crospel Balance. It had scarcely begun, however, when a protest, both reasonable and just, came from New York, that this was a violation of the contract. At this Mr. Wilson withdrew from the enterprise, but the stout and indiscreet Mr. Jones persisted, until he was expelled from the Methodist ministry. This was harsh treatment. Even before the negotia- tions of sale were fully settled, Aaron Lummus pub- lished, on Oct. 7, 1829, the first number of the New England Herald. Again came a protest from New York. At the ensuing session of the New England Conference, Mr. Lummus was arraigned, expressed penitence, and agreed to pay over to the Book Agents the net profits of the paper, to meet the losses they had sustained. His character was passed. But his paper went on, and grew so popular that the Confer- ence of 1830 passed resolutions in favor of a local paper, and "to meet the just claim made by the general Book Concern upon this Conference, in consequence of losses sustained, it was voted that the net profits of the paper coming to the Conference should be paid to the Book Agents." The four New England Conferences, in 1830, in- dorsed the Ifew England Herald, and asked the people to temporarily support it. In the year 1831 the Boston Wesleyan Association was formed. This Association purchased the New England Herald, carried on the negotiations with the Agents at New York, which continued for many 530 CENTENNIAL OF years; but the whole matter was finally adjusted amicably. The Association changed the name of the paper to the New England Christian Herald. In August, 1833, the union paper ceased, and then the New England Christian Herald became, the following month, the Zion's Herald, by which title it has ever since appeared. I cannot refer specifically to all the excellences of this paper, nor to the progressive stages of its growth. But I must mention one noteworthy fact. During the dark and stormy period of American history, previous to our frightful civil war, which, like a tempest, was long in brewing, it is well known that the newspapers, religious and secular, the courts and judges, churches and preachers, with but few excep- tions, hated the abolitionists. They were denounced in violent and virulent terms here in the North, and it was not safe for anybody to so love the " brother in black " as to declare in favor of his emancipation. It is therefore the brightest star in the crown of Zion's Herald that it dared to defend the abolition- ists, and opened its columns to them. Of this Dr. Abel Stevens says, it was the "only church paper really open to abolitionists during the long anti- slavery struggle." When Garrison was mobbed in Boston, Dr. Daniel Steele says that the entire press of the city, except Zion's Herald and the Christian Standard, approved the outrage. These two alone severely condemned it. And the Herald has always been .aggressive and advanced, while at the same time being conservative KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 531 and cautious. It has recognized that not necessarily that which is old or that which is new is best or nearer the truth, but it has tried to discover. On the great question which is agitating the Methodist church to-day, the admission of women to- the Gen- eral Conference, it speaks strongly and unqualifiedly in its favor, while respecting the opinions and judg- ment of others. New England Methodism is clearly mirrored in the paper ; and to know how this branch of our church stands on large or small questions of vital interest to Methodism, no better criteria of judgment can be had than those found in the columns of this paper. The editors of the paper, with the date of their incumbency, are as follows : — Rev. John R. Getting, for the year 1823 ; Mr. Bar- ber Badger, for the year 1824 ; Mr. G. V. H. Forbes, from 1824 to 1828, when the paper was transferred to New York City; the Wesleyan Association pur- chased the paper, July, 1831 ; Mr. William C. Brown and Rev. T. Merritt were editors from July, 1831, to June, 1832 ; Rev. Shipley Wdls Wilson and Rev. S. Osgood Wright, from June, 1832, to November, 1832; Rev. S. W. Wilson, from November, 1832, to June, 1834 ; Mr. Benjamin Kingsbury, from July, 1834, to August, 1836 ; Mr. William C. Brown, from August, 1836, to January, 1841 ; Rev. Abel Stevens, LL.D., from January, 1841, to July, 1852 ; Rev. Daniel Wise, D.D., from 1852 to 1856 ; Rev. Erastus O. Haven, D.D., from 1856 to 1863; Rev. N. E. 532 CENTENNIAL OF Cobleigh, D.D., from 1863 to 1867; Rev. Gilbert Haven, D.D., from 1867 to 1872; Rev. B. K. Peirce, D.D., from 1872 to 1887. The present editor is Rev. Charles Parkhurst, D.D. He has put new vigor into its columns, and increased largely its circulation, so that, under the true newspaper instinct which he possesses in a re- markable degree, the paper has risen to recognition everywhere at home, and even in England, as one of the brightest religious sheets that run through the mails. The publishers gf the paper have been as here indicated : — At first, under the proprietorship of the Asso- ciation, the editor acted also as " agent " or pub- lisher. In November, 1832, the editor was relieved of the publishing department ; and David H. Ela was appointed agent, and served till Julj^ 1833, when Benjamin Kingsbury became agent, and served until July, 1836, for the last two years of that time serv- ing also as editor, having succeeeded Rev. S. W. Wilson. David H. Ela served from July, 1836, to Novem- ber, 1837 ; Rev. Dexter S. King, from December, 1837, to October, 1838 ; Franklin Rand, from Octo- ber, 1838, to August, 1868 ; Rev. Ezra D. Winslow, from August, 1868, to February, 1871 ; Alonzo S. Weed, the present agent, from February, 1871. The present publisher is Mr. Alonzo S. Weed, who keeps a sharp eye open to the interests of the paper. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 633 THE OBJECT OP ITS PUBLICATION. It is not a private enterprise, published in the interests of one or more private stockholders. And that has always been true. The avails beyond the expenses have always been diverted to some interest in connection with the Church at large. Once it was the Academy at Wilbraham, or the Book Con- cern, or the Missionary Society. But when the Boston Wesleyan Association was incorporated, the second section of the act read as follows : — " The said corporation may hold real and personal property necessary for conducting said business, not exceeding twenty thou- sand dollars in value; and all profits which shall accrue from said business over and above said capital sum necessary for conducting the same, the said corporation shall annually divide and appropri- ate among the several Annual Conferences of the Methodist Epis- copal Church in New England, for the benefit of the superannuated and necessitous ministers of the same, their wives, widows, and orphans, in such proportions as said corporation shall deem equitable." And so, year by year, in proportion to the amount of their patronage, the aggregate voted by the Asso- ciation for this purpose, has been divided among the New England Conferences. The New England Con- ference receives the largest amount. Our New Eng- land Methodists should remember distinctly : (1) That, by charter obligation, a certain part of the profits of the paper are given annually for super- annuated ministers, their wives, widows, and orphans ; (2) That ultimately the entire profits of the paper 534 CENTENNIAL OP will go to them ; (3) That no member of the Asso- ciation receives any remuneration for his services. The cheerful, clear, and fitting vi^ords of ex-Gov- ernor Claflin, which were uttered at the banquet of the Association last year, are worth recording here : — "I am an optimist," lie said, "and I like to think of the future of this Association. The debt is now one hundred and eighty thousand -dollars ; ten thousand dollars will be paid upon that this year. The property is increasing in value, as are the rentals also. In six years the debt will be down to one hundred thousand dol- lars. The net income will then be larger, and the interest will be much less annually. In fi'om ten to fifteen years the whole debt will be extinguished, and then the entire receipts must be divided among the patronizing Conferences. The time is not far distant, then, when the Wesleyan Association will divide one-fifth as much among the worn-out preachers and their families in our New Eng- land as the Book Concern will be able to give to all the Confer- ences. I want a paper true to the genius of New England Methodism, independent and yet loyal, literary and yet spiritual, fully abreast and in touch with the social problems of the day. I have never seen greater devotion to duty than in the entire editorial corps of the paper." The Association is limited in its membership to twenty. The present members are : Franklin Rand, Pliny Nickerson, Charles Woodbury, Edward F. Porter, William Claflin, Edward H. Dunn, Alden Speare, James A. Woolson, Francis A. Perry, John G. Cary, Edwin H. Johnson, Silas Peirce, James F. Almy, Joshua Merrill, Oliver H. Durrell, Warren O. Kyle, J. K. C. Sleeper, W. P. Dillingham, C. C. Corbin, Robert F. Raymond. Hon. Edward H. Dunn, a wealthy leather mer- chant, is the President. KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 535 Now the poorly paid preachers of Methodism in New England deserve the love and sympathy of every Methodist in New England ; and when, by taking their own church paper, they will make their own homes brighter, as well as, at the same time, help this heroic • class of men — more heroic, I do not hesitate to say, than any missionary working under any foreign flag — our ministers owe it to themselves, to God, and to the Church, to make it a part of their religious duty. CHAPTER XXVIII. OTHER INSTITUTIONS. THE BOSTON COEKESPONDBNCB SCHOOL. KEV. ALFRED A. WEIGHT, D.D., DEAN. This School was organized as a school of New Testament Greek in 1882, by Rev. Alfred A. Wright of the New England Conference, principally to arouse Methodist ministers to the feasibility of mastering Bible Greek through studies and recitations eon- ducted by correspondence. Over thirteen hundred students in Bible Greek have been enrolled in the School since its organization, and among the grad- uates are many who are teachers of the sacred tongue. In 1889 the School was re-organized, and on Octo- ber 19, 1889, the Secretary of State issued the charter of the Corporation, hereafter to be known as "The Boston Correspondence School." In thus extending the scope of the School, the same methods of instructional and directional work that had proved so highly successful in the Greek School, were opened to students in eight other de- partments. The present organization of the depart- ments is as follows: 1. New Testament Greek; 2. English Bible ; 3. English Literature ; 4. Geology [536] NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 537 and Anthropology; 5. Theology; 6. Latin; 7. Sacred Art and Archaeology ; 8. The Conference Course of , Study for Methodist Preachers ; 9. The W. C. T. U. Course of Study for Evangelists. Certificates are given, but degrees are not conferred. Among the professors and teachers are some of the leading names: — Prof. Alexander Winchell, LL.D. ; Prof. William H. Withrow, D.D., F. R. S. C, of Canada; Hon. Wallace Bruce, A.M., U. S. Consul, Edinburgh, Scotland; Pres. Homer B. Sprague, Ph.D., LL.D., of Grand Forks, N. Dakota ; and others. The Advisory Board is composed of fifty repre- sentative educators, clergymen, college presidents, professors, and other literati. Among these are many of the most prominent names in Methodism. The fol- lowing is a list of the officers of the corporation : — President. The Rev. Lewis B. Bates, D.D., Bos- ton, Mass. Glerh and Treasurer. The Rev. Edward L. Hyde, Plainfield, N. J. Directors. The Rev. Lewis B. Bates, D.D., Boston, Mass.; The Rev. William R. Clark, D.D., Brook- line, Mass. ; The Rev. John W. Hamilton, D.D., Boston, Mass. ; The Rev. Daniel Steele, D.D., Bos- ton, Mass. Trustees. The Rev. Robert E. Bisbee, A.M., Lynn, Mass. ; The Rev. William Nast Brodbeck, Boston, Mass. ; The Rev. George S. Chadbourne, D.D., Cam- bridge, Mass. ; Hon. O. H. Durrell, Cambridge, Mass. ; Bishop Willard F. Mallalieu, D.D., LL.D., New Orleans, La. ; The Rev. Joseph H. Mansfield, D.D., 538 CENTENNIAL OF Lynn, Mass. ; Henry O. Marcy, M.D., LL.D., Bos- ton, Mass. ; Eben Tourjde, Mus. Doc, Boston, Mass. ; Miss Frances E. Willard, Evanston, 111. ; D. G. Woodvine, M.D., Boston, Mass. Officers of the school : — Bean. Rev. Alfred A. Wright, CD., Boston, Mass. Registrar. Miss Emma 'C. Sawtelle, 9 Clinton Street, Cambridge, Mass. THE deaconess' HOME AND TRAINING-SCHOOL. The two movements of the present century which promise most for Methodism in this country are em- bodied in the Epworth League and the Order of Deaconesses, if Order be the proper term to use. If Methodism is " Christianity in earnest," then, as it is manifested in the work of Deaconesses, it is Chris- tianity practically applied to the world's need. For such work there must be preparation. That means instruction, and a place in which instruction may be given. Such workers must have a home, and that means a house set apart especially for them. The New England Conference, at its session in 1889, appointed a commission, to which was " intrusted the preliminary work necessary to the establishment of a Deaconess' Training-school in Boston," with instruc- tions to report at the next session of the Conference. It was soon learned by the Commission that the subject of a "Deaconess' Home " had been under dis- cussion by the Woman's Home Missionary Society, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 539 and that one hundred and fifty dollars had already- been set aside as a nucleus for the necessary fund. This sum was turned over to the Commission, and was shortly increased by a gift of one hundred dol- lars for the same purpose. " This accumulation of funds necessitated the selec- tion of a Treasurer for the Commission ; and Mrs. J. W. Cushing, who has ever since so courageously and faithfully borne the financial anxieties of the enter- prise, was unanimously elected to that office. "In the mean time the advantages and needs of the ' Deajconess Movement ' were kept before the public through the medium of the Zion's Herald and some of the leading secular papers of Boston ; and in response to these articles, there came at the third meeting of the Commission an offer of five hundred dollars, to be used for the rental for one year of apart- ments suitable for a Deaconess' Home. "A thorough search in different sections of our city by the committee, revealed the fact that a suit- able place could not be secured for that sum ; but this search also brought to their notice a very desir- able piece of property on East Chester Park, which seemed to be peculiarly fitted for this purpose, both in its arrangement and location, and which could be purchased for seven thousand six hundred dollars, providing the purchase could be made at once^ As the committee was not yet a corporate body, and espe- cially as it had but little money, it seemed impossible to bring about this very greatly to be desired result. "Just at this ci'itical juncture, however, a noble 540 CENTENNIAL OF friend of Methodism, and one of God's faithful stew- ards, came to our relief, offering to purchase the property himself, and hold it for us until such time as the committee could become responsible for it. "After a number of such apparently insurmount- able difficulties had been providentially removed, your committee felt that preliminary work must be counted a thing of the past, and that definite action must begin. Accordingly, on the 12th of July, 1889, the following trustees were duly incor- porated under the laws of our Common\Vealth, under the corporate name of ' The New England Deaconess' Home and Training-School : ' W. N. Brodbeck, W. P. Adams, W. R. Clark, Isabella A. Gushing, Harriet M. Warren, Emma H. Watkins, Alden Avery, Charles Woodbury, Chai'les Parkhurst. " The following officers were then elected : W. N. Brodbeck, President ; W. R. Clark, Vice-President ; Emma H. Watkins, Secretary ; Isabella A. Gushing, Treasurer ; W. P. Adams, Auditor. " In accordance with a provision of the Constitu- tion, tliese officers, together with the directors here- after, named, constitute a Board of Managers, who have the general supervision of the property, and the direction of the Home and Scliool. These directors are. Miss P. J. Walden, Mrs. M. P. Alderman, Miss Elizabeth Pierce, Mrs. P. C. Bacon, Rev. T. C. Wat- kins, Rev. E. M. Taylor, Rev. C. S. Rogers, Mrs. Dr. Bryant, Mrs. Josephine Dyer, Rev. G. S. Chadbourne, Rev. G. A. Crawford, Mrs. Harriet M. Warren, Mrs. O. H. Durrell, Mrs. Lewis Flanders, E. O. Fiske. NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 641 " In harmony with another provision of the Con- stitution, the Presiding Elders of the New England Conference are ex officio members of the Corpora- tion. " The property on East Chester Park has been put in thorough repair, and the house is comfortably fur- nished. About one thousand four hundred and fifty dollars in addition to- the amounts named above have been contributed and expended for repairs and fur- nishing ; and in addition to this, donations in labor, stock, furnishings, groceries, and other supplies, to the value of one thousand dollars, have been received. So that now we have a property there worth not less than ten thousand dollars, in perfect repair, and with practically no indebtedness upon it except the five thousand dollars mortgage, bearing interest at four per cent.'' " Mrs. Lucy Ryder Meyer of Chicago was present upon the occasion of the reception given the ' Board of Managers ' by the Boston Methodist Social Union, Nov. 17, 1889, and by her earnest and eloquent words awakened increased interest in, and sympathy for, the movement. Following that reception, on the evening of the twentieth of November, occurred the formal opening and dedication of the Home. Miss Isabella Thoburn of Cincinnati was present on that occasion, and uttered hearty words of congratulation and encouragement. Upon invitation of the Board of Managers, she kindly remained a few weeks with us, 1 The mortgage is now reduced to four thousand five hundred dol- lars, with a fair prospect of its entire liquidation before July, 1891. 542 NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. giYing US the benefit of her counsel and experience in organizing and developing the work of the deacon- esses. Through the courtesy of Mrs. Meyer, the Board has been able to secure from the Chicago Training-School, in the person of Miss Mary Lunn, a superintendent for our Home, whose rare Christian character and educational accomplishments eminently fit her for the critical responsibilities of that exacting position. Under her supervision the work of the School and Home is going forward grandly." The above quotation from the report of the Com- mission gives some idea of what has been done in securing a " Home." No report can give an adequate idea of the grand. work done by the Deaconesses. The homes of the poor, the haunts of sin, the cham- bers of the sick, all have felt their sweet influence. Here is an opportunity for consecrated, intelligent women to put themselves in the way of doing grand work for God and humanity. CHAPTER XXIX. OTHER INSTITUTIONS — concluded. IMMIGKANTS' HOME, EAST BOSTON, JIASS. BY MRS. REV. GEORGE W. MANSFIELD. The need of a Home for Immigrants in East Bos- ton was first felt and agitated by Rev. D. S. Sorlin, then pastor of the Boston Swedish Mission. In the winter of 1887-88 he interested Rev. and Mrs. V. A. Cooper in the cause, Mrs. Cooper being at [543] 544 CENTENNIAL OP that time President of the " Woman's Home Mission- ary Society " of the New England Conference. Revs. Sorlin and Cooper brought the matter before" the " Boston Preachers' Meeting," and the members were so interested that they appointed a committee of three, — Revs. V. A. Cooper, L. R. Thayer, and L. B. Bates, — to consult with a committee from the Woman's Home Missionary Society, — Mrs. V. A. Cooper and Miss Maria Newhall constituting that committee, — these to investigate and report the demand for such a Home. It was ascertained that between thirty and forty thousand immigrants were yearly landed in East Boston ; that, notwithstanding the care taken by the officiary of the different lines of steamers, many girls were decoyed by the lurking destroyers of the souls and bodies of women, and ruined, some never heard from after landing; that the street facing the wharves was lined with liquor-saloons of all kinds ; that the lodging and refreshment houses all had liquor bars attached, and no temperance house offered a resting-place for the weary, sea-sick, homeless immigrant. To the Woman's Home Missionary Society this was a call of God to care for the strangers within their gates. Subscription books were opened, that we might have funds sufficient to care for such a Home until the fall, when the work, if successful, could be brought before the General Executive Board of the Society. The Preachers were the first to subscribe, and some took the books to circulate. After much prayer and great anxiety, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 545 with two hundred and fifty dollars promised, a house was rented at No. 10 Haynes Street, and opened as an Immigrant Home, May 15, 1888. Its seven lodg- ing-rooms and reception-room were furnished by Auxiliaries of the Woman's Home Missionary Society in and near Boston. Mrs^ A. A. Clark, of Lynn, Mass., an English-speaking Swede, was employed as Missionary. Her duty was to be at the wharf on the landing of all incoming steamers, and to take to the Home all unprotected and friendless young girls, also women and children waiting for friends, or in need of advice. These, if able, were to pay twenty-five cents a night for lodging, and could either board themselves or pay for the cost of food. One hundred and forty- four were cared for the first six months. Prayer- meetings were held two or three nights in each week. The General Executive Board of the Woman's Home Missionary Society met at Tremont Street Church, Boston, the following October. A plea was made to them, by the local Board, to adopt this work. The following Committee, Revs. V. A. Cooper, D. H. Ela, and W. I. Haven, from Boston Preachers' Meeting, presented resolutions and made addresses in favor of the movement. The General Executive Board adopted this child of promise, and the East Boston Immigrants' Home was no longer an experi- ment. The next March, 1889, we were fortunate in hiring the house at No. 56 Marginal Street, facing Cunard Wharf, which was our Home for little over a year. Here we had twelve rooms and better accommodations, and the work grew rapidly. 646 CENTENNIAL OF The first year four hundred and eleven were cared for in the Home, and nearly one hundred helped to find friends and employment, who were not occu- pants of the Home. It was found very difficult, on account of the increase of the work, to find a house adapted in location and appliances, of which we could obtain a lease, and hence we felt our quarters were so insecure that the need was imperative for purchasing a Home. We could only petition Him who had given us the work to do, and wait results. God put it into the heart of a Mary, one of Boston's noble Christian women, to bring a precious gift, which, like the oint- ment of ancient time, sent forth a fragrance which stirred other pure minds, and is likewise recorded in God's Book in the Alcoves of Heaven. Her first offer was four thousand and five hundred dollars, to purchase the house then occupied as the Hoine — 56 Marginal Street. We could not purchase that, though we tried long and hard ; but God had some- thing better in store for us ; and through Mr. A. R. Whittier, of Boston, we found 72 and 74 Marginal Street, the next building to us, could be bought for fourteen thousand dollars, if six thousand cash was paid. Our generous friend then pledged another five hundred dollars, making the princely gift of five thousand dollars, and advancing the first five hun- dred to close the bargain. Generous friends from various parts of the Conference and State enabled us to secure the other thousand ; and the building, NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 647 represented by the accompanying cut, became the property of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, February 8th, 1890. It is of wood, four stories high, slate roof, and, when bought, had two liquor-saloons with four- teen rooms over each saloon. The repairs on the whole building, and the fitting of half of it for our use, cost over three thousand dollars. Two thousand dollars have been paid on repairs, making eight thousand dollars in all, and leaving a debt of nine thousand dollars at this writing. The saloon on the side we occupy has been con- verted into a chapel ; and mingled prayer and praise now make hearts glad where, for nineteen years, blasphemy and the ribald jest had made nights hid- eous. May 28th, 1890, the Home was formally dedicated. Bishop R. S. Foster presided, and made a stirring address. Several ministerial brethren took part in the services, and Rev. V, A. Cooper read an interest- ing sketch of history prepared by Mrs. Cooper. The crowded chapel testified to the deep interest the people felt in the occasion. A sale of useful and fancy articles followed, for the benefit of the Home. The girls who had received benefit from this Home first suggested the sale, and spent both time and money liberally to make it a success. The ladies of East Boston greatly aided in the work. In the second, or last, year of our work, five hundred and five of all nationalities have been sheltered in the Home, and nearly three hundred others helped in various ways, 548 CENTENNIAIi OP making eight hundred who have come under the direct infiuence.of our Missionary and Home. Four thousand nine hundred and twenty-three meals have been furnished. There have been one hundred and eighty-eight religious meetings held in the Home. Eight have professed conversion, and very many have asked for prayers, and gone out pledged to a better life. Swedes, Norwegians, and English-speaking people each hold one evening meeting a week. A Swedish Sunday school is held every Lord's day. A self-supporting evening school for Swedes to learn the English language meets once a week. A sewing-school was successfully carried forward last winter, and will be opened again this winter. Owing to this great increase of work, we have been obliged to employ a Helper for our Missionary, Mrs. Clark ; and Mrs. Annie Roach, an English lady, has been secured. These, with the domestic, make three workers in the Home. The figures given but faintly express the amount of good accomplished in this Home the past year. Girls have been rescued from the snares of the fowler ; sad, desolate, homesick, despairing souls have been cheered, advised, and sent out rejoicing, to lead a life of usefulness, directed not only to good earthly homes, but to the Heavenly Home. Young men have been induced to sign the temperance pledge, and begin a life of sobriety. This work has wonderfully developed in the two and a half years of its existence. We cannot doubt the leadings of NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 549 Providence. We see many other openings for use- fulness, which we would like to enter ; but, until our debt is paid, we must not, cannot, greatly enlarge our work. All are most cordially invited to visit, at any time, our Home at No. 72 Marginal Street, East Boston, and also invited to help remove our debt. Mrs. L. R. Thaj'er, Newtonville, Mass., is our Treas- urer, and will be happy to acknowledge all dona- tions. Remember Christ's words : " I was a stranger and ye took me in." "WESLEYAN HOME, NEWTON, MASS. FROM THE REPORT OF 1890. WESLEYAN HOME. The Wesleyan Home, incorporated in 1883, ia established for the care and education of cliildren of our foreign Missionaries, who feel the necessity 550 CENTENNIAL OP of leaving them in a Christian land, and also for the children of ministers and of members of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church. There are, no doubt, many: such children whom it would be desirable to place under the fostering care of a genuine Home, where they could have parental oversight, and secure the advantages of religious training and most excellent schools. This Home is located in the beautiful city of Newton, Mass., seven miles from Boston. The depot, five churches, and the best of schools, are within five minutes' walk of the Home. The moral atmosphere is excellent, there being no saloons or other contaminating influences allowed by the city. No purer or safer location for children could have been selected. Accommodation is pro- vided for about twenty children, under the care of a most efficient matron. During the past year nine- teen boys and girls, between four and thirteen years of age, have shared its privileges. The generous endowment of the Home, amount- ing to twenty thousand dollars, was the gift of Hon. Jacob Sleeper, of Boston, whose varied benefactions were large and numerous. A prominent layman supplemented the endowment by the generous gift of the attractive house and grounds ; and the fur- nishings were mostly presented by Mrs. Charles W. Pierce, of Boston, and the family of Hon. Jacob Sleeper. The original suggestion came from the death-bed of a little girl in Taunton, Mass., in 1881, who gave NEW ENGLAND METHODISM. 651 her small sayings for such a purpose. Other simi- lar offerings were made ; and other timely gifts of larger or smaller sums of money, amounting to four- teen hundred dollars, and also liberal presents of household supplies from many friends, have been previously acknowledged. During the past year over fifty persons have made contributions of money, table supplies, clothing, and other needed articles. Thus a widespread interest has been manifested, which, it is hoped, will be largely increased, and lead to other liberal donations by the living, and to legacies from those who have been blessed with this world's goods. There are many institutions which care for the destitute and homeless, who are taken from the sur- roundings of poverty and evil, and find them friends who will either adopt them, or, by other means, put them in the way of future thrift and prosperity. Such institutions merit earnest commendation and support; but it is the purpose of the Directors to receive only such children into the Wesleyan Home as may be fitting associates of those who come from Christian families. While some will be cheerfully admitted from whom little or no pecuniary remunera- tion is received, it is expected that those who are able will pay a moderate amount to aid in meeting the necessary expenses. This course is required, as the income is not sufficient to make the Home abso- lutely free. The charges will be graduated, accord- ing to the judgment of the Board of Direction. 552 KEW ENGLAND METHODISM. We cordially invite our Missionaries who are desirous of leaving their children under the care of true guardians and friends, to consider the object and management of this pleasant Christian Home. Correspondence in reference to the admission and discharge of children should be directed to the Presi- dent, Hon. Alden Speare, P. O. Box 3070, Boston, Mass. ; and any general inquiries as to the Home or children should be directed to Mrs. Mary McLaren, Matron of the Wesleyan Home, Newton, Mass. The assets of the Corporation, as taken from the Treasurer's Annual Report, January 9, 1890, are, — Real Estate, Wesley Street, Newton .... $9,000.00 Bonds and Stocks 19,200.00 Parniture and Fixtures 1,000.00 Unpaid Subscriptions 125.00 Cash 208.62 129,533.62 APPENDIX. William Ellery Channing Channing was born April 7, 1780, at Newport, R.I., and entered Harvard only four years after Jesse Lee preached his first sermon on Boston Common. It was not until 1819, when Channing was thirty-nine years old, that he preached the famous sermon which marked his defin- ite separation from his brethren. The First Methodist Sunday-school The claim that the first Methodist Sunday-school in New England was started in the Common Street Church in Lynn, is disputed by St. Paul's, of the same city. Before us lies a well-printed pamphlet, containing the address of Bro. Graves, in defence of the claim of St. Paul's. Rev. Dr. W. R. Clarke writes to us that he considers Mr. Graves' points well taken, and his arguments conclusive. We do not undertake to render an opinion. In a conflict of ages, much depends upon the standpoint from which one views the subject under discussion. " Let us have peace." r5533 554 APPENDIX. Newbury Biblical Institute Prof. O. C. Baker (afterward Bishop Baker), Principal of Newbury Seminary, formed what was called a " theological class." Just at what date this was established, I do not know. In the spring 4erm of 1843, I first knew it, and became connected with it. I know also that it had been in existence some time prior to this. This class made Watson's Theological Institutes their text-book. Prof. Baker was their teacher. They also studied the Methodist Discipline, and he gave free talks upon it, which, I judge, were the basis of "Baker on the Discipline." There was another exercise called the Monday evening exercise, in which two students each would preach a short sermon for criticism. Professors and resident clergy- men were wont to act as critics. Some time during the same year. Rev. W. M. Willitt came to strengthen the teaching force, and this department took the name of the " Newbury Biblical Institute." Prof. Willitt taught Hebrew and New Testament Greek, and instituted a plan for preaching services by the students in all the outlying country, for several miles around. Later on, John Dempster, D.D., came, and there were added to the studies of the class, mental and moral science and Church history. Dr. Demp- ster also gave lectures on various subjects. This institute was never incorporated as a distinct school, although it was hoped it would be, and some funds were raised for it as such. There was also quite an amount of lumber obtained and piled up upon the campus, which was said to be designed for a APPENDIX. 555 theological building. When, however, the theolog- ical thought of New England Methodism had crystalized, the school was located at Concord, N.H., instead of Newbury, Vt. The school continued here until the close of the spring term of 1846, and when it opened again it was Concord Biblical Institute, with Dr. John Dempster at its head, -with quite a sprinkling of former students in attendance. J. A. Sheeburn. Barre, Vt., Nov. 28, 1890. Delegates and Visitors Delegates from New England Conference. Clergymen : — Rev. I. H. Packard ; Rev. W. T. Perrin ; Rev. J. M. Leonard ; Rev. David Sherman. Laymen : — A. R. Whittier, Hyde Park; C. J. Glidden, Lowell; Edwin H. Johnson, Lynn ; L. E. Hitchcock, Chicopee. Delegates from New England Southern Con- ference. Clergymen : — Rev. G. H. Bates ; Rev. F. D. Blakeslee ; Rev. W. J. Yates. Laymen : — W. H. Washburn ; David Gordon ; R. S. Douglass. Delegates from New York East Conference. Clergymen : — Rev. J. M. Buckley ; Rev. George Lansing Taylor. Laymen: — E.J.Hill; R. J. Hib- bard. ' Delegates from Troy Conference. Clergy- men : —^ev. J. E. C. Sawyer; Rev. Henry A. Starks. Laymen : — Dr. R. A. Guild ; Hon. A. B. Wright. 556 appendix. Delegates peom New Hampshire Conpeeence. Clergymen : — 'ReY. Charles W. Bradlee ; Rev. W. E. Bennett ; Rev. Thomas Tyrie. Laymen : — A. F. Pike ; Horace W. Gilman ; Hon. Harrison Haley. Delegates prom Vermont Conperence. Cler- gymen: — Rev. G. E. Smith; Rev. N. W. Wilder; Rev. J. A. Sherburn ; Rev. W. M. Gillis. Laymen : — E. R. Toole ; S. H. Hobson ; R. H. Brown ; Philip Boyce. Delegates peom Maine Conference. Clergy- men: — Rev. Daniel B. Randall; Rev. C. F. Allen; Rev. Enos T. Adams. Layman : — Hon. H. H. Shaw. Delegates from East Maine Conference. Clergymen: — Rev. G. D. Lindsay; Rev. C. A. Plumer; Rev. O. H. Fernald. Laymen: — T. H. Wentworth; A. Yates; O. C. Ward. Educational Institutions. Rev. D. C. Knowles, D.D. ; Rev. A. F. Chase, Ph.D. ; Rev. J. D. Beeman, A.M.; Rev. Edgar M. Smith, D.D.; Prof. Herbert Lowell Rich ; Rev. E. A. Bishop, A.M. Visitors. Rev. B. P. Raymond, D.D. ; Rev. A. M. Courtenay, D.D. ; Rev. F. H. Bristol, D.D.; Rev. Hugh Johnston, D.D. ; Rev. S. F. Upham, D.D. ; Rev. Bishop W. F. Mallalieu, D.D. : Rev. D. A. Whedon, D.D. Report of the Finance Committee. — It was decided by 'the committee that no collections should be taken at any of the meetings, but that the funds necessary to pay the expenses should be raised by APPENDIX. 557 private subscription. My thanks are due to the other members of the committee, Hon. E. H. Dunn, Hon. C. C. Corbin, and Dwight Smith, Esq., for their generous subscriptions ; also to the following gentlemen : Ex-Gov. Wm. Claflin, Hon. Alden Speare, Hon. H. O. Houghton, Hon. J. K. C. Sleeper, Dr. H. O. Marcy, Capt. J. B. Thomas, J. A. Woolson, Esq., J. F. Almy, Esq., Chas. Butler, Esq., Geo. D. Sar- geant, Esq., E. H. Johnson, Esq., Silas Peirce, Esq., for their subscriptions so cheerfully given, which enabled the committee to pay all the bills and have a surplus to return, pro rata, to the donors. Oliver H. Dueeell, Chairman. INDEX. Academy, Wesleyan, 467. Academy, East Greenwich, 475. Adams, Rev. Charles, 456. Agency, Free Moral, Restored, . 147. Allen, Rev. S., 442. Areopagus of Jesse Lee, 393. Armlnius, James, 386. Asbury, Bishop, 18, 181, 517, 520. Asbury First Church,. 517. Association, Wesleyan, 534. Atonement, 357. Awakening, Great, 245. Baird, Dr., 219. Baker, Bishop, 186, 456, 507. Baldwin, Rev. Dr., 505. Baldwin, Rev. Thomas, 280. Bangs, Rev. Nathan, 16, 871. Banks, Rev. L. A., 505. BaiTOws, Rev. L. D., 213. Bascom, Rev. John, 222. Bashford, Rev. Dr., 522. Bates, Rev. Dr., 346, 393, 397. Baur, Christian Ferdinand, 122. Beale, Rev. Oliver, 185. Beeman, Rev. J. D., 459. Bible, Belief Concerning, 362. Bishop, Principal, 460. Bishops, Limitations of Au- thority of, 216. Bishops from New England, 366. Black, Rev. William, 13. Blakeslee, Principal, 476. Book Agents, Notable, 371. Brackett, Governor, 311. Bragdon, Prof. C. C, 481, 484. Brainerd, David, 242. Bristol, Rev. Dr., 284, 334. Brodbeck, Rev. W. N., 340. Bromfield Street Church, 497. Brooks, Rev. Phillips, 283. Buckley, Rev. Dr., 174, 328. Butler, Rev. Dr. William, 85, 504. Calvinism, Statement of, 64. Chadboume, Rev. Dr., 104. Channing, W. E., 280. Chase, Principal, 486. Chestnut Street Church His- tory, 519. Chestnut Street Church Pas- tors, 523. Christ, Historic, Faith in not essential, 151. Christianity, Four Elements of, 375. Clarke, Rev. Dr., 512. Clark, Rev. C. J., 522. Clark, Rev. Laban, 416. Claflin, Lee, 422. Claflin, Ex-Governor William, 47, 423. College, Cokesbury, 171. College first founded by Meth- odist Episcopal Church, 169. College first planned by Wesley, 169. Conference, Christmas, 34. Conference, General, New England in, 184. Confession, Boston, 157. Convention, Officers of, 3. Cooke, Rev. Edward, 469. Cooper, Rev. V. A., 548. [559] 560 INDEX. Corbin, Hon. C. C, 303. Courtenay, Kev. Dr., 28, 314. Crawford, Rev. G. A., 504. Cummlngs, Rev. Dr., 499. Gushing, Kev. C. W., 481. Cu.shing, Mrs. J. W., 539. Customs, How divided, 222. Dartmouth, Lord, 243. Davis, Rev. C. E., 509. Davis, Samuel, 243. Day, Rev. J. R., 522. Deaconess' Home, Sketch of, 538. Deaconess' Home, Trustees and Directors, 540. Decrees, Eternal, 152. Depravity, Human, 145. Determinism, Theistic, 157. Doctrine, Methodist, At pres- ent held, 356. Dorchester, Rev. D., 517. Dorchester Street Church, 504. Dunn, Hon. E. H., 325. Dunn, Nathaniel, 467, 510. Durrell, Hon. O. H., 193. Eokly, Rev. Dr., 279. Eden, Inheritance from, 146. Education, Higher, 228. Educators, New England, 369. Edwards, Jonathan, 245. Edwards, Mrs., Raptures of, 247. Ela, Rev. Dr., 237. Elm, Old, 397. Episcopius, 387. Eschatology, 360. Everett, Edward, 229. Faith, Plymouth Declaration of, 154. Faith, What Kind Saves, 151. Fellows, Rev. Nathaniel, 469. Fillmore, Daniel, 499. Fisk, Wilbur, 185, 211, 467. Foster, Bishop, 4, 547. Free Baptist Church, 242. Frelinghuysen, Jacob, 240. Freeman, Rev. James, 279. Goal, Actual and Ideal, 159. Granger, Noah, 459. Grant, General, 268. Gray, Prof. Asa, 124. Greene, Rev. R. L., 505, 509. Guilt Attaches to Personal Action, 147. Hamilton, Rev. Dr., 51, 508. Hanaford, Rev. J. L., 502. Hart, Mayor, 322. Haven, Bishop E. O., 182. Haven, Bishop Gilbert, 181, 214. Haven, Rev. W. I., 253. Hedding, Bishop, 276, 281, 499, 512. Herald, Zion's, History, 626. Herald, ZiorCs, Editors, 531. Herald, Zion's, Publishers, 532. Hill, President, 231. Hills, Rev. C. D., 512. Hinman, Rev. 0. T., 456. Hough, Rev. Alfred J., 393. Howard, Rev. R. H., 385. Hutchinson, Mrs. Anne, 239. Huxley, Professor, 118. Immigrants' Home, 543. Infants, How Saved, 151. Itinerant Plan, 197. Jackson, Benjamin, 99. Janes, Bishop, 186. Johnson, Oliver, 183. Johnston, Rftv. Dr., 11. Johnston, Miss Jane, 434. Journalism in New Eng- land, 181. Kibby, Rev. Epaphras, 521. Kllburn, Rev. David, 521. Kimball, Hon. C. E., 99. King, Rev. Dr., 217. King, Rev. J. E., 457. Knowles, President, 449. Knox, Rev. L. L., 434. Lasell, Professor, 481. League, Epworth, 254. INDEX. 561 Lee, Jesse, 14, 28, 38, 43, 51, 160, 377, 393, 511, 513, 515, 519. Limborch, Phillippus, 387. Losee, William, 14. Lynn Common Church, 511. Mallalieu, Bishop, 256, 305, 512. McCabe, Chaplain, 385. McKeown, Rev. Dr., 522'. Merrill, Amos B., 471. Merritt, Timothy, 372. Methodism Accused of Pela- gianism, 145. Methodism Affirms Human Depravity, 145. Methodism Affirms Universal Salvation, 144. Methodism as a Mission Force, 256. Methodism does not Hold Men Guilty for Adam's Sin, 147. Methodism has Changed Social Customs, 218. Methodism Jealous of its Or- thodoxy, 176. Methodism, Threefold, 238. Methodist, Description of, by Wesley, 139. Methodists : Difference be- tween them and Jews, etc., 140. Methodist Episcopal Church God's Design, 138. Methodist Episcopal Church in New England, Statis- tics, 8. Methodist Episcopal Church, The Twenty-four Arti- cles, 142. Methodist Church in Can- ada, 20. Moral Condition, Natural, 355. Muir, Professor, 123. Newman, Bishop, 507. Norris, Samuel, 182. Norwalk, Conn., 513. Olin, Stephen, 189. Park, Professor, 154, 330. Parklaurst, Rev. Dr., 206. Patten, Rev. David, 468. Peirce, Rev. T. C, 500. Peirce, Rev. Dr., B. K., 182. People's Church, 508. Perfection, Christian, 167. Perseverance, Not uncondi- tional, 152. Pews, System of, 179. Phillips, Wendell, 183. Plumer, Rev. C. A., 375. Population, Proportion in Cit- ies, 201. Portland Circuit, 520. Priest, Zadoc 275. Principles, Pedagogical, 160. Question, Southern Race, 226. Questions, Social, 220, 224. Rand, Franklin, 215. Randall, Rev. D. B., 442. Randall, Joshua, 177. Raymond, President, 116, 416. Reformation, Augustinian, 385. Responsibility, What makes it, 148. Restieaux, Thomas, 401. Rich, Isaac, 422. Righteousness, Imputed, 359. Riley, James Whitcomb, 292. Rogers, Rev. Dr., 1. Ryerson, Edgerton, 19. Sanctification, What is it, 150. Sawyer, Rev. J. E. C, 193. Scarlett, Father, 273. Schaeffle the Socialist, 222. School, Boston Correspond- ence, 536. Schools, Free Common, 228. Schools, Sunday, 78. Science, Function of, 220. Science, Social, 221. Scipio and Slave, 175. Scott, Orange, 182, 209, 211, 212. Seminary, East Maine, 433. 562 INDEX. Seminary, Maine Wesleyan, 441. • Seminary, New Hampshire, I 449. Seminary, Vermont, 455. Seminary, Lasell, 481. Sherman, Rev. Dr., 365, 509. Sias, Solomon, 527. Simpson, Bishop, 509, 518. Slavery, Attitude of Bishop Hedding, 211. Slavery, Attitude of Maine Conference, 212. Slavery, Attitude of New Hampshire Conference, 210. Slavery, Attitude of New England Conference, 210. Slavery, Attitude of Method- ism, 208. Slavery, Attitude of New England, 182. Slavery, Attitude of Zion's Herald', 210. Smith, President, 444. Snelling, Joseph, 401. Sociology, Christian, 220. Soule, Bishop, 185, 276, 512, 520. Speare, Hon. Alden, 137. St. John's Church, 500. Stanley, Dean, on the Wesleys and Methodism, 217. Steele, Dr. Daniel, 215. Steele, Dr. G. M., 351, 470. Stevens, Abel, 181, 188, 372, 501. Strawbridge, 33. Taylor, Bishop, "Holy Liv- ing," 138. Taylor, Father, 409. Taylor, Rev. E. M., 264. Taylor, Rev. George Lansing, 120. Taylor, Rev. Joshua, 520. Tefft, Rev. B. F., 476. Temperance and Methodist Episcopal Church, 227. Tennent, Mrs., 242. Todt, Herr, 234. Torsey, Rev. H. P., 443. Trafton, Rev. Dr., 86. Tremont Street Church, 506. Twombly, Rev. Dr., 70. Tyng, Dr., 219. Ulrici, 122. University, Boston, 422. University, Wesleyan, 415. Upham, Rev. Dr., 266. Vail, Dr. Stephen M., 179. Warren, Bishop, 507. Warren, President, 142, 155, 424. Watson, Richard, 141, Wealth and the Laborer, 230. Wedgewood, Mrs. Julia, 53. Wesley, John, Description of Methodist, 139. Wesley, John, Idea of Play, 298. Wesley, John, Key to Method- ism, 137. Wesley, John, Letter from, 296. Wesley, John, On Slavery, 207. Wesley, John, What kind of Arminian, 141. Wesleyan Association, 534. Wesleyan Home, 549. Wesleyan Theology, Main features, 353. Whedon, Dr. D. A., 137. Whitaker, Rev. N. T., 519. Whitefield, George, On slav- ery, 207. Wiley, Rev. Ephraim, 521. Wise, Rev. Daniel, 181, 373. Witness of the Spirit, 149. Womanhood, Emancipation of, 226.' Wright, Rev. A. A., 536. Wright, Kev^ M. E., 504. *\ V-