MA 
 
 Morris 
 
Columbia (Hntor raitp 
 mtljeCttpofHrttjgark 
 
 THE LIBHARIES 
 
 Bequest of 
 
 Frederic Bancroft 
 
 1860-1945 
 
I im. 1-* f 
 
THE LIFE 
 
 Rev. THOMAS A. MORRIS, D.D., 
 
 3Latc .Senior Bishop of tijc iVUtijofcist Episcopal ©fjuni). 
 
 REV. JOHN F. MARLAY, A. M. 
 
 AN INTRODUCTION; W '3J,S>iC>P';E. S. JANES. 
 
 -6®g:-je«- 
 
 CI NCI N N ATI: 
 HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 NELSON AND PHILLIPS. 
 
 1875- 
 
« 
 
 
 93*6 
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, 
 
 BY HITCHCOCK & WALDEN, 
 In the Office ^of the.kibrarian 0/ Congress, fit Washington. 
 
C3 
 3 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 It was the wish of Bishop Morris that the story of 
 his life should be written by his friend and colleague, the 
 late lamented Bishop Clark, who had not only consented 
 to undertake the work, but had made considerable pro- 
 gress in gathering material for it, when failing health, 
 together with the incessant cares and exacting duties of 
 the Episcopal office, compelled him to relinquish the 
 engagement. At his request, and under his appointment, 
 as literary executor of Bishop Morris, I have endeavored 
 to carry out his original plan of the work as nearly as 
 possible. I very much regret that Bishop Clark did not 
 live to give the volume the careful supervision of his 
 experienced and skillful pen. It is a satisfaction, how- 
 ever, to be able to state that the earlier chapters, com- 
 pleted about a year before his death, and submitted to 
 his inspection, met his cordial and generous approval. 
 
 The materials used in the preparation of this memoir 
 were, chiefly, a brief sketch of his early life written by 
 Bishop Morris himself, coming down to the time of his 
 election to the Episcopacy, with a mere outline of his 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 subsequent history, and his volume, entitled "Miscel- 
 lany," a book of essays and notes of travel. These 
 traveling letters appeared originally, many years ago, in 
 the Western Christian Advocate, and are among the very 
 best specimens of their author's terse and vigorous style 
 as a writer. In weaving them into a connected story of 
 his life, however, it was found necessary to omit large 
 portions altogether, and to exercise a good deal of edito- 
 rial freedom in adapting the rest. 
 
 One or two discourses occupy larger space in the biog- 
 raphy than seemed at first desirable; and yet, upon 
 reflection, they were found to be so identified with the 
 life and public services of Bishop Morris, that it was 
 deemed best to insert them without much abridgment. 
 
 The life of the late senior bishop of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church was a remarkable one, not only for 
 its eminent and extended usefulness, but for its early 
 hardships, stirring incidents, and strange adventures; and 
 if it were fully and adequately set forth, would make a 
 much larger as well as more interesting volume than this. 
 I have simply attempted to make the best possible use 
 of the meagre material available. And it now only 
 remains for me to submit the volume, with all its imper- 
 fections, to the charitable judgment of the public. 
 
 J. F. MARLAY. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER 1 9 
 
 Place and Date of Birth— Education— Religious Training— 
 Under Conviction of Sin — Joins the Church — Conver- 
 sion — Appointed Class-leader — Licensed as Exhorter — 
 Local Preacher — First Sermon — Rev. David Young — Mar- 
 riage — Settlement — Circuit Preaching. 
 
 CHAPTER II 33 
 
 Circuit Work — Call to the Ministry— Views Concerning the 
 Ministerial Office — Ordained Deacon — Conference at Steu- 
 benville — Appointed to Zanesville Circuit — Ordained 
 Elder — Transfer to Kentucky— Christian Circuit — Procur- 
 ing Supplies — Style of Preaching. 
 
 CHAPTER III 66 
 
 Itinerant Labors — Hardships and Perils — Odd Mistake — Con- 
 ference at Maysville, Kentucky — Elected to General Con- 
 ference of 1824 — Jesse Walker — His Mission in St. Louis — 
 Session of General Conference — Conference at Shelby- 
 ville — Appointed to Red-river Circuit, Tennessee — Confer- 
 ence of 1825 — Presiding Elder — Green-river District. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 94 
 
 Home at Elkton — Stationed in Louisville — Quarterly-meeting 
 at Frankfort — Preaching under Difficulties — General Con- 
 ference of 1828 — "Radical Controversy" — Canada Meth- 
 odism — Transfer to Ohio — Appointed to Lebanon Circuit — 
 Columbus — Conference of 183 1 — Appointed to Cincinnati 
 Station — A Year of Calamity — Great Revival. 
 
 5 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGR 
 
 CHAPTER V 120 
 
 General Conference of 1832 — Narrow Escape — Ohio Confer- 
 ence of 1833 — Appointed Presiding Elder — Western Chris- 
 tian Advocate Established — Elected Editor — Methodist 
 Periodicals — Editorial on "The Press" — General Confer- 
 ence of 1S36 — Elected Bishop — His Account of the Election. 
 
 CHAPTER VI 140 
 
 First Episcopal Labors — On Horseback — In Tennessee — 
 Beyond the Mississippi — In the Swamp — Among the Con- 
 ferences — Threats of Violence — On Steamboat — "Lean vs. 
 Fat" — Illness of his Wife — Southern Tour. 
 
 CHAPTER VII 163 
 
 General Conference of 1840 — Contemplates a Resignation of 
 the Episcopal Office — Publishes a Volume of Sermons — On 
 to Texas — Incidents of the Journey — Encamping for the 
 Night — Arkansas — Route through the State — In the Wil- 
 derness — Texas Conference — Martin Ruter. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 188 
 
 Return Home — At Austin — Death of Mrs. Morris — Sketch of 
 her Life and Character — Episcopal Visits — Death of his 
 Daughter, Mrs. Rust — SUetch of her Life — Conferences 
 Attended. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 208 
 
 General Conference of 1844 — The Vexed Question — Case of 
 Bishop Andrew — Marriage — Charge of Slaveholding — 
 In the Indian Territory — Indian Mission Conference — 
 Preaching Tour — Louisville Convention — Disruption of the 
 Church — "Hints to Young Men" — Episcopal Tours for 
 1847 — Fast-day Sermon — Birthday Thoughts. 
 
 CHAPTER X 230 
 
 General Conference of 1848 — Official Tour — Aboard the Steam- 
 boat — Tour to the East — A Crowded Coach — Conferences — 
 Memorial of the Bishops about the Wyandot Mission — 
 Conferences for 1850 and 1851 — Securing a Home — Tour 
 to the East. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 251 
 
 General Conference of 1852 — Election of New Bishops — 
 Account of Trip East — Hotel Inconveniences — Rev. Joshua 
 Wells — Travels — Journey to Arkansas — Rev. James Axley — 
 His Temperance Sermon — Conferences of 1855. 
 
 CHAPTER XII 273 
 
 General Conference of 1856 — Changes in the Discipline — Con- 
 ferences Attended — Rev. David Young — Death of Bishop 
 Waugh — Tour to the North-west — Railroad Miseries — 
 Conference Sessions — Methodist Church Polity. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 300 
 
 General Conference of i860 — Commemoration Services — Re- 
 moval to Springfield, Ohio — An Interesting Gift — Illness 
 of Mrs. Morris — Plan of Reading — Conferences Held — 
 Patriotism — Conferences for 1862 — Study of the Disci- 
 pline — "Pulpit Force" — Complimentary Resolutions. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 324 
 
 General Conference of 1864 — Patriotic Religious Services — 
 Address to President Lincoln — Election of New Bishops — 
 Union Chapel Case— The Bishop's Action — Letter to the 
 Official Board — Report of Committee in General Confer- 
 ence — Relieved of Episcopal Labors — Semi-centennial 
 Sermon. 
 
 CHAPTER XV 357 
 
 General Conference of 1868 — Superannuation — Birthday Reflec- 
 tions — Mrs. Lucy Morris — Illness and Death — Sketch of 
 her Character — General Conference of 1872 — Marriage — 
 Letter to the Cincinnati Conference, 1874 — Response to 
 Letter — Death — Funeral Addresses — Burial. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 388 
 
 An Estimate of the Bishop's Life and Character — Personal 
 Traits — Mental Culture — Characteristics — As a Presiding 
 Officer— Modesty— Religious and Political Views— Affec- 
 tional Nature — Personal Religious Experience. 
 
Would I describe a preacher, such as Paul, 
 AYere he on earth, would hear, approve, and own, 
 Paul should himself direct me. I would trace 
 His master- strokes, and draw from his design. 
 I would express him simple, grave, sincere ; 
 In doctrine uncorrupt ; in language plain, 
 And plain in manner; decent, solemn, chaste, 
 And natural in gesture ; much impressed 
 Himself, as conscious of his awful charge, 
 And anxious mainly that the flock he feeds 
 May feel it too ; affectionate in look, 
 And tender in address, as well becomes 
 A messenger of grace to guilty men." 
 
 Cowper's Task : The Time-piece. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance." 
 This passage of Holy Scripture expresses the mind of God 
 in reference to the remembrance of the good. It is his 
 will and purpose that their memory shall be perpetuated, 
 shall be everlasting. The sentiment and practice of man- 
 kind in all ages, and in all generations, has been in accord 
 with this divine declaration ; with this difference, that 
 men have not been careful to confine their memorials to 
 the righteous, but have often sought to keep in the public 
 mind the names of wicked men. Men have often en- 
 deavored to insure their remembrance after their death by 
 erecting monuments to themselves while they were living. 
 Nations have frequently erected monuments to their most 
 eminent statesmen and illustrious heroes. The people of 
 this country are building one to Washington, and have just 
 dedicated one to Lincoln. Marble and brass and bronze 
 are, however, at a discount in this office of immortalizing 
 men. They are rendered comparatively useless by the 
 book. Monuments can only bear a name or briefly state an 
 event or two in the life of the person. The detailed history 
 
ii INTRODUCE 
 
 of the man must be left to tradition, and soon become un- 
 reliable. The book gives a full statement of the character, 
 and a complete record of the actions of him whom it com- 
 memorates. The monument can be in but one place, and 
 be seen by only a favored few. The book can be carried 
 all over the land, and placed in the homes and hands 
 of the multitude. No man knoweth of the sepulcher 
 of Moses unto this day; yet no human name or no 
 human history is better preserved than is his. His fame 
 is still spreading as far and as fast as Christianity extends. 
 Dr. Coke found a grave in the Indian Ocean; no marble 
 column marks his resting-place, no brass tablet records 
 the incidents of his eventful life; yet the remembrance of 
 him shall endure as long as ocean waves lave the shore, 
 or ocean murmurs chant his requiem, for the book has 
 chronicled the nobleness of his character, and the devotion 
 and usefulness of his life. The book transcends in fitness 
 and efficiency all other memorials of the dead. Biography 
 is consequently one of the most important departments of 
 literature. 
 
 Bishop Morris was a man eminently worthy of such a 
 memorial. A well executed life of this distinguished 
 Christian minister can not fail to be edifying to the Church, 
 and especially to his brethren in the ministry. Such a 
 biography is contained in this volume; in my opinion the 
 work has been prepared with good judgment and much 
 skill. The portraiture of the Bishop's character is very ac- 
 curately drawn. The incidents of his life are given in 
 
INTRODUCTION. Ill 
 
 sufficient detail, and make the volume exceedingly inter- 
 esting and instructive; it will please the young as well as 
 the experienced reader. The biographer could not give 
 an account of Mr. Morris as minister, editor, and bishop, 
 without giving something of the history of the Church 
 during the period of his active official life. He was a 
 prominent actor in many of the important events which 
 occurred while he was holding these positions of trust and 
 influence. The trials, triumphs, and progress of the 
 Church for the last fifty years, thus incidentally given, are 
 of great value. The memoir is worthy of a place in 
 every Methodist minister's study, and every Methodist 
 Sunday-school library. 
 
 Having been for more than thirty years associated 
 with Bishop Morris in the general superintendency of 
 the Church, I became most tenderly attached to him. 
 During this time I had a good opportunity of learning 
 his great worth. I often saw him in circumstances that 
 severely taxed his wisdom, and sorely tried his Christian 
 graces. I have known him at conferences, when greatly 
 perplexed in making the appointments, spend nearly a 
 whole night in prayer for divine guidance and help. At 
 one of his conferences, when he was greatly distressed at 
 the state of the appointments, he spent almost the whole 
 of two nights in crying to God for his interposition. On 
 the morning following this second night of prayer, before 
 breakfast, the two brethren whose cases were the most 
 troublesome, came to him, and proposed to take appoint- 
 
rv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ments which greatly relieved his embarrassments. The 
 Bishop always believed they were divinely moved to do 
 this in answer to prayer. In good judgment, prudence, 
 and patience, and tender regard for both the feelings and. 
 interests of the preachers under his care, he was like his 
 associate, Bishop Hedding. It grieved him deeply to dis- 
 appoint the expectations or deny the wishes of either 
 Churches or ministers He was a very loving and con- 
 siderate colleague. His associates could always trust both 
 his head and his heart. Notwithstanding his great age 
 and long infirmities, we all felt deeply bereaved by his 
 
 death. 
 
 "O may we all like him, believe, 
 
 And keep the faith, and win the prize ! 
 Father, prepare, and then receive 
 Our hallow'd spirits to the skies, 
 To chant with all our friends above, 
 Thy glorious, everlasting love." 
 
 E. S JANES. 
 
LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF EARLY LIFE AWAKENING AND CONVERSION 
 
 CALL TO THE MINISTRY ENTERS OHIO 
 
 CONFERENCE. 
 
 THOMAS A. MORRIS was born April 28, 1794, 
 in Kanawha County, Virginia, five miles above 
 Charleston on the west side of the Kanawha River. 
 His parents, John and Margaret Morris, were both 
 natives of Virginia — the former of Culpepper, and 
 the latter of Augusta County. They belonged to the 
 first band of heroic and enterprising pioneers who set- 
 tled on the Great Kanawha River, about the year 
 1 785, where, besides the ordinary difficulties incident 
 to new countries, they passed through all the perils 
 and excitements of an Indian war, in the progress of 
 which many of the whites were killed by the savages. 
 Wayne's treaty, in 1795, at length gave peace to the 
 settlers. The house in which the Morris family re- 
 sided stood on a beautiful swell of ground, near a never- 
 failing spring of pure water, commanding a fine view 
 of picturesque scenery for many miles up and down 
 
 9 
 
10 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the river. It was a pleasant rural home, embowered 
 in orchard and forest trees, far removed from the noise 
 and unhealthy excitement of city life. Thomas be- 
 longed to a family of eleven children. His parents 
 lived to a good old age, and at length, after a happy 
 union of forty years, died nearly at the same time, in 
 1818, both possessed of a good hope of eternal life. 
 
 The early days of young Morris were happily 
 passed amid the wild and romantic scenery of his 
 mountain home. Late in life he was fond of relating 
 how, in his extreme youth, he delighted to chase the 
 butterfly over the hills, construct tiny boats to float 
 down the rivulets that flowed through green pas- 
 tures, to hunt with his rude bow and arrow through 
 the forests, and, in Winter, trap the redbird and the 
 quail. His father, however, being an industrious 
 farmer, soon found other and more important work 
 for the son. With his little hoe he was taught to la- 
 bor in the fields, and in harvest time he was employed 
 as a bearer of sheaves. During the Winter he as- 
 sisted in the care of the "stock," and seems to have 
 been especially pleased with the duty of a shepherd. 
 
 When Thomas was ten years old, the family re- 
 moved from this beautiful home to a place about forty 
 miles west, in Cabell County, on the State road lead- 
 ing to Kentucky. Here again they endured the hard- 
 ships, toils, and privations inseparably connected with 
 the settlement of a new country. Clearing away the 
 forest, inclosing the ground and bringing it under 
 cultivation from a state of nature, with the erection 
 of the necessary buildings, required, of course, a great 
 deal of hard labor; and having but a small force for 
 
EARL Y ED UCA T10N. 1 1 
 
 carrying it on, they had for years to exert all their 
 energies to improve and keep up the farm. 
 
 The means of education were very limited at that 
 early day throughout the Western States and Terri- 
 tories, and especially in the north-western part of 
 Virginia, where the Morris family resided. Teachers 
 were few in number, and for the most part ill quali- 
 fied for their work; nor were the most competent of 
 them in very good demand, for many of the early set- 
 tlers of that wild region cared little for books, so they 
 could but obtain plenty of fresh land, good range for 
 their stock, and an abundance of game. Still there were 
 schools; not continuing, however, longer than "one 
 quarter" of the year, and that always in the Winter, 
 when boys could best be spared from the farm. By 
 such limited means, the children of that day, on the 
 frontiers, obtained what little knowledge of books they 
 possessed ; nor was it generally deemed important 
 that the course of study be very extensive or thorough. 
 To master Dilworth's Spelling-book, learn to read the 
 New Testament, cypher to the "rule of three," and 
 write a fair round hand, was regarded as quite an ac- 
 complished education, and ample for all the practical 
 purposes of life. This " curriculum " Thomas had 
 passed through creditably by the time he reached his 
 eighteenth year. About that time he became a mem- 
 ber of the first grammar-class ever organized in Cab- 
 ell County. It was taught by Mr. William Paine, a 
 native of England, a thoroughly competent teacher, 
 and an earnest Methodist. This worthy old gentle- 
 man, besides performing his professional duties, gave 
 his pupils many sound moral lessons, and, though 
 
12 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 gathered to his fathers long years ago, his memory is 
 cherished fondly by all his surviving students. 
 
 When young Morris was about seventeen years old, 
 his eldest brother, Edmund, who held the clerkship 
 of Cabell County, made him his deputy, and he ac- 
 cordingly left the farm to enter upon the duties of his 
 office. This position he held for nearly four years, 
 except about six months spent in school. The clerk's 
 office proved to be, in many respects, an advantageous 
 position ; here the young deputy acquired much use- 
 ful information concerning business transactions, as 
 well as an easy, rapid use of the pen. But the sud- 
 den transition from out-door labor to the confinement 
 of an office seriously impaired his health. His nerv- 
 ous system became deranged, renderings him feeble 
 and timid. When he left the farm, but few of his 
 years in all the neighborhood were more athletic or 
 courageous. It had been his habit for years to trav- 
 erse mountains and valleys at all hours of the dark- 
 est nights, unaccompanied save by his faithful hunt- 
 ing dogs, unawed by the prowling wolf or the dangers 
 of the forest. But after his health declined, he was 
 not only nervous and feeble, but fearful and depressed 
 in mind, losing all relish for his former exciting and 
 adventurous sports and pursuits. A few months after 
 his eighteenth birthday, and while in this feeble state 
 of health, he was one of a company of drafted militia, 
 to perform a six-months' tour in the North against 
 the British and Indians. On the day appointed, the 
 company assembled at the court-house, formed into 
 "messes," shouldered their knapsacks, and started on 
 the march to join a regiment forming at Point 
 
DEPUTY CLERK. I 3 
 
 Pleasant, and intended to re-enforce the main army 
 near the Canada line. When they took leave of their 
 friends, who had assembled at the court-house in 
 great numbers to witness their departure, many of 
 these raw recruits, as well as the lookers-on, were 
 visibly and deeply affected. The father of Morris, 
 though himself an old soldier, could not check his fast- 
 falling tears, as he looked upon the emaciated form 
 and youthful face of his child. But the farewells 
 were spoken, and the march commenced. On the 
 morning of the second day's march, however, great 
 was the surprise of young Morris at being overtaken 
 by his brother William with a substitute, whom his 
 father had hired to take the son's place. To turn 
 back so early in the campaign was not agreeable to 
 his feelings, but, under all the circumstances, seemed 
 a duty, and he reluctantly consented to the arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 While connected with the clerk's office, it was 
 part of his business to attend to all the lower and 
 higher courts of the county, by which means he be- 
 came well acquainted with the lawyers who practiced 
 in these courts. This circumstance, together with 
 an ardent ambition to occupy a position of usefulness 
 and respectability in society, inclined him to choose 
 the law as a profession. Three formidable difficul- 
 ties, however, were in the way of carrying out that 
 purpose, — imperfect education, the limited means of 
 improving it in any of the schools accessible, and an 
 extraordinary diffidence. The first two obstacles, he 
 thought, might be overcome by industry and a sys- 
 tematic employment of his spare hours ; the last, his 
 
14 LIFE OF BISHOP MORI? IS. 
 
 friends assured him, would soon pass away. In his 
 later years he was often heard to say that the un- 
 common diffidence and timidity of his youth never 
 wholly left him, and that, although a public speaker 
 from his youth to an advanced age, he scarcely ever 
 stood before an audience without embarrassment. 
 
 The parents of Morris were pious and devoted 
 members of the Baptist Church, and had given much 
 attention to the early religious training of their chil- 
 dren. From the days of his childhood, Thomas had 
 had occasional seasons of deep religious feeling, and 
 many serious thoughts of death and eternity. His 
 own record shows that he was scarcely ever without 
 a conviction of his lost and sinful condition, and that 
 from very early childhood he took a deep interest in 
 every thing pertaining to the worship of God. But 
 there were radical defects in his early religious train- 
 ing. His parents did not consider it their duty to 
 encourage their children to make a public profession 
 of faith in Christ. And, what was still worse, though 
 they were unusually strict members of their Church, 
 for that country and in that day, they allowed their 
 children to go abroad on the Sabbath, and, to a great 
 extent, select their own company and amusements, 
 as did their brethren and neighbors generally. Young 
 people thus left to themselves naturally grew up in 
 the belief that, although they were bound to labor 
 six days of the week, the Sabbath was their own day, 
 a holiday, to be spent where and how they pleased. 
 
 Under these circumstances, young Morris stifled 
 his convictions of sin, gradually lost his desire to be- 
 come a Christian, and learned many evil practices 
 
SKEPTICAL VIEWS. 1 5 
 
 while yet a youth. Being naturally of a sedate, 
 thoughtful appearance, and always quite reserved in 
 the presence of his seniors, he bore the reputation of 
 being remarkably exemplary in his boyhood, while 
 his own conscience assured him that he was far from 
 the kingdom, abiding under the wrath of God. 
 
 So matters stood with him when he left the home 
 of his youth, and passed from under the restraints of 
 parental authority. 
 
 About this time, under the influence of older and 
 more intelligent persons, his mind became poisoned 
 with skeptical opinions, which he seems to have 
 adopted rather as an apology for his impiety than as 
 the result of careful investigation. His was a case 
 of bewildered skepticism, and never of confirmed in- 
 fidelity. He did not publicly avow his unbelief, or 
 seek in any way to harm the cause of Christianity — 
 for in his worst days the fear of God was not wholly 
 removed from his mind — nor did he question the sin- 
 cerity of Christians, or doubt their happiness, how- 
 ever much they might be mistaken. 
 
 In this state of mind he continued till his eight- 
 eenth year, when the terrible concussions of the earth 
 which occurred during the Winter of 1811-12, aroused 
 his guilty conscience, and he became greatly troubled 
 about the future. There was, shortly afterward, a 
 revival of religion in the neighborhood among " the 
 people called Methodists, " of whom he knew but 
 little except through the misrepresentations of those 
 who were prejudiced against them. To these meet- 
 ings he went occasionally, and the general impression 
 made upon his mind by all he saw and heard was 
 
1 6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 favorable. About that time — in the Spring of 1812 — 
 he began to take the general subject of religion under 
 more serious consideration, and to form resolutions 
 to break off from his worst sins, particularly the use 
 of all improper words, but without any fixed purpose 
 of becoming pious at that time. For one year he 
 pondered this subject much, endeavoring earnestly to 
 reach a final conclusion on the main question ; that 
 is, whether it would be better for him, all things con- 
 sidered, to resolve on a religious life or not. On the 
 one hand, a Christian life appeared to be rational, 
 wise, and safe, and therefore desirable ; while on the 
 other hand he hesitated to make the necessary sacri- 
 fices of worldly plans and prospects, and feared to 
 forfeit the friendship of his gay and fashionable asso- 
 ciates. But that which deterred him most of all was 
 the fear of failure, and the consequent disgrace of 
 apostasy. Moreover his religious training made him 
 slow to move under any power short of compulsion, 
 not then clearly apprehending the important distinc- 
 tion between coercive power and sufficient grace 
 freely offered to all men. Of this difficulty he was, 
 however, measurably relieved, soon after, by a con- 
 versation with the Rev. Samuel West, a Methodist 
 preacher, who convinced him that his crude notions 
 on that point were not sustained by the Word of 
 God. The last thing he gave up was the purpose to 
 be a lawyer, with the various plans which he deemed 
 necessary for the accomplishment of that object. 
 
 Finally, after much reflection on the subject, it 
 was made plain to his mind one day, when alone, that 
 it would be infinitely better for him to be " little and 
 
UNDER CONVICTION. 1 7 
 
 unknown, " or even despised and persecuted all his 
 1 fe, and then die in peace and be saved in heaven, 
 than to carry out all his plans of worldly gain, and 
 lose his soul. Whereupon he resolved, in the name 
 and strength of Jesus, to halt no longer between two 
 opinions, but to consecrate his service fully to the 
 living God. As soon as this great decision was 
 reached, he fell on his knees, and, for the first time 
 in his life, tried to pray. This was in February, 
 1813, and in the nineteenth year of his age. To 
 kneel occasionally in public worship, or at the family 
 altar, as a matter of form or a mark of respect, had 
 been his habit from childhood ; but to kneel before 
 God and ask for mercy, pardon, and salvation, was 
 a new thing entirely. As he did so now, his feel- 
 ings were peculiar and awful. His chief difficulty 
 was the want of that pungent conviction which is 
 so necessary in the process of conversion ; nor could 
 he exercise that simple trust in Christ as the only 
 and sufficient Savior. For about six months he 
 sought religion in secret, carefully concealing his 
 purpose and state of mind from all his friends. But 
 this method proved very troublesome, as well as un- 
 profitable. When present at religious services he 
 found it difficult to hide his emotion ; for tears, un- 
 bidden, would often flow freely, as he listened to the 
 fervent appeal or earnest prayer of the minister. It 
 was still more difficult to mingle with his worldly 
 associates without betraying the secret burden of his 
 heart. 
 
 A frank avowal of his feelings and purposes would 
 undoubtedly have been the wisest and safest course 
 
1 8 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 at this time ; but, not having the moral courage to 
 come out openly on the Lord's side, he was in con- 
 stant temptation to stifle his convictions and disregard 
 the monitions of his conscience. And now the con- 
 scious failure to carry out the resolution he had 
 taken, and the impression that .his sins were fearfully 
 augmenting from day to day, came well-nigh driving 
 him to despair, and for a time he seriously meditated 
 upon giving up the struggle. 
 
 In the Summer of this year he attended a camp- 
 meeting in the neighborhood, and there, under a 
 sermon preached by Rev. David Young, on the " Par- 
 able of the Sower," his heart was more thoroughly 
 broken up than it had ever been before. From that 
 time he sought with increased diligence and earnest- 
 ness ; secret prayer was his constant refuge ; con- 
 viction increased, godly sorrow was deepened, and 
 the hope of final success began to revive. In a few 
 weeks, however, he found himself threatened with 
 the old difficulty, " the fear of man, which bringeth 
 a snare. " After much reflection on his unhappy 
 condition and the best means of obtaining relief, he 
 began to consider seriously the question of separat- 
 ing from the world, and choosing God's people to 
 be his people, as the only probable method of ob- 
 taining what he so much desired, — peace of mind, and 
 a sense of God's favor. But here, too, was a sore 
 conflict to pass through. The influence of early 
 religious training inclined him toward the Church of 
 his ancestors, while the strong religious impressions 
 received through the instrumentality of the Meth- 
 odists seemed to suggest the propriety of uniting 
 
DOUBTS RESOLVED. 1 9 
 
 with them. The fact that the Methodists were then 
 a feeble band, and much persecuted even by other 
 religious denominations, may have somewhat in- 
 creased the difficulty of settling this important ques- 
 tion ; but Mr. Morris determined to act deliberately, 
 intelligently, and in the fear of God. He borrowed 
 a Methodist Discipline, examined it thoroughly, and 
 liked it well. He then began to compare it with the 
 New Testament, reading them alternately. After 
 considerable time thus spent, he said to himself, 
 " The Methodists are the Lord's people, and his 
 people shall be my people." 
 
 There remained, however, one more difficulty to be 
 removed. In the early stages of his religious awaken- 
 ing he had concluded, in accordance with the views 
 entertained by his parents on the subject, that it 
 would be improper to unite with any Church until he 
 had first obtained a clear evidence of the pardon of 
 his sins. But the circumstances of his own case had 
 nearly satisfied him then, and more fully convinced 
 him afterward, that there is no period in the history 
 of a man's life when he so much needs the help, 
 encouragement, and protection of the Church, or 
 receives greater benefit from it, than while, as a 
 humble penitent, he is seeking the salvation of his 
 soul. When at last young Morris felt that he would 
 joyfully accept mercy on any terms, all his scruples 
 on the subject of entering the Church as a proba- 
 tioner were gone. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Brown, the preacher on the circuit 
 (Guyandott Circuit, Ohio Conference), had announced 
 that he would preach his " farewell sermon" at his 
 
20 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 last appointment in the Morris neighborhood some 
 time in August, 1813, and Mr. Morris resolved that 
 he would on that occasion offer himself to the society 
 for admission on trial, as a seeker of religion. The 
 place of meeting was three miles distant from his 
 home. At the appointed time he set off on foot and 
 alone, choosing an unfrequented way through the for- 
 est, in order to avoid company and interruption. 
 Fearing that his heart would fail him when the time 
 came for decisive action, he three times stopped on 
 the way, fell on his knees, and implored Divine as- 
 sistance to do his duty. A large congregation had 
 assembled ; and Mr. Brown's text was, " Come, for 
 all things are now ready." Mr. Morris felt that the 
 subject of the discourse, and the manner of treating 
 it, could not have been better adapted to his state 
 of mind had the minister known all about his condi- 
 tion. At the close of the sermon, persons desiring to 
 do so were invited to unite with the Church on trial. 
 Unaccustomed to Methodist usages in such cases, and 
 not knowing precisely how to act, Mr. Morris inquired 
 of a class-leader, Robert Caseboult, as to the regular 
 mode of procedure. " Go forward," said the leader, 
 "and give your hand to the preacher, and your heart 
 to God ;" and immediately, while the congregation 
 
 "Tliis is the way I long have sought, 
 And mourned because I found it not ; 
 My grief a burden long has been, 
 Because I was not saved from sin," — 
 
 he stepped forward alone, and was enrolled among the 
 followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the great sur- 
 
JOINING THE CHURCH. 21 
 
 prise and joy of the congregation, who gathered 
 around the new recruit, and warmly welcomed him to 
 a place in the Church. He was deeply affected, 
 melted into tears of contrition and penitence, and felt 
 that the unhappy wanderer had at last found friends, 
 a home, and a resting-place. 
 
 Though he had not, at this time, an evidence of 
 pardon, he had fully counted the cost, and resolved to 
 perform every duty pertaining to the new life he had 
 resolved, by God's help, to lead. This purpose was 
 soon severely tested ; for on the evening of the day 
 he united with the Church, he was called on to pray 
 in a public meeting, which he did with much fear and 
 trembling ; nor did he ever, from that day. refuse to 
 pray when requested to do so, though his mind was 
 often dark, and his heart heavy and oppressed, as he 
 sought the Lord with strong crying and tears. In 
 November following he obtained partial rest for his 
 weary, sin-sick soul. But it was only a glimmering 
 ray of heavenly light at first; afterward it shone more 
 and more, unto the perfect day. 
 
 It will be remembered that Mr. Morris's convictions 
 were too slight, at first, to be satisfactory to himself; 
 but toward the last of a nine-months' struggle they 
 became very deep and powerful. A sense of guilt as 
 a sinner against God, and the fear of the wrath to 
 come, caused him now many sleepless nights, spent 
 mostly in. an agony of prayer, sometimes in his cham- 
 ber, and sometimes on the cold ground, in the dark 
 and silent woods. This great mental distress, how- 
 ever, gradually subsided, as he, by faith, slowly appre- 
 hended Christ and the glorious provision he had made 
 
22 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 for sinners. One day, while in the clerk's office 
 alone, after a considerable strujr^le of mind to believe 
 and grasp the prize, and while singing the words, 
 
 " O, that day when freed from sinning, 
 I shall see thy lovely face, 
 Richly clothed in blood-washed linen, 
 How I '11 sing thy sovereign grace !" — 
 
 his faith seemed to take hold on the bleeding Savior; 
 he felt a strange emotion of love in his heart, and a 
 stream of joy seemed to be flowing in upon his 
 thirsty soul. His first thought was, This is religion ! 
 But alarmed in a moment lest he might be deceiving 
 himself, he drew back, his confidence failed, and all 
 was darkness again. Two or three days afterward, 
 about the hour of midnight, this manifestation was 
 repeated, only a little stronger and of longer continu- 
 ance, but followed by doubts and darkness for two 
 weeks. The dark seasons through which he now 
 passed were attended with no special sense of guilt, 
 or fear of the future, but were like the night to a 
 traveler who waits and longs for morning, that he 
 may proceed on his journey. A little instruction 
 from a competent spiritual guide, at that time, would 
 no doubt have lifted the cloud wholly from his mind, 
 and introduced him into the full light and liberty of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 About this time the class-leader having moved 
 away, and the little class in that neighborhood being 
 in a somewhat low condition, the new preacher, Rev. 
 John Cord, appointed Morris to fill the vacancy, and 
 handed him the class-book with the request that he 
 would convene the members once a week, and hold a 
 
APPOINTED CLASS-LEADER. 23 
 
 class-meeting. This appointment was received with 
 much fear and trembling. During the week he re- 
 tired into the woods, kneeled by the side of a fallen 
 tree, spread out the class-book before him, read the 
 first name, and prayed for him, and so on through the 
 entire list, asking for grace and wisdom to say profita- 
 ble words to them all on the ensuing Sabbath. The 
 class was a small one, and the members, scattered 
 over a wide territory, did not usually all meet to- 
 gether at one time ; but on the following Sabbath 
 there was a good attendance, and the Master was 
 present with them to impart strength and comfort. 
 
 Besides his private religious duties, praying in his 
 brother's family and leading the class, Mr. Morris 
 was now much exercised on the subject of holding 
 prayer-meetings, and offering the word of exhortation 
 to his neighbors. Encouraged by the brethren to 
 make the trial, he commenced on Christmas-day, by 
 adding a few remarks to a public discourse delivered 
 by an exhorter in the morning, consenting at the 
 same time to address the congregation in the evening. 
 In the evening the house was well filled, and he was 
 favored with much liberty of utterance in delivering 
 his message; at the close of which, he received a 
 great and signal blessing, such as he never enjoyed 
 before. For many days after, his soul was filled with 
 holy joy, and often while walking alone, or sitting at 
 his desk, musing on the goodness of God in deliver- 
 ing him out of all his troubles, tears of gratitude 
 would flow from his eyes, and he rejoiced greatly in 
 tljp Rock of his salvation. 
 
 Having made a few efforts at exhortation, on 
 
24 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 verbal authority, he was, without any application on 
 his part, presented with a written license to exhort, 
 signed by the preacher in charge of the circuit, and 
 dated February I, 1 8 14, which he accepted and used 
 faithfully from that time forward. 
 
 In the mean time, an event transpired in his his- 
 tory which calls for more than a passing mention. In 
 the Morris family, early marriages had been universal ; 
 and though Thomas once thought that his case would 
 perhaps be an exception to the general rule, it turned 
 out otherwise. That the married state, if prudently 
 entered into, was favorable to a life of piety, he was 
 thoroughly convinced, and his thoughts were a good 
 deal turned to the subject, not so much with a view 
 to any immediate steps in that direction, as to make 
 suitable preparation for the great event when the 
 more convenient season should arrive. In the little 
 class of which he was leader, there was a gentle and 
 lovely maiden, whose Christian graces and personal 
 charms so won his confidence and esteem, that his 
 mind became agitated with the question whether he 
 should ever be able to find a more worthy and suita- 
 ble helpmeet than in the person of Miss Abigail 
 Scales. A little in advance of himself, both in years 
 and in Christian experience, this young lady, he felt 
 persuaded, would greatly contribute both to his use- 
 fulness and happiness in the path of duty toward 
 which God's providence seemed to be leading him. 
 As his interest ripened into a pure and ardent affec- 
 tion, he took counsel of his elder brethren, and with 
 their approbation, after much prayer and reflection, 
 "he ventured to name the subject to her," and she 
 
FIRST SERMON. 2$ 
 
 became his affianced bride. "On the evening of 
 January 23, 1 814," in the words of Mr. Morris's brief 
 diary, "the marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. 
 Stephen Spnrlock, in the presence of only a few 
 serious friends, without levity or display of any sort." 
 The circumstances under which young Morris 
 made his first effort at preaching, from a text, were 
 somewhat peculiar. When his parents, who lived 
 twelve miles distant, heard that he had given some 
 public exhortations, they sent a message for him to 
 come and preach at their house. In the neighbor- 
 hood where they resided, it was not customary to 
 hold meetings for prayer and exhortation in the ab- 
 sence of a preacher ; and, not being familial' with 
 Methodist phraseology, they announced that Thomas 
 would " preach," whereas it was his intention to hold 
 a meeting for prayer and exhortation. At the ap- 
 pointed time the house was crowded with his old 
 neighbors and youthful companions, among whom he 
 had spent the days of his boyhood. These old asso- 
 ciates had come to hear a sermon, and would be 
 greatly disappointed if the service should be a prayer- 
 meeting ; and, besides, on looking over his congrega- 
 tion, he perceived that it was not made up of the right 
 sort of material for a profitable prayer-meeting. He 
 remembered, furthermore, that the preacher on the 
 circuit had voluntarily said to him : " If you feel 
 like preaching at any time, it will be admissible to 
 make the effort a few times by way of trial, without 
 a regular license." So he resolved to make his first 
 effort on that occasion. He sung and prayed, and 
 read his text from Hebrews ix, 27: "And as it is 
 
 3 
 
26 / IFR OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
 ment," etc. Profound silence followed. There was 
 probably more curiosity than prayer in the congrega- 
 tion. The preacher shook, as if in a paroxysm of 
 ague. Before a word was uttered, the family, many 
 of the neighbors, and the preacher himself, were in 
 tears, while the rest seemed filled with amazement. 
 But when he did begin to talk, it was like the letting 
 out of water under the pressure of a strong head. 
 For about twenty minutes word crowded word, as he 
 often said afterward, " without emphasis, cadence, or 
 period." Death and judgment were the topics, and 
 however unsatisfactory the manner may have been to 
 himself, there is reason to believe that solemn and 
 lasting impressions were made on many minds. 
 
 His next effort was made at the same place three 
 weeks subsequently, in which he endeavored to guard 
 against the hurried manner of the first attempt, and 
 got through with more ease and satisfaction to himself. 
 Afterward he preached in several localities, as oppor- 
 tunity offered. Some time in March, Rev. Burwell 
 Spurlock preached where Mr. Morris's class usually 
 met, and requested Morris to preach also on the same 
 day, which he did. After preaching, Mr. Spurlock met 
 the class, and requested them to give Morris a recom- 
 mendation to the Quarterly Conference for license to 
 preach, which they promptly and cheerfully did. The 
 quarterly-meeting was held at a preaching-place near 
 the junction of the Guyandott and Ohio Rivers. The 
 examination was conducted by Rev. David Young, 
 Presiding Elder of Muskingum District, Ohio Con- 
 ference. The Quarterly Conference being satisfied 
 
REV. DAVID YOUNG. 2J 
 
 as to his "gifts, graces, and usefulness," granted the 
 license ; to be retained, however, until he should re- 
 ceive the sacrament of baptism. The time selected 
 for the administration of this ordinance was immedi- 
 ately after the first sermon on the Sabbath of the 
 quarterly-meeting, when, kneeling at the water's edge, 
 Mr. Morris was solemnly baptized by the presiding 
 elder, who poured the water on his head. The influ- 
 ence of early education had somewhat embarrassed 
 him in his first attempts to investigate the subject 
 of water-baptism ; but he had now become firmly 
 convinced that effusion was the Scriptural mode, and 
 the baptism of the Holy Spirit which attended and 
 followed the application of water to him in that form, 
 was demonstration that he was in the path of duty. 
 The day of his baptism, and especially after the solemn 
 service was over, he was in the habit of referring to 
 as one of the happiest periods of his life. 
 
 Rev. David Young, under whose preaching the 
 heart of Mr. Morris was first thoroughly broken up, 
 who baptized and licensed him, and who was chiefly 
 instrumental in his becoming a Methodist itinerant, 
 was among the most distinguished men of his day. 
 He vvas born in Washington County, Virginia, March 
 9, 1779. His parents were pious Presbyterians, who 
 early taught their boy the Lord's Prayer, the Creed, 
 and the Catechisms. At the age of seven he was 
 taken by his parents to a prayer-meeting, where, dur- 
 ing the first prayer, he was so deeply convicted of sin 
 that he wept bitterly. His father was a man of con- 
 siderable wealth and culture, and possessed a good 
 library. This was David's delight ; and so well did 
 
28 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 he avail himself of its advantages and other privileges 
 of an educational kind, that at the age of twenty- 
 one he was at the head of a grammar-school in Ten- 
 nessee. Here, on the 19th of September, 1803, he 
 was converted under the instrumentality of the 
 Methodists. He immediately began to call sinners to 
 repentance, was licensed to preach, and in the Fall of 
 1805 was received into the Western Conference. In 
 person, Mr. Young was tall, straight, and well propor- 
 tioned ; in movement, easy, dignified, and graceful. 
 His head was large and covered with a luxuriant 
 growth of golden hair, which he wore flowing from 
 his shoulders. His forehead was broad and high ; his 
 eye full, and deep blue ; and when he was aroused, it 
 flashed with the fires of genius. His manners were 
 those of a finished gentleman of the old school — with 
 probably a little too much sternness. He was a 
 man of great mental vigor, an acute thinker, and a 
 laborious student. As an orator, according to the 
 general testimony of those who knew him in his 
 palmiest days, he had few equals. In style he was 
 clear, chaste, and logical ; occasionally his appeals 
 were grand and overwhelming. He was fifty-three 
 years a member of an annual conference, and six 
 times a member of the General Conference. He died 
 November 15, 1858, aged seventy-nine years. 
 
 For this eminent minister Mr. Morris entertained 
 the most profound respect and ardent affection through 
 life. His license to preach, signed by David Young, 
 and granted at the quarterly-meeting referred to 
 above, is dated April 2, 1 8 14. From that date he 
 had plenty of opportunities to preach. The County 
 
SETTLEMENT. 29 
 
 Court had, before he became a preacher, appointed 
 him commissioner of the revenue for that year in 
 Cabell County. This, in view of his feeble health, 
 he regarded as a very desirable office. It required 
 him to call on all the citizens of the county, who, 
 though comparatively few in number, were scattered 
 along the rivers and smaller streams over a wide ex- 
 tent of territory. As he passed around among the 
 people, in the discharge of his official duties, taking a 
 list of their taxable property, he received and accepted 
 many invitations to preach. The business assigned 
 to him was completed toward the end of Summer, and 
 it then became a grave and important question how 
 he should shape his future course. After much de- 
 liberation and consultation with friends, he concluded 
 to settle on a piece of unimproved land, given him 
 by his father, near the homestead. Accordingly he 
 addressed himself to the no easy task of building a 
 cabin, kitchen, crib, meat-house, etc. This work, after 
 four years of exemption from manual labor, taxed his 
 physical strength to the utmost. But perseverance 
 was crowned with success. Early in the Autumn of 
 that year he and Abigail took possession of " Spice 
 Flat Cottage," situated on a slight swell overlooking a 
 beautiful piece of table-land, embowered amid forest- 
 trees and spicewood shrubbery. The residence was 
 an unpretending one ; but it was the abode of love, 
 happiness, and piety. To this humble dwelling in the 
 wilderness they invited the ministers of Christ, and 
 opened their door for preaching. Rev. Henry B. Bas- 
 com, whose fame as an orator became afterward so 
 great and wide-spread, was that year the preacher on 
 
30 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Guyandott Circuit, and preached at the residence of 
 Mr. Morris, where, also, lie delivered weekly lectures 
 to such of the neighbors as cared to avail themselves 
 of the opportunity of hearing them. In the course 
 of that year a small Methodist society was formed 
 in the neighborhood, though most of the people in 
 that community who had any Church affinities were 
 Baptists. 
 
 In the mean time, Mr. Morris found that the work 
 of "clearing a farm," without help or the means to 
 procure it, was likely to prove a very tedious under- 
 taking ; and finally, at the solicitation of many of his 
 neighbors, he agreed to take a school, thinking that 
 he could apply the net proceeds toward the improve- 
 ment of his farm. The school commenced for a term 
 of six months ; but at the end of four the school-house 
 was destroyed by fire, and the enterprise was aban- 
 doned. This to the teacher was no cause of regret 
 so far as it concerned him alone ; for teaching a school, 
 in that community at least, he had proved to be both 
 an unproductive and irksome business. At the close 
 of the first year in " Spice Flat Cottage," besides 
 teaching four months, and occupying his leisure hours 
 with the ax, maul, and grubbing-hoe, he had preached 
 and lectured about one hundred times, but had made 
 no great progress in the cultivation of the soil. It 
 was a difficult region, too, for successful operations. as 
 a local preacher. The population was sparse, the 
 roads very bad, and the tax of time and money required 
 to meet the calls of remote appointments was very 
 heavy. In the Summer of 1815, at the request of his 
 eldest brother, Edmund, Mr. Morris made a tour of 
 
CIRCUIT PREACHING. 3 I 
 
 exploration through the south-western part of Ken- 
 tucky, for their mutual accommodation, as both had 
 for some time entertained thoughts of moving further 
 West. Edmund settled in Kentucky the next year 
 after this trip, but Thomas still lingered at Spice 
 Flat, until a very severe attack of chills and fever, 
 that prostrated his wife upon a sick-bed, made him 
 willing to leave the scene of his early married life. 
 He finally determined to follow his brother to Ken- 
 tucky, in the Spring of the ensuing year, and sold 
 out his farming implements and stock, so as to be 
 perfectly free to spend the Winter as might be 
 thought most profitable for himself and the Church. 
 About this time the Rev. John Dew, then on the cir- 
 cuit, solicited him to take employment as his col- 
 league for three months; which proposition, having 
 been submitted to Rev. David Young, Presiding Elder, 
 and approved by him, was accepted. He entered 
 upon the work in November, 1815. 
 
 There is abundant evidence that from the hour 
 when Mr. Morris first felt it to be his duty to preach 
 the Gospel, he was strongly impressed that he ought 
 to give himself wholly to the work. From the very 
 first he was seriously exercised on the subject of en- 
 tering the itinerancy ; and with a view to such a 
 probable contingency, he had studied as closely as 
 his other employments permitted. When at his daily 
 labor he kept his books with him, and, if compelled to 
 rest a few moments, would read a paragraph, to be 
 digested more fully while swinging his ax or mauls. 
 His own consent to tear away from the world and enter 
 the traveling ranks could easily have been obtained, 
 
32 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and some of his Methodist friends recommended 
 that course. But his nearest and best earthly 
 friend had a severe struggle before she became per- 
 fectly reconciled to go out and face the difficulties, 
 privations, and sufferings inseparable from an itin- 
 erant's life in those days. Her hesitancy was not 
 owing to any want of zeal in the cause of religion, 
 but grew mainly out of her delicate health ; and 
 partly, perhaps, from the conviction that neither she 
 nor her husband was adapted, physically or otherwise, 
 to many of the duties and peculiarities of the itiner- 
 ancy. There was little or no provision then for the 
 support of preachers' families on the circuits ; their 
 own means were exceedingly limited, and, with the 
 prospect of an increasing family, the outlook, from a 
 worldly point of view, was rather dark and forbidding. 
 The opposition, also, of some of her near relatives, in- 
 creased the embarrassment of the situation. Mrs. 
 Morris did not positively refuse to go into the itin- 
 erant ranks ; but her feelings were so agitated by the 
 anticipation of it, that her husband deemed it pru- 
 dent to waive the subject and await the indications 
 of Providence ; nor had he long to wait. The Lord 
 brought her by a way she did not know, and led her 
 in a path she had not considered. During the illness 
 already referred to, she became deeply exercised on 
 the subject of her husband's traveling and preaching, 
 when no one else apparently was thinking of it. 
 Her own account of the manner in which her mind 
 was exercised, is somewhat remarkable. " The Lord 
 said to me," she related, " by his silent but intelli- 
 gent Spirit, 'Let him go!' but my heart said 'No!' 
 
THE MINISTRY. 33 
 
 In a moment I was siezed with an agony of bodily 
 pain and mental anguish. For two or three hours I 
 felt as if rolling on a bed of thorns, while the black- 
 ness of darkness and despair, comparable only to the 
 torments of hell, seized upon my mind. The words 
 were again applied with increased force, ' Let him go !' 
 when I responded instantly, 'With all my heart;' 
 and in a moment all distress of body and mind were 
 gone, and I felt exquisitely happy." A wonderful 
 change in her countenance was observed by her hus- 
 band, to whom, as soon as she was sufficiently com- 
 posed, she made the above statement, adding, " Now, 
 if you feel it your duty to travel and preach, you 
 have my full consent ; and, if you ever locate, no 
 one shall ever say that it was at my request." 
 
 This was in the Fall of 18 15, and she kept her 
 promise faithfully to the end of her life. It was only 
 a few weeks subsequently to the remarkable incident 
 just related, that the proposition was made for Mr. 
 Morris to become a colleague of Rev. Mr. Dew. 
 Under all these circumstances he felt that he could not 
 safely refuse. His itinerancy was an experiment ; he 
 felt doubtful of success, and engaged in the work for 
 one quarter only, with a view to satisfy his own mind 
 whether it would be safe and proper for him fully to 
 enter the itinerant ranks. 
 
 Those who best knew him will most readily 
 believe his statement, recorded in his diary, that he 
 was far from being sanguine of success. Many things 
 caused him to fear a failure, and, among others, an 
 enfeebled constitution, difficulty of supporting his 
 family, want of suitable qualifications, and, last but 
 
34 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 not least, a temptation to doubt bis Divine call to the 
 ministry. Hitherto he had simply done as his breth- 
 ren directed, in all cases where help was needed and 
 he saw any prospect of doing good. Thus he had 
 been made a leader, an exhorter, and a licentiate, 
 without any solicitation on his own part, and had 
 labored whenever and wherever those having rule 
 over him advised. In accordance with this rule, when 
 his services were called for on the circuit, he deter- 
 mined to make trial for one quarter at least. 
 
 The Winter of 1815 — 16 was severe. The cold 
 was often intense, changes in the weather sudden, 
 and traveling bad. Under these circumstances, in a 
 sparsely populated neighborhood, the congregations 
 were necessarily small, and the young itinerant would 
 often, no doubt, be sorely tempted. The time, how- 
 ever, passed swiftly ; for he was deeply interested in 
 his work, and felt a growing desire to make a thor- 
 ough trial of his fitness for it. The time for the 
 quarterly-meeting having arrived, Mr. Morris was ap- 
 proached by his colleague, Dew, on the subject of a 
 recommendation to the Annual Conference. " Do 
 you feel, brother Morris," said Mr. Dew, "like selling 
 yourself to the Church ?" The characteristic reply 
 was, " Yes, cheap !" After the usual examination, the 
 Quarterly Conference granted the recommendation ; 
 but, as the Ohio Conference would not meet for six 
 months, the presiding elder employed him as assist- 
 ant on Marietta Circuit, with Rev. Marcus Lindsey 
 as his colleague. 
 
 Before he left for his new field of labor, time was 
 given him to fill a few outstanding appointments. 
 
INCIDENT OF TRAVEL. 35 
 
 On his way to meet these engagements, Mrs. Morris 
 accompanied him some distance, to visit a friend. 
 The weather had suddenly become extremely cold, 
 and the small streams were beginning to freeze over. 
 Crossing these, as they were obliged to do many times, 
 was both difficult and dangerous, for the ice was not 
 quite strong enough to bear the weight of a horse. 
 In one of these crossings, his own horse became 
 frightened and unmanageable, and, after plunging 
 through the ice, struck a bluff bank, where, in the 
 attempt to rise, he fell back ; and Mr. Morris and his 
 little daughter, whom he was carrying in his arms, 
 were thrown into the stream, and the horse escaped. 
 They got to the bank at last with difficulty, but not 
 until his clothes were frozen stiff. Mrs. Morris took 
 off her riding-habit and wrapped it around the child 
 to keep it from perishing with cold, while her hus- 
 band waded into the creek again to recover his 
 saddle-bags. Then considerable time was spent in 
 recovering the horse, and, when that was accomplished, 
 they were obliged to travel two miles before reaching 
 shelter or fire. This unpleasant episode cost both 
 the father and child a severe illness ; but with such 
 experiences the early preachers of Methodism, es- 
 pecially in the West, became familiar. The work to 
 be done required heroic spirits, and, in the good provi- 
 dence of God, the right man was generally found in 
 the right place. 
 
 Having partially recovered from this attack of ill- 
 ness, Mr. Morris setoff, early in March, 1816, accord- 
 ing to instructions, to meet Rev. D. Young at the 
 quarterly-meeting in Athens, Ohio, which, at that 
 
36 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 time, was an appointment belonging to Marietta 
 Circuit. Just before reaching Athens, while riding 
 down a muddy bill, his horse stumbled and fell, and he 
 was precipitated over the animal's head into the mire. 
 Almost literally covered from head to foot with mud, 
 to say nothing of a severely bruised ankle, he was 
 obliged to ride into the town ; and, to add to his mor- 
 tification, just as he passed the church, the congre- 
 gation was dismissed, and he was obliged to make 
 his first appearance before his parishioners in that 
 unhappy plight. 
 
 After passing around the circuit, and having se- 
 cured a boarding-place for his little family, he re- 
 turned for them to Virginia. With heavy hearts they 
 bid adieu to Spice Flat Cottage and the friends of 
 their youth, to take up their abode among strangers, 
 with the prospect of being homeless wanderers to the 
 end of their days. Still they were greatly strength- 
 ened and comforted by the thought that they were in 
 the path of duty, and under the guidance of Provi- 
 dence. There were times, however, when Mr. Morris 
 was in painful doubt about his call to the ministry; 
 and when he engaged in the work on this circuit, it 
 was with the determination to test his health, qualifica- 
 tions, and call, until the session of the ensuing Con- 
 ference, and then finally settle the question of con- 
 tinuing in the work. 
 
 The work of the circuit was heavy, and well-nigh 
 wore him down in six months. But he was full of 
 ardor, and labored indefatigably and not in vain in the 
 Lord. The Church was quickened, sinners were 
 awakened, and at many points on the circuit gracious 
 
CIRCUIT WORK. 37 
 
 revival seasons were enjoyed. During the two quar- 
 ters, Mr. Morris himself received sixty-six persons on 
 trial, and his colleague a still greater number. This 
 success, though it does not seem to have fully settled 
 in his own mind the question of his call to the min- 
 istry, greatly encouraged and comforted him ; and 
 yielding to the entreaties of his brethren, and es- 
 pecially his colleague, he suffered his recommenda- 
 tion to go to Conference, which met at Louisville, 
 Ky., where, in September, 1816, he was regularly ad- 
 mitted into the Ohio Conference on trial. The two 
 years of his probation in the Conference were both 
 spent on Marietta Circuit, and they were years of 
 much prosperity to the Church, and of great spiritual 
 enjoyment to Mr. Morris, who, before the close of the 
 first year, had all doubts removed from his mind con- 
 cerning his call to the ministry — a subject on which 
 we purpose to give his well-considered views more 
 definitely in the next chapter. 
 
38 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CIRCUIT WORK — ORDAINED DEACON AND ELDER — TRANSFER 
 TO KENTUCKY. 
 
 THE various denominations of the Protestant 
 world agree substantially on the subject of a 
 Divine call to the ministry. That it is the peculiar 
 prerogative of the Head of the Church to designate 
 men for the great work of preaching the Gospel, is 
 admitted among Christians with very great unanimity. 
 The Methodist Episcopal Church admits to the sacred 
 office only those who "think they are moved by the 
 Holy Ghost to preach." This principle was undoubt- 
 edly recognized in the appointment of Aaron and his 
 sons, and the tribe of Levi, to the Jewish priesthood. 
 In all ages of the world, and under every form of dis- 
 pensation, the method of filling the priestly, prophet- 
 ical, and apostolic office, has been the same. The 
 mode in which the Divine will is now made known 
 to the individual whose duty it is to preach the Gos- 
 pel may differ, in some respects, from that employed 
 in the first ages of the Church, or even in apostolic 
 times. But all Christians who derive their opinions 
 on this highly important subject from the New Testa- 
 ment, and believe that the Scriptures contain the 
 only proper rule of faith and practice for the Church 
 in all ages, must be convinced that men are set. apart 
 
A CALL TO THE MINISTRY. 39 
 
 for the ministry by Divine appointment, and that 
 inne are true ministers of Christ "but they who are 
 called of God, as was Aaron." 
 
 We give Mr. Morris's account of his call to the 
 work of the ministry, in his own words: 
 
 " That some men are specially called of God to 
 preach his Gospel, is a doctrine which I have always 
 held as firmly as any other tenet of the Christian sys- 
 tem, and for the reason that it is plainly taught in 
 the Sacred Scriptures. It does not follow, neces- 
 sarily, however, that God must work miracles to 
 convince men of their duty in this respect, any more 
 than in other respects. Men are convinced of their 
 duty to preach, as they are of their duty to repent 
 or pray, — 1. These duties are taught in the Scrip- 
 tures; 2. The Holy Spirit moves men to the 
 performance of them ; 3. They are encouraged to 
 persevere in them by the blessing which follows 
 obedience. 
 
 "Again, it is not contended that all the evidences 
 of a man's call to the work of the ministry are con- 
 ferred at once ; for there are some evidences which 
 never can be obtained, except by the test of experi- 
 ment : as, for instance, gifts and fruit. No one knows 
 whether he can preach until he tries, and much less 
 does he know what will be the effect of his preaching. 
 But there are some things he can know, respecting 
 his call to the work, before he commences. First, he 
 may know whether the providence of God opens the 
 way, or not, for him to enter the field ; and, sec- 
 ondly, whether he is moved by the Holy Ghost to go 
 forward and preach the glad news of salvation. But 
 
40 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 to preach without some intimation of a Divine call, is 
 the height of presumption. He who is a stranger to 
 experimental godliness, and has no call to the work 
 except that he has been educated for it by his friends, 
 assumes an awful responsibility. He stands before 
 the people claiming to be an embassador for Christ, 
 when Christ has neither chosen nor sent him. And 
 as to the authority supposed to be derived by what is 
 called apostolical succession, in the sense in which 
 that phase is now used and abused, it should be 
 classed with the claim of the Jews to salvation on 
 the ground that they were the natural descendants of 
 Abraham. It is nothing worth. He who is soundly 
 converted, called of God to preach, and has conse- 
 quently the promise of Christ's presence and aid, 
 belongs to the true Scriptural succession ; and all 
 others, no matter where, when, or by whom ordained, 
 are intruders into the sacred office. 
 
 "I am far from believing that all the. true min- 
 isters of the Lord Jesus Christ belong to any one 
 denomination ; and equally far from supposing that 
 a Divine call supersedes the necessity of study, to 
 show ourselves approved of God, workmen that need 
 not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 
 With these views, which I have ever held without 
 wavering, it has been my honest endeavor to look 
 well to my own credentials. 
 
 "The evidences which satisfied me of my call to 
 the ministerial work were chiefly these: I. As soon 
 as I began to enjoy the comforts of religion, I felt a 
 desire to recommend it to others, which I did first 
 privately. But this did not satisfy my mind ; I desired 
 
OFFICE OF THE MINISTRY. 4 1 
 
 to proclaim it to the multitudes, and this desire in- 
 creased until it nearly engrossed all my thoughts by 
 day and night, so that even in my sleep I appeared 
 to be generally at some religious meeting, praying 
 and exhorting. 2. Without any solicitation on my 
 part the brethren urged me to go forward in the work 
 of the Lord publicly. 3. The fear that I would be 
 confounded in consequence of my extreme diffidence 
 was overcome by the power of faith to a great extent. 
 For years I had been doing business as a clerk of 
 court, and to the last would nearly choke down in 
 swearing a jury, or reading a paper, from which 
 painful embarrassment I could by no means escape ; 
 but when I commenced speaking in public, though 
 my natural weakness remained, the power of religious 
 influence often raised me above it, so that J fre- 
 quently spoke in the presence of multitudes with ease 
 and pleasure. 4. My early efforts to exhort and preach 
 were followed by a great blessing on my own soul. 
 5. My conscience bore me witness that I was in the 
 path of duty ; for if I improved every opportunity 
 offered me to speak for Christ, in public as well as in 
 private, I enjoyed peace of mind ; but if I neglected 
 to do this, or shunned the cross, my heart condemned 
 me, and I was unhappy. 6. The pious part of the 
 community thought I ought to proceed, and some of 
 the people professed to be benefited by my labors. 
 I formed some new societies, and received scores of 
 new members into the old ones. Still, doubts of my 
 call occasionally troubled me, attended with great 
 despondency of mind, and sore temptations to desist 
 from the work. It would often occur to me that the 
 
 4 
 
42 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 good accomplished might be accounted for without 
 admitting my Divine call, and fears would arise that I 
 might be in the way of others whom the Lord would 
 delight to honor as the instruments of saving souls. 
 7. I wanted some responsible witnesses who could and 
 would say, voluntarily, that under my preaching they 
 were awakened for the first time, and from thence had 
 turned to seek the Lord, and had been saved. The 
 Lord gave me many such witnesses on the Marietta 
 Circuit. 8. Satan still assaulted me by suggesting 
 that all these might fall away and be lost, and my 
 work go for nothing at last ; but his mouth was soon 
 stopped, for two of these witnesses, after living hap- 
 pily for some months, died shouting victory to the 
 last. Since that time I have not doubted that God 
 called me, unworthy as I am, to the work of the min- 
 istry, though I have feared often that, throne;!) un- 
 faithfulness, my commission was forfeited. And my 
 experience as a Christian has accorded with my expe- 
 rience as a minister. That I was changed by grace, 
 and often blessed with the spirit of adoption, was 
 with me no matter of uncertainty or doubt for many 
 years ; but afterward I sometimes feared, especially 
 when low in religious comforts, that I had fallen from 
 grace, as Paul said some of the Galatians did. Yet 
 generally I have had peace and prosperity as a hum- 
 ble laborer in the Lord's vineyard, and have main- 
 tained a good hope, through grace, of everlasting life." 
 When Mr. Morris entered the regular work of the 
 itinerant ministry he had almost every thing pertain- 
 ing to his calling to learn, both as to his pastoral and 
 social relations. He found himself in a school where 
 
CIRCUIT PREACHING, 43 
 
 experience and observation were, under God, his chief 
 instructors. Being quite young, it would be strange 
 it", under all the circumstances, he did not sometimes 
 make mistakes. <<">( a very sensitive nature, a trifling 
 error oi judgment would occasion him great pain and 
 mortification ; ami although, with the ingenuous can- 
 dor that marked his whole life, he often in latei years 
 referred to the mortifying blunders oi his early min- 
 istry, we have reason to believe, from the testimony 
 
 of his contemporaries, that these wore verv lew ami 
 
 unimportant. (^^ leaving his fust field of labor in 
 Ohio (the Marietta Circuit), he hail every reason to 
 
 thank God ami take coinage, llis ministry there had 
 been one of toil indeed, ami even at times of sorrow ; 
 
 hut it had also been one of hope ami joy ami success. 
 
 lie had not labored in vain. Besides those reported 
 by his colleagues, Cornelius Springer ami Job Baker, 
 he had had the pleasure ol receiving about two hun- 
 dred and fifty persons into the Chinch — a great ami 
 glorious work when we consider the wide extent of 
 the circuit traveled, tin- sparseness oi the population, 
 and the many difficulties to be overcome. From a 
 small diary kept by Mr. Morris during this period, 
 extending from March, 1S16, to August, [S18, we 
 
 learn that, during these two and a halt years spent on 
 
 Marietta Circuit, he had traveled on horseback about 
 seven thousand five hundred miles, and delivered 
 
 about nine hundred ami twenty public discourses, in 
 
 the form oi regular sermons, being a little over an 
 average of one daily, exclusive oi the labor i)i holding- 
 class and prayer meetings, and visiting among the 
 sick and the serious. This amount of labor, which 
 
44 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 seems herculean to modern itinerants, he performed, 
 too, it is to be remembered, in a feeble state of health, 
 suffering severely at times from liver complaint, ery- 
 sipelas, chills and fever, and last, though not least, 
 constant weakness and pain in -his eyes ; so that much 
 of the time he was compelled to ride in goggles, and 
 preach with spectacles on. 
 
 If the young minister of the present day inquires, 
 When did he find time to study ? we answer : The 
 heroes of early Methodism did not require, for the 
 preparation of their sermons, or the prosecution of 
 their theolog'cal studies, a neatly furnished office, a 
 handsome writing-table, and a large library ; nor did 
 they claim their morning hours as sacred from intru- 
 sion, to be devoted wholly to study. They were gen- 
 erally men who religiously observed the rule, " Never 
 be unemployed ; never be triflingly employed." 
 Every scrap of time, every leisure hour and odd mo- 
 ment, was appropriated to study. Books were read 
 through carefully on horseback, and whatever they 
 contained of practical utility to the preacher was im- 
 mediately called into requisition. When not reading 
 or sleeping, or engaged in religious or social conver- 
 sation, they were studying sermons, preparing new 
 ones — thinking them out — and remodeling old ones. 
 This process was carried on while riding, walking, 
 sitting, or reclining. It was a necessity; but it also 
 became a source of great enjoyment. The diversity 
 of congregations would naturally suggest a variety 
 of topics, and the remote positions of appointments 
 from each other afforded opportunity for repeating 
 sermons. Thus the early preacher could review, 
 
MINISTERIAL SUPPORT. 45 
 
 amend, and improve his discourses, until they were 
 wrought into the most effective form. 
 
 Perhaps the most serious hardship encountered by 
 the early Methodist preachers was the inadequacy and 
 uncertainty of their support. The people to whom 
 they ministered were poor, with few exceptions, and 
 the full allowance for the support of a preacher (which 
 was not always paid) was a miserable stipend. Often, 
 indeed, must these devoted and self-sacrificing men 
 have suffered severe tests of their faith as to what 
 they should eat, and wherewithal be clad, while toil- 
 ing in the Master's vineyard ; but, trusting in God, 
 and going forward, they were generally provided for — 
 how strangely and providentially at times is illus- 
 trated in the following incident, which occurred dur- 
 ing the first year of Mr. Morris on Marietta Circuit. 
 Being in need of a pocket-handkerchief, he went into 
 the store of James Whitney, Esq., of Harmar, to buy 
 one. Before making the purchase, however, it oc- 
 curred to him that his family might need the dollar 
 more than he did the handkerchief, especially if they 
 should get sick. He therefore left the store without 
 making known the object of his call, or even hinting 
 the matter to any one. After passing round his cir- 
 cuit he called at the store again, when Mr. Whitney 
 handed him a small package, remarking, " It was left 
 here for you by a gentleman from the country." It 
 contained a silk handkerchief, just the article he 
 wanted, and a silver dollar, both of which came very 
 opportunely. 
 
 Methodism was not then the influential and pop- 
 ular cause which the growth of a century has now 
 
46 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 made it. To unite with the Church then was no 
 slight cross, especially to such as had any connection 
 with influential and fashionable families. Several of 
 the converts under the ministry of Mr. Morris, at this 
 period, were disowned by their former friends ; young 
 people were driven from home for becoming religious, 
 and joining the Methodists. One young lady of Mari- 
 etta was whipped with a cowhide by her enraged 
 father for attending Methodist meetings. It was said, 
 at the same time, that Mr. Morris would receive a 
 like castigation as soon as an opportunity occurred. 
 The opportunity was not long delayed. Mr. Morris, 
 as soon as he heard of the threat, walked past the 
 docfr of the irate gentleman, who happened to be sit- 
 ting on his portico at the time ; but no violence was 
 attempted. Finding that he could not beat religion 
 out of his daughter, or hire her to leave the Church 
 of her choice, he adopted another plan to convince 
 her that the Methodists were not as good friends as 
 she thought them to be, hoping in that way to alien- 
 ate her affections from them. She was a minor, but 
 a remarkably intelligent young lady for her years. 
 He drew up a bond binding blank individuals for her 
 support until she became of age, and providing that 
 she should never apply to him for any thing as a 
 minor. Handing this paper to his daughter, he said, 
 " If Whitney and Dunlavy [prominent Methodists and 
 men of means] will sign this bond, you may go where 
 you please." She presented it to those gentlemen, 
 who immediately signed it, The young lady, thus 
 driven away from her own father's house, found a 
 pleasant home in the family of Mr. Whitney for the 
 
CONFERENCE SESSION 47 
 
 time being, but soon sought employment and the 
 means of self-support by teaching a country school. 
 Her father was stricken clown in about a year with a 
 severe illness, from which he never recovered, and 
 through which he was faithfully nursed by his perse- 
 cuted child. This may serve as an example of the 
 trials through which both the preachers and the 
 people of early Methodism were called to pass. 
 
 When his full term of service on the Marietta Cir- 
 cuit was completed, Mr. Morris attended an annual 
 conference for the first time. It was held at Steu- 
 benville, Ohio, where he was examined, admitted to 
 full connection, and ordained deacon by Bishop 
 George, in August, 1818. At that conference several 
 things were witnessed by the young itinerant that 
 made a deep impression on his mind. There he saw, 
 for the first time, Bishops M'Kendree, George, and 
 Roberts, all of whom were present. There, too, he 
 saw first a body of grave divines in council, among 
 whom were Quinn, Parker, Shinn, Crume, and others, 
 all of whom have long since passed from toil to re- 
 ward. The regular business of a conference was then 
 very limited compared to conference business now ; 
 but more time and attention were devoted to spiritual 
 matters. Bishop M'Kendree, as he called the names 
 of the elders, requested each to speak of his work 
 and experience, converting the conference into a sort 
 of class-meeting, which was at once interesting and 
 profitable. 
 
 The Committee on Public Worship had notified 
 Mr. Morris on Sabbath evening that he was appointed 
 to preach at sunrise on Monday morning. With fear 
 
48 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and trembling he rose in the pulpit at the appointed 
 time, and commenced the service. As soon as he an- 
 nounced his subject, it became evident to him, from 
 the looks of preachers and people, that something was 
 amiss ; but what it was he could not imagine. At the 
 close of the meeting, one of the brethren observed to 
 him that his task had been a difficult one — that is, to 
 improve the bishop's sermon. It appeared, then, that 
 Bishop Roberts had preached from the same text the 
 day before, in the same house — a circumstance of 
 which Mr. Morris was wholly ignorant, as he had at- 
 tended service at another church the day previously. 
 The occurrence was mortifying, of course, to a young 
 man ; but no harm came of it other than the pleas- 
 antry of his brethren, which, to a keenly sensitive 
 nature, may have seemed a little cruel. 
 
 Another incident occurred at the Steubenville Con- 
 ference not easily forgotten by Mr. Morris. On the 
 recommendation of some of his friends, he was em- 
 ployed by Bishop M'Kendree as his private secretary. 
 The bishop and his secretary occupied a large room 
 with two beds at Mr. Haile's. Sabbath evening they 
 retired early ; but the responsibility of having to 
 preach at sunrise next morning made the young 
 scribe wakeful. At about two o'clock, on Monday 
 morning, he awoke from his first uneasy slumber, and 
 was surprised to see a light in the room, and the 
 good bishop seated at his table, writing. something in 
 which he seemed deeply interested. He was station- 
 ing the preachers, and was doing it after the manner 
 of Asbury ; that is, according to his own judgment. 
 Without consultation with his colleagues in office, or 
 
ZANESVILLE CIRCUIT. 49 
 
 the presiding elders, he was calling over the list of 
 appointments, and naming the man selected for each, 
 in a soft, low tone of voice, as he wrote it down. 
 Soon Mr. Morris, who was now wide awake, though 
 perfectly quiet, heard the bishop say, " Barnesville, T. 
 A. Morris." The young secretary did not understand 
 then, what he had abundant opportunity afterward to 
 learn, that necessity will sometimes arise for changes 
 in the appointments after the first scheme is made 
 out. He said nothing, but was well pleased with the 
 arrangement, as Barnesville was one of the best cir- 
 cuits in the Conference. When at last, however, the 
 appointments were announced at the close of the 
 Conference session, he was somewhat surprised to 
 learn that his destination was not Barnesville, but 
 Zanesville ! 
 
 From this Conference he returned to his family at 
 Marietta, and with them set off to visit their friends 
 in Virginia, after an absence -of two years. On the 
 way they received the sad intelligence of the death 
 of his father, and of the serious illness of his mother, 
 who died some days after their arrival. Their end was 
 tranquil and peaceful ; for they had both been, for many 
 years, experimental, practical Christians. But deso- 
 lation seemed to reign through all the walks of his 
 once cheerful and happy home, and he soon hastened 
 back to survey a new, and, to him, strange field of 
 labor. Zanesville Circuit, when T. A. Morris and 
 Charles Elliott were sent to it, in 1818-19, "included 
 what are now called Zanesville Station, Cambridge 
 Circuit, Putnam Circuit, and parts of others ;" and, 
 in the following year, when Samuel Brockunier and 
 
 5 
 
50 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 James Gil ruth were his colleagues, " it was so en- 
 larged as to include Washington and Coshocton, and 
 the intermediate settlements. Those familiar with 
 that region can easily see the extent of the circuit, 
 by running a supposed line from Zanesville to Dilan's 
 Iron-works, and curving round through the settle- 
 ments on Jonathan's Creek to Wolf Geek, below 
 M'Connellsviile; thence up the Muskingum, on the 
 west side to Putnam and Zanesville ; thence south- 
 east by a zigzag route, past Chandler's Salt-works, 
 and on to the head of Wills Creek, and all the neigh- 
 borhoods down to Cambridge ; thence to Washington, 
 Sugar Creek, Wagoner's Plains, Coshocton, . and 
 Johnson's Plains ; and, finally, by numerous angles 
 and right-angles and acute-angles, back to Zanes- 
 ville." (Morris's Miscellany, page 245.) 
 
 For a family residence on this circuit, Mr. Mor- 
 ris obtained a one-story log-cabin, with two small 
 rooms, situated on the commons north-east of Cam- 
 bridge, Guernsey County. This humble domicile he 
 fitted up in the cheapest and simplest manner. Of 
 his colleague the first year on this circuit, Charles 
 Elliott, it is unnecessary to speak at length here. 
 His name has since become a household word, and 
 his fame as an author and journalist has extended far 
 beyond the limits of his own denomination. Dr. 
 Elliott's history is an important part of the history 
 of American Methodism, and must ever hold a high 
 place among the standard biographical literature of 
 the Church which he so long and so faithfully served. 
 It need hardly be said that T. A. Morris and Charles 
 Elliott worked together as true yokefellows, with the 
 
AN INCIDENT. 5 I 
 
 utmost cordiality and in uninterrupted harmony 
 during the year. They not only filled all the regular 
 appointments, but struck out into the regions beyond, 
 and, wherever a destitute neighborhood was found, 
 the standard of the Cross was set up. Most of the 
 country was new, the roads were very bad, the houses 
 were open, lodging hard, fare coarse, and pay very 
 inconsiderable. Indeed, it barely sufficed to keep 
 soul and body together, and that only with the most 
 rigid economy. 
 
 An incident that occurred about this time in the 
 history of Mr. Morris, though unimportant in itself, 
 may nevertheless serve to illustrate the times of 
 which we write, and, also, the dealings of the Lord 
 with his servants. It occurred at the beginning: of 
 the first year on Zanesville Circuit. Having passed 
 around and arranged the plan of the work, returning 
 home through Zanesville, Mr. Morris bought cloth 
 for a coat, and left it with a tailor to be made up and 
 ready for him the day previous to his first Sabbath 
 appointment in that place, as he had no coat suitable 
 to wear on such an occasion ; Zanesville being even 
 then a place of considerable culture and refinement. 
 Punctual to his engagement the tailor sent the coat, 
 and the bill also, to Mr. Morris's lodgings on Satur- 
 day night. It was paid for in full; but the preacher's 
 purse was thereby utterly depleted — not a farthing 
 being left. Still, he was well satisfied to have his 
 new coat, and money enough to pay for it ; and so he 
 gave himself no anxiety about to-morrow. On Mon- 
 day morning, however, he was obliged to make an 
 early start for his next appointment. Soon after 
 
52 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 setting out, he came in sight of a toll-bridge across 
 the Muskingum River, and over this bridge he must 
 pass in order to reach his appointment ; but how to 
 accomplish that without a cent of money in his 
 pocket, became now an embarrassing question. While 
 examining his pockets for a knife, comb, or something 
 that would be accepted as a pledge until his next 
 " round," he reached the gate, and a lady came to the 
 door to receive the toll. After looking at him closely 
 for a moment, she remarked, " I believe you go free." 
 He thanked her, and rode on. He said afterward, 
 in relating this incident, that he never saw that lady 
 before or after that day, and that during his two- 
 years' term on the circuit, this was the only time he 
 was passed free through that bridge. 
 
 Finding the affairs of the circuit generally in a 
 very unsatisfactory condition, he applied himself at 
 once to the work of restoring order, enforcing disci- 
 pline, and organizing the societies. Boards of trustees 
 were convened, vacancies rilled, and old debts paid or 
 provided for. Fifty nominal members were excluded — 
 some for immorality, but most of them for willfully 
 neglecting duty. He and his colleague toiled hard 
 that year, and gathered some lost and wandering 
 sheep into the fold ; but in consequence of a rigid 
 enforcement of discipline, they were compelled, at its 
 close, to report a slight decrease. In 1819 he 
 attended the session of the Conference held in Cin- 
 cinnati, and saw for the first time the Queen City of 
 the West, containing at that date a population of 
 about eight thousand. The sittings of the Conference 
 were held in the old stone church where Wesley 
 
RETURNED 10 ZANESVILLE. 53 
 
 Chapel now stands. Mr. Morris soon learned that 
 an annual conference was not an occasion either 
 for idleness or recreation, but for constant and often 
 perplexing business. At the first one he attended, 
 the year before, and previous to his admission as a 
 member, he was placed on the Book Committee; at 
 this session he was placed on the Board of Stewards, 
 a responsible and laborious position. After the 
 appointments had been announced, Bishop George, 
 who presided, pleasantly remarked to him at parting, 
 " Well, Brother Morris, you made such a poor out 
 on your circuit last year, we have sent you back to 
 do your work over." 
 
 His colleague this year, by Conference appoint- 
 ment, was Samuel R. Brockunier ; but at the close 
 of the first quarter, the presiding elder, Jonathan 
 Stamper, sent James Gilruth to their relief, and they 
 then enlarged the circuit extensively, taking into 
 their new " plan" many points that had never before 
 been occupied. They labored incessantly in the work 
 of organizing new societies and strengthening old 
 ones, and had considerable success. More than two 
 hundred were added to the membership of the circuit, 
 and, at the close of the year, a net increase of one 
 hundred and eighty-seven was reported. The sup- 
 port, however, was but little better than that of the 
 year previous. Mr. Morris lived this year in Zanes- 
 ville, occupying a very indifferent frame tenement, 
 which the owner kindly tendered, free of rent, until 
 he had other use for it. He then moved into the 
 paint-shop of Mr. Thomas Moorhead, situated on the 
 rear of his lot, near the old market-house. This 
 
54 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 dwelling also was furnished free of rent ; terms well 
 adapted, no doubt, to the financial condition of the 
 occupant, whose income did not amount to enough 
 to buy food and clothing suitable for himself and 
 family. 
 
 During that year, at a time when he and his 
 family were in very trying circumstances, being in 
 want of apparel and in debt for provisions, the Lord 
 raised them up an unexpected friend in the person of 
 Mr. Pierce, a merchant of Zanesville. This gentleman 
 was not a professor of religion, nor even a stated 
 hearer at the Methodist Church, and was, besides, a 
 stranger to Mr. Morris, who had no acquaintance 
 with him whatever. The weary itinerant, on reach- 
 ing home one evening, toil-worn and depressed by the 
 gloomy prospect before him, unable to see how he 
 could much longer continue in the work with his 
 feeble health and helpless family, was surprised to 
 learn that Mr. Pierce had called on Rev. D. Young to 
 inquire into his history, circumstances, and worldly 
 prospects. As the result of his inquiries, he was 
 soon seen on the streets with a subscription paper in 
 his hand. Meeting a member of the Church, who 
 was also a merchant, the following conversation 
 ensued : 
 
 Methodist. What are you doing, Mr. Pierce ? 
 
 Mr. P. I am making an effort to relieve your 
 minister. 
 
 Methodist. Well, I '11 give something to help in 
 that case. 
 
 Mr. P. No, sir ; your name do n't go on this 
 paper, nor that of any member of your Church, 
 
REV. S. R. BROCKUNIER. 55 
 
 except T. Moorhead. You ought to be ashamed to 
 let such a man suffer while laboring for your good ; 
 this effort is to be confined to poor sinners like 
 myself. 
 
 Mr. Pierce headed the list with a subscription of 
 ten dollars, and he succeeded very quickly in collect- 
 ing about seventy-five dollars. This occurred near 
 the close of the second year, and was regarded by 
 Mr. Morris as a providential deliverance from a very 
 distressing financial embarrassment. The amount 
 of this donation may now seem small, and to many, 
 perhaps, the incident will appear trifling ; but in that 
 day the support of Methodist preachers was so meagre, 
 that seventy-five dollars would be a very great relief. 
 During the first twelve years of the ministry of Mr. 
 Morris, his salary averaged one hundred and sixty- 
 six dollars and sixty-six and two-third cents, as his 
 carefully-kept private accounts show. This was to 
 pay house-rent, buy fuel, provisions, and clothing for 
 the family, entertain company, educate the children, 
 pay doctors' bills, public and private charities, books, 
 horse, etc. During the two years of labor on Zanes- 
 ville Circuit, though in feeble health, Mr. Morris rode 
 on horseback about five thousand five hundred miles, 
 and preache'd five hundred sermons. Of his col- 
 leagues this year, Rev. James Gilruth, after an 
 active life in the pioneer service of the Church, died, 
 a member of the Upper Iowa Conference. 
 
 Rev. Samuel R. Brockunier entered the itinerant 
 ranks in 1818. The record of his long, active, and 
 useful service extends thus far back into the heroic 
 period of Methodism. Wise in counsel, earnest and 
 
56 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 pathetic in the pulpit, affectionate and genial in the 
 social circle, he was eminently successful in his 
 various fields of labor. 
 
 In 1820, the Ohio Conference met in Chillicothe, 
 when Mr. Morris was elected to elder's orders, and 
 ordained by Bishop Roberts. His general health 
 was so now enfeebled, and his vocal organs so im- 
 paired by excessive labor and disease, that he 
 deemed it proper to make a full and frank communi- 
 cation to the Conference, leaving to their godly 
 judgment the question of his future relation to the 
 work. The result was, that he was placed in a super- 
 numerary relation ; but that relation was a far 
 different one then, practically, from what it has been 
 since. He was appointed to Lancaster, Ohio, just 
 constituted a station, and as such to be organized. 
 His labors that year included one hundred and sixty 
 sermons, visits to the country involving in the aggre- 
 gate a thousand miles of travel, and a trip to 
 Kentucky. Yet he found the work comparatively 
 easy, and was much benefited by the change, both 
 as to his health and studies. The result of this 
 year's labors, however, did not show much apparent 
 success. Old difficulties of a personal character 
 among the members, and the unfinished state of the 
 church, were serious embarrassments ; but under a 
 wise and prudent administration, peace and harmony 
 were restored, and the foundation laid for future 
 prosperity. Toward the end of this year, Bishops 
 M'Kendree and Roberts, on their way to the Ohio 
 Conference at Lebanon, spent a few days, including 
 a Sabbath, in Lancaster. During this episcopal 
 
TRANSFER TO KENTUCKY. tf 
 
 visitation, it was agreed and arranged that Mr. Morris 
 should be transferred to Kentucky, and, instead of 
 going to his own Conference at Lebanon, meet 
 the Bishops at Lexington, the seat of the Kentucky 
 Conference. The last Sabbath of his pastorate in 
 Lancaster, the pulpit was filled, morning and evening, 
 by ministers on their way to Conference ; but the 
 people having learned of the proposed transfer, urged 
 him to give them a farewell sermon. An appointment 
 was accordingly made for such" a service, to be held 
 on Monday morning at sunrise. The house was 
 well filled. He preached a tender, affectionate sermon 
 from the words : " And now, brethren, I commend 
 you to God and to the word of his grace, which is 
 able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance 
 among all of them which are sanctified." (Acts 
 xx, 32.) At the close of the service he proposed that 
 all who felt willing to enter into a solemn covenant to 
 try to serve God and meet in heaven, should signify 
 the same by giving him their right hand, in the 
 presence of the congregation, while a hymn was 
 being sung. Nearly the whole audience moved for- 
 ward ; tears fell fast from eyes unused to weep ; a 
 deep and powerful religious influence seemed to 
 pervade the assembly, as, one by one, they bade adieu 
 to a faithful minister of Christ who had taught them 
 publicly and from house to house. 
 
 From Lancaster Mr. Morris went to Cabell 
 County, Virginia, to visit his relations, among whom 
 his family remained until his return from the Ken- 
 tucky Conference. It may be well here to explain 
 briefly the occasion of his transfer to that body : 
 
58 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 When he sold his land in Virginia, to engage in the 
 work of the ministry, he put the proceeds — about five 
 hundred dollars — into the hands of his brother Ed- 
 mund, then on the eve of removing to Kentucky, to 
 be invested in land in that State, which was accord- 
 ingly done. Afterward, owing to the unsettled state 
 of the currency in Kentucky, and other causes, it 
 was not deemed advisable to transfer this little pecun- 
 iary interest to Ohio. Edmund was the oldest 
 brother, and had been chiefly instrumental in the 
 formation of the business and social habits of the 
 younger members of the family. By his advice, there- 
 fore, and that of other friends, Mr. Morris was led to 
 believe that it would be the wisest course, upon the 
 whole, to retain his temporal interest in Kentucky, 
 transfer to that Conference, and pay what attention he 
 could to the improvement of his property, while per- 
 forming ministerial service as a traveling preacher. 
 The results of the change, however, were disappoint- 
 ment, increased pecuniary embarrassment, and no 
 little personal suffering. He always felt, nevertheless, 
 that the dearly bought lessons received in that rough 
 school of experience during a seven-years' campaign 
 in the south-western region were providential and 
 useful. 
 
 After a tedious journey, he and his family arrived 
 safely in their new field of labor, Christian Circuit, 
 in October, 1821. But their household goods, sent 
 by wagon to Portsmouth, thence by boat to Hender- 
 son, Kentucky, and thence by wagon again to the 
 circuit, did not reach them till the next June. This 
 was, of course, very embarrassing. They were com- 
 
PROCURING SUPPLIES. 59 
 
 pelled to procure board wherever they could, for the 
 time being, and get along without their Winter cloth- 
 ing as best they could. As for any reliable, regular 
 provision for the families of preachers by the circuits 
 of that day, and especially in that region, it was not 
 attempted ; if, indeed, it was considered by the stew- 
 ards any part of their business. At the first quar- 
 terly-meeting, the presiding elder, Rev. Charles Holli- 
 day, called attention to the rule requiring a committee 
 to estimate the amount necessary for house-rent, 
 fuel, and provisions for their preacher ; and such a 
 committee was appointed, consisting of three of the 
 principal men of the circuit. But there the matter 
 ended ; the committee never reported — probably never 
 met together on the business for which they were 
 appointed. And even if they had reported an esti- 
 mate, it is extremely doubtful whether any attention 
 would have been paid to it. One brother on that 
 circuit, living at his ease on an excellent farm, being 
 called on by a steward for his quarterly contribution, 
 said : " Morris rides a larger horse and wears a finer 
 coat than I do. There would be more propriety in 
 his helping me, and I shall not give a cent." 
 
 Subsequently, wishing to lay in his supply of pork 
 for the year, Mr. Morris called on this same brother, 
 who was his near neighbor, to make the needful pur- 
 chase. On being told that the price of pork was 
 $4.50 per hundred, he signified his willingness to buy 
 it at that rate ; but the brother, fearing possibly that 
 the sale might not be a cash transaction, said : " The 
 market price is $4.50, as I told you ; but you can 't 
 have mine under $5." It is hardly necessary to 
 
60 LIFi BISHOP MORRIS, 
 
 add that the preacher looked elsewhere for his pork. 
 Very many people in those days seemed to think that 
 it was conferring quite a favor on the preachers to 
 listen to their sermons, and that any further compen- 
 sation would be superfluous. But fortunately for the 
 cause of religion, they were not all of that way of think- 
 ing ; otherwise none but wealthy ministers could have 
 given their whole time and strength to the work of res- 
 cuing blood-bought souls from ignorance, sin, and ruin. 
 As it was, some of them, with limited resources, were 
 enabled to hold out, enduring many privations, and put- 
 ting their trust in Him who said, " Lo, I am with you." 
 While a want of adequate support was common to 
 the whole body of the Methodist ministry in that 
 day, so that in this respect the experience of Mr. 
 Morris was not at all peculiar, there was one difficulty 
 under which he labored not so common among his 
 brethren. Many of the people, it would seem, esti- 
 mated a preacher's capability of usefulness among 
 them by his lung-power — the strength of his voice — 
 a rule which, if .not universal, was far too general 
 among all classes of hearers, the educated and the 
 illiterate ; and, as Mr. Morris's lungs were at best 
 comparatively weak, and now especially so in conse- 
 quence of a diseased liver, his prospects for reaching 
 a high standard of excellence in the pulpit were not 
 the most flattering. However, he was encouraged by 
 the declaration of the Bible, " Not by might, nor by 
 power, but by my Spirit, saiih the Lord of hosts," 
 and felt resolved to do his duty, and leave results to 
 Him who only can give the increase. 
 
 Following the written plan of his circuit the first 
 
STYLE OF PREACHING. 6 1 
 
 round of appointments, he found himself, on a week- 
 c ay, at Colonel Edward Taylor's, in the north-west 
 part of Montgomery County, Tennessee. The colonel 
 was a wealthy planter; had a classical education; 
 was a well-read man, and a devoted Methodist ; but 
 his notions of pulpit power and ministerial usefulness 
 were those held by a majority of the people, espe- 
 cially in the South, at that time. Mr. Morris preached 
 in the colonel's parlor to twenty or thirty neighbors, 
 speaking in a moderate, conversational tone of voice. 
 There was not an individual present the preacher had 
 ever seen before, and fully half the congregation re- 
 mained for dinner. At the table the following dia- 
 logue took place : 
 
 Colonel. Well, Brother Morris, was your preaching 
 to-day a fair specimen of your manner? 
 
 Morris. Yes, on such occasions, to a small con- 
 gregation. 
 
 Colonel. Well, such preaching may answer in Ohio, 
 for aught I know, but it will never do any good in 
 this country. We like to hear a man lay it on till 
 the cries of sinners and the shouts of Christians are 
 such that he can no longer hear his own voice, and 
 then we are willing he should stop. 
 
 Morris. Well, Colonel Taylor, I do not know much 
 about you here yet, and you do not know much about 
 me ; but if we all live, by the grace of God helping 
 me, I will convince you, before all is over, that you 
 are mistaken. 
 
 Here the conversation on that subject ended. 
 The remarks of the colonel, however well meant, 
 appeared to the preacher quite unseasonable ; more 
 
62 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 especially as there happened to be present at the 
 table a very intelligent physician from a neigh- 
 boring county, who, though a courteous gentleman, 
 was a reputed skeptic, and Mr. Morris feared that the 
 table-talk would not contribute much toward the re- 
 moval of his difficulties. Yet, as the colonel was his 
 superior in years and culture, he endeavored to re- 
 ceive the rebuke in the spirit of meekness. After a 
 few visits there, his congregations greatly increased, 
 and early in the Spring of 1822 he dedicated Piney 
 Fork Chapel, erected by Colonel Taylor on his own 
 land, for the society of that neighborhood. His text 
 on the occasion was, " In all places where I record 
 my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless 
 thee." (Exodus xx, 24.) As he was closing with some 
 practical remarks, one point was enforced earnestly ; 
 that is, that they should all pray in faith to the Lord 
 to record his name there that day by the conversion 
 of at least one soul. While speaking to the class 
 after preaching, he observed a lady present, who was 
 not a member, very much broken up in her feelings 
 and deeply penitent, whom he exhorted, and for 
 whom he and the class prayed until she was con- 
 verted. That lady was a near neighbor of Colonel 
 Taylor's, and a great favorite in his family. The little 
 band who had struggled for years to keep up an or- 
 ganized class here were greatly encouraged by this 
 favorable start in the new chapel. 
 
 So far, the preaching here had all been done on 
 week-days, but believing now that the indications 
 required special and extra efforts, Mr. Morris ap- 
 pointed a two-days' meeting for his next round, so as 
 
CHRISTIAN CIRCUIT. 63 
 
 to include Saturday and Sunday. All the ministerial 
 help he could obtain was brother John Y. Taylor, a 
 local preacher from an adjoining neighborhood. The 
 love-feast on Sabbath morning was a time of spiritual 
 refreshing, and at eleven o'clock, though the day was 
 somewhat inclement, the chapel would scarcely hold 
 the people. According to usage on such occasions, 
 in the country, they had two sermons in succession, and 
 Mr. Morris preached last. Near the close of his dis- 
 course, as he made one of those eloquent and powerful 
 appeals which move and thrill a whole congregation, 
 there was a visible shaking among the dry bones. 
 Penitents were invited to the altar. Quite a number 
 responded to the call. Saving power came down, in 
 answer to prayer, and in a few minutes five souls 
 were born into the kingdom, and rejoiced greatly in 
 the pardoning love of God. Among the happy con- 
 verts of that day was Colonel Taylor's youngest 
 daughter. As they passed out after the service was 
 over, the colonel said to his son, " Well, Henry, our God 
 is working all things about right here." Mr. Morris, 
 overhearing this remark, said, pleasantly, " What do 
 you think now, Colonel ? Will this easy sort of 
 preaching ever accomplish any good in Tennessee ?" 
 <; Ah, I give it up !" exclaimed the colonel, warmly 
 seizing his pastor by the hand ; and no one was more 
 urgent than Colonel Taylor to have Mr. Morris 
 reappointed to the circuit for another year. 
 
 Christian Circuit at that time embraced all of 
 Christian and Todd Counties, most of Muhlenberg, 
 and parts of Butler and Logan Counties, in Kentucky ; 
 and parts of Montgomery and Stewart Counties, in 
 
64 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Tennessee — a territory almost large enough for a 
 modern conference. It was a six-weeks' circuit, 
 about three hundred miles round, with forty appoint- 
 ments. Certainly, the Methodist ministry was no 
 sinecure in that day. It was considered but moderate 
 work to preach and meet class once a day, on an 
 average, and ride eight, ten, or fifteen miles. Preach- 
 ing-places were not only far apart in general, but the 
 way from one to another was extremely difficult, in 
 many cases being only a dim path. Some of the 
 Methodist preachers, in early times, carried a hatchet 
 to mark the trees in a certain way, at each place 
 where they had to turn off from the main track. 
 And when they were favored with plainer roads, they 
 were not well improved ; and they had to contend con- 
 stantly with mud, water, and quicksand, swamps, and 
 pole-bridges. In the Winter season, when the weather 
 was rough, the days short, and the roads in the worst 
 state, it required great effort to keep up with the ap- 
 pointments. Sometimes twelve, fifteen, or twenty miles 
 must be traveled to meet a morning appointment. 
 Mr. Morris relates* that he had sometimes, when far 
 from home, risen long before day, gone to the wood- 
 pile covered with snow, and fished out the wood, a 
 piece at a time, packed it on his shoulder, built a 
 fire, and then roused the family to get him a hasty 
 breakfast, in order that he might be off in good time. 
 In that day, too, preachers were expected to be 
 punctual, and to preach, whether their hearers were 
 many or few. During his second year on Christian 
 Circuit, Mr. Morris rode nine miles, to a place called 
 
 * "Morris's Miscellany," page 248. 
 
SPARSE CONGREGATION. 65 
 
 Dunham's School-house, where he had an engagement 
 to preach. The school-house was among the Knobs, 
 north-east part of Christian County, situated on the 
 west point of a ridge, in an exposed position, being 
 an open log building covered with clapboards. The 
 north-west wind was piercing cold, so much so as to 
 prevent the people from turning out. However, four 
 persons attended — three of them members of the 
 society, and one a young woman, not a member of 
 Church. These, the preacher found shivering round 
 a small fire. Being very cold himself, he went to 
 the woods, gathered as much dry wood as he could 
 find, and made a large fire. The chimney was as 
 broad as the end of the house. The preacher stood 
 in one corner, an old brother sat in the other, and 
 the three women in front of the fire. The hymn 
 was sung, the prayer offered, and the sermon 
 preached, just as if the house had been full ; after- 
 ward they were examined as in class-meeting. They all 
 wept, one shouted for joy, and the non-professor being 
 seriously affected, a short prayer-meeting was held for 
 her special benefit. She became from that hour an 
 earnest seeker after salvation, and was soon converted. 
 Mr. Morris then returned home, nine miles, without 
 his dinner ; and he tells us that, although he suffered 
 some with cold, he did not regret going. 
 
 6 
 
66 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ITINERANT LABORS APPOINTED PRESIDING ELDER OF GREEN- 
 RIVER DISTRICT. 
 
 AN incident which occurred on this circuit in the 
 Winter of 1822-23, well illustrates the hard- 
 ships through which our fathers in the ministry were 
 called to pass. Mr. Morris had added a new preaching- 
 place to his plan, near what was called the Ponny 
 Woods, in the southern part of Todd County. When 
 leaving that place the first time, before he had learned 
 the way across to Stemmond's School-house, he asked 
 for directions, and was told to pass around the farm 
 (on which he had just established the new appoint- 
 ment) to the east side, and there to take a dim track, 
 which he would find winding around the pond. It 
 happened, however, that before he reached the proper 
 one, another dim cart-road turned off, apparently in 
 the right direction, and he took that, supposing that 
 he was following the directions given. But it proved 
 to be a way leading into the pond, made for the pur- 
 pose of hauling timber out of it in Summer, when the 
 pond was partly dry. He was mounted on a power- 
 ful horse called the "White Bear;" but, unfortunately, 
 his iron shoes had been on so long that they were 
 worn perfectly smooth. The snow lay six or eight 
 inches deep, the weather was unusually cold, and the 
 
HARDSHIPS AND PERILS. 6j 
 
 pond full of water from the heavy Fall rains. After 
 going some distance he came to ice in the road, 
 which, however, being formed on shallow water, 
 yielded readily to the horse's feet, and he passed 
 safely over it, congratulating himself that he was in 
 the right path, "edging the pond," as the farmer, at 
 whose house he had preached, directed him to do. 
 Soon he came to ice more difficult, tried in vain to 
 find some way around it, and was compelled at last 
 to dismount and lead "White Bear" across — a feat of 
 great difficulty for a smooth-shod horse ; but they 
 passed over safely. After firm road for a few hun- 
 dred yards, he reached a point where there was 
 smooth, glassy ice for some thirty rods, and no pos- 
 sible way to avoid it. This, thought the preacher, is 
 " edging the pond " with a vengeance ; but beyond 
 this sheet of ice he observed that the ground rose 
 somewhat abruptly, and he concluded that, once safely 
 over here, his troubles would be ended for that day. 
 At all events, there seemed no way round the diffi- 
 culty, and no time was to be lost, or he would fail to 
 reach his next appointment. Again he dismounted, 
 took the bridle-reins in his right-hand, flung his sad- 
 dle-bags over his left shoulder, and started on the 
 perilous passage. In a very few moments the horse's 
 feet flew from under him, throwing him heavily upon 
 the ice. The noble steed struggled hard to regain his 
 footing ; when nearly righted, his feet repeatedly slipped, 
 and he got some terrible falls. At last, however, after 
 many unsuccessful attempts, he stood upright. Mr. 
 Morris fearing another accident of the same sort, and 
 understanding that the liability to a similar mishap 
 
68 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 would be increased by leading the animal slowly, now 
 pulled off his boots, and, leading the horse, ran before 
 as fast as he could, in his stockings. They went 
 with a rush, the preacher running and the horse 
 skating, until they neared the shore, when the ice 
 gave way, and let them both into the water. For- 
 tunately it was not very deep, and they got to shore 
 without much difficulty. But great was the surprise 
 of Mr. Morris, on ascending the high point of ground 
 which he had reached with so much difficulty and 
 peril, when he discovered that for a quarter of a mile 
 before him lay an unbroken expanse of smooth ice, 
 and that, apparently, over very deep water ! The 
 truth then flashed upon his mind that he had, through 
 careless directions, lost his way, and that he was en- 
 tering the worst section of the " Ponny Woods/' To 
 go forward was impossible, and to retrace his steps 
 would be at the risk of losing his valuable horse, 
 without which he could not fill his appointments. 
 First of all, he sat down on a fallen tree and put on 
 dry stockings and his boots ; then, leaving " White 
 Bear " alone, he returned on foot to the house whence 
 he started, about two miles distant, the walk proving, 
 in the deep snow, a very tiresome one. At the house 
 he obtained the aid of two colored men, who went 
 back with him, and by "roughing" the ice with an 
 ax, got the horse safely out by the same way they 
 went in. It was two o'clock in the afternoon when 
 they got fairly out of the difficulty — too late, of 
 course, to meet the appointment of that day. Next 
 day Mr. Morris was attacked with rheumatism, from 
 which he did not wholly recover for many weeks; 
 
AN ODD MISTAKE. 69 
 
 notwithstanding which, he remained on his circuit, 
 and filled his appointments regularly, even when he 
 required assistance to mount and dismount his horse, 
 and was unable to stand long enough to preach. 
 
 It was during his first year on Christian Circuit 
 that Mr. Morris, by an odd slip of memory, and the 
 unskillfulness of his informant, preached the funeral 
 sermon of a living man.* Funeral discourses in that 
 country were not usually delivered on the day of in- 
 terment, but often weeks or months subsequently. 
 It was also the custom, especially of the more wealthy, 
 to give a costly dinner to all the friends and neigh- 
 bors of the bereaved family in attendance at the fu- 
 neral ; and some, who were not very scrupulous, had 
 their funeral dinners on the Sabbath, so as to secure a 
 large attendance. One of the Wednesday appoint- 
 ments of the circuit was at Shiloh,a country meeting- 
 house, in Montgomery County, Tennessee. Among 
 the members of the society there were Wesley Ver- 
 hine and his mother-in-law, a pious old lady named 
 Howell, who lived in his family. These individuals 
 resided some twelve miles west of the place, in a 
 neighborhood where they had neither class nor stated 
 preaching nearer than Shiloh. One day, in the year 
 1822, after preaching and meeting class at Shiloh, 
 Wesley Verhine requested Mr. Morris to preach a 
 funeral sermon of his brother's child, in his own 
 neighborhood, during the next round. 
 
 While Mr. Verhine and the preacher were talking- 
 over this matter and fixing a time for the service, the 
 brethren and sisters of the Shiloh society, glad to see 
 
 * Ladies' Repository, 1 853. 
 
JO LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 their pastor, were crowding around him with their 
 warm hand-shakings, and pressing invitations to dine. 
 He became somewhat confused by the superabundant 
 offers of hospitality, and from that moment the idea 
 of the funeral was entirely forgotten, till he had gone 
 round his six-weeks' circuit, returned to Shiloh, 
 preached and met class as usual, when Mr. Verhine 
 said to him, " We. expect you at the funeral next 
 Sabbath." 
 
 " What funeral ?" 
 
 " At my brother's, in our neighborhood. Brother 
 Gaines published that you would preach the funeral 
 sermon, instead of preaching at White's." 
 
 Now, the original conversation concerning the 
 funeral, which took place six weeks before, had passed 
 from the mind of Mr. Morris entirely. He therefore 
 hesitated a little about consenting ; but knowing Mr. 
 Gaines to be a very prudent man, concluded that if 
 he had made the arrangement there must have been 
 sufficient reason for it, and so he agreed to go; at 
 the same time requesting Mr. Verhine to meet him 
 at W T hite's on Sabbath morning, in order that they 
 might go together, the way being somewhat difficult 
 to find. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, on 
 Sabbath morning, the guide and some half-dozen 
 friends met the preacher at. White's, and they all set 
 ofT together for the funeral. They moved along in 
 single-file, on horseback, by a dim path, much of 
 which was overhung with brushwood, and, of course, 
 unfavorable to the social arrangement of riding two 
 and two abreast. As soon, however, as an opportu- 
 nity offered, Mr. Morris determined to learn some- 
 
GETTING AT THE FACTS. j\ 
 
 thing more definite respecting the case in hand, so 
 that he might not feel wholly unprepared for the 
 solemn duties of the day. He therefore rode along- 
 side of Mr. Verhine, and inquired : 
 
 14 Was the man whose funeral sermon I am to 
 preach to-day, an old or a young man ?" 
 
 " He is about forty-three years old." 
 
 " Had he a family ?" 
 
 " He has a wife and three or four children." 
 
 " Was he a professor of religion ?" 
 
 " He is not a member of any Church." 
 
 Mr. Morris observed that the replies were all 
 given in the present tense ; but this he attributed to 
 the awkwardness of the speaker, not suspecting that 
 there could be any misunderstanding. The dia- 
 logue ended ; he dropped back into the regular line 
 in a contemplative mood, thankful to have obtained 
 the material points of the whole case : The subject of 
 the funeral was past middle life ; was the head of a 
 family, and not professedly pious. In view of this 
 information he selected a text, and shaped the outline 
 of a funeral discourse in his own mind, as the com- 
 pany rode silently toward yie place. By and by they 
 came in view of "the house of mourning," surrounded 
 with numerous horses and quite a large concourse of 
 people for a sparsely settled country place. As there 
 was no church in the neighborhood, the service was 
 held in the house of the bereaved family. It was 
 tolerably large, but was very much crowded. With 
 some difficulty the preacher entered, and found his 
 way to a back window, where a chair and small table 
 were provided for his accommodation. 
 
72 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 After marking the appropriate hymns and Scrip- 
 ture lessons, he cast his eye over the congregation, 
 and seeing several ladies dressed in mourning, selected 
 the one whom he supposed to be the sorrowful widow. 
 In the first prayer some allusion was made to the 
 lonely widow and disconsolate orphans, whose be- 
 reavement of their husband and father had occasioned 
 the solemn meeting, etc. The text was: "But man 
 dieth, and wasteth away ; yea, man dieth and giveth 
 up the ghost, and where is he ?" (Job xiv, 10.) While 
 enforcing the final interrogatory, u Where is he ?" Mr. 
 Morris dwelt pretty fully on the state of disembodied 
 spirits, both righteous and unrighteous, and concluded 
 the whole discourse in nearly the following words: 
 
 " Respecting the subject of this funeral occasion, 
 I know but little, and therefore can say but little, as 
 I never had the pleasure of any acquaintance with 
 him, and, indeed, never saw him, to my knowledge. 
 I have been informed that he lived to be a man 
 past the middle of life, that he has left a companion 
 and several children to mourn their sad loss, and that 
 he was not a professor of religion. As to his moral 
 and social habits and general character, they were, 
 doubtless, much better known to his neighbors and 
 friends here present than to me. It is not my pre- 
 rogative or wish to pass sentence for or against any. 
 I leave him where I leave myself and all others^ in 
 the hands of a just and merciful God. ' The Judge 
 of all the earth will do right.'" 
 
 While making these remarks, the preacher ob- 
 served a man on his left, seated upon a chair, 
 apparently much agitated. When the service closed, 
 
FUNERAL SERMON. 73 
 
 this gentleman invited Mr. Morris to remain for din- 
 ner ; but he excused himself on the ground of a pre- 
 engagement, and as soon as he could get out, started 
 for the residence of Wesley Verhine, accompanied by 
 that brother, his wife, and Mrs. Howell. By appoint- 
 ment previously made, he had agreed to dine with 
 them that day. Nothing was said respecting, the 
 solemn occasion till they had proceeded some con- 
 siderable distance, when the good old lady could hold 
 in no longer. With a long-drawn sigh, she said : 
 
 "La me! brother; you made a great mistake 
 to-day !" 
 
 " That is possible," said Mr. Morris, " I am liable 
 to mistakes ; but I did not observe it to-day. What 
 was it, Sister Howell ?" 
 
 " Why, you kept talking about the man whose 
 funeral you were preaching, and the subject of the 
 funeral was a little bit of a baby that got burned to 
 death !" 
 
 " Baby ! I preached the funeral sermon of the 
 man of the house." 
 
 " Well, I thought so ; but it was a mistake. The 
 one that died was his child ; and the man whose 
 funeral sermon you preached is alive and well. He 
 sat within six feet of you to-day, and heard all you 
 said about him. It was he who invited you to stay 
 for dinner." 
 
 The amazement and mortification of the preacher 
 at this unexpected turn of affairs may be more easily 
 imagined than described. 
 
 On this large circuit, Mr. Morris labored for some 
 months, the first year, without a colleague ; Rev. 
 
 7 
 
74 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Philip Kennerly, who had been appointed junior 
 preacher, having died soon after Conference. Rev. 
 Richard Gaines, brother-in-law of Dr. Cartwright, 
 was employed finally as assistant preacher, and did 
 good service. Rev. Major Stanfleld was helper on 
 the circuit the second year. During these two years 
 Mr. Morris traveled about five thousand miles, and 
 preached not less than five hundred times, besides 
 performing all the other duties of preacher in charge. 
 
 The Conference in 1823 met at Maysville, Ken- 
 tucky, more than two hundred and fifty miles from 
 Christian Circuit. Mr. Morris's horse not being then 
 in a condition to make so long and difficult a journey, 
 it was reluctantly given up. Peter Cartwright called 
 on his way home from Maysville, and informed Mr. 
 Morris that he was stationed at Hopkinsville ; and, 
 also, that he was elected a delegate to the General 
 Conference of 1824, to be held in Baltimore. For 
 some months Mr. Morris had been residing at Elkton, 
 county-seat of Todd County, and as there was no 
 provision made for his family in Hopkinsville Station, 
 it was thought best for them to remain at Elkton, for 
 the time being, especially as they were living in their 
 own property. Soon after the Maysville Conference, 
 Bishop M'Kendree was a guest at their house. In 
 the course of conversation, one day, the bishop said, 
 "Have you bought this house, brother?" "Yes, 
 sir." " Is it paid for ?" " Yes, sir." " Then enjoy it 
 while you can ; but be ready to leave it at a moment's 
 warning." 
 
 The last week of March, 1824, he set off on his jour- 
 ney to Baltimore, passing through Lexington; thence on 
 
JESSE WALKER. 75 
 
 to Western Virginia; thence up the Kanawha Valley, 
 and on through Lewisburg, Harrisburg, Alexandria, 
 and Washington City. This journey of eight hundred 
 miles was made on horseback, and that, too, when the 
 roads were in the worst condition. At Lewisburg, 
 Virginia, he fell in company with Rev. Jesse Walker, 
 a delegate from Missouri, and a noted pioneer of 
 Methodism in what was then known as the Far West. 
 
 From an interesting biographical sketch of this 
 hardy backwoods preacher,* we learn that he was 
 about five feet six inches in height, of slender form, 
 sallow complexion, light hair, small blue eyes, and 
 pleasant countenance. His dress was uniformly the 
 plain, drab-colored cloth in vogue among the Quakers, 
 white neck-cloth, and light-colored beaver hat, with a 
 very broad brim. 
 
 As to his mental furniture, he was without educa- 
 tion, except the elementary branches of English, 
 imperfectly acquired. He had, however, a good share 
 of common sense ; had read a good deal, and had 
 seen much of the world with keen, observant eyes. 
 His memory was stored with a vast fund of incidents 
 peculiar to a frontier life, which he communicated 
 with much ease and force, rendering him very 
 attractive in the social circle. He was admitted as a 
 traveling preacher in the Western Conference in 
 1802, and appointed to Red-river Circuit, in Ten- 
 nessee. In 1806 he was appointed to Illinois. The 
 work had no designation on the Minutes but Illinois. 
 Of course it was a mission, embracing the entire 
 population of that Territory, and it was under the 
 *" Morris's Miscellany," page 179. 
 
•j6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 superintendence of Rev. William M'Kendree, after- 
 ward bishop, but then presiding elder of Cumberland 
 District. Between Kentucky and the interior of 
 Illinois was then a wilderness, and to reach the 
 mission was difficult. The enterprising M'Kendree 
 determined to accompany the missionary through the 
 wilderness, and aid him in forming his plan and 
 commencing the work. They put off together on 
 horseback, camped in the wild woods every night, 
 roasted their own meat, and slept on their saddle- 
 blankets under the blue canopy of heaven. No less 
 than seven times they were compelled to swim swollen 
 streams, which was often as perilous as disagreeable ; 
 but in due time, by the blessing of God, they reached 
 their destination safely. 
 
 Mr. M'Kendree remained a few weeks, visited the 
 principal neighborhoods, aided in forming a plan of 
 appointments for the mission, and then departed for 
 Missouri, to visit a mission there. Jesse Walker, 
 though left alone in his new field of labor, was not 
 discouraged. After pursuing the regular plan of ap- 
 pointments until obliged, by the severity of the Win- 
 ter, to suspend that mode of operating, he began to 
 preach from house to house, or, rather, from cabin to 
 cabin, continuing this method until the Winter broke. 
 Shortly after this, a young preacher was sent to his 
 relief. Being thus re-enforced, Jesse determined to 
 include a camp-meeting in the plan of the Summer's 
 campaign. Arrangements were accordingly made, 
 and the meeting took place. It was a time of great 
 religious interest ; and the open-air services were 
 continued till, as Jesse Walker expressed it, " the 
 
MISSION IN ST. LOUIS. 77 
 
 last stick of timber was used up ;" that is, till the 
 last sinner left on the ground was converted. 
 
 Jesse Walker's next field of labor was Mis- 
 souri, which, as may be supposed, was similar to that 
 of Illinois. From that time he operated in the two 
 Territories, till, in 18 12, he was appointed presiding 
 elder of Illinois District, which included all the 
 ground then occupied in Illinois and Missouri. 
 
 In 1820, Mr. Walker formed the purpose of plant- 
 ing the standard of Methodism in St. Louis, where, 
 up to that time, Methodist preachers had found no 
 rest for the soles of their feet. He engaged two 
 young preachers, of undoubted zeal and courage, to 
 aid him in the difficult work. When they reached 
 St. Louis, the Territorial Legislature was there in ses- 
 sion, and every public place appeared to be full. The 
 missionaries tried in vain to obtain private lodgings. 
 When they announced the object of their visit, some 
 would laugh, and others curse them to their faces. 
 Thus repulsed and embarrassed, they rode into the 
 Public Square, and held a council on their horses. 
 The young preachers expressed strong doubts as to 
 their being in the order of Providence. Their leader 
 tried to rally and encourage them, but in vain ; they 
 took leave of Mr. Walker, and rode out of the city. 
 It was an hour, no doubt, of sore disappointment, and 
 perhaps despondency, to the pioneer. After sitting 
 for some time alone, pondering the situation, he said 
 to himself, "I will go to the State of Mississippi, and 
 hunt up the lost sheep of the house of Israel." 
 Suiting the action to the word, he turned his horse 
 in that direction, and rode off alone. 
 
7 8 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Having proceeded about eighteen miles, con- 
 stantly ruminating with anguish of spirit upon his 
 failure in St. Louis, praying without ceasing for help 
 and guidance, he came to a halt, and for a moment 
 thus soliloquized: "Was I ever defeated before in 
 this blessed work ? Never. Did any one ever trust 
 in the Lord Jesus Christ, and get confounded? No : 
 and, by the grace of God, I will go back and take St. 
 Louis." Turning about, without seeking either rest 
 or refreshment for man or beast, he retraced his steps 
 to the city ; and, with some difficulty, procured lodg- 
 ing in an indifferent tavern, where the charges alone 
 were first-class. Next morning he commenced a sur- 
 vey of the ground ; sought carefully for some suitable 
 place in which to hold worship, and at length suc- 
 ceeded in obtaining the use of a temporary place of 
 worship occupied by a few Baptists. But few at- 
 tended his first service, and nothing special occurred. 
 During the second effort, however, there were indica- 
 tions of deep religious feeling, and the Baptists closed 
 their doors against him. He then found a large but 
 unfinished dwelling-house, which he rented for ten 
 dollars a month. Here he commenced preaching 
 regularly, twice on the Sabbath, and occasionally on 
 other evenings of the week. At the same time he 
 gave notice that, if there were any poor parents who 
 wished their children taught to spell and read, he 
 would teach them five days in the week without 
 charge ; and if there were any who wished their 
 servants to learn, he would teach them of evenings 
 on the same terms. 
 
 Being obliged to vacate his temporary chapel ere- 
 
GENERAL CONFERENCE, 1824. 79 
 
 long, he resolved to build a church. A citizen gave 
 the necessary lumber, and very soon an unpretending 
 chapel was erected. From various unexpected sources 
 came donations of seats, pulpit, Bible, etc.; and, as 
 a result of Jesse Walker's first year in St. Louis, 
 he reported to Conference a snug little chapel erected 
 and paid for, a flourishing school, and seventy mem- 
 bers. He was continued in charge of the mission 
 for another year, and enjoyed a good degree of pros- 
 perity. He afterward labored with great zeal and 
 success among the Indian tribes up the Mississippi. 
 His ashes now quietly sleep in Illinois, the scene of 
 his earliest missionary labors. 
 
 The General Conference of 1824 commenced its 
 session in the city of Baltimore, on the first day of 
 May. One hundred and thirty-three delegates, rep- 
 resenting twelve conferences, were present. Bishops 
 M'Kendree, George, and Roberts alternately presided. 
 The first day of the session was taken up almost 
 wholly with the organization of the Conference, ap- 
 pointment of committees, etc. On the second day, 
 two delegates from the Wesleyan Conference, in 
 England, were introduced by Bishop M'Kendree. 
 These brethren — Rev. Richard Reece and Rev. John 
 Hannah — had been sent over with the fraternal greet- 
 ings of their Conference, and were the bearers of an 
 address to that effect, which evinced the kindest sym- 
 pathy with the Church in this country, and a strong 
 desire to cultivate more intimate friendly relations 
 with it. 
 
 The bishops presented their Quadrennial Address, 
 in which they referred to the general state of the 
 
80 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 work, recommended an increase of the number of bish- 
 ops, advised sundry changes in the boundary-lines of 
 several annual conferences, called attention to the 
 financial system of the Church, the necessity of pro- 
 viding the means of education for the children of the 
 Church, etc. 
 
 The subject of education seems to have claimed a 
 large share of the attention of this Conference, and no 
 wonder ; a great multitude of young people had been 
 gathered into the Church, and the duty of providing for 
 these the means of mental and moral culture could not 
 be ignored. The recommendation of the General Con- 
 ference of 1820 was renewed, that each annual con- 
 ference make an earnest effort to establish and main- 
 tain a seminary of learning within its bounds. It 
 was also recommended that each preacher should 
 obtain the names of the children connected with his 
 charge, and organize them into classes for religious 
 instruction. It is much to be regretted that this wise 
 provision for the moral training of the children has 
 not been more fully carried out. 
 
 The Missionary Society, now the glory of the 
 Church, was then in its infancy ; but it received its 
 due share of attention. Preliminary steps were taken 
 to establish a mission in Liberia. 
 
 Nathan Bangs and John Emory were elected 
 Agents of the Book Concern, and authorized to com- 
 mence the publication of a weekly paper. The 
 Christian Advocate and yournal was accordingly 
 started, in 1826. 
 
 The most exciting discussion of the session was 
 on the subject of " Lay Delegation." Numerously 
 
PRESIDING-ELDER QUESTION. 8 1 
 
 signed petitions, from various parts of the work, asked 
 that the laity might be admitted to the legislative 
 department of the Church. The Conference, how- 
 ever, after a full hearing and discussion of the 
 question, declined to accede to the prayer of the 
 memorialists. 
 
 The question of slavery also found its way into 
 this Conference; and, after a somewhat protracted 
 and heated debate, the " Tenth Section " was 
 adopted, and incorporated into the Discipline. 
 
 Another very exciting discussion took place at 
 this session on " the presiding-elder question." As 
 early as 1808, the question of making this office 
 elective was brought before the General Conference, 
 thoroughly and ably discussed, and decided in the 
 negative, by a vote of fifty-two in favor, to seventy- 
 three against it. In 18 12, the subject was again 
 introduced, and the proposed change again de- 
 feated — forty-two voting for, and forty-five against it. 
 In 18 16, the question came up again. Speeches re- 
 markable for ability were made on both sides of the 
 question ; but the proposed change was again lost — ■ 
 the majority against it being twenty-five. At the 
 General Conference of 1820, the measure was again 
 proposed, and again defeated ; but such was the 
 excitement occasioned by its defeat at that session, 
 that a Committee of Six — three in favor and three 
 against it — was appointed to confer with the bishops, 
 and to report " whether any, and, if any, what altera- 
 tions might be made to conciliate the wishes of the 
 brethren upon the subject." This Committee, after 
 consultation with the bishops, unanimously recom- 
 
82 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 mended the adoption of the following provisions, 
 to be inserted in their proper place in the Dis- 
 cipline : 
 
 I. " That whenever, in any annual conference, 
 there shall be a vacancy or vacancies in the office of 
 presiding elder, in consequence of his period of four 
 years having expired, or the bishop wishing to remove 
 any presiding elder, or by death, resignation or other- 
 wise, the bishop or president of the conference, 
 having ascertained the number wanted from any of 
 these causes, shall nominate three times the number, 
 out of which the conference shall elect, by- ballot, 
 without debate, the number wanted ; provided, when 
 there is more than one wanted, not more than three 
 at a time shall be nominated, nor more than one at a 
 time elected. Provided, also, that in case of any 
 vacancy or vacancies in the office of presiding elder, 
 in the interval of any annual conference, the bishop 
 shall have authority to fill the said vacancy or vacan- 
 cies until the ensuing annual conference. 2. That 
 the presiding elders be, and are hereby, made the 
 Advisory Council of the bishop or president of the 
 conference in stationing the preachers." 
 
 This report was adopted on the 20th of May, 
 receiving the decisive vote of sixty-one to twenty-five. 
 
 In the mean time, while both the advocates and 
 opponents of the measure were congratulating them- 
 selves that a vexed question was settled amicably, a 
 new and unexpected difficulty arose. The Rev. 
 Joshua Soule, who had been elected to the episcopal 
 office on the 13th, declined consecration in conse- 
 quence of the adoption of this paper. He stated to 
 
RULE SUSPENDED. 83 
 
 the Conference that, in his judgment, it was unconsti- 
 tutional, and that he could not, consistently with his 
 views, be bound by it. To add to the embarrassment 
 of the Conference, Bishop M'Kendree, who had 
 been too ill to participate in the deliberations of the 
 Committee of six with his colleagues, three days 
 after the passage of the resolutions came to the 
 Conference room, and entered his objections against 
 them as "unconstitutional, and, as he apprehended, 
 subversive of the grand system of an efficient 
 general superintendency and itinerancy." 
 
 It was finally proposed to suspend the operation 
 of these new rules for four years, and that in the 
 mean time the government of the Church should be 
 administered as formerly. This compromise was 
 adopted, and so the matter rested until 1824. The 
 opponents of an elective presiding-eldership were 
 not sufficiently confident of their strength at this 
 Conference to attempt the repeal of the measures 
 adopted four years previously, and they accordingly 
 moved a continuance of the suspension for four years 
 longer. After a protracted and earnest discussion, 
 this motion prevailed. At this session Rev. Joshua 
 Soule, who had declined the office in 1820 on the 
 grounds already stated, was again elected bishop. 
 Rev. Elijah Hedding was also elected bishop at this 
 session. 
 
 At the close of the General Conference, Mr. 
 Morris returned home, leaving Baltimore about the 
 1st of June, and making the trip in twenty travel- 
 ing days, averaging forty miles a day. Soon after 
 reaching home he had an attack of flux, which con- 
 
84 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 fined him to his bed for three weeks. So violent was 
 the attack that his recovery was at one time consid- 
 ered highly improbable; but, by the blessing of God, 
 he slowly recovered, after much and severe suffering. 
 
 His station that year proved to be rather a barren 
 field to cultivate. He labored hard, but saw little 
 fruit. The membership of the station were, many of 
 them, very excellent people ; but they were mostly 
 poor, and however willing they might have been, 
 were unable to support a pastor. Mr. Morris's salary 
 on Hopkinsville Station was sixty-five dollars, on 
 which he was expected to support himself, a wife, and 
 two children. During the year he made about forty 
 trips to and from the station, which was twenty miles 
 from his home — making his traveling for the year, 
 including the journey to Baltimore and return, about 
 three thousand two hundred miles. 
 
 In 1824, the Kentucky Conference met at Shelby- 
 ville. Mr. Morris, with Thompson Holliman as his 
 colleague, was appointed to Red-river Circuit, in 
 Middle Tennessee. The circuit began at Clarksville, 
 the junction of Red and Cumberland Rivers, ex- 
 tended to Neely's Bend, ten miles above Nashville, 
 on the north side of the Cumberland, and curved 
 round through Robinson County. The number of 
 regular appointments was twenty-one, and the nearest 
 one to his place of residence was twenty miles .dis- 
 tant. These appointments must all be filled every 
 four weeks, leaving four days each month to be spent 
 at home. He found the people on the circuit kind 
 and pleasant, and enjoyed with them some blessed 
 seasons of revival. The total receipts for support 
 
APPOINTED PRESIDING ELDER. 85 
 
 that year, in money and clothing, footed up one 
 hundred and eighty dollars. We shall not wonder 
 to know that he was now sorely tempted to leave the 
 work, and seek some employment by which to sup- 
 port his family. To be obliged every year to draw 
 on his own slender resources to eke out a bare 
 support, with no prospect of being able to provide 
 against the wants of old age, must have been exceed- 
 ingly depressing. After a long and severe mental 
 conflict, the cloud was dispelled from his mind, light 
 broke in upon his soul, joy returned, and he had, dur- 
 ing the closing months of the year, unusual liberty 
 and power in preaching. 
 
 In 1825, the Conference met at Russellville, 
 fifteen miles from his place of residence ; but, though 
 present at the seat of Conference, he was too 
 sick most of the time to be in attendance upon the 
 daily sessions. One day, while passing out of the 
 Conference-room, his presiding elder, Rev. C. Hoili- 
 day, whose term of four years had expired, whispered 
 to him, "Arise, go down to Nineveh and preach;" 
 but he did not say where Nineveh was. This in- 
 formation, however, was imparted by Bishop Roberts 
 at the close of the Conference, in reading the ap- 
 pointments, which embraced the following: Green- 
 river District — Thomas A. Morris, Presiding 
 Elder. Hartford— George M'Nelly, N. M. Talbott ; 
 Greenville — Luke P. Allen, John Denton ; Hender- 
 son — George W. Robbins, Wm. Crane ; Livingston — 
 George Richardson, Alex. H. Stemmons ; Christian — 
 Wm. Peter, Benj. Ogden ; Hopkinsville — Rich'd Cor- 
 wine ; Clark's River — John S. Barger, James Greenup. 
 
86 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 This district was about one thousand miles round, 
 including the journeys necessary to be made between 
 quarterly-meetings in order to visit his family. His 
 first quarterly-meeting was one hundred and twenty 
 miles from home, though he resided within the 
 bounds of the district. Some idea of the extent of 
 this field of labor may be formed from the statement 
 that one of the circuits — Clark's River — embraced 
 that part of Kentucky west of the Tennessee River. 
 The reader will gain the most vivid impression of the 
 toils and heroic sacrifices of the early Methodist 
 preachers in this wild region from Mr. Morris's own 
 account of some incidents connected with his first 
 district. We quote from his "Miscellany," page 241 : 
 
 "We were not the first on that ground after the 
 Indians left. Brothers Crouch and Parker had been 
 there forming a circuit the year previous ; and if they 
 would speak out, they could relate scenes of suffering 
 sufficient to cause the ears of the reader to tingle. 
 Still, when we went, the settlements were 'few and 
 far between,' and frequently without any road, or 
 even path, from one to another. When we wished to 
 visit a neighborhood fifteen or twenty miles distant, 
 we ascertained, as near as we could, the general 
 course, and struck off through the woods, without 
 road or guide. If the sun was visible we steered by 
 him, and if not, by a pocket compass. If a creek .too 
 deep to ford obstructed our course, we had our choice 
 to swim or stay on our own side, having neither boat, 
 bridge, nor canoe. Of the manner of overcoming 
 these obstructions I will here furnish an example 
 or two. 
 
INCIDENTS OF FORDING. 87 
 
 "At the close of .a camp quarterly-meeting in 
 Clark's-river Circuit, July, 1826, the small streams 
 were much swollen, by reason of heavy rains. Soon 
 after leaving the camp, we had to encounter a small 
 stream, which was usually some three rods wide, but 
 at that time spread over the banks and much of the 
 adjoining low ground. However, we were told that 
 by going to the Shallow Ford, above the forks, we 
 could probably ride across without losing bottom ; 
 but where we expected a shallow ford we found a 
 sheet of water about a hundred yards wide, it having 
 overflowed its banks, with a rapid current in the 
 middle. 
 
 " Our company consisted of George Richardson, 
 John S. Barge r, A. H. Stemmons, another young 
 preacher whose name I have forgotten, and the 
 writer. We were all sound except myself. I was 
 sick — had beeu so for five or six days ; and was much 
 more fit to be in bed than on horseback. In conse- 
 quence of this circumstance, the company objected to 
 my swimming, lest the wetting, after taking medicine, 
 might prove injurious. But by riding in midsides to 
 the horse, I gained the large end of a great tree 
 which had been cut down so as to fall across the 
 main channel, just above the ford, for a temporary foot- 
 bridge. Here they deposited me and the baggage till 
 they should swim the horses over. In the mean time 
 others came up from the meeting, forming a company 
 of some fifteen in all. The. coming-out place lay 
 rather up-stream from us ; and just below it, we were 
 told, the bank, then under water, was too steep for 
 the horses to rise when they should strike bottom. 
 
88 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 To avoid this, and procure a sloping bank to rise on, 
 they selected a place below, where the bluff changed 
 sides. So that, after riding in till the horse was 
 nearly covered, and arriving at the main channel, he 
 suddenly and unexpectedly to himself, though not to 
 his rider, stepped over a precipice, perhaps ten feet 
 high, into a sweeping current, where horse and rider 
 were violently immersed, but soon emerged some 
 distance from where they first disappeared, and pres- 
 ently made safe landing. In this way the young 
 brethren conveyed their own horses over ; after which, 
 Richardson and Stemmons rode for the whole com- 
 pany, securing one horse and swimming back for 
 another, making several trips each. This clone, 
 Richardson led me over the channel on the log, and, 
 leaving still between us and the dry ground a sheet 
 of water some thirty yards wide and three feet deep, 
 he deliberately stepped in, took me upon his shoulder, 
 and, notwithstanding much brush and driftwood were 
 on the way, placed me safely on solid ground. The 
 whole was accomplished in a few minutes. Here we 
 parted with all but our own company with whom we 
 first started from camp ; and leaving the Sliallow 
 Ford, our way was clear before us to the next branch 
 of the same stream, only a few miles distant. 
 
 " Our second crossing, was like to prove more 
 difficult than the first, having an equally rapid 
 stream without the advantage of any log. Having 
 appointments ahead, it was important to get on 
 somehow or other ; and, after a short consultation, it 
 was thought best, on account of my condition, to 
 head the stream, or at least go far enough up to ford. 
 
CROSSING A STREAM. 89 
 
 This being agreed on, we made the attempt, but were 
 so much embarrassed by quicksand, especially where 
 the ground had been overflowed, that we soon became 
 weary of it, and determined to cross, if possible. 
 Finding a place where the banks were dry on both 
 sides, the water there being confined within its usual 
 channel, we dismounted, and were consulting about 
 the mode of crossing, when Stemmons concluded it 
 was time to execute as well as plan. Fixing his 
 large, laughing, blue eyes, on a tall, slim hickory, 
 growing on our side of the creek, he deliberately 
 began to ascend, which he did almost as easily and 
 rapidly as a wild bear would climb a chestnut-tree 
 in search of nuts. When he had left the ground 
 about forty feet below him, and arrived where the 
 sapling had scarce strength to support him, he 
 turned on the side next to the stream, held on with 
 his hands, letting his feet swing clear, and his weight 
 brought the top down on the other side, and, with 
 the assistance of another, who swam over to his 
 relief, tied the limbs fast to the root of a tree. This 
 bent sapling formed an arched bridge about forty 
 feet long, six inches wide, and elevated in the center 
 about twelve or fifteen feet, over the deepest of the 
 turbid stream, on which we crossed — astride — safely, 
 pushing our baggage before us ; and then we resumed 
 our journey, leaving the hickory bridge for the 
 accommodation of the public." 
 
 His first quarterly-meeting on the district was 
 held in a log-cabin on Bayou Desha, a creek of the 
 Mississippi. Here the Church was favored with 
 a glorious work of grace. On Sabbath evening, 
 
90 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 particularly, the Word was quick and powerful, sinners 
 were awakened, and the people of God rejoiced over 
 returning prodigals. When the congregation was 
 finally dismissed, many lingered, unwilling to leave 
 the hallowed spot where they had found the pearl of 
 great price. Among others were four young ladies, 
 who had that evening been converted. They were 
 neighbors' children and associates ; three of them 
 were grown, the other being about thirteen years of 
 age. When about to separate for the night and return 
 home, they flew into each others' arms, weeping and 
 rejoicing. " I will praise the Lord while I live," said 
 one. " I will praise him when I die," responded the 
 second. "And I will praise him after death in 
 glory !" exclaimed the third. " My soul is full of 
 love," added the youngest. And with similar expres- 
 sions of child-like faith and glowing zeal, did many 
 others that night testify that Christ Jesus had power 
 on earth to save. 
 
 In July, 1826, an important change occurred in 
 Mr. Morris's health. On his way to the camp-meet- 
 ing already referred to, in Clark's-river Circuit, he had 
 turned aside a little from his own district to fill an 
 extra appointment at Dover, Tennessee, on the west 
 side of the Cumberland River. For some days there 
 had appeared an eruption on his skin, in the form of 
 watery pimples, to which he had paid little attention, 
 not apprehending any serious result from so slight a 
 cause. The meeting at Dover was held in the court- 
 house. It was on Thursday, and but few attended. 
 The first hymn and prayer were ended, and the con- 
 gregation were singing the second hymn, when his 
 
ATTACK OF PARALYSIS. 9 1 
 
 left-hand began to shake, and he took the hymn-book 
 in the other. Soon every thing about him became 
 dark, and supernatural in appearance, and he felt like 
 falling over, while his left hand sank down on the 
 railing. When the hymn was ended, the shock was 
 passing away, so that both vision and consciousness re- 
 turned ; but a question now arose in his mind whether 
 he should tell the strange congregation his condition, 
 and ask to be .excused, or try to proceed, saying 
 nothing about it. After a short, and perhaps to them 
 mysterious, pause, he determined to preach, and did 
 so, as may be supposed, in a very solemn frame of 
 mind, not knowing that he would ever be permitted 
 to preach again. At the close of the service he dis- 
 covered that his left-hand was very cold, the left-foot 
 scarcely less so, and his left-eye strangely affected. 
 That afternoon, so bent was he on meeting his en- 
 gagements, he set off, alone and on horseback, to 
 travel a distance of eighteen miles, over an entirely 
 new route to him, and one very difficult to find. But, 
 as he wrote in his little pocket-diary, he felt that he 
 was on the Lord's business, and that he was in the 
 Lord's hands, and would be as safe in the wilderness 
 as at home. 
 
 As the day wore away, a fever came on ; so that 
 he could scarcely remain in the saddle. At a late 
 hour in the evening he reached a humble cabin, seven 
 miles west of the Tennessee River, occupied by a 
 widow lady and a large family of children, where he 
 was kindly allowed to pass the night. So much ex- 
 hausted had he now become, however, by the long ride 
 in a July sun, and in a very feeble bodily condition, 
 
92 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 that he could scarcely dismount and get into the cabin. 
 Next morning the good woman of the house sent 
 three miles for a schoolmaster to come and bleed 
 him. The amateur phlebotomist relieved his veins of 
 a quart of something resembling tar more than 
 healthy blond. That day he rode twenty-five miles, 
 reached the camp-ground at two o'clock, and preached 
 at three. He also preached on Saturday, Sunday, 
 and Monday, although hardly strong enough to walk 
 unaided. His Monday morning service was particu- 
 larly exhausting, as he had agreed, some weeks pre- 
 vious, to preach at that hour on the subject of 
 Baptism, with special reference to the mode. His 
 sermon .on that subject occupied an hour and a half 
 in its delivery, and was long remembered in that re- 
 gion as a powerful and convincing argument. But on 
 Monday evening, after this unusual and perhaps im- 
 prudent exertion, he suffered a second shock of pa- 
 ralysis, very similar to the first. It was fully a week 
 from the time of the first attack before any physician 
 could be seen or medical advice obtained. A man 
 of less courage and zeal would now have desisted 
 from active service long enough to repair the shat- 
 tered physical system ; but Mr. Morris pushed on, 
 holding his quarterly-meetings regularly, and dis- 
 charging all the duties of his office. For six weeks 
 he was not able to hold the bridle with his left hand. 
 While in this enfeebled bodily condition, he was 
 preaching to an immense congregation, at a camp- 
 meeting held on Henderson Circuit, some time in 
 August. Suddenly he became blind and deaf, and 
 all mental action seemed, for the moment suspended. 
 
sickness. 93 
 
 After a short pause he recovered, and finished his 
 sermon. He felt that day that he was probably 
 preaching his last sermon ; that his body would be 
 carried out lifeless, and his soul ascend from that 
 pulpit to paradise. But God had other purposes con-, 
 cerning his servant, and more work for him to do. 
 As soon as the sermon closed, he took to bed, and 
 was confined to it for three days, when, by the bless- 
 ing of God, he was permitted to resume his labors. 
 Within three years of the first attack of paralysis, he 
 had, as he estimated, not less than two hundred ; but 
 they gradually became lighter and lighter, after the 
 first few weeks, until they subsided wholly. His 
 memory was seriously impaired for a time, but recov- 
 ered with improved general health. One of the most 
 serious embarrassments resulting from this affliction 
 was the interruption of his studies. He had been 
 engaged for a considerable time in the study of the 
 Greek language, in which he was making satisfactory 
 progress ; but now his physician positively inter- 
 dicted all study beyond reasonable preparation for 
 preaching. 
 
94 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 STATIONED AT LOUISVILLE — GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 
 1828 RETURN TO OHIO CINCINNATI METH- 
 ODISM CHOLERA. 
 
 TOWARD the close of the second year on the 
 district, Mr. Morris's family suffered much from 
 sickness. His wife and daughter, especially, had a 
 protracted and severe attack of fever. No help could 
 be hired in the neighborhood to take care of them or 
 superintend the affairs of the household. Mr. Morris 
 sought diligently for a week, far and near, but beyond 
 the volunteer aid of a neighbor, occasionally, could 
 obtain no assistance whatever. His brother Edmund, 
 who had preceded him there, and his brother Levi, 
 who had removed to the same neighborhood subse- 
 quently, had both moved to Louisiana and left him 
 among strangers. Besides all these things, which 
 seemed to be against him, the property he owned when 
 he entered the traveling connection, together with that 
 which he had afterward received from his father's 
 estate, had, during his six-years' campaign in Ken- 
 tucky, been nearly all spent, necessarily, for the 
 support of his family. 
 
 Under these circumstances, he came to the con- 
 clusion that it was his duty to seek a change of work, 
 or rather a field of labor in which a reasonable 
 
ARRANGING TO REMOVE. 95 
 
 support for his family could be obtained. The decision 
 to leave Kentucky was not reached without a severe 
 mental struggle. "Mount Olivet" — the name he had 
 given to his cottage near Elkton — was now endeared 
 to ail the family, having been for six years a pleasant 
 home. They had formed strong attachments to the 
 open-handed and warm-hearted people of Kentucky 
 generally, and especially regretted to leave their 
 many kind and pleasant neighbors. When they first 
 settled at Elkton, Methodism had no hold there — 
 neither class, preaching, nor house of worship. Mr. 
 Morris opened his own house for preaching, and soon 
 a small class was formed ; then a chapel was erected, 
 toward which he contributed one hundred dollars, 
 when his entire salary hardly equaled that amount. 
 He had seen a good society grow up rapidly, and 
 many of these were his own children in the Gospel, 
 whom he loved with no ordinary affection. 
 
 Still, after prayerful deliberation, he felt satisfied 
 that duty required him to make the contemplated 
 change ; and accordingly he disposed of his personal 
 effects, except movable articles, and also sold the 
 little farm he owned in the neighborhood ; paid off 
 all his debts ; rented " Mount Olivet," and set off with 
 his wife and children for Conference, which was held 
 that year at Versailles. Expecting to be transferred 
 to Ohio, his heavy boxes had been marked for ship- 
 ment down the Cumberland and up the Ohio River. 
 He and his wife and daughter rode in a light, covered 
 Dearborn wagon, very comfortably ; while his son, a lad 
 ten years old, was mounted on a very small, gentle pony. 
 
 Mr. Morris had now been in the ministry twelve 
 
g6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 years, including the one in which he was employed 
 by the presiding elder. During that time he had 
 traveled over thirty-three thousand miles, averag- 
 ing two thousand seven hundred and fifty miles a year ; 
 and not one mile of it on railroad, steamer, or stage- 
 coach, and very little of it on wheels of any sort. 
 He had preached more than three thousand times — 
 about two hundred and fifty sermons annually — be- 
 sides delivering numerous occasional addresses. His 
 aggregate salary for that period of twelve years, 
 including marriage-fees and private donations, was 
 about two thousand dollars, or one hundred and sixty- 
 six dollars per annum ! No marvel that his private 
 resources were nearly exhausted, and that the pros- 
 pect ahead, with a sickly family and his own health 
 precarious, appeared somewhat discouraging. 
 
 During the two years of his presiding-eldership 
 in Kentucky, he had broken down two horses, trav- 
 eled eight thousand miles, preached about five 
 hundred times, and received in all, for his services, 
 less than the cost of the two horses. When Mr. 
 Morris started to the Conference at Versailles, he 
 fully expected, as we have already stated, to be trans- 
 ferred to the Ohio Conference that Fall. He had re- 
 ceived a cordial invitation from leading brethren of 
 Ohio to return to that State, and had sent a written 
 application to the bishop for a transfer. He was 
 surprised, however, on meeting Bishops Roberts and 
 Soule to learn from them that his letter, directed to 
 the seat of the Ohio Conference, had miscarried, and 
 that consequently no place had been left open for 
 him in the Ohio Conference. They assured him, at 
 
STATIONED AT LOUISVILLE. 97 
 
 the same time, that while it was impossible to make 
 the desired change that year, it could easily be ar- 
 ranged a year later, and that, in the mean time, he 
 would be obliged to receive another appointment in 
 Kentucky. 
 
 This was a great disappointment. " Mount Olivet" 
 was disposed of, his goods were en route for Ohio, 
 and all his plans had been arranged in view of a 
 removal to that State. Time proved, however, that a 
 good providence was ordering all for the best ; and he 
 never regretted the unexpected change in his plans, 
 after the first disappointment was over. That year 
 he was again elected a delegate to the General Con- 
 ference, although his brethren knew of his intention 
 to leave them as soon as an opportunity offered. His 
 appointment was this year Louisville, the leading 
 charge in the Conference ; a station, then, of two 
 hundred and twenty white, and one hundred and 
 seventy colored members, with two separate chapels. 
 His reception by the brethren of this city was so 
 cordial that he soon felt at home among them, and 
 entered upon his work with zeal, preaching and visit- 
 ing from house to house. He made out an alphabet- 
 ical list of the names, street, and number, of all 
 the members of the station, and visited every family 
 once a quarter. As a result of faithful labors in 
 the pulpit and among the people, the Church pros- 
 pered ; about seventy were added to the membership 
 of the white congregation, which showed a net in- 
 crease of fifty that year, after deducting deaths, 
 removals, etc. The colored congregation also pros- 
 pered. It was found neccessary to enforce discipline 
 
 9 
 
98 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS, 
 
 among this portion of his charge more rigidly than 
 had been the practice of his predecessor ; but, al- 
 though a large number was excluded, others were 
 gathered in, more than enough to make up the loss. 
 
 While stationed in Louisville, Mr. Morris had an 
 engagement to attend a quarterly-meeting at Frank- 
 fort, distant some fifty miles. He set off one day, 
 early in the Spring, to meet this appointment. It 
 had been an open, rainy Winter ; the mud was deep, 
 and traveling on horseback very tedious. On his way 
 up, having been kindly entertained by a family named 
 Williams, at a place called Middletown, he accepted 
 from them an invitation to leave a night appointment 
 to preach there on his return trip, the next week. 
 In due time, he called at the residence of his hospita- 
 ble friends in Middletown, on his way home, and 
 learned that the meeting was appointed to be held 
 at " the old Faro-bank room," the usual place for 
 preaching — there being no chapel in the village. 
 
 " But," added brother Williams, " there is no cer- 
 tainty of its being there ; for we have a very singular 
 brother here named Wallace, who assumes to man- 
 age every thing of the sort in his own way, and that 
 is generally a way the rest of us do not approve ; and 
 I shall not be surprised to find that he has changed 
 the place." 
 
 After tea they walked up to the faro-bank room, 
 and found all dark. 
 
 "Just as I expected," said Mr. Williams; "Wal- 
 lace has moved the meeting ; but, as there is only 
 one street in the town, we can easily find it." 
 
 They walked on, making inquiry, and learned that 
 
PREACHING UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 99 
 
 the place was changed to Mr. Blackburn's school- 
 house. This school-house had been a private dwell- 
 ing, and consisted of two rooms and a front porch. 
 They found the back room full of women, the other 
 full of men, and the porch full of boys. The position 
 assigned to the preacher was the door of the partition 
 between the two rooms, where he could alternately 
 see both sections of his strange audience, though the 
 few tallow candles burned but dimly. Just by the 
 door where he stood was the teacher's big chair ; if 
 placed in the door, it would have filled it, so that 
 none could pass or repass. But as that was the only 
 vacant spot, and Mr. Morris wished to occupy it him- 
 self, he pushed the chair to one side in the back room 
 out of his way. The service commenced. The 
 preacher was fairly launching out into his subject, 
 when a man — afterward ascertained to be the offi- 
 cious Mr. Wallace — pressed through the crowd and 
 through the door, pushing the preacher aside, and, 
 laying hold of the big chair, made an attempt to force 
 it through the crowd to its original place. 
 
 14 What are you doing, my friend ?" inquired Mr. 
 Morris. 
 
 " I am getting this chair round to place before 
 you for a pulpit." 
 
 " Please to desist ; I do not need it, and can do 
 better without than with it. ' 
 
 After waiting until the brother got out of the 
 way, the minister proceeded ; but he had hardly got 
 fairly started again, when his attention was attracted 
 to two men seated near him, engaged in con- 
 versation about their private affairs, in tones loud 
 
100 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 enough to be heard through the house. Again he 
 desisted from preaching, and looked steadily at the 
 offenders, till all eyes were turned toward them, and 
 they at length became conscious that they were the 
 observed of all observers. 
 
 Perfect stillness being restored, Mr. Morris quietly 
 remarked, " We were only waiting for those two 
 gentlemen to finish their conversation, as that and 
 preaching at the same time did not harmonize well 
 together." 
 
 Again the sermon was resumed. Soon after, how- 
 ever, the boys on the porch commenced an entertain- 
 ment of their own, of so noisy a character that the 
 voice within could scarcely be heard, and so another 
 pause was necessary. Mr. Wallace made a rush for 
 the porch, where he made more disturbance than the 
 boys had done ; but at last the outbreak was quelled, 
 and partial quiet again secured. For the third time 
 the sermon was resumed. A few minutes only had 
 elapsed, when an infant in the back room became 
 restless and noisy ; and though the amiable mother 
 resorted to all means usual in such cases to quiet the 
 little one, she failed, and was considerate enough to 
 leave for home. But, as there was no outlet from 
 the back room except through the door where the 
 preacher stood, he must needs stop the flow of his 
 talk again, step aside, and let her pass. When matters 
 again calmed down, he resumed for the fourth time, 
 but whether at the right or wrong place he could not 
 possibly determine. 
 
 Shortly after, a small boy in the back room, 
 who was perhaps five or six years old, produced a 
 
A SUDDEN DISMISSAL. 10 1 
 
 ludicrous scene. He teased and worried his mother, 
 who used her best endeavors to suppress his rising dis- 
 content, but in vain ; he whimpered on, waxing worse 
 and worse. She finally shook him angrily, demand- 
 ing, "What ails you?" when, in fretful tones, dis- 
 tinctly heard throughout the house, he exclaimed, 
 " Scratch my back !" 
 
 The shock was sudden, the effect irresistible ; 
 some hung their heads, but the majority broke into a 
 loud laugh. The mortified mother, seizing the urchin, 
 began to drag him toward the door, the preacher 
 making way for her to pass. The enraged child had 
 no notion, however, of leaving on compulsion, and he 
 pulled back with all the strength he had ; but his 
 efforts were overcome, and he was dragged through 
 both rooms and across the porch to the street. After 
 order was again restored, Mr. Morris attempted to 
 resume for the fifth time, but could not recall the 
 point at which he had stopped. He then aimed to 
 reach the point by rapidly reviewing the general drift 
 of the subject, but could not strike the trail. Finally, 
 in despair he concluded to go back to the text, but 
 could not even recall that ! He could remember 
 neither text nor subject. 
 
 After a long pause, he remarked : " My strange 
 friends, I make no great pretensions as a preacher, 
 even under the most favorable circumstances ; and 
 under such as now surround me, it is utterly imprac- 
 ticable for me to preach at all. Please excuse me, 
 and receive the benediction." 
 
 Mr. Morris's salary in Louisville was five hundred 
 and forty-eight dollars, the best year's support he had 
 
102 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 received up to that time. A short time after his ar- 
 rival in the city, he went to a forwarding house to 
 see if any thing could be done to recover his boxes 
 of household goods, that had been directed to Ohio. 
 To his surprise they were all lying in the warehouse 
 at which he called, and in good condition, having, on 
 account of various detentions, only just reached thnt 
 point. He was still more surprised to find at the 
 same place a box of books, worth ninety-five dollars, 
 which had been charged to his account by the Book 
 Concern at Cincinnati, the year before, and sent to 
 his address at Mill's Point, on the Mississippi, but 
 which had been given up as lost. 
 
 In the Spring of 1828 he started for Pittsburg, 
 to attend the General Conference, and was accompa- 
 nied by his family, who embraced this opportunity to 
 visit their relatives in West Virginia. It was the 
 first time any of them had ever been on a steamboat, 
 and they greatly enjoyed the trip, especially as the 
 Marion — in which they made the journey — was 
 nearly filled with Methodist preachers. 
 
 The General Conference of 1828 convened, as 
 usual, on the 1st of May. Bishops M'Kendree, 
 George, Roberts, Soule, and Hedding were present. 
 There were one hundred and seventy delegates, rep- 
 resenting seventeen annual conferences. So great 
 was the ratio of representation that Kentucky had 
 eleven delegates, to-wit: Richard Tydings, Thomas 
 A. Morris, Peter Akers, Benjamin T. Crouch, George 
 C. Light, Marcus Lindsey, William Adams, Henry 
 M'Daniel, Jonathan Stamper, George W. M'Nelly, and 
 John Tevis. 
 
GENERAL m CONFERENCE, 1828. 103 
 
 The most exciting question before this General 
 Conference grew out of what was called, in that day, 
 the " radical controversy." A considerable party had 
 been organized in the Church with a view to secure 
 lay representation, and also to modify, in some way, 
 the functions of the Episcopacy. These so-called re- 
 formers had two organs, the Wesleyan Repository and 
 the Mutual Rights ; in the latter of which appeared, 
 some time in 1826, what purported to be a report 
 of an address made by Bishop Hedding before the 
 Pittsburg Annual Conference, on the duty of its 
 members in reference to the discussion of Church 
 reforms. In this report, sentiments were attributed 
 to Bishop Hedding which he disavowed, as injurious 
 to his character. Not being successful in his en- 
 deavor to obtain redress at the hands of the publish- 
 ers of Mutual Rights, he brought the matter before 
 the General Conference, and requested a full investi- 
 gation. The result of the investigation was a 
 complete vindication of Bishop Hedding. 
 
 At this General Conference a memorial was pre- 
 sented, from the Canada Conference, on the subject 
 of establishing an independent Church in Upper 
 Canada, asking that measures be taken with a view 
 to such an organization. The matter was referred to 
 a committee, and in due time a report was submitted 
 and adopted, " dissolving, by mutual consent, the 
 compact existing between the Canada annual con- 
 ferences and the Methodist Episcopal Church." The 
 desire for such separation, on the part of the brethren 
 in Canada, did not grow out of any dissatisfaction 
 with the conduct of their brethren in the United 
 
104 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 States toward them, but chiefly from the opposition 
 evinced by statesmen in Upper Canada to their being 
 subject to the control of a foreign ecclesiastical head.* 
 
 In the Fall of 1828, Mr. Morris received official 
 notice that he was transferred to the Ohio Conference, 
 and appointed to Lebanon Circuit. He deemed it 
 proper, however, before leaving for his new field of 
 labor, to attend the session of the Kentucky Con- 
 ference at Shelby ville, both to make his final report, 
 and to visit his daughter, who was a student in 
 Science Hill Academy, at that place. In severing 
 his official connection with the brethren of the Ken- 
 tucky Conference, with whom he had labored seven 
 years in harmony, he now felt sincere regret. He 
 said, on leaving them, that he did not know a body 
 of purer men, of more faithful Methodist preachers, 
 or more magnanimous spirits, than they were ; that, 
 so far as the ties of brotherhood and the pleasures of 
 social intercourse were concerned, it was in his heart 
 to live and die with them ; but that considerations of 
 private and family interest, or, in other words, duty 
 to his family, indicated that the time for him to re- 
 turn to Ohio had fully come. And so, a day or two 
 before the final adjournment of the Kentucky Confer- 
 ence, he took his departure for Lebanon, Ohio, by the 
 same conveyance that took him and his family to 
 Louisville the year before — a Dearborn wagon, his 
 horse Samson, and the pony. 
 
 As Lebanon had just been cut off from Union 
 Circuit, his first work was organization — no slight 
 
 * Bangs's " History of the Methodist Episcopal Church," Vol. Ill, 
 page 388. 
 
LEBANON CIRCUIT. 105 
 
 work either, on a field of such extent. At the end 
 of his first year, in which he had no colleague, he 
 reported five hundred and fifteen members. The 
 stewards provided a small house for his occupancy, 
 and collected about three-fourths of his quarterage 
 claim, each of the two years he labored on the 
 circuit ; but provisions were plenty and cheap, and 
 he lived through the term without any very serious 
 financial embarrassment. Lebanon is situated in a 
 remarkably fertile and beautiful section of Ohio, be- 
 tween the Little and Great Miami Rivers ; and the 
 circuit was, in many respects, a very pleasant field 
 of labor. Still, that lovely region now conveys very 
 little idea of what it was in its comparatively unde- 
 veloped state then. For a large part of the year the 
 roads were very bad, and the congregations, except 
 on Sabbath, very small. During his second year on 
 this circuit, Rev. Joseph J. Hill was his helper, and a 
 very useful, efficient one ; they were favored with 
 several gracious revivals, and reported an increase of 
 fifty-one members. 
 
 While living in Lebanon, Mr. Morris was a near 
 neighbor of Bishop Soule, who resided there for 
 many years. Four of the bishop's children were re- 
 ceived into the Church under the ministry of Mr. 
 Morris and his colleague, one of whom became the 
 wife of the latter. While here, Mr. Morris invested 
 six hundred dollars, saved from the wreck of his Ken- 
 tucky speculation, in town lots, with a small house 
 on one of them. This property, six years later, he 
 sold for twelve hundred dollars. This was his first 
 successful effort at mending his broken fortunes. 
 
106 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 At the end of two years on Lebanon Circuit, 
 Mr. Morris was appointed to Columbus, which 
 was that year (1830) made a station. On his ar- 
 rival there to enter upon his work, the prospect 
 seemed any thing but encouraging. The little chapel 
 on Town Street was awkwardly constructed ; the 
 pulpit was placed between the two front doors ; the 
 house had a roof and floor, but no plastering ; it 
 had no seats, but loose, rough boards ; there was the 
 unsightly skeleton of a gallery, the naked timbers 
 without flooring ; while for a pulpit the preacher used 
 a small, rough box, placed under the gallery at the 
 rear end of the house, with the uncovered timbers 
 overhead for a canopy. The house provided for the 
 pastor and his family was a dilapidated tenement in 
 the rear of the church, originally intended for the 
 sexton. It was a one-story wooden building, consist- 
 ing of two very small rooms, in which they lived the 
 year out, received their company, and did their own 
 work. As this "parsonage" was located in the vi- 
 cinity of stables, on an alley, the inmates were greatly 
 annoyed in Summer by flies. Mr. Morris, in his 
 diary, speaks of the method he adopted to abate this 
 nuisance: 
 
 " On the smooth surface of a broad board I poured 
 a small stream of honey, so as to form a circle ; im- 
 mediately adjoining which, I formed an outer circle 
 of gunpowder, with a connecting arm extending at 
 right angles six inches, so as to ignite without fright- 
 ening the enemy. When the whole circle of powder 
 was covered with flies, two or three deep, with their 
 bills in the honey, I applied a red-hot iron rod to the 
 
COLUMBUS STATION. 107 
 
 connecting train, blowing up hundreds at a blast. A 
 few such operations each day left us in the quiet and 
 peaceable possession of the field." 
 
 However unpromising the field of labor might 
 seem, Mr. Morris felt that it was his business to make 
 it better, by cultivating it diligently ; and he went to 
 work with a will — preaching, visiting from house to 
 house, meeting classes, attending the Sabbath-school, 
 instructing the teachers one evening each week, and 
 holding prayer-meetings. It was hard toiling, and 
 against many discouragements. As is generally the 
 case about State capitals, there was in Columbus a 
 great deal of fashionable vice and folly. Wine-parties, 
 card-parties, and dancing-parties were alarmingly 
 prevalent. Many efforts were made to draw off the 
 young disciples from their religious course, and in- 
 volve them in the guilt of these sinful amusements. 
 In one instance, the managers of a public ball had the 
 effrontery to send cards of invitation to some half- 
 dozen young ladies, members of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. The preacher regarded this as a de- 
 liberate insult to them, and through them to him 
 and the entire Church. Accordingly^ on the next 
 Sabbath evening, when nearly all the offenders were 
 supposed to be present, in a full house, he gave them 
 such a rebuke as, in his judgment, the offense 
 merited, and ito more tickets to balls were sent to 
 his young people that season. For a few weeks, 
 some, affecting to take offense at his plain preaching, 
 drew off from the congregation, and sought to take 
 others with them, but they soon returned. 
 
 Extreme cold weather, when Winter fairly set in, 
 
108 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 operated against them in their open chapel ; but as 
 soon as moderate weather returned, the church was 
 more crowded than ever, and in the Spring they were 
 favored with a revival. During one week, while as- 
 sisted by Rev. Joseph M. Trimble, the pastor received 
 over eighty persons into the Church as probationers; 
 but, in the very height of the religious awakening, 
 small-pox made its appearance in the city, causing a 
 great panic, and dispersing the congregations. For a 
 few weeks the revival influence seemed to subside ; 
 but when the panic ceased, the people rallied again, 
 and the good work went on with greater power 
 than before. The first visitation was chiefly one of 
 awakening power, but the second was characterized 
 by converting grace. At their evening society-meet- 
 ings for the benefit of penitents, it was not uncom- 
 mon to have from six to eight clear cases of pardon 
 and adoption ; and thus those who were received on 
 probation during the first stage of the meeting, and 
 many others, were soundly converted, and became 
 established believers and useful members of the 
 society. The number of members in the society 
 when it was organized as a station can not now be 
 ascertained ; but at the close of that year Mr. Morris 
 reported three hundred and twenty, and the net in- 
 crease was probably not far from one hundred. 
 
 As to the matter of salary, the stewards of the 
 station could only engage to pay what was then 
 called the " quarterage claim," amounting, in the case 
 of Mr. Morris, to two hundred and twenty-four dollars. 
 One of them, however — Mr. George M'Cormack — 
 undertook on his own responsibility to collect fifteen 
 
CONFERENCE SESSION, 1831. 109 
 
 dollars a quarter outside of the membership, for 
 family expenses, and succeeded, making the total 
 salary for the year two hundred and eighty-four dol- 
 lars. On this small sum Mr. Morris and his family 
 managed to live that year, and they did it uncom- 
 plainingly, believing that the brethren were not well 
 able to do more ; and they always spoke of the year 
 spent in Columbus as among the most agreeable, 
 upon the whole, of their itinerant life. Before Con- 
 ference, the brethren raised money sufficient to com- 
 plete the church, and Methodism has never wanted a 
 comfortable home in Columbus since. 
 
 In 183 1, the Ohio Conference met in Mansfield, 
 in the court-house. Among other items of important 
 business, delegates were elected to the General Con- 
 ference, to assemble the ensuing May in the city of 
 Philadelphia. The delegation chosen was an exceed- 
 ingly able one, consisting of the following, now nearly 
 all historic names : David Young, Russel Bigelow, 
 James Quinn, John F. Wright, Leroy Swormstedt, 
 Thomas A. Morris, William H. Raper, Arthur W. 
 Elliott, James B. Finley, Zechariah Connell, Curtis 
 Goddard, John Collins, William B. Christie, Charles 
 Holliday, and Greenbury R. Jones. The Conference 
 had ordered that certain papers should be put into 
 the hands of the preacher who should be appointed 
 in charge of Cincinnati Station, then including all our 
 city Churches in one pastoral charge. A very short 
 time before the final adjournment, these papers were 
 handed by the secretary to Bishop Heckling, and by 
 him to Mr. Morris, who was thus enabled to "guess" 
 pretty accurately where his next appointment would 
 
I 10 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 be. For this, however, he was not wholly unprepared. 
 Bishop M'Kendree had spent a few days at the par- 
 sonage in Columbus, a week or two before Conference, 
 and in the course of a private conversation had said: 
 
 " I came through Cincinnati ; the old stone church 
 is taken down to make way for a new one, and serv- 
 ices are held in the court-house. The congregation 
 is in a scattered condition, and it will be difficult to 
 gather them together again. I am not the responsi- 
 ble man at your Conference this year; but if I were f 
 I should want you to go there." 
 
 The suspicion aroused in the mind of Mr. Morris, 
 by this hint from the senior bishop, was fully verified 
 at the close of the Mansfield Conference, when Bishop 
 Hedding announced, among others, the following 
 appointments: "Cincinnati Station — Thomas A. 
 Morris, Nathan Emery, W. B. Christie, Edmund W. 
 Sehon." 
 
 This change was far from being a source of grati- 
 fication to Mr. Morris. An overland move of one 
 hundred and twenty miles of bad road was no holi- 
 day affair to a feeble, almost helpless family. They 
 could have spent another year pleasantly in their hum- 
 ble domicile, and among their warm-hearted friends 
 in Columbus. The new converts, many of whom knew 
 little of Methodist polity, were sorely grieved to lose 
 their beloved pastor, and could scarcely be reconciled 
 to the arrangement. Among them was a poor but 
 honest and industrious man, known in the community 
 as Father M'Coy, whose great failing was a love for 
 the decanter. Being pleased with Mr. Morris's 
 preaching, he became first a regular hearer, then 
 
MOVING TO CINCINNATI. Ill 
 
 sober, then truly awakened and deeply penitent, and 
 finally was happily converted. On learning that he 
 was about to lose his pastor, he hastened to the par- 
 sonage, and with tears entreated Mr. Morris not to 
 leave them. " I am a poor man," he said, " and can 
 not do much ; but if you will only stay with us, I 
 will give you all the potatoes you need next year." 
 Father M'Coy lived a few years, a striking example 
 of the power of saving grace, even in the otherwise 
 hopeless case of a once confirmed inebriate, and then 
 died in peace. 
 
 Mr. Morris sent his household goods by wagon to 
 Cincinnati, while he with his family took Athens in 
 their route, to visit his son, then a student in the 
 Ohio University. On their arrival finally at the 
 Queen City, they were doomed to meet an unexpected 
 defeat of their previously determined mode of living. 
 Having no suitable outfit for housekeeping in the 
 city, Mr. Morris had written from Columbus to one 
 of the stewards in Cincinnati to engage a suitable 
 boarding-place for himself and family. To this reason- 
 able request no attention was paid ; and, at the first 
 official meeting, the stewards signified that it was 
 their wish to have the parsonage occupied by the 
 preacher in charge. He at once moved into the old 
 house thus designated, on B/oadway, near Fifth Street, 
 and furnished it as comfortably as his means would 
 allow. All this could have been borne cheerfully if 
 his allowance had been adequate to meet expenses ; 
 but in addition to the house, which was poor and 
 uncomfortable, his salary was four hundred and fifty 
 dollars, all told. The last fifty was added, he was 
 
1 1 2 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 informed, in view of the fact that he would be ex- 
 pected to "entertain comers and goers" — visiting 
 brethren, lay and clerical. 
 
 Having but a limited supply of beds for the " comers 
 and goers," Mr. Morris found it necessary to buy a 
 cot, which he carried home on his own shoulders. 
 The first attempt to use it broke it down. He carried 
 it back for repairs, and, when mended, bore it along 
 Fifth Street as before, for the third time. It was hard 
 work, but saved the drayage. His wife's health was 
 very poor, and that of his daughter scarcely better ; 
 but to hire help without the means to pay for it was 
 a thing not to be thought of; and so, as the next best 
 thing, he procured a washing-machine, which, together 
 with his saw and ax, furnished him an abundance of 
 healthy exercise. His daughter had just strength to 
 prepare the clothes, change the water, and rinse them 
 when clean, while he was both able and willing — 
 under the circumstances — to turn the machine, by 
 far the hardest part of the job. Meantime, however, 
 the water-works were destroyed by fire, and "wash- 
 ing" became a more serious as well as more expen- 
 sive business, involving an outlay of twenty-five 
 cents a barrel for water, hauled from the river, for 
 laundry purposes. As for the ordinary daily supply 
 for drinking and cooking purposes, Mr. Morris carried 
 that in buckets from Spencer's well, a square and. a 
 half distant from the parsonage. 
 
 Cincinnati Station at that time included Wesley, 
 Fourth-street, M'Kendree, Asbury, and New-street 
 Chapels, or the entire city and Fulton. The Confer- 
 ence year was marked by a succession of calamities 
 
A YEAR OF CALAMITY. I I 3 
 
 to the city, which were felt by all classes of citizens. 
 River navigation closed very early, leaving the city 
 so little fuel that wood, hauled into town from the 
 surrounding farms, rose in price to eight and nine 
 dollars a load. Then came numerous and destructive 
 fires, consuming foundries, hotels, and steamboats, in 
 which many lives were lost. The most embarrassing 
 fire, and the one most generally felt by the community 
 to be a great public calamity, was that which destroyed 
 the water-works, leaving the people to obtain supplies 
 from the river as best they could. Early in 1832, 
 there was a great freshet in the Ohio River. Oppo- 
 site to Cincinnati it rose sixty-four feet above low- 
 water mark, flooding all that part of the city called 
 " the Bottom ;" floating many houses from their foun- 
 dations, and inflicting untold suffering on many poor 
 families. These public distresses necessarily increased 
 the toils and lessened the comforts of the preachers 
 and their families. It was a year of hard labor, and 
 of comparatively little fruit. 
 
 Mr. Morris was returned to the city in 1832, with 
 George W. Walker and David Whitcomb for his col- 
 leagues. This was a most eventful year in the his- 
 tory of Methodism in Cincinnati. During the first 
 week of the year, early in October, Asiatic cholera 
 made its appearance so suddenly, and operated with 
 such violence and fatality, as to produce general con- 
 sternation among the people. • Some shut themselves 
 up at home, living abstemiously, and furnished with 
 preventives and remedies ; others fled to the country, 
 hoping by that means to escape from the deadly in- 
 fluence. Steamboats, canal-boats, stages, carriages, 
 
 10 
 
I 14 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and market-wagons were crowded day and night with 
 affrighted citizens, while many fled on foot, who could 
 obtain no more rapid method of escape. Among these 
 were many members of the Church, and several class- 
 leaders. Such of the leaders as were obliged to leave 
 with their sick families or friends, and notified their 
 pastors of the fact, were borne with ; but such as fled 
 precipitately, making no arrangements for substitutes, 
 were deemed by the preacher in charge guilty of 
 gross delinquency, and removed from office. 
 
 The preachers not only remained at their posts, 
 and exhorted their brethren, publicly and privately, 
 to do the same, but they labored more abundantly, 
 attending the sick from house to house, encouraging 
 the fearful, comforting the dying, and burying the 
 dead. Indeed, for three weeks they scarcely took rest 
 enough to sustain their physical nature, promptly 
 obeying every call from the afflicted to all parts of 
 the city and at all hours of the day and night ; not 
 counting their lives dear unto themselves, so that 
 they might finish their course with joy, and the min- 
 istry which they had received of the Lord Jesus, to 
 testify the Gospel of the grace of God. 
 
 The city, during the prevalence of this dreadful 
 epidemic, presented a mournful aspect. Thousands 
 of citizens were absent in the country ; very many 
 were closely confined by personal affliction or the 
 demands of sick friends ; hundreds were numbered 
 among the dead ; the transient floating population 
 had entirely disappeared ; the country people, in ter- 
 ror, stood aloof; business was almost wholly sus- 
 pended ; the tramp of hurrying feet was no longer 
 
THE CHOLERA. 115 
 
 heard on the streets ; the din of the city was hushed, 
 and every day appeared as a Sabbath. Instead, how- 
 ever, of the sound of church-going bells, and the 
 footsteps of happy throngs hastening to the house of 
 God, were heard the shrieks of terror-stricken vic- 
 tims of the fell disease, the groans of the dying, and 
 the voices of lamentation. For weeks, funeral pro- 
 cessions might be seen at any hour from early morn- 
 ing to late at night. All classes of people were 
 stricken down in this fearful visitation. Doctors, min- 
 isters, lawyers, merchants and mechanics, the old 
 and the young, the temperate and the intemperate, 
 the prudent and the imprudent, were alike victims. 
 Seventy-five members of the Cincinnati Station died 
 that year, and fifty of them were marked on the 
 Church records as cholera cases. Among these fifty 
 were some of the choice spirits of the Church : Rich- 
 ard Dement, local elder; John Boyd, local deacon; 
 Isaac Covalt, Esq., a steward, and a member of the 
 City Council ; Lewis H. Lee, exhorter and class- 
 leader ; besides many excellent private members, both 
 male and female, all of whom, as far as could be 
 learned, died in peace — many of them rejoicing to 
 the last. 
 
 The first cholera epidemic passed away in Octo- 
 ber, with the first keen, frosty weather of the season ; 
 but the second attack, which commenced with the 
 first warm weather in the Spring of 1833, continued 
 till August, and destroyed more lives probably than 
 the first, though not at any time apparently so violent. 
 
 Another great event of this year, and one far more 
 pleasant to contemplate, was the extraordinary revival 
 
Il6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 of religion in the Winter of 1832-33. During the 
 epidemic of October, 1832, the churches of the city 
 were open on Sabbath morning always, and some- 
 times in the afternoon, but closed at night, except the 
 Methodist churches, which were open day and night, as 
 usual, and, all things considered, well attended. As 
 soon as the cholera subsided, our churches were filled; 
 a work of grace began at once, growing in interest and 
 power from day to day; so that, by the last of No- 
 vember, about one hundred and fifty probationers had 
 been received. The Rev. John Newland Maffit now 
 appeared in the city for the first time, and assisted 
 the regular pastors for four weeks. His eloquent dis- 
 courses drew very large congregations nightly, the 
 work extended, and one hundred and fifty more were 
 admitted on trial. A day or two after Mr. Maffit left, 
 Rev. James B. Finley, the presiding elder, arrived in 
 the city, to hold quarterly-meeting. The services be- 
 gan on Friday night, and were continued until Tues- 
 day night, with most extraordinary manifestations of 
 Divine power. During the quarterly-meeting, not 
 less than a hundred souls were converted, and a 
 hundred and twenty were received into the Church 
 on trial. 
 
 The most remarkable demonstration of the Spirit 
 took place in Wesley Chapel, at a watch-night service 
 on New- Year's eve, when hundreds were prostrate at 
 the same time, pleading for mercy — the joyful shouts 
 of new-born souls mingling with the earnest cries of 
 the penitent. The house was crowded above and 
 below, and in every part of it the cry arose, " What 
 must I do to be saved ?" Not less than fifty were 
 
A GREAT REVIVAL. ny 
 
 converted that evening, and fifty-six united with the 
 Church on probation. Forty-seven were added to 
 the Fourth-street Church the next night, and seven- 
 teen at M'Kendree. From that time the revival was 
 regarded as general in all the congregations, and 
 continued with very little abatement for months. 
 During this great work of grace the official business 
 of the Church was not neglected. The class-meetings 
 were held regularly, and proved to be most powerful 
 auxiliaries to the more public services ; society-meet- 
 ings were held often, to which none but members and 
 penitents were admitted. Much care was taken to 
 instruct penitents, and watch over those who had been 
 admitted on trial as seekers of salvation ; and, as a 
 result of this judicious administration, they were nearly 
 all converted, and became living and useful members. 
 Early in the Spring, the pastors held a series of 
 meetings in the several charges, beginning on Friday 
 and closing with a love-feast on Monday night. At 
 these meetings they concentrated all the Methodistic 
 forces in the city, day and night, except Sabbath, and 
 the result in every instance was glorious. At the 
 close of such an effort in Fulton, the very foundations 
 of wickedness seemed broken up. Wives who had 
 long prayed for their husbands, and mothers who had 
 wept in secret over their prodigal sons and worldly- 
 minded daughters, saw them fall down at the foot -of 
 the Cross to plead for mercy, and heard them rejoice 
 subsequently in their glorious deliverance from the 
 bondage of sin. The reformation of morals in that 
 part of the city was very striking, and the Church 
 grew and multiplied. 
 
Il8 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Upon the whole, this was a memorable year in the 
 history of Methodism in Cincinnati. While hundreds 
 were made sorrowful by the loss of dear friends, more 
 still were permitted to rejoice over the salvation of 
 relatives and neighbors. The whole number of appli- 
 cants for membership on probation was thirteen hun- 
 dred ; but as some of these were transient persons, 
 driven out of the city by want of employment, and 
 others were swept off by the wasting epidemic, the 
 numbered enrolled by the preachers, who were very 
 careful not to admit improper persons, was but one 
 thousand. The increase that year must have been 
 very great but for the concurrence of unusual causes ; 
 especially emigration, caused by depression of busi- 
 ness. At the close of the year, a careful examination 
 of the records showed not less than six hundred and 
 fifty removals by letter, while comparatively few had 
 been received in that way. It is no matter of sur- 
 prise, therefore, that the net increase was only a 
 little over three hundred members. Still, the general 
 result was in the highest degree encouraging and 
 gratifying. At least one thousand souls, it was be- 
 lieved, had been " saved by the washing of regenera- 
 tion and the renewing of the Holy Ghost," while 
 old members were enabled to rejoice in the progress 
 of the cause of Christ. The work was accomplished, 
 so far as human agency was concerned, in a Scrip- 
 tural and orderly manner. The means used were 
 plain, practical preaching, exhortation, prayer, ex- 
 perience-meetings, and singing Methodist hymns. 
 At all the night-meetings, the preachers remained 
 till the service closed and the people dispersed. No 
 
ENFORCING DISCIPLINE. 
 
 II 9 
 
 irregularities or extravagant exercises were encour- 
 aged or permitted, every thing being done "decently 
 and in order." Long will that time of refreshing from 
 the presence of the Lord be remembered by many 
 who participated in it, and by their children. Some 
 few there were, indeed, who took exceptions at first 
 to Mr. Morris's strict enforcement of discipline; but 
 at the close of his second year the official members, 
 by resolution, gave him a vote of thanks for the sat- 
 isfactory manner in which he had administered the 
 affairs of the charge. 
 
120 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 83 2 APPOINTED EDITOR OF 
 
 WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE GENERAL CON- 
 FERENCE OF 1836 ELECTED BISHOP. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1832, held May 1st, in 
 the city of Philadelphia, was composed of two hun- 
 dred and twenty-three delegates, representing twenty 
 annual conferences. After the usual opening exer- 
 cises, the appointment of standing and special com- 
 mittees, and the election of officers, the Address of 
 the Bishops was read. It congratulated the Church 
 on the general prosperity of the previous quadrennial, 
 on its happy deliverance from the internal dissensions 
 which had, at one time, seemed so threatening, and 
 on the increasing efficiency of the itinerant system. 
 The address then called the attention of the body 
 to the various benevolent, educational, and other en- 
 terprises of the Church, the care and enlargement 
 of which would call for wise and prayerful delibera- 
 tion. The business of this General Conference seems 
 to have been conducted in great harmony, and with 
 unusual dispatch. No exciting question disturbed 
 the general good-feeling, or elicited angry discussion. 
 The presiding-elder question was considered settled, 
 and the radical controversy, after the withdrawal of 
 many of the leading malcontents, had ceased to 
 
NARROW ESCAPE. 121 
 
 agitate the Church. On the twenty-second day of 
 :he session, two additional bishops were elected ; 
 namely, James O. Andrew and John Emory, both on 
 the first ballot. 
 
 It was on his journey home from this General 
 Conference that Mr. Morris, with a number of other 
 delegates, met with a very narrow escape from a se- 
 rious mishap. The company consisted of Bishop 
 Soule, J. B. Finley, J. Edmondson, D. Young, A. W. 
 Elliott, Jesse Green, and T. A. Morris. They were 
 crossing the Alleghany Mountains on Stockton's fast 
 line of passenger mail-coaches, from Baltimore to 
 Wheeling. It was a very hot day, the 1st of June ; 
 but being homeward bound, and all on the best of 
 terms with each other, the time was agreeably occu- 
 pied with religious and general conversation. As 
 they came down the west side of Polish Mountain, 
 while passing a train of heavy wagons, the team took 
 fright and ran off, dashing at full speed down the 
 mountain. After running about a fourth of a mile, 
 the coach was upset, and at the same time precipi- 
 tated, with team, passengers, and luggage, down a 
 rough and steep embankment, a distance of thirty- 
 two feet. The driver saved himself by jumping off 
 his box as soon as he saw that the coach must go 
 over. Rev. Jesse Green, who sat with him, attempt- 
 ing to follow the driver's example, broke his arm. 
 The coach brought up against a new and strong fence 
 of oak rails, with such a terrible concussion that it 
 was reduced to a wreck. The shock to the passen- 
 gers was terrible, of course, and was soon followed by 
 the outcries of the wounded. Bishop Soule was the 
 
 ii 
 
122 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 first to extricate himself; he had received some slight 
 wounds, and had lost part of one thumb. The next 
 one who emerged from the debris was Rev. J. B. 
 Finley, with his face cut and bleeding, and his whole 
 system so shocked that he soon became quite sick 
 and faint. Mr. Morris then crawled out uninjured. 
 Rev. A. W. Elliott was heard calling for help, and 
 was got out by the efforts of those who were least 
 damaged — his shoulders being so wrenched by the 
 fall that for years afterward he could not get his coat 
 on without help. Rev. Joseph Edmondson was next 
 recovered from the ruins, very much injured — his face 
 being fearfully cut from chin to forehead, and the 
 blood streaming clown into his bosom. Last of all, 
 they recovered Rev. David Young, whose unconscious 
 moans were truly distressing ; his collar-bone was 
 crushed, several of his ribs were broken, and other 
 injuries more or less serious received. They were on 
 the south side of the hill, and the only shade availa- 
 ble was the imperfect one afforded by the fence, in the 
 corners of which the wounded were placed. There 
 lay Finley, Elliott, Young, and Edmondson. As Mr. 
 Morris was wiping the dust from the face of Young, 
 Bishop Soule came up with Jesse Green in his arms, 
 carrying him like a child from the hot and dusty pike 
 where he fell ; and he, too, was placed in the extem- 
 porized hospital in the fence corner. One of. the 
 company had a thumb-lancet, with which Bishop 
 Soule bled Rev. Mr. Young pretty freely, and he soon 
 revived. After waiting for some time, the accommo- 
 dation stage came along, and carried all the passen- 
 gers to Slicer's tavern, a mile or two distant, except 
 
OHIO CONFERENCE, 1833. 1 23 
 
 Morris and Elliott, who remained with the luggage 
 until the driver returned with a farm-wagon, and 
 
 hauled them, with the mail and trunks, to the tavern. 
 
 They had to send fourteen miles, to Cumberland, 
 for a surgeon. Finally one arrived at midnight — Dr. 
 Lawrence — who was kept busy until morning, setting- 
 fractured bones and dressing wounds. Next day, 
 leaving Mr. Young in care of Mr. Finley, the rest of 
 the party started for Cumberland, where Jesse Green 
 was left with Dr. Lawrence, and, on Monday follow- 
 ing, those who were able resumed their journey, 
 thankful to have escaped with life. 
 
 The Ohio Conference met in Cincinnati in 1833, 
 holding its sessions in the old Cincinnati College, on 
 Walnut Street. Mr. Morris, having completed his 
 term of two years as preacher in charge of the 
 station, was that year appointed presiding elder of the 
 Cincinnati District. He rented a house at Madison- 
 ville, a small village about eight miles from the city, 
 for which he paid three dollars a month, purchased a 
 horse, a light wagon, and a cow, and felt quite at 
 home among his rural and pleasant neighbors. The 
 district stewards'-meeting allowed him one hundred 
 and twenty dollars for house-rent, fuel, and provisions, 
 which, with his quarterage claim, made a salary of 
 three hundred and twenty dollars. He entered upon 
 his work cheerfully and zealously, and was prosecut- 
 ing it with his accustomed energy and success, when, 
 in April, 1833, he was directed by the authorities of 
 the Church to return to Cincinnati to take editorial 
 charge of the Western CJiristian Advocate. 
 
 It may be well to pause here for a moment, and 
 
124 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 invite the attention of the reader to a brief re'sume' 
 of the history of Methodist periodical literature. In 
 the language of the great American historian of our 
 Church, "Methodism began its march from the gates 
 of a university," and no man ever labored more in- 
 defatigably in the walks of literature for the elevation 
 of the popular mind than did John Wesley, who was 
 probably the very first to set the example of modern 
 cheap prices, sustained by large sales. In addition 
 to his own prose productions, constituting fourteen 
 octavo volumes, in the English edition, his "Notes" 
 and abridgments make a catalogue of one hundred 
 and eighteen prose works, forty-nine poetical publi- 
 cations by himself and his brother, and five distinct 
 works on music. In the year 1777, Mr. Wesley pro- 
 jected the Arminian Magazine, the first number of 
 which was issued early in 1778, and which is now the 
 oldest religious periodical in the world. 
 
 American Methodism has always been true to the 
 example of its illustrious founder; for, in 1789, only 
 five years after the organization of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, her celebrated " Book Concern " 
 was founded. Rev. John Dickins, then the only 
 Methodist preacher in Philadelphia, was appointed 
 "Book Steward" of the denomination. The capital 
 of the Concern was originally six hundred dollars, 
 lent to it by Mr. Dickins himself. In 1804, trie Con- 
 cern was removed from Philadelphia to New York. 
 In 18 18, the Methodist Magazine was begun, which is 
 still published, under the title of the MeiJiodist Quar- 
 terly Review. On the 91I1 of September, 1826, the 
 first number of the Christian Advocate and Journal 
 
METHODIST PERIODICALS. 125 
 
 was issued, the success of which was very remarkable. 
 "In a very short time," says Dr. Bangs, in his His- 
 tory of the Methodist Episcopal Church, "its number 
 of subscribers far exceeded every other paper pub- 
 lished in the United States, being about twenty-five 
 thousand ; and it soon increased to thirty thousand, 
 and was probably read by more than one hundred 
 and twenty thousand persons, young and old." 
 
 In 1820, at the earnest request of Methodists west 
 of the Alleghany Mountains, the General Conference 
 authorized the establishment of a branch of the Book 
 Concern in Cincinnati, and in 1834 the publication of 
 the Western Christian Advocate was begun. There 
 were, in 1866, as we learn from a Centenary Sermon 
 by Bishop Clark, two principal Book Concerns — one 
 in New York and one in Cincinnati — with eleven de- 
 positories, accommodating different sections of the 
 country, and located mainly in the large cities. The 
 growth and enlargement of our publishing interest 
 have been unprecedented in the history of similar 
 enterprises. The six hundred dollars borrozved cap- 
 ital had resulted, in seventy-seven years, or at the 
 period of the Centenary of American Methodism, in 
 an owned aggregate net capital of $958,298.72. It 
 kept in constant employment at that time about 
 thirty-five cylinder-presses ; issued twelve weekly 
 papers, with an aggregate circulation of one hundred 
 and fifty thousand copies ; also a well-sustained quar- 
 terly, and a family monthly magazine circulating 
 thirty-five thousand copies, a Sunday-school Advo- 
 cate, and a German Sunday-school paper ; together 
 circulating about three hundred and twenty-five thou- 
 
126 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 sand copies. Some idea of the immense power and 
 influence of this great agency of the Church may be 
 gathered from the fact that in the Centennial Year — 
 1866 — the actual business of the Methodist Book 
 Concern, in the East and in the West, amounted to 
 $1,303,966.95, for twelve months. 
 
 When, in April, 1834, Mr. Morris relinquished his 
 pleasant and congenial work on the Cincinnati Dis- 
 trict, to undertake the editorship of the Western Chris- 
 tian Advocate, he felt that he was making a new and 
 doubtful experiment. The paper was to be made, 
 subscribers were to be obtained, correspondents se- 
 cured, and, in short, every thing pertaining to the 
 business was to be learned ab initio. At that day no 
 provision was made for an office assistant, or any 
 help whatever in the editorial management of the 
 paper. One man was expected to prepare the edito- 
 rials, make the selections from exchanges, condense 
 the current news, prepare the items, supervise all 
 manuscript, and attend to the correspondence of the 
 office. The authorities of the Church had recog- 
 nized in Mr. Morris the peculiar and rare qualities 
 that were demanded for such work. He was even then 
 known widely as a writer who wielded a facile, chaste, 
 and ready pen ; and also as a man of rare good 
 sense, wide observation, sound judgment, and great 
 practical wisdom. 
 
 Notwithstanding all the disadvantages under which 
 he was about to enter upon this new and untried 
 field, such were his energy and industry and ability in 
 cultivating it, that the paper entered upon its third 
 volume with over eight thousand subscribers ; and it 
 
" THE PRESS." 127 
 
 is no disparagement of the many eminent writers 
 who have succeeded him to say, that the Western 
 Christian Advocate has never been more popular with 
 its patrons than when conducted by Thomas A. 
 Morris. As furnishing both a specimen of his terse, 
 neat style, and his views of the power and responsi- 
 bility of the press, we subjoin the editorial entitled 
 " The Press :" 
 
 "That printing machine is a wonderful invention. 
 Nothing could supply its place in the dissemination 
 of knowledge. Through its agency one individual 
 may speak to millions, not only while he lives, but 
 when sleeping in his grave. Thoughts committed to 
 paper, and printed in books centuries ago, are still in 
 existence, and familiar to reading men of this gener- 
 ation. Thus, by the power of this simple engine, 
 distant ages are brought together; and, with the aid 
 of translators, men of all languages may converse and 
 become acquainted with each others' laws, customs, 
 and religions, through the press. When the world 
 was dependent on scribes to multiply copies of man- 
 uscript, only limited scraps of history could be 
 preserved, and the knowledge of them was necessarily 
 confined to a few individuals who might obtain 
 access to the huge rolls of parchment on which they 
 were written. 
 
 " We are indebted to the press for the abundance 
 and cheapness of reading in this age. Had not the 
 art of printing been discovered, 'even the Word of 
 Life,' contained in the records of salvation, would still 
 be locked up in the archives of the university, and 
 read only by a few learned doctors of law. The 
 
128 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 press, under a wise and gracious Providence, has 
 thrown the Bible among the multitudes of common 
 people, and made it at once the parent's companion 
 and the child's school-book. Thus the people gen- 
 erally in this favored land may have access to the 
 fountain-head of knowledge, which is able to make 
 them wise unto salvation, through faith which, is in 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
 " So it is in all Protestant countries, and so it 
 should be throughout the world. To expect the 
 people to find their way to heaven without the holy 
 Scriptures, is as unreasonable as to require mariners 
 to navigate the high seas without chart or compass. 
 Whenever the people of any country shall be furnished 
 with the Bible, and sufficient knowledge of letters to 
 read it, they will soon understand their chartered 
 rights, both as Christians and citizens ; and will have 
 courage to assert them, too, in defiance of popes and 
 tyrants. They, whose usurped authority rests upon 
 the slender foundation, " Ignorance is the mother of 
 devotion,' have important reasons for withholding the 
 Bible from their deluded subjects. And to them 
 nothing is more troublesome than the press. It is 
 difficult for them to exclude from their limited do- 
 minions all the light which it sheds upon the world 
 around them. How important, then, is the press in 
 multiplying copies of the sacred writings, and remov- 
 ing obstructions to their circulation ! Just in propor- 
 tion as pure Christianity progresses and prospers in 
 the world, sound learning, civil liberty, and all the 
 blessings of social life will advance among the nations 
 of the earth, and no faster. 'Righteousness exalteth 
 
"THE PRESS." 129 
 
 a nation ; but sin is a reproach to any people,' is as 
 true now as it was when Solomon wrote it. 
 
 " But the press, like all other benefits conferred 
 upon man, is liable to be abused and perverted to 
 improper uses. While 'the liberty of the press' is to 
 be maintained by every Christian and patriot, care 
 should be taken to restrain it within proper bounds. 
 There is certainly a marked difference between the 
 liberty of the press and the licentiousness of it, 
 whether viewed in the political, literary, or religious 
 department of its operations. 
 
 "The political press should teach the rights of 
 man, expound international law, advocate the princi- 
 ples of our free institutions, keep the people advised 
 of the state of commerce, and publish general intel- 
 ligence. But it should never be enlisted in the cause 
 of mobocracy, or demagogism, or such party measures 
 as conflict with the general good of the country ; nor 
 should it ever be degraded by dealing in slander, or 
 personal invective, or any disgusting details of private 
 scandal. This standard is evidently none too high. 
 But if every political newspaper which falls below it 
 were expunged from the catalogue, how few of them 
 would be left ! How many political newspapers are 
 there in the United States which do not evince more 
 zeal for their respective leaders and parties than they 
 do for their country ? Which of them will not abuse 
 a political opponent to prevent his elevation, or flatter 
 a political friend for the remote prospect of obtaining 
 office ? Nay, which of them will not publish fulsome 
 notices of a masquerade, a theater, a circus, a horse- 
 race, or a tippling-house, for the paltry sum of a few 
 
130 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 cents? 'Straws show which way the wind blows/ 
 and these objectionable items but too clearly indicate 
 the spirit of the political press. In vain may it 
 attempt to reform the people till it reforms itself. 
 
 "The literary press operates in a milder atmos- 
 phere, sustains a relation less exciting, and occupies 
 a position less perilous, and consequently is, in a 
 great measure, clear of the objections above named. 
 That it has its toils, perplexities, and discourage- 
 ments to contend with, is admitted ; but being free 
 from the contaminating influence of office, and from 
 the agitation of evil passions, it meets these difficul- 
 ties calmly, patiently, and in hope of ultimate success. 
 Besides, its toil is pleasant. What delightful labor to 
 store the mind with knowledge, and then employ it in 
 erecting monuments of science, and strewing the 
 garlands of literature along the path of life for those 
 who come after! Such employment, though it may 
 promise little wealth and no sensual pleasure, has 
 the advantage of being free from the corrupting in- 
 fluence of vicious associations, and threatens no re- 
 morse of conscience to be endured in the evening of 
 life. Still, the literary press is only less liable to 
 abuse than the political, and not wholly secure 
 against it. The appetites of its readers are various, 
 some of them quite vitiated by the use of improper 
 aliment ; hence arises a temptation to indulge their 
 perverted tastes to the injury of their judgment and 
 general vigor of character. If proof be demanded, 
 reference may be had to all the varieties of fiction, from 
 the less offensive novel down to the commonplace 
 love-tale, written by a novice for some would-be 
 
" THE PRESS." I31 
 
 literary periodical, and to the debilitating and con- 
 taminating influence which they exert upon the minds 
 and characters of their deluded readers. All tales 
 of wild adventure, whether in war or love, are highly 
 injurious to young readers of both sexes. They not 
 only lessen the inclination to study and the desire 
 for useful knowledge, but they fix in the mind erro- 
 neous views of men and things, by portraying char- 
 acters which never existed, and recording events 
 which never transpired, and thus introducing them to 
 a world very different from the one in which they 
 live. Walker's definition of romancer is, 'A liar, a 
 forger of tales.' And yet thousands of young females, 
 whose minds are naturally sprightly and amiable, 
 spend their days and nights in poring and weeping 
 over these forgeries, as though they were credible 
 and useful histories. Such a young lady has received 
 an erroneous education. It has led her in the wrong 
 path ; and the sooner she retraces her steps, the better. 
 She is in danger of becoming an object of pity in 
 the estimation of intelligent people. They who have 
 encouraged her to take this delusive course in the 
 pursuit of knoweldge are justly censurable. 
 
 " But what should be said of the religious press ? 
 Its responsibility is as much greater than that of alt 
 others as our spiritual and eternal interests are higher 
 than those of earth and time. Mistakes here may 
 endanger the everlasting welfare of deathless spirits ; 
 yea, spirits redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and 
 already placed upon ground of possible salvation. 
 The press which is professedly devoted to the interest 
 of religion should never become entangled with any 
 
132 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 question of worldly policy, or of popular excitement, 
 or of personal or party conflict, or angry controversy 
 on any subject whatever. All such errors tend to 
 weaken public confidence in the religious press, and 
 to divert its patronage into other channels. It is 
 worse than useless to teach religion in theory, while 
 its teachers contradict their own principles in spirit 
 and practice ; as the conclusion which naturally fol- 
 lows is, their religion makes them no better than their 
 neighbors. The common sense of mankind will 
 estimate the real value of every system and every 
 enterprise by its practical results. If a press, though 
 professedly religious, kindle the fire of contention, 
 raise the storm of angry passion, and indicate, a spirit 
 of malevolence, it will be justly regarded as an en- 
 gine of evil, sowing the seeds of discord and perse- 
 cution. Religion would be far better off without any 
 press than with one which only betrays her interests 
 by practically renouncing her own principles, or with 
 any number of presses which exhaust their energies 
 by combating one another. What folly it is for those 
 who are professedly aiming to accomplish the same 
 great and good object — the conversion of the world — 
 to turn aside from their high and holy calling, and 
 wage a war of mutual extermination ! Every con- 
 sistent Christian weeps and sighs over such an 
 exhibition of human depravity. 
 
 " Let the religious press be restricted to its ap- 
 propriate work, and it will find ample employment for 
 all its time, strength, and resources, without assum- 
 ing any needless responsibility. The main design of 
 it should be to impart a knowledge of that religion 
 
"the press:' 133 
 
 which brings * glory to God in the highest, and on 
 earth peace, good will toward men.' And whatever 
 tends to the accomplishment of this result should be 
 encouraged by it. Here an almost boundless field 
 of useful enterprise opens to view. It embraces the 
 regular Christian ministry, with all of its intense in- 
 terest, the progress of revivals under the ministration 
 of the Gospel, foreign and domestic missions, plans 
 for the instruction of youth and childhood, sancti- 
 fied learning, and all benevolent associations which 
 have for their aim the glory of God and the happiness 
 of man. All of these interests are. to be noticed, ex- 
 plained, defended, and encouraged, by presenting the 
 truth in love and in meekness of wisdom. Surely, 
 there is much land to be possessed and cultivated by 
 the religious press before the peaceful reign of Christ 
 shall be universally established and acknowledged. Be- 
 sides, this press is expected to furnish the whole world 
 with all the religious reading which it needs, or may 
 need, in the form of books, duly assorted, distinguish- 
 ing between the good and the evil. The work is vast 
 and increasing, both in extent and importance ; but 
 the means for its accomplishment, if not yet abun- 
 dant, are at least accumulating. The gold and the 
 silver are the Lord's, and his treasury is increasing. 
 Presses are multiplying, and they are moving under 
 a full pressure of steam-power, so that a copy of the 
 Bible can be printed in a minute ; and missionary 
 ships are bearing off the Old and New Covenants to 
 heathen lands by the ton. Only let the religious 
 press not be turned aside from its own proper work, 
 and it will prove itself an invaluable auxiliary to the 
 
134 l-IFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Christian ministry in subjugating the world to the 
 \ obedience of Christ,' and raising it to holiness, 
 happiness, and heaven." 
 
 On the 1st day of May, 1836, General Conference 
 assembled in the city of Cincinnati. It was composed 
 of one hundred and fifty-four delegates, representing 
 twenty-two annual conferences. The delegation from 
 the Ohio Conference was a large and able one, as the 
 following well-known names will show: Thomas A. 
 Morris, Jacob Young, David Young, William H. Ra- 
 per, Leroy Svvormstedt, John Ferree, James B. Fin- 
 ley, Win. B. Christie, James Quinn, John F. Wright, 
 Augustus Eddy, and John H. Power. 
 
 Bishops Roberts, Smile, Hedding, and Andrew 
 were present, and the first named opened the session 
 in the usual manner. Two of the bishops — M'Ken- 
 dree and Emory — had died in 1835, the former in the 
 seventy-eighth, and the latter in the forty-eighth year 
 of his age. Bishop M'Kendree entered the ministry 
 at the age of thirty, labored some twenty-one years 
 before his election to the episcopal office, in which 
 he faithfully and efficiently served the Church almost 
 twenty-seven years. Bishop Emory entered the 
 ministry in 18 10, and was elected to the episcopal 
 office in 1832. On the 16th of December, 1835, he 
 was thrown from his carriage, receiving such an in- 
 jury in his head that he was insensible when found, 
 and died on the evening of the same day. 
 
 Among other important questions presented to 
 this Conference was the propriety of dissolving the 
 Bible Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 A separate denominational organization of this kind 
 
CHANGE OF RULES. 135 
 
 had been found necessary in the early history of the 
 Church, and although it had answered its purpose 
 for a season, the time had now come when, in the 
 judgment of many, both in and out of the Board of 
 Managers, its continuance was no longer necessary. 
 After careful deliberation, the Conference recom- 
 mended a dissolution of the Society, with a view to 
 unite the Methodist Episcopal Church with other 
 evangelical denominations in carrying forward the 
 objects of the American Bible Society. The harmo- 
 nious co-operation of our Church with that great 
 national institution, since that period, abundantly 
 vindicates the course then adopted. 
 
 The rule respecting "laying aside" persons for 
 not meeting in class, which had been so interpreted 
 as to allow the acting preacher to drop the delinquent 
 without a trial, was so amended as to make it ob- 
 ligatory on the parties concerned to allow the accused 
 to be heard in his defense before a committee, the 
 same as in other cases of delinquency. 
 
 At this General Conference it was found neces- 
 sary so to amend the Constitution of the Missionary 
 Society, as to provide for the election of a corre- 
 sponding secretary, who should employ his whole 
 time in promoting the interests of that important and 
 rapidly increasing department of the Church. Hith- 
 erto the correspondence of the Society had been 
 carried on by the brethren connected with the Book 
 Concern ; but the increase of the business, both of 
 the Concern and of the Society, made the duties of 
 each so onerous that it was found impossible to 
 unite them longer without injury to one or both. 
 
136 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS, 
 
 The Liberia Mission was this year erected into 
 an annual conference, " possessing ^all the rights, 
 powers, and privileges of other annual conferences, 
 except that of sending delegates to the General Con- 
 ference, and of drawing its annual dividend from the 
 avails of the Book Concern and Chartered Fund." 
 
 Two additional weekly papers were authorized, 
 and the one which had been established at Cincin- 
 nati by the Book Agents, on the recommendation of 
 several annual conferences, was sanctioned and con- 
 tinued, making in all four religious weekly papers, 
 besides the Methodist Magazine and Quarterly Re- 
 view. In addition to these, however, there were four 
 others, under the patronage of annual conferences ; 
 namely, Zioiis Herald, in Boston ; Maine Wesley an 
 Journal, in Portland ; Virginia Conference Journal, 
 in Richmond ; and the Auburn Banner, in Auburn, 
 New York, — making altogether eight weekly papers 
 devoted to the interests of Methodism in the United 
 States. 
 
 Among the important questions settled by this 
 General Conference was one touching the right of 
 an annual conference to locate one of its members 
 without his consent. The question had been raised at 
 several preceding General Conferences, and, although 
 not decisively settled, the predominant opinion was 
 that no such power existed. A rule was now adopted 
 giving to an annual conference power to locate one 
 of its members who had rendered himself " unaccept- 
 able as a traveling preacher," in their judgment, re- 
 serving to him, however, the privilege of an appeal to 
 the next General Conference. 
 
ELECTION OF BISHOPS. 1 37 
 
 The Committee on Episcopacy recommended the 
 election of three additional bishops, which, after 
 some debate, was concurred in by the Conference. 
 The election took place on the 23d of May. Mr. 
 Morris's own account of this highly important epoch 
 in his life is given in his peculiar style, briefly and 
 pleasantly, as follows : 
 
 " During this General Conference I had to per- 
 form the double duty of delegate and editor, besides 
 going to market and entertaining my guests. But 
 all of these things put together embarrassed me less 
 than one other trouble which my friends had brought 
 upon me. For about four years they had been 
 threatening me occasionally with the 'Big Circuit' — 
 a proposition which I at first received as a joke, and 
 joined with others in a little pleasantry over it. 
 When, however, I became satisfied that they were 
 really in earnest, I begged to be left out of the ques- 
 tion, and did all that any prudent man ought to do 
 to prevent myself from being nominated; but in vain. 
 When I saw that my brethren were determined to 
 bring me forward as a candidate, I consoled myself 
 with the thought that when fairly beaten, as I was 
 confident of being, they would drop the matter quietly, 
 and that I should be no more teased on the subject. 
 "Apart from the fearful responsibility of the epis- 
 copal office, I had strong private and personal objec- 
 tions to filling it — not from any doubts as to the 
 Scriptural authority for it, or of its fitness and utility 
 in our Church polity, but from a consciousness of my 
 own unfitness for the place, both as to experience and 
 
 the necessary mental culture. I also felt that I 
 
 12 
 
138 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 lacked the courage to meet all the opposing in- 
 fluences and obstacles that must be encountered in 
 the faithful discharge of the duties of the office. 
 
 " When the day for the election arrived, I was 
 fully satisfied that I should be distanced on the first 
 balloting, and felt comparatively calm ; but when the 
 result was announced, Beverly Waugh and Wilbur 
 Fisk were elected, and I lacked but one vote of being 
 in company with them. I now became seriously 
 alarmed, and requested my friends to withdraw my 
 name from the canvass, as there was yet one more to 
 be elected ; but they refused. As the balloting pro- 
 ceeded, I entreated them to excuse me ; but, as they 
 still persisted, I finally arose and requested the Con- 
 ference to consider my name withdrawn, and not 
 vote for me any longer ; but my efforts were unavail- 
 ing. On the fifth ballot I again came within one 
 vote of an election, so that it was twice in my power 
 to have elected myself; but from first to last I voted 
 for other candidates. The result of the sixth ballot- 
 ing showed that I had the requisite number of votes, 
 with a considerable number to spare, and I was de- 
 clared elected. To make further resistance, I feared, 
 would be unsafe and imprudent, and I submitted to 
 the judgment of my brethren." 
 
 Dr. Fisk was at that time traveling in Europe, 
 but provision was made for his consecration as soon 
 as practicable after his return. The doctor, however, 
 felt constrained to decline the office, both on account 
 of his obligations to the Wesleyan University, of 
 which he was president, and his failing health, which 
 he felt to be unequal to the labors of the episcopal 
 
CONSECRA TION. 1 39 
 
 office. Beverly Waugh and Thomas A. Morris, after 
 an appropriate sermon by Bishop Heckling, on the 
 27th of May, were solemnly consecrated bishops of 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and on the same 
 day the General Conference adjourned. 
 
140 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EPISCOPAL LABORS — VISIT AMONG THE SOUTHERN CON- 
 FERENCES. 
 
 THERE were now twenty-eight annual confer- 
 ences and six • bishops. It was understood, 
 however, that the principal labor of the quadrennial 
 period commencing with the close of the General 
 Conference of 1836 would devolve upon Bishops 
 Soule, Andrew, Waugh, and Morris. Their col- 
 leagues, Hedding and Roberts, were now far 
 advanced in years, and too feeble in health to take 
 their full share of episcopal work. In view of his 
 health, Bishop Roberts had tendered his resignation 
 during the session of the General Conference at Cin- 
 cinnati, but that body declined to accept it ; and a 
 resolution was passed that he should be required to 
 do no more service than he might find consistent 
 with his health and bodily strength. Afterward a 
 similar resolution was passed in relation to Bishop 
 Hedding. 
 
 In July and August, Bishop Morris attended the 
 Pittsburg Conference at Wheeling, and the Erie 
 Conference at Meadville, Pennsylvania, in company 
 with Bishop Soule. His own work for that year, 
 according to the episcopal plan, embraced the 
 
ON HORSEBACK. 141 
 
 sessions of the Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, 
 and Alabama Conferences ; and early in Septem- 
 ber he started from his home in Cincinnati on this 
 extended Southern tour. We propose to let the 
 bishop relate the story of this, his first episcopal 
 circuit, himself. We quote from his volume entitled 
 " Miscellany :" 
 
 " It appeared like a long, fatiguing journey to 
 perform on horseback, and alone ; but there were 
 points in view which could be reached by no other 
 means of conveyance. There might be disease and 
 danger in the course ; but I was on lawful business, 
 intimately connected with the welfare of redeemed 
 sinners ; and why should any man ever fear to go 
 where duty calls, or remain till it is done ? More- 
 over, I was well mounted upon Nick, a fine pacing 
 gray. He moved as if on elliptic springs, and bore me 
 onward with a strength of muscle and power of en- 
 durance which excited my admiration. Far removed, 
 not only from wife and children and friends, but 
 from the crowds of strangers which usually throng 
 the public lines of conveyance, it was a time for re- 
 flection on the responsibilities and difficulties of my 
 new position, and not wholly unimproved. Lonely 
 reflection, however, was soon superseded by practical 
 duties. While in council with the brethren of Ten- 
 nessee Conference, at Columbia, a call was made for 
 volunteers to supply the wants of the new Conference 
 just set off in the State of Arkansas, and promptly 
 responded to by some noble-hearted, self-sacrificing 
 young ministers. Three of them were ready to 
 bear me company thither, immediately after the final 
 
142 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 adjournment. Their names were Randle, Duncan, 
 and Simmons. 
 
 " Passing down through the Western District of 
 Tennessee, we came on the fresh trail of fourteen 
 thousand Creek Indians, just then removing from 
 Alabama to their new home in the far-off West. 
 At one of their camping-places, then vacated, was 
 seen a standing hollow tree, out of the side of which 
 had been taken a slab, by cutting above and below, 
 and splitting it off, and which had been carefully re- 
 placed. A citizen, whose neighbors had made exam- 
 ination, informed us that in the hollow of that tree 
 was a deceased Indian, standing erect, with his gun, 
 blanket, and hunting costume, as he appeared when 
 living. We subsequently saw several of these de- 
 positories of the dead. As a matter of convenience, 
 the Indians were separated into companies of fifteen 
 hundred, and a sub-agent assigned to each. We 
 came up with the rear party in the vicinity of Mem- 
 phis, were two days passing their extended line of 
 companies, and slept three nights in sight of their 
 camps. No nation of men ever exhibited more pow- 
 erful muscles than were developed in the persons of 
 the Creek warriors. Like other people, they bore the 
 marks of inequality. Some had the appearance of 
 abject poverty. Among this class, the men rode on 
 ponies, carrying their guns and camp-kettles, while 
 the women trudged on foot, bearing heavy packs 
 on their heads, and small children lashed upon their 
 shoulders. A second class were better clad, had a 
 better outfit, and presented more appearances of 
 comfort. The third class probably formed the nobility 
 
BEYOND THE MISSISSIPPI. 1 43 
 
 of the nation, were gaudily attired in silks and 
 jewelry, and exhibited the insignia of wealth and 
 office. 
 
 " After crossing the ' Father of Waters ' at Mem- 
 phis, we immediately entered the Mississippi Swamp, 
 which, at that point, was forty-two miles across. The 
 track was so worked up by the teams and pack- 
 horses that we found it more pleasant to avoid it 
 when practicable. For miles together our horses 
 waded, but generally found firm bottom, except about 
 the sloughs, where many tired Indian ponies stuck 
 fast, and were left to perish in the bog, and where our 
 noble animals had to struggle hard to escape the 
 same fate. On the evening of the second day we 
 emerged from the swamp, and crossed the St. Francis 
 River. At a small, green bottom, two miles beyond 
 the river, two companies of Creeks, numbering 
 some three thousand in all, were camped for the 
 night. We took lodging at a country tavern on the 
 hill, about thirty rods from them. They had nearly 
 as many ponies as people, and almost every pony 
 wore a bell. The camp-axes were roaring; dogs and 
 children appeared to be alike abundant and alike 
 noisy. The whole, taken together, produced a sin- 
 gular confusion of sounds, and presented quite a 
 novel spectacle. 
 
 " Next morning, about day-break, we rode out 
 through the encampment, in a north-east direction, 
 on the Batesville road. Having cleared the great 
 swamp and reached an undulating surface, we con- 
 gratulated ourselves that the worst of the journey 
 was behind. For some twenty-five miles, our course 
 
144 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 led us over desolate pine and oak ridges, which nev- 
 ertheless formed an agreeable contrast with the 
 sludge from which we had escaped. At noon, rain 
 began to fall, slowly at first, but steadily. In the 
 afternoon we came by a small company of men en- 
 gaged in raising a corn-crib near to a cabin, which 
 seemed to be full, and presented no appearance of 
 comfort, when the following conversation ensued: 
 
 " ' How far is it to the next house ?' 
 
 " ' Twenty-one miles ; and three more to the 
 tavern.' 
 
 '"What sort of a road is it?' 
 
 "'Not very good, nor bad ; just middling.' 
 
 " ' Is there any deep water to cross ?' 
 
 " ' None that will swim, except Bayou de View, 
 sixteen miles from here ; and I don't reckon that will 
 swim, quite.' 
 
 " Then, among ourselves, we held a conference on 
 horseback, the rain still coming down. 'It is two 
 o'clock; say four hours till daylight will be entirely 
 gone. Can we reach the point of difficulty before 
 dark?' 'Yes, I think we can.' 'If we fail to get 
 through, we shall need our dinner by to-morrow.' 
 'Well, I have a little piece of corn-bread,' said one. 
 ' And I have part of a sweet potato,' said another. 
 'That is as good fare as we can get here,' responded 
 a third. It was suggested, if we had to camp out, 
 there was no means of striking fire ; but perhaps 
 other campers might have left fire on the way. 
 
 " The case was finally summed up thus : ' Our 
 time in which to reach Conference is short ; there is 
 no use staying here in the rain — come on.' And 
 
TN THE SI VAMP. 1 45 
 
 onward we went, ignorant of what was before us. In a 
 few minutes our road disappeared under water. What 
 does this mean ? Why, the Black-river Swamp. ' They 
 said last night that we should cross it, but it looks 
 worse than we expected.' The sludge increased, and 
 the horses sank more and more. Presently, while 
 crossing a bad place, Nick, better acquainted with 
 turnpikes than swamps, went down till he was nearly 
 buried alive in quicksand and water. After a long 
 and hard struggle, he came out, and brought me 
 with him, but my saddle-bags were left behind in the 
 mud. Having recovered them, we resumed the jour- 
 ney ; but soon reached another slough, where, to 
 prevent a greater evil, I dismounted, drove the horse, 
 and followed on foot, through mud and water to the 
 knees, by which we made a safe crossing. But the 
 thought of its being twenty miles to the next house, 
 wet and cold, my boots full of water, and the night 
 approaching, was not very cheering. It was about 
 the last of October. The climate was supposed to 
 be unhealthy. We had fairly entered a dismal swamp, 
 thirty-two miles wide, and, in consequence of heavy 
 rains, unusually full of water. Instead of traveling 
 four miles an hour, as we had expected, our horses 
 were unable to make three. The beaten track was 
 the least dangerous, as it always is over quicksand ; 
 but for miles together it was wholly under water, va- 
 rying in depth from six inches to three feet, and the 
 bottom little more than a continuous quagmire, as 
 deep as the horses could struggle through. 
 
 " While daylight lasted we could follow the trace 
 by the old ' blazes ' on the sides of the trees ; but night 
 
 13 
 
I46 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 closed in upon us long before we reached the main 
 point of difficulty, and the rain still increasing. We 
 lost the track, our feet dragged through brush-wood, 
 and the morass shook beneath us ; but, giving the 
 affrighted horses loose reins, they returned to it. 
 Again we took the wrong direction, and went plunging 
 through water and alder-bushes, in danger every mo- 
 ment of being ingulfed in quicksand ; but, after 
 some time, we found our road once more. 
 
 " A conference was then called to discuss the 
 question, 'Shall we give it up, or try to proceed?' It 
 was a solemn conference ; and though darkness and 
 storm prevailed without, order and peace were main- 
 tained within. The sum of our conversation was 
 briefly this : To stay here all night, wet, cold, and 
 hungry, without shelter, without fire, or a foot of 
 dry ground on which to stand, is perilous ; to proceed 
 was only perilous : and the conclusion was to try it 
 again. After losing and regaining the beaten way 
 a third time, at last coming to a bank of sand, and 
 then a rapid descent of some feet to a sheet of deep 
 water, we inferred that we were at the margin of the 
 much-dreaded Bayou de View. The direction was, 
 to enter near a large tree, bear up to the point of an 
 island ; then, forming an angle downward, steer for a 
 projecting log on the opposite shore. But, alas ! un- 
 der the lofty trees and lowering clouds, the darkness 
 was such that we could not see the animals on which 
 we rode ! What was to be done ? To encounter the 
 turbid stream at random, was bordering on presump- 
 tion ; to wait for daylight, when the stream was rising, 
 was discouraging, and might defeat our whole enter- 
 
CROSShVG THE SWAMP STREAM. 1 47 
 
 prise. As it was a case in which life might be 
 involved, a regular vote was taken, by calling the roll, 
 and it was unanimous in favor of going ahead. It 
 was also agreed that I should be commander. The 
 line was promptly formed, as follows : Brother Ran- 
 dle, having a steady horse, and being a light rider, 
 was to lead off; brother Simmons next; the writer 
 third ; and Brother Duncan was to bring up the rear. 
 It was further ordered to keep two rods apart, so that 
 if we struck a swim, every man might have sea-room, 
 and a chance for life. 'All ready?' 'Yes.' 'Pro- 
 ceed, then, and cry soundings/ ' Knee-deep ; up to 
 the girth ; midsides ; steady ; over the withers, but 
 still feel bottom ; more shallow now ; here is the 
 point of the island.' 
 
 '"Very well ; now form an angle to the left; 
 down stream is easy.' The latter channel was no 
 deeper than the former, and all made a safe landing, 
 thanks to kind Providence ! 
 
 "Our next direction was to leave the old trace 
 here, turn down the bayou some distance without any 
 road, so as to intersect a new way, which had been 
 recently cut out, starting from a point lower down. 
 Between the ford and the new way we tore through 
 the brushwood, leaped over logs, and plunged into 
 sloughs, at the risk of our limbs, but finally reached 
 the road, when our horses gladly resumed the proper 
 course. It was, to our great mortification, soon 
 ascertained that the new way was more miry than 
 the old. As we could see nothing, our quadrupeds 
 had all the credit for keeping the road. Presently 
 brother Randle's horse was heard plunging, at a 
 
I48 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 fearful rate, for some time, when he announced a 
 very dangerous place — ' water up to midsides, and the 
 bottom very boggy/ Brother Simmons next put in, 
 and was glad when he got out. He advised me to 
 veer to the left. It might be better, and, lie thought, 
 could be no worse. It proved to be unfortunate ad- 
 vice, as it threw me on a heap of logs that had been 
 rolled in to fill up a deep and dangerous bog, but 
 which were then all afloat. Nick had a terrible 
 scuffle over them. Once his foot hung fast ; twice 
 the water rolled over him, and the rider was well-nigh 
 unhorsed. But finally he righted, and brought me 
 out unhurt. Taking a position, as nearly as I could 
 guess, opposite to where the others crossed, I called 
 to brother Duncan to steer by my voice and put 
 in. He came near sticking fast, but received no 
 damage. At a late period of the night, while groping 
 amid darkness that could be felt, mingled with 
 incessant showers, we were suddenly aroused by the 
 joyful note, 'A light! a light!' Approaching as near 
 as some unseen obstruction allowed, we hailed. An 
 old lady came to the door and demanded, ' Who is 
 there ?' 
 
 " ' Travelers." 
 
 " ' Ah ! I thought my sons had got back from 
 bear-hunting.' 
 
 "'•No, madam, we are strangers; have been be- 
 lated in the swamp, and wish to know if you will 
 shelter us the balance of the night.' 
 
 "'Why, la me! I would n't turn off a dog such 
 a night as this.' 
 
 " Securing the horses to the tree, we joyfully 
 
SWAMP TRAVEL. 1 49 
 
 entered the cabin of poles, about sixteen feet long, 
 and fourteen wide. The chimney was unfinished. 
 There was a place for a hearth, but it was not filled 
 up, and the fire was down ill a hole, some eighteen 
 inches below the puncheons. Four of us, with our 
 wet baggage, added to the family, and two other 
 strangers that were there before us, scarcely left us 
 room to turn round. At midnight we made a com- 
 fortable dinner on pork and corn-dodgers; and, having 
 dried off a little, we held our evening prayers at two 
 o'clock in the morning, and quietly laid us down to 
 sleep, grateful for our kind reception. About day- 
 light we asked the old lady for our bill, which was 
 two dollars. When we inquired if she meant two 
 dollars each, she said : ' La me ! I should be rich if 
 I had that much. I mean two dollars for all four.' 
 
 " Having completed our preparations, we resumed 
 the swamp; but the limbs of our animals were so 
 lacerated by maple-roots and cypress-knees that 
 they took it very reluctantly. We reached the Cash- 
 river Tavern, with hard toiling, in an hour and a half, 
 the distance being three miles, where the landlady, 
 in the absence of her husband, first served us with 
 breakfast, and then ferried us over the river. When 
 the boat had crossed the rapid channel, she grounded 
 on the bank, which was entirely inundated ; so that 
 we had no alternative but to mount in the boat, 
 and leap over the bow into the water. Eight miles 
 more of wading and plunging, which consumed just 
 four hours, brought us out of the Black-river Swamp 
 at Litchfield, thankful that we were alive. 
 
 "After reaching solid ground, and obtaining 
 
150 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 lodgings, our first concern was to unpack our clothes, 
 books, and papers, and dry them. This done, we 
 preached, exhorted, and held prayer-meeting in the 
 village of Litchfield, where the inhabitants received 
 us kindly, and requested regular preaching, which was 
 of course provided for them. Our little party felt to- 
 ward each other like a band of patriot soldiers, who 
 had endured a hard and hazardous campaign together, 
 and we distributed among ourselves small presents, 
 as mementos of our providential deliverance and 
 mutual regard." 
 
 From this point the journey to Batesville was 
 made with comparative ease and comfort, and the 
 first session of the Arkansas Conference was held, 
 November 2d, 1836, in the grand-jury room of the 
 court-house. The secretary of the Conference, Rev. 
 Wm. P. RatclifT, in a communication to the Western 
 Christian Advocate, under date of November 8th, says : 
 " Bishop Morris was with us in good health, and 
 manifested much interest in our infant Conference." 
 
 From Batesville, Bishop Morris continued his 
 episcopal tour, traveling on horseback to the mouth 
 of White River, and thence by steamboat to Vicks- 
 burg, where he held the Mississippi Conference, on 
 the 7th of December. From Vicksburg he proceeded 
 to Mobile via New Orleans, and presided over the 
 Alabama Conference, January 4, 1837. Returning 
 to New Orleans, he made a short trip to Catchoula 
 Parish, in the western part of Louisana, to visit his 
 brother Levi, where he preached several times to the 
 " squatters," held a class-meeting, appointed a leader, 
 and had a preacher sent to them the next year. 
 
AMONG THE CONFERENCES. I 5 I 
 
 After a few days of rest and social enjoyment in the 
 family of his brother, he proceeded homeward, 
 reaching Cincinnati March 16, 1837. 
 
 During the Spring and Summer, Bishop Morris 
 made many preaching excursions into Kentucky and 
 Indiana, traveling for this purpose, wholly on horse- 
 back, not less than a thousand miles. In forming an 
 estimate of this extra labor, we must never lose sight 
 of the toilsome mode of travel which was. almost the 
 only alternative of the itinerant of that day. The 
 weariness and exposure of a long journey on horse- 
 back, along rough and miry roads, can hardly be 
 realized by the ministers of the present generation, 
 accustomed as they are to the easy, pleasant, and 
 rapid transportation of the steamboat and railway. 
 
 In the Fall, Bishop Morris again left home to re- 
 sume his episcopal labors. He held the Holston 
 Conference, at Madisonville, Tennessee, October 18th ; 
 the Georgia, at Athens, December 12th ; the South 
 Carolina, at Columbia, January 10, 1838 ; the North 
 Carolina, at Guilford C. H., January 31st; the Vir- 
 ginia, at Richmond, February 21st ; the Baltimore, in 
 the city of Baltimore, March 14th ; reaching home 
 toward the close of the same month. 
 
 This year was one of marked prosperity in the 
 history of Methodism.* Several of the conferences 
 reported very large accessions. Among them, the 
 Illinois had reported an increase of three thousand 
 three hundred and sixteen ; the Indiana, three thou- 
 sand one hundred and thirty-eight; the Philadelphia, 
 three thousand and forty-two ; the New York, two 
 
 ♦Clark's "Life and Times of Hedding," page 464. 
 
152 
 
 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 thousand six hundred and thirty-six ; the Tennessee, 
 two thousand eight hundred and forty-three ; the 
 Maine, two thousand five hundred and eighty-nine ; 
 the Troy, two thousand one hundred and thirty-two ; 
 the Erie, two thousand three hundred and thirty- 
 nine ; the Oneida, two thousand four hundred and 
 ninety-two ; and the Genesee, two thousand seven 
 hundred and ninety-six. The total increase of mem- 
 bers for the year, including local preachers, was 
 forty-three thousand two hundred and seventy-five. 
 
 Remaining at home until the middle of May, 
 Bishop Morris set out to perform his first tour of 
 episcopal labor among the Eastern conferences. He 
 first visited the New York Conference, held in the 
 city of New York, where a meeting of the bishops took 
 place by previous appointment. Among other items 
 of business, they warmly approved the idea, which 
 had originated in the West, of publishing a Meth- 
 odist paper in the German language ; and recom- 
 mended the Agents at Cincinnati to commence its 
 publication whenever they could do so without loss 
 to the Book Concern. 
 
 Bishop Morris presided over the Troy Conference, 
 at Keysville, June 6th ; the New Hampshire, at Dan- 
 ville, Vermont, July 4th; the Black-river, at Fulton, 
 New York, August 8th ; the Oneida, at Ithica, Au- 
 gust 29th ; the Genesee, at Elmyra, September 19th ; 
 reaching home in October. On the 17th of that 
 month he attended the Kentucky Conference at Dan- 
 ville, over which Bishop Waugh presided. On his 
 journey home from this Conference, Bishop Morris 
 passed a night at a public house in Nicholasville, 
 
THREATS OF VIOLENCE. 153 
 
 where his trunk was cut to pieces and plundered by 
 a thief, who was evidently in search of the trunk of 
 Rev. L. Swormstedt, the Book Agent, and which con- 
 tained a large amount of money. Mr. Swormstedt, 
 however, had taken the precaution to have his luggage 
 removed to his room, and thus avoided a very heavy 
 loss. The thief, beyond a large amount of clothing 
 obtained from the trunks of Bishop Morris and sev- 
 eral other travelers, got nothing to compensate him 
 for the six-years' confinement in the penitentiary, 
 which was the penalty he paid for his villainy. After 
 spending a few days at home, Bishop Morris started, 
 in November, as a substitute for Bishop Roberts, who 
 was unable to do full work, to hold the Mississippi 
 Conference, at Grenada, on the 5th of December, and 
 the Alabama Conference, at Montgomery, on the 2d 
 of January, 1839. 
 
 During this trip South, which was made chiefly 
 by stage-coach, the bishop was subjected to many 
 annoyances from the prevailing hostility of the baser 
 sort of people in that region to all who hailed from 
 the North, and who were, on that ground, denounced 
 as " Northern Abolitionists." At a point between 
 Holly Springs and Grenada, the stage passengers go- 
 ing south and those going north met at a country 
 tavern, and "laid over" part of the night. It soon 
 became known among the travelers from the south 
 that a Methodist bishop was among the passengers 
 of the other coach, and thereupon, as by common 
 consent, they began a series of petty persecutions 
 and insulting remarks. As the bishop paid no atten- 
 tion to their infamous conduct, they became more 
 
154 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 wrathful, denouncing him to his face as a " Northern 
 Abolitionist," and threatening, in the most violent 
 manner, to drag him out of the tavern and hang him 
 up without judge or jury. Some insisted that it 
 ought to be done at once ; others declared that hang- 
 ing would be too good for him, and that he ought 
 rather to be drawn up to the top of a black-jack tree, 
 and then dropped down through its craggy limbs, and 
 thus "raked to pieces." The bishop's traveling com- 
 panions had all retired, the landlord and his family 
 were in another part of the house, and it was about 
 ten o'clock. No one was in the public-room but the 
 bishop and his assailants ; the former having stepped 
 in to see that his baggage was properly cared for. 
 He calmly and silently maintained his position in 
 the room until the ruffians had exhausted their spleen 
 in words of fury and threats of murder, and then 
 quietly retired, treating the whole with perfect indif- 
 ference. On his relating the affair afterward to Dr. 
 Winans, that gentleman remarked: " You were in far 
 greater danger of personal violence than you seem 
 to have supposed. These Mississippi desperadoes 
 have quite recently murdered several innocent and 
 unoffending strangers, on the mere suspicion that 
 they were ' Northern Abolitionists,' without waiting 
 for any proof whatever." 
 
 At the close of the Mississippi Conference,, at 
 Grenada, Bishop Morris went to Vicksburg, and took 
 a steamer for New Orleans, the captain'having prom- 
 ised positively to land him in that city on Saturday. 
 When the bishop, with his traveling companions — his 
 own son and Rev. John F.Wright — entered the boat, 
 
ON STEAMBOAT. 1 55 
 
 on Thursday, they found a very large proportion of 
 the passengers engaged in card-playing — a custom 
 very general on Mississippi steamboats in that day. 
 This was sufficiently annoying ; but, to add to their 
 grievances, Sabbath came on, and they were still 
 steaming down the river. After breakfast, some of 
 the gamblers waited on Bishop Morris with a request 
 that he would preach a sermon to the passengers. 
 He replied that preaching was his calling; and that, 
 under all proper circumstances, he was very willing 
 to preach ; but that self-respect would not allow him 
 to do so then and there. " You have," said he, " by 
 your gambling, drunkenness, and profanity, in my 
 presence, for days together, when I could not help 
 myself, given ample proof that you are wholly desti- 
 tute of respect for my religion and my profession 
 as a minister ; and now, having become weary of one 
 kind of amusement, you seek another at my expense. 
 I can not gratify you." Being disappointed, and 
 probably a little mortified by this unexpected rebuke, 
 they went away, and sent the captain with the same 
 request, to whom the bishop made substantially the 
 same reply, adding a severe reprimand of the pro- 
 fanity of which not only most of the passengers, but 
 the officers of the boat, including the captain, had 
 been repeatedly guilty in his presence. After that, 
 the bishop did not see a card or hear an oath while 
 he remained on the boat. 
 
 Arrived at length in New Orleans, the bishop im- 
 mediately took boat for Mobile, Alabama, and had a 
 safe, quick, and (save sea-sickness) pleasant passage. 
 Passing up the Alabama River to Montgomery, the 
 
I56 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 seat of the Conference, he again fell in with very dis- 
 agreeable company. The river was low, the boat was 
 small, and the crowd was extremely disorderly. Most 
 of the passengers seemed to be on a " Christmas 
 spree," and drinking, swearing, and gambling were 
 the order of the day. Noticing finally that Bishop 
 Morris avoided them, and that he could not be drawn 
 into conversation with them, one of the party made 
 an insulting remark to him ; but he held his peace. 
 One of the company then suggested to another, in a 
 voice loud enough to be heard by all, that no fleshy 
 man could be intelligent, because he would be too 
 lazy to be studious. This remark was assented to, 
 with an oath, by the party addressed, and a general 
 laugh followed. "Yes," said the first, "and we have 
 a perfect example of the truth of my assertion on 
 this boat," at the same time looking toward the 
 bishop. Disagreeable as was the necessity, Bishop 
 Morris was compelled to spend four days on this little 
 water-craft in such company, in order to reach his 
 Conference at the appointed time. 
 
 Apropos to the talk above recorded concerning fat 
 men, we rnay here appropriately insert a brief article 
 contributed to the Western CJiristian Advocate, in 
 August, 1855, by the bishop, entitled, 
 
 "LEAN vs. FAT." 
 
 "It is often said, 'Little men are generally 
 sprightly,' and it is occasionally hinted that some of 
 them are inclined to be 'saucy,' too. This train of 
 thought was incidentally scared up by reading an 
 editorial in the August number of the National 
 
LEAN OR FAT. 1 57 
 
 Magazine, on the lamented George G. Cookman, 
 whose praise is deservedly in all the Churches, and 
 whose reputation does not need for its defense de- 
 traction from the good name of others. In that arti- 
 cle the editor, who is himself, physically, a mere 
 pocket edition of humanity, holds forth in this wise : 
 
 "' Corpulency aggrandizes the body, but libels the 
 soul. A gross, visible, self-obtruded libel is it amid 
 the activities of this age, except where hereditary ; 
 albeit reverend dullness and dozy dignity often wrap 
 themselves in its soft integuments. Good-nature goes 
 with it sometimes ; yes, and so it does with stupidity 
 in general.' (Page 98.) 
 
 " Now, if it be admitted that the above extract ex- 
 presses the true philosophy of man, we may well ex- 
 claim, Alas for Methodism ! that it should ever have 
 been afflicted with such stupid drones as Thomas 
 Coke, Adam Clarke, William M'Kendree, Enoch 
 George, Robert R. Roberts, Elijah Hedding, and a 
 host of others like them. These massive figures, 
 with all their 'reverend dullness and dozy dignity/ 
 must have compared but indifferently with the meagre 
 dyspeptics of their times, and especially among 
 dwarfish hypochondriacs. Moreover, if such com- 
 pliments be awarded to the sainted dead, what may 
 not be expected for the living ? Let such as have a 
 good conscience, a good appetite, and plenty to eat, 
 look out for proscription ; for in the light of the Na- 
 tional, if I can understand it, to enjoy the flush of 
 health, so as to 'aggrandize the body,' is at best to 
 be a good-natured fool. 
 
 " Of course, the prospect for myself is not flattering. 
 
158 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Considering how much of the 'obese accumulation' I 
 have to cany about me — an element, too, so obnox- 
 ious to the National — I can scarcely hope that, after 
 the next editorial volley, there will be a grease-spot 
 of me left, unless I reform, learn to drink hot-water 
 tea, eat bread made of bran and saw-dust, half and 
 half, and deplete fifty per cent. Let me calculate — 
 yes, fifty per cent. That would reduce me to one 
 hundred and twelve pounds ; so near the bulk and 
 weight of the learned editor himself, that possibly I 
 might recover my forfeited caste. 
 
 "At any rate, if this new philosophy had dawned 
 on our benighted world forty years ago, there would 
 have been a chance for me to make some show of 
 activity ; but now I am doomed to the forlorn hope. 
 I seriously apprehend that I am too old to adopt new 
 habits of living, and conform to the new philosophy, 
 so as to throw off the surplus 'accumulations,' and 
 reform my 'reverend dullness.' Besides, I have some 
 lingering scruples as to the propriety of dissenting 
 from the Bible, which says, 'All they that be fat 
 upon earth shall eat and worship.' (Psalm xxii, 29.) 
 And now, after this spirited effort of the National to 
 rouse the fathers in Zion from their ' dozy dignity,' 
 and induce them to resume their youthful 'activities,' 
 who can any longer doubt that we live in an age of 
 progress ? I do not. But whether we are progress- 
 ing upward or downward, forward or backward, is 
 another question, and one I leave each reader to 
 decide for himself." 
 
 At the close of the Alabama Conference, Bishop 
 Morris took stage for Tuscaloosa, riding from Thurs- 
 
ILLNESS OF MRS. MORRIS. I 59 
 
 day morning, before sunrise, until a late hour 
 Saturday night, without stopping, save a few minutes 
 for meals and changing teams. The stage was 
 crowded with passengers, mostly merchants and 
 other leading citizens of Montgomery; but their 
 conversation, for the most part, was so vile that it 
 was exceedingly painful to be compelled to hear it. 
 The Sabbath was spent pleasantly in Tuscaloosa. 
 On Monday morning, at two o'clock, the bishop again 
 seated himself in the coach, and was off for Nash- 
 ville, a journey of four days' hard travel. Before 
 reaching Nashville, the stage capsized ; but no one 
 was seriously injured, though Bishop Morris received 
 a sprain in one arm from which he did not wholly 
 recover for many weeks. Resting in Nashville until 
 Monday, he obtained passage home by steamboat, 
 and was landed in Cincinnati January 28, 1839, after 
 one of the most disagreeable trips of his itinerant life. 
 In February, Mrs. Morris was attacked with 
 spinal disease of a very violent character, producing 
 contortion of the face, from paralysis of the muscles 
 on one side, and attended with severe pain. The 
 bishop remained in her room almost constantly, day 
 and night, until in July, when confinement, anxiety, 
 and loss of sleep had so seriously affected his nervous 
 system that he was compelled to relax his efforts, and 
 commit her chiefly to the care of her nurse. She 
 was, however, at that time, in a hopefully convalescent 
 state, and was soon able to travel ; when, by the 
 advice of his physician, the bishop took her on a 
 journey, by short stages, in a private conveyance, 
 which proved highly beneficial to her health. 
 
l6o LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 September nth, Bishop Morris presided over the 
 Missouri Conference, at Fulton ; thence to the Illinois 
 Conference, at Bloomington, October 2d ; thence to 
 the Indiana Conference, at Lawrenceburg, October 
 23d, reaching home about the last of that month. 
 
 Very soon, however, it was found necessary fur 
 him to leave home again as a substitute for Bishop 
 Roberts, who was still unable to perform active 
 service. His route this time made it necessary to 
 travel from Cincinnati to Augusta, Georgia, on horse- 
 back. After presiding over the Georgia Conference, 
 which met in Augusta, December 10th, he proceeded 
 in a " sulky" to Charleston, where the South Caro- 
 lina Conference met, January 8, 1840. Finding his 
 mode of travel inconvenient and embarrassing, he 
 sold his horse and sulky in Charleston, and traveled 
 by steamer to Wilmington, North Carolina, and thence 
 by stage to Newbern, where the North Carolina 
 Conference assembled, January 29th. From New- 
 bern, he proceeded by steamboat and railroad to 
 Portsmouth, Virginia ; expecting to connect at that 
 point with the steam-packet for Baltimore. But the 
 expected packet failed to make the connection ; and 
 after waiting for its arrival several days in vain, it 
 was finally determined to charter a small craft, a 
 sort of a jobbing-boat, which was found lying idle at 
 the wharf. Bishop Morris, and a few fellow-passengers 
 as anxious as himself to get on, agreed to pay the 
 captain of this vessel $600 if he would stipulate to 
 carry them to Baltimore; they reserving to themselves 
 the right of taking such other passengers as they 
 could get, in order to reduce the expense as much 
 
PERILOUS VOYAGE. l6l 
 
 as possible. The contract was made. Sixty-five 
 persons took passage in the boat, early one morn- 
 ing, with the assurance of the captain that they 
 should be landed safely in Baltimore the next morn- 
 ing. Soon the light craft was rolling like an egg- 
 shell. The passengers now discovered, what had 
 before escaped their notice, that their boat had neither 
 ballast nor freight, and that in the comparatively 
 smooth water of the narrow channel, she was shipping 
 water alternately on both guards. What, then, might 
 be expected in a gale on the Chesapeake Bay ? The 
 passengers saw and felt the danger, and some went 
 ashore at Hampton, and others at Old Point, leaving 
 thirty-five to go through and pay the bill. 
 
 A dense fog prevailed during almost the entire 
 trip ; and for two nights and a day no one on board 
 could tell where the boat was, or in what direction 
 it was going. Frequently they were fast on sand- 
 banks, and twice without fuel, though fortunately, in 
 both instances, a supply was soon obtained — once from 
 a schooner, and once from the land. Finally, when 
 the fog blew away on the third morning, they 
 found themselves going southward along the eastern 
 shore, exactly in the wrong direction. At last, after 
 much difficulty in overcoming the floating ice in the 
 bay above Annapolis, they reached a point twelve 
 miles distant from Baltimore, where the ice was so 
 heavy as to render navigation very hazardous ; and, 
 to add to the general discomfort of the situation, the 
 fuel gave out again. About dark, however, an ice- 
 boat came along, and took off the passengers, and at 
 midnight landed them in Baltimore. 
 
 l 4 
 
1 62 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 u Never before," says the bishop, " was I so glad 
 to feel the solid ground beneath me. Next morning 
 I paid eighteen dollars for a seat in the mail-line to 
 Wheeling. We were sent by rail to Frederick. The 
 body of the coach which we took there, was full of mail- 
 bags ; but a box for three passengers, was constructed 
 before the mail, which we entered by climbing over 
 the fore-wheels ; when once' in that scuttle, it was 
 like being confined in a dungeon. There I found 
 myself packed in with two rowdies carrying a brandy- 
 bottle, who were constantly drunk, and either singing 
 vulgar songs, or engaged in obscene conversation, 
 while the stench of their putrid breath was at once 
 disgusting and sickening ; so that I was almost as 
 glad to exchange my prison for a boat at Wheeling, 
 as I had been to go ashore at Baltimore." From 
 Wheeling the trip home was a quick and pleasant 
 one, and toward the end of February the bishop 
 found himself safely domiciled again by his own fire- 
 side in Cincinnati. 
 
GENERAL CONFERENCE, 1840. 163 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1840 VOLUME OF SERMONS PUB- 
 LISHED — EPISCOPAL TOURS. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1840 assembled in 
 the city of Baltimore, May 1st, and was opened 
 by Bishop Roberts. It was composed of one hun- 
 dred and forty-three delegates, representing twenty- 
 eight annual conferences. The statistical exhibit of 
 the preceding year was as follows : White members, 
 650,357; colored members, 87,197; Indians, 2,249; 
 local preachers, 5,856; traveling preachers, 3.557; 
 total membership, 749,216. The Rev. Robert New- 
 ton was present as a representative from the Wes- 
 leyan Methodist Conference, and Rev. Joseph Stinson 
 as a representative from the Canada Conference. 
 
 Owing to the illness of Bishop Soule, in conse- 
 quence of which he was unable to be in attendance 
 at the opening of the session, the Address of the 
 Bishops was delayed about a week. Bishop Clark, 
 in his " Life and Times of Hedding," says of this 
 address : "It is a document of great length, very 
 diffuse and circumlocutory, especially some portions 
 of it ; but it touches upon all the varied general in- 
 terests of the Church, and especially the agitations 
 that had existed, and the new questions that had been 
 
1 64 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 mooted, relating to the prerogatives of bishops, 
 presiding elders, etc." 
 
 One of the most important questions of adminis- 
 tration in the preceding quadrennium, and out of which 
 had grown much discussion and no little ill-feeling, 
 was in respect to the power of the bishops to decide 
 points of law, and to refuse to put questions to vote 
 which, in their judgment, involved an infraction of 
 the Constitution of the Church. This question was 
 considered at great length in the Episcopal Address, 
 and the matter referred to a Committee. The follow- 
 ing, which was adopted by the Conference, was the 
 final report of the Committee: " I. That it is the 
 province of the bishop to decide all questions of law 
 in an annual conference, subject to an appeal to the 
 General Conference ; but in all cases the application 
 of law is with the conference. 2. That it belongs to 
 the president of a quarterly-meeting to decide all 
 questions of law in the quarterly-meeting confer- 
 ence, subject to an appeal to the president of the next 
 annual conference ; but in all cases the application 
 of the law shall be with the conference." 
 
 The Conference also decided that the president 
 of an annual or a quarterly-meeting conference had 
 a right to decline putting a motion to vote if he con- 
 sidered it foreign to the proper business of a confer- 
 ince, or inconsistent with constitutional provisions ; 
 and also to adjourn a conference without a formal 
 vote. 
 
 The questions of Slavery and Abolitionism were 
 discussed, with the usual display of feeling on both 
 sides ; but no important action was taken on either 
 
CONTEMPLATED RESIGNATION. 1 65 
 
 subject. The time of the Conference was mainly oc- 
 cupied with the consideration of a variety of impor- 
 tant interests, embracing Sunday-schools, Missions, 
 Bible Distribution, Colonization, Temperance, Admin- 
 istration of Discipline, and other questions of minor 
 importance. 
 
 "I went to that Conference," says Bishop Morris, 
 " intending to resign my office, and submitted to my 
 colleagues, and a few other intimate friends, a paper 
 which I had drawn up in view of that determination." 
 We find on the back of this paper the following in- 
 dorsement : 
 
 "Baltimore, June 5, 1840. — By the advice of 
 the bishops, and a few other brethren, this paper 
 was withheld from the General Conference, for fear 
 of producing excitement, without accomplishing the 
 desired object ; but I retain it as a faithful record of 
 my views and feelings. Whether the advice was good 
 or not, time may prove. Lord help me to be faithful ! 
 
 " T. A. M." 
 
 This document, much as the whole Church will 
 rejoice that it was withheld, will be read with interest, 
 as containing "a faithful record of the views and 
 feelings " of its revered author. It is as follows : 
 
 11 To the Bishops and Delegates of the Several Animal Conferences, in 
 General Conference Assembled : 
 
 " Reverend and Dear Brethren, — Unaccus- 
 tomed to speak in General Conference, I avail my- 
 self of this method of addressing you on a subject 
 which is to me of the utmost importance ; and 
 although it is not to be expected that you will feel 
 as I do respecting it, yet in view of the relations I 
 
1 66 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 sustain to the general work, about whose interests you 
 have met to confer, I trust you will have the goodness 
 to favor me with a candid and patient hearing. 
 
 " The object of this communication is to tender 
 
 .ou, in a formal manner, the resignation of my 
 episcopal office, which I now do, not only in good 
 faith and with the utmost sincerity, but also with 
 an ardent desire and humble hope that it may be 
 aceer 
 
 " For taking'this step, it will doubtless be expected 
 of me to render some reason ; with which expec- 
 tation I will now most cheerfully comply. Mv course 
 is not influenced by any doubt of the propriety of 
 the office itself, by any conscientious scruples which 
 interfere with the execution of its duties, or by any 
 want ol confidence in my brethren. My reasons 
 may be briefly summed up thus : A conviction of 
 mind that I am not qualified for the work, and there- 
 fore not in my proper place. . My election to the 
 office was contrary both to my wish and expectation. 
 I had done all that seemed prudent, in order to 
 prevent that election ; it was, however, eventually 
 effected. I regret now that I did not offer my 
 
 ^nation before my consecration. 
 
 " The reasons why I did not were these : I. A 
 fear of embarrassing the Conference by declining the 
 appointment which was given me at a late period of 
 its session. 2. A fear of breaking my ordination 
 vow to ' to act in all things as a son in the Gospel.' 
 For many years I had generally received the decis- 
 ions of the Church in my case as indications of the 
 order of Providence concerning me and my work, 
 
LETTER WITHHELD. 1 67 
 
 and it was only in that view of the subject that my 
 conscience suffered me, on my examination, to answer 
 in the affirmative the first question proposed. 
 
 " Still the Methodist Episcopal Church sets up 
 no claim to infallibility ; and I mean no disrespect 
 when I add, the General Conference may have erred 
 in the selection of an officer. Under all these cir- 
 cumstances of the case, I concluded, though with 
 much hesitancy, that it might be safe for me to make 
 a trial to do the work assigned me. I have done so ; 
 and the result of four years' experiment is a confirma- 
 tion of the conviction with which I commenced the 
 work, that I am not qualified for it ; that I have not 
 the knowledge, wisdom, faith, holiness, patience, moral 
 courage, and general weight of character, requisite to 
 fill such an office as the general superintendency of our 
 extended connection. And, more especially, I do not 
 feel competent to preside, so as to maintain proper 
 order in the conferences, and decide the numerous 
 questions of an intricate character which are referred 
 to me for decision, and often without time for reflec- 
 tion. It is true the brethren have shown me much 
 kindness, respect, and forbearance. In all these 
 virtues they have not only exceeded my expectations, 
 but commended themselves to my confidence and 
 gratitude. 
 
 " But these indications of goodness, however grate- 
 ful to my feelings, have not removed the consciousness 
 of my own failures in performing properly many of 
 the duties of my responsible office. When I speak 
 of failures in this connection, I do not mean willful 
 neglect of work, but failures in performing it for 
 
1 68 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 want of more skill and courage. My conscience bears 
 me witness that in general I have done what I could, 
 and as well as I could, under the circumstances, so far 
 as my official acts are concerned. To accomplish the 
 work given me to do, I have not only made a continual 
 sacrifice of spiritual privileges and domestic comforts, 
 but I have risked my life more than once, and in 
 more ways than one. The reason of my doing so was, 
 that I did not feel at liberty to throw off the re- 
 sponsibility which the General Conference had laid 
 upon me ; nor can I now, without your consent. 
 
 " You alone have authority to relieve me, 
 and to you I appeal. I have borne the office of a 
 general superintendent as a constant burden, under 
 which I have sometimes well-nigh fainted. I now 
 lay that burden at your feet, and pray you not to 
 replace it upon me. Here I would not be misunder- 
 stood. For all I enjoy in this life, and hope for in the 
 life to come, I am indebted, under God, to the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. She could always have 
 done well enough without me ; but I never could, 
 and can not now, do without her ; and in her com- 
 munion I wish to live and die. Moreover, I have no 
 wish to leave her itinerancy ; for, however unworthy 
 of the place, I am well persuaded the Lord has called 
 me to the work of a traveling minister. But I do 
 most respectfully request and humbly beg that you 
 will accept my resignation as general superintendent. 
 
 " In making this request, I trust I am not crimi- 
 nally selfish ; that I am not actuated exclusively by a 
 desire to be relieved on my own account, but also 
 for the good of the Church, being fully persuaded 
 
CHARACTER OF LETTER. 1 69 
 
 there are others who could do the work better, and 
 do it, too, with less difficulty than I can. And if I 
 did not believe that the General Conference could 
 constitutionally and safely grant my request, I would 
 not make it. I am no advocate of High Church 
 notions ; nor do I think that, because a brother is 
 appointed a Methodist superintendent, he must neces- 
 sarily continue such during life or good behavior, 
 whether he is adapted to the work or not. The ap- 
 pointment of an untried officer is an experiment, 
 which may or may not succeed ; and when such 
 appointment is found to be injudicious, it should be 
 changed. 
 
 " My dear brethren, do not suppose that in this 
 matter I have been hasty, for I am only executing a 
 purpose of mind which has been maturing for more 
 than three years ; though, from prudential considera- 
 tions, I have said but little respecting it among the 
 brethren. Finally, I do not wish to hurry the Con- 
 ference in my case ; but nothing less than direct action 
 on the main question of accepting my resignation, 
 before the final adjournment, will satisfy my mind. 
 "Yours, in Christian bonds, 
 
 " Thomas A. Morris. 
 
 " Baltimore, May, 18-10." 
 
 In this paper the modesty, humility, and con- 
 scientiousness which were throughout his life charac- 
 teristic of Bishop Morris, are very strikingly displayed. 
 We may easily suppose that the conclusion at which 
 he arrived was reached slowly and prayerfully, and 
 that it must have required very cogent reasoning on 
 the part of his colleagues and brethren to induce him 
 
 J 5 
 
170 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 to relinquish a purpose which had been so long ma- 
 turing in his mind. Probably no posthumous paper 
 of this honored servant of God will tend more to in- 
 crease the admiration of the Church for his pure and 
 unselfish character than this "withheld resignation." 
 
 After the adjournment of General Conference, 
 Bishop Morris presided over the Pittsburg Confer- 
 ence, at Clarksburg, Virginia, July 15th ; the Ken- 
 tucky, at Bardstovvn, October 14th ; the Holston, at 
 Walker C. H., Georgia, November nth; the North 
 Carolina, at Mocksville, December 23d ; the Virginia, 
 at Lynchburg, January 13, 1841 ; the Baltimore, in 
 the city of Baltimore, February 10, 1841 ; reaching 
 his home in Cincinnati in the latter part of March. 
 
 The Summer of that year was devoted to the 
 preparation of a volume of sermons for the press ; a 
 work which he prosecuted with such industry that it 
 was issued in the Fall of the same year. His reasons 
 for submitting a book of sermons to the public are 
 thus stated in the Preface : 
 
 "The want of a small volume of instructive dis- 
 courses on various religious subjects, suited in matter, 
 manner, and cost to our people, and especially in the 
 West, has long been felt by them ; particularly as we 
 have no such work on the catalogue of books printed 
 and sold at our Book Concern. The Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church abounds in periodicals, biography, and 
 history ; but not in sermons of her own authorship. 
 Perhaps one reason of this is, Mr. Wesley's sermons 
 are supposed by many to supersede the necessity of 
 all others among us. I am perfectly free to admit 
 they are the best ever written, or that probably ever 
 
VOLUME OF SERMONS. 171 
 
 will be written ; still that work is too voluminous and 
 costly to meet the case of those for whom this is 
 more especially designed. Besides, it is not clear 
 to my mind that all the sermons made in America, 
 having a special adaptation to the state of society 
 here, should die with their authors, without ever ap- 
 pearing in print, merely because superior ones for 
 general purposes have been imported. There are in 
 all communities some peculiarities which are best un- 
 derstood by the ministers who serve them. The 
 Book Committee at Cincinnati, including the editors, 
 have several times officially requested the preparation 
 of such a work as this is designed to be, while the 
 Agents of the Book Concern, and other brethren in 
 the "West, have for years kindly encouraged the un- 
 dertaking ; and hence, hoping it might do some good, 
 I finally, though with much fear and trembling, 
 consented to make the attempt." 
 
 The sermons, forty in number, and embracing a 
 wide range of topics, are admirable specimens of the 
 plain, pointed, and vigorous style of the author. In 
 preaching, as in writing, he studiously avoids difficult 
 and unusual words, adhering, as nearly as possible, to 
 Scriptural phraseology. The volume has passed 
 through many editions already, and will doubtless oc- 
 cupy a permanent place among the sermon literature 
 of the Church. 
 
 On the 6th of August, 1841, Bishop Morris took 
 stage for Indianapolis, Indiana ; thence he journeyed 
 in an open wagon through Logansport, Laporte, and 
 Michigan City, to Chicago. Exposure to an August 
 sun by day, and to the heavy dews of the night, 
 
172 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 brought on a bilious attack, which delayed him in 
 Chicago several days. Having sufficiently recovered 
 his strength to resume the road, he proceeded to 
 Plattesville, Wisconsin, where he presided over the 
 Rock-river Conference, August 25th ; thence to the 
 Illinois Conference, which met September 15th, at 
 Jacksonville ; thence to the Missouri Conference, 
 which met October 6th, at Palmyra. 
 
 From the seat of the Missouri Conference, the bishop 
 proceeded to St. Louis, for the purpose of organizing 
 a party to proceed on to Texas together. The com- 
 pany consisted of Rev. John Clark, his wife and son 
 John, about nine years old ; Rev. Josiah W. Whipple, 
 and Bishop Morris. Messrs. Clark and Whipple were 
 regular itinerant Methodist preachers, noble and 
 courageous spirits, who had, a year previously, volun- 
 teered to go as regular transfers from the Rock-river to 
 the Texas Conference, for the sole purpose of preach- 
 ing the Gospel in that new and interesting Republic. 
 This little party had one covered wagon, hung on 
 elliptic springs, with baggage-racks, and all the neces- 
 sary fixtures to render it a convenient and comforta- 
 ble traveling wagon for a family. This wagon, drawn 
 by two stout horses, was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Clark, Mr. Whipple, and about five hundred pounds 
 of luggage. There was, in addition, a light buggy, 
 drawn by one horse, occupied by the bishop, the little 
 boy, and a quantity of light articles for every-day use 
 on the journey. The outfit for the trip — arranged by 
 Mr. Clark, who had labored some years as a missionary 
 among the Indians at Green Bay, and was accustomed 
 to journey through desolate regions — embraced a 
 
ON THE ROUTE. 1 73 
 
 marquee, or linen tent, glass lamp, ax, hammer, frying- 
 pan, tea-kettle, coffee-mill, patent coffee-boiler, water- 
 bucket, provision-basket, plates, knives and forks, 
 spoons, etc. 
 
 The party left St. Louis on Tuesday, October 
 19th, passed the village of Carondelet, and, about 
 fifteen miles from the city, crossed the Merrimack 
 River. About ten miles further on they were kindly 
 entertained for the night by a Mr. Hunt and family, 
 whom the bishop had known on Marietta Circuit, 
 Ohio Conference, in 1817. The next day they passed 
 through Herculaneum, a village on the west bank of 
 the Mississippi River, and above the mouth of a 
 creek, which they crossed on an old ferry-boat. 
 Passing on nine miles over a very difficult road, they 
 reached the residence of Dr. Steel, where they dined ; 
 and the bishop baptized a child of German parents, 
 who resided in the neighborhood. In the afternoon 
 they were able to make but seventeen miles, and 
 were fortunate enough to meet a kind reception and 
 find excellent entertainment for the night with a Mrs. 
 Poston, a member of the Methodist Church, as were 
 also her son and daughter. Our travelers found 
 much difficulty in that part of Missouri in knowing 
 what course to take from time to time, as there were 
 seldom any guide-boards at the numerous forks of 
 the roads. 
 
 The next day they hastened on to Farmington, 
 thirteen miles, expecting to meet a congregation ; but, 
 finding that the meeting had been postponed till 
 night with a view to obtain a better congregation, 
 they accepted the proffered hospitality of Mr. David 
 
174 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Murphy, a Methodist who had resided on his farm 
 adjoining the village about thirty years, and who, in 
 the afternoon, entertained his guests with many in- 
 teresting anecdotes of Bishop M'Kendree and Rev. 
 Jesse Walker, who had often made his house a 
 resting-place after their excessive toils in that new 
 country. While waiting here, they also met Rev. Job 
 Lawrence, deacon elect, and the bishop consecrated 
 him to that office in due form. The evening proved 
 a stormy one, and the bishop preached a short 
 sermon to a small congregation in a very dimly 
 lighted Presbyterian church. 
 
 Leaving Farmington next day, Friday, October 
 22d, they pushed on to Fredericktown, Madison 
 County, where a "two-days' meeting" had been ap- 
 pointed in view of the expected episcopal visit. 
 Among the acquaintances made here were the Hon. 
 Judge Cook, Presiding Judge of the district, and Mr. 
 Davis, a respectable member of the bar, who were in 
 attendance upon the Circuit Court then in session, 
 and which adjourned Saturday night. They were 
 both Methodists, exerting a most salutary influence 
 in that region, and " affording additional evidence," 
 in the words of Bishop Morris, " that gentlemen of 
 the green-bag profession may be experimental and 
 practical Christians." While many others who had 
 been in attendance at the court left for their homes 
 on Sabbath morning, these two gentlemen remained, 
 and worshiped all day, like Christians who knew 
 their duty and appreciated their privileges. 
 
 Leaving Fredericktown early on Monday morning, 
 our travelers pursued their journey without any 
 
ENCAMPED FOR THE NIGHT. 1 75 
 
 special or noteworthy incident, until Thursday night, 
 when, for the first time, they had an opportunity to 
 try how well they could entertain themselves over 
 night. About dark they reached a beautiful tributary 
 stream of Black River, and pitched their tent under 
 a large cypress-tree growing on its bank. After 
 taking off the horses and securing them to the trees, 
 Mr. Clark, by means of his flint and steel, soon made 
 a fire ; and while the others were adjusting the tent 
 and gathering fuel, Mrs. Clark prepared a good sup- 
 per, which was served in genuine camp-style, and 
 greatly enjoyed by the entire company. The ground 
 was rather damp for comfortable sleeping, in conse- 
 quence of rain that day ; but they spread down 
 buffalo-skins and blankets, using carriage-cushions 
 for pillows, partitioned off the tent into two apart- 
 ments, and at the hour of evening sacrifice had family 
 worship, and slept in peace and safety until morn- 
 ing. Before leaving " Camp Cypress " next morning, 
 curiosity led them to run a line around the trunk of 
 the stately tree under whose branches they had 
 rested, when it was found to be twenty-four feet in 
 circumference. 
 
 While here they saw, for the first time on this 
 journey, large flocks of paroquets passing over and 
 occasionally lighting on the trees around them. They 
 are a small species of parrot, something less than 
 pigeons ; with plumage mostly green, but exhibiting 
 all the colors of the rainbow. Their greatest strength 
 is in their yellow, hooked beak, with which they can 
 sever small branches from fruit-trees. They are noisy 
 birds, but their notes are not melodious. On account 
 
Ij6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 of their great beauty they are often domesticated, 
 which is easily done. 
 
 On Friday morning, October 29th, our travelers 
 crossed the Missouri line into Arkansas, crossed the 
 Current River in a ferry-boat, and in the evening 
 camped about fifteen miles beyond the river, on the 
 bank of a large creek called Fourche de Mass. The 
 evening was mild and calm, the full moon shone 
 brightly, the camp-fire blazed cheerily, and all the 
 party were in excellent spirits. Their bill of fare 
 included warm corn hoe-cakes, fried ham, eggs, sweet 
 potatoes, butter, coffee, and Boston crackers — an 
 exhibit which certainly reflects great credit on the 
 commissariat of the little party. Their design was to 
 reach Jackson the next day, and preach there on 
 Sabbath ; but Providence ordered otherwise. About 
 midnight the weather changed, and a gale sprang up, 
 bringing with it clouds and rain, which pelted their 
 thin habitation the rest of the night, and nearly the 
 whole of the ensuing day, so that they could scarcely 
 leave the tent at all without getting wet. Here, and 
 in this condition, they expected to remain till Monday. 
 Mr. Whipple started out on horseback to explore the 
 neighborhood, with a view to collecting a congregation 
 on the Sabbath. While he was gone, Mr. Clark chopped 
 wood, to avoid the sin of gathering sticks on the Sab- 
 bath ; but when, after much hard toil, he had secured 
 an ample supply, Mr. Whipple returned, and with him 
 came a Mr. Spikes, a Methodist, and a native of North 
 Carolina, who lived in the neighborhood. At his 
 urgent request, Camp Fourche de Mass was broken 
 up, and the party, with some difficulty, made their 
 
AT BATESVILLE. 1 77 
 
 way through mud and darkness to the old gentle- 
 man's hospitable home, three miles off. The 
 incessant showers of rain on Sabbath made it im- 
 practicable to gather a congregation. On Monday it 
 was deemed prudent to lie by, in order to dry the 
 tent, and replenish the store of provisions. Mr. 
 Whipple went to mill, and bought flour, which Mrs. 
 Clark speedily converted into bread. Meantime 
 one of the party, with a rifle, which constituted a 
 part of the outfit, made a short excursion into the 
 neighboring woods, and soon returned with a fine lot 
 of squirrels, which, being parboiled for the conven- 
 ience of carrying, made an acceptable addition to the 
 camp provisions. 
 
 Tuesday, November 2d, they crossed a small, 
 rapid river called Eleven Pines, and in the afternoon 
 passed through Jackson, a small town, formerly the 
 seat of justice for Lawrence County. A mile and a 
 half beyond this town, they camped, on the north 
 bank of Spring River. Next morning, some time was 
 lost getting the horses shod ; and when a start was 
 finally made, they had gone but a few miles when a 
 halt was called on the discovery being made that the 
 tea-kettle was missing. A messenger sent back soon 
 recovered that important piece of culinary furniture ; 
 but owing to these delays but seventeen miles were 
 gained by midday. Passing on through Smithville, 
 the new county-seat of Lawrence County, they 
 camped in the evening on the south bank of Straw- 
 berry Creek. 
 
 On Friday, November 5th, they reached Bates- 
 ville, the seat of the Arkansas Conference, met a 
 
178 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 warm reception, and found excellent accommodation 
 among Christian friends. 
 
 The Arkansas Conference commenced its Sixth 
 Session November 10th, in the court-house, the same 
 building in which it first organized in 1836. Very 
 few of the original members remained. In the short 
 space of five years, most of these had disappeared 
 from the roll by death, location, and other causes ; 
 but their places had been supplied, and the Confer- 
 ence had nearly doubled its numbers since its organ- 
 ization. Their geographical boundary was extensive ; 
 embracing the State of Arkansas, the Missouri Ter- 
 ritory south of the Cherokee line, and a fraction of 
 the north-east corner of Texas. The business of the 
 Conference was conducted with great harmony and 
 dispatch, and a final adjournment was reached on 
 Monday evening. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 16th, at a late hour in the morn- 
 ing, our traveling party left Batesville, in a cold rain. 
 After a detention of two hours at the White-river 
 Ferry, they finally got safely across the turbid and 
 rapid stream, made so by recent heavy rains. In the 
 evening they sought and found a retired spot, off the 
 road, for their camp, with a view to escape the pigs, 
 which had been very troublesome on previous occa- 
 sions. They found a suitable place on the north 
 bank of the Sally Doe — a name suggested by a sin- 
 gular occurrence. Among the pioneers of the coun- 
 try was a heroine named Sally, who, observing a 
 female deer in the water, stood on the bank, and with 
 a gun killed it ; from which achievement the settlers 
 agreed to name the creek Sally Doe. Wednesday 
 
ROUTE THROUGH ARKANSAS. 1 79 
 
 afternoon they crossed Little Red River, at Crolman's 
 Ferry, thirty-two miles from Batesville. This is a 
 deep, rapid stream, about ten or twelve rods wide. 
 After leaving this stream, they inquired at every 
 house they passed for corn, but could find no one 
 who had any to sell until they reached the cabin of 
 an old settler on Indian Creek, who furnished them 
 a bushel and a half for a dollar. On Saturday they 
 crossed the Arkansas River in a steam ferry-boat, and 
 arrived at the capital of the State, Little Rock, where 
 they met a hearty Christian welcome. On Sabbath, 
 the bishop preached to a good congregation in the 
 Methodist Church, and after sermon administered the 
 sacrament of the Lord's-s upper. 
 
 On Monday, the 226. of November, the party left 
 Little Rock by the military road, leading off in a south- 
 west direction. Very soon they entered an extensive 
 forest of pitch-pine — the trees tall and straight, and 
 many of them quite large. Six miles from the capi- 
 tal they passed the cabin in which Bishop Morris had 
 slept in 1836, the night before he entered the forty- 
 mile wilderness, on his way to the Mississippi Con- 
 ference. On Tuesday they reached Benton, the seat 
 of justice for Saline County, where the bishop 
 preached to a small congregation, hastily collected, in 
 the court-house. 
 
 Wednesday brought them to Washita River, a 
 hundred and fifty yards wide, which was crossed on 
 a ferry-boat, at about noon. After partaking of their 
 luncheon on the south bank of this stream, they again 
 resumed the road, and soon entered the "Twelve- 
 mile Stretch," so called because for that distance the 
 
180 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 road passes over pine hills so poor that no one lives 
 near it. Having penetrated this wilderness four or 
 five miles, they found a running brook named Bayou 
 de Sale, and pitched their tent. At half-past eight 
 o'clock that evening a violent storm of wind and rain 
 broke upon them, attended with sharp lightning and 
 heavy thunder. For some time before this storm 
 reached them, they heard its distant, awful roar 
 among the pine-trees, and experienced something of 
 the terrific grandeur of a hurricane at night in an un- 
 broken forest. When, at last, it reached them, it 
 " smote the four corners " of their tabernacle, the 
 tent-pins gave way, and the cloth twisted up into a 
 whirling heap around the occupants, and would 
 doubtless have gone off with the wind, had not the 
 men thrown their whole weight upon it. Before the 
 tent could be readjusted, the entire company was 
 thoroughly wet, and not till midnight were they 
 sufficiently dried to lie clown and sleep comfortably. 
 At the south end of this "Stretch" they came, on 
 Thursday morning, to Bayou de Roche, which, as its 
 name is intended to express, is remarkably stony in 
 the channel and on either shore. A few miles 
 brought them to another rapid little river, called 
 Fourche Caddo, and, as it was turning cold, they 
 stopped, started a fire by which to warm and eat, and 
 then hastened on. That evening they turned off the 
 road to the right, and after proceeding about one 
 hundred yards down a small brook in quest of a suita- 
 ble camping-place, the bishop's buggy, in which was 
 the bag of corn, suddenly broke down. " The fore axle- 
 tree, both wood and iron, gave way at the king-bolt, 
 
LOG MEETING-HOUSE. l8l 
 
 and let me down softly," he says, "within one rod of 
 where we judged best, upon thorough examina- 
 tion, to build our fire." As the buggy must of course 
 be repaired, they lost one day by the necessary deten- 
 tion, remaining for two cold nights at "Camp Mishap." 
 Saturday morning they again set out on their 
 journey. The weather had now become quite cold ; 
 it froze all day, was windy, cloudy, and unpleasant ; 
 but they pushed on, and reached Wolf's Creek by 
 night, where they had agreed to spend the Sabbath 
 and hold religious service. As the chapel here was 
 considered the best then in the southern part of 
 Arkansas, Bishop Morris's description of it will be 
 read with interest. "The walls," he says, "are made 
 of hewed logs, about twenty by twenty-four feet in 
 extent, with a wooden chimney in one end, and a 
 place cut out for a chimney at the other end, which 
 is partly closed up with slabs. In the front is a 
 large door, with a center-post and double shutters, 
 on the principle of a barn-door. Immediately oppo- 
 site, on the other side, is a pulpit, which projects 
 some six feet from the wall, the forepart of which is 
 so high that when the preacher kneels to pray he is 
 nearly concealed from the view of the people. Be- 
 hind this pulpit is a window without glass, the 
 shutter of which is neither long enough nor wide 
 enough to close it, and, consequently, it lets in a 
 double stream of air upon the preacher. The roof 
 is made of clapboards, between which and the floor 
 there is no ceiling, though there are some naked 
 poles laid across on the plates ; and the cracks 
 between the logs are neither chinked nor daubed ; and 
 
1 82 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 though they were once partially closed by nailing on 
 thin boards, these have been mostly torn off to afford 
 light and a free circulation of air." 
 
 Here Bishop Morris preached in the morning. 
 He says, "We had truly a chilly time, physically and 
 spiritually." In the evening, the people kindled a 
 large fire in the front yard, and when they got too 
 cold to sit in comfort, they would go out to the fire, 
 warm, and return. 
 
 Leaving Wolf's Creek on Monday morning, they 
 crossed the Little Missouri River, and encountered 
 nothing worthy of remark, except remarkably bad 
 roads, until next morning, when they entered the 
 town of Washington, Hemstead County, a place of 
 neat appearance, compactly built, and one of the 
 largest in the State. It contained, however, no 
 Methodist Church at that time, and the bishop 
 preached to a good congregation in the court-house. 
 While the rest of the party tarried in Washing- 
 ton, Bishop Morris, Mr. Clark, and the presiding 
 elder of the district, Mr. Gregory, made a visit 
 to Columbus, a village about ten miles distant, 
 and conferred deacons' orders on three local 
 preachers — one of whom had carried a certificate of 
 election twenty-two years without an opportunity of 
 presenting it. 
 
 The following Sabbath was spent in Spring Hill. 
 The village, though it numbered among its inhab- 
 itants several wealthy planters, and boasted an 
 academy, had no church of any kind. Preaching 
 services were conducted in the academy, where a fine, 
 attentive congregation assembled to hear the Word. 
 
IN THE WILDERNESS. I?3 
 
 Monday night they camped in the woods, and 
 next morning entered a wilderness of about thirty 
 miles without a house. They had proceeded but a 
 few miles in this wilderness, when they were startled 
 by the keen crack of a rifle. Soon a buck was seen 
 flying across the road, as if wounded, and immedi- 
 ately after a young Indian, in hunting costume, 
 attended by a well-trained dog, appeared on the 
 scene. Presently his father and mother — it was sup- 
 posed — with some younger children, came up with a 
 train of small ponies, packed with skins and meat, in 
 real hunter style. This was a family of Choctaws, 
 returning from their Fall hunt. Had our travelers 
 been men of leisure and fond of the gun, the tempta- 
 tion would have been strong to stop here for a few 
 days ; but they had other and more important busi- 
 ness in view than hunting deer, bear, or wild cattle. 
 Indeed, they must pass the wilderness that day, or let 
 their horses suffer for grain. After a hard day's 
 drive, they reached Dorcheat, a bayou some forty 
 yards wide, and camped for the night. An old 
 settler was, with some persuasion, induced to part 
 with a bushel of corn for two dollars. 
 
 On Wednesday, December 8th, they entered Clai- 
 borne Parish, Louisiana, and in the evening passed 
 what was called on the maps Allen's Settlement, 
 but they could see nothing of it except Mr. 
 Allen's field and cabin. A mile and a half be- 
 yond this "settlement" they halted for the night, 
 pitching their tent on a spot which afforded so 
 many conveniences and comforts, that by com- 
 mon consent it was named Camp Felicity. The 
 
1 84 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 ground was handsome, water good, fuel abundant 
 and convenient. 
 
 On Saturday, about noon, they passed a camp of 
 Indian hunters. Their ponies, each with a tinkling 
 bell about his neck, were grazing ; an old Indian was 
 lying in camp on his stomach, resting his chin on his 
 hands, while two squaws were hard at work, and a 
 few children were playing around the fire ; the 
 hunters being probably on the chase. Nine miles 
 beyond this camp — which distance was passed with- 
 out seeing a house — they reached a house of enter- 
 tainment, kept by a Methodist, where they remained 
 till Monday, preaching on Sabbath in a log chapel in 
 the neighborhood, to about twenty persons. They 
 could not complain, however, of the size of the con- 
 gregation ; for it included, they were assured, the 
 whole neighborhood. 
 
 The journey for the next four or five days was 
 barren of incidents. On Friday, the 17th, they 
 reached the Sabine River, at Gaines's Ferry, crossed 
 over, and were within the limits of the "Lone Star 
 Republic." In a short time they arrived at that in- 
 teresting part of Texas called the " Red Lands," which 
 was thickly settled and well improved. Their first 
 night in the Republic was passed in their tent, near 
 a pure fountain of excellent spring-water. Whatever 
 they desired for themselves or horses was readily ob- 
 tained here, and on reasonable terms, compared with 
 the rates which had been exacted for similar articles 
 in Arkansas and Louisiana. The night was cool, but 
 clear, and so perfectly calm that the smoke went up 
 from the hickory-log fire as straight as if it had 
 
TEXAS CONFERENCE. 1 85 
 
 passed through a chimney. After a first-rate camp 
 supper, they spent the evening in their quiet habita- 
 tion in the wilderness, in peace and contentment, 
 singing occasionally the songs of Zion — though it 
 was in a strange land — among others, the "Jubilee 
 of the Israelites," and with some emphasis when they 
 came to the words, — 
 
 " Though Baca's vale be dry, and the land yield no supply, 
 To a land of corn and wine we '11 go on, we '11 go on," etc. 
 
 On Saturday evening they reached San Augus- 
 tine, the seat of justice for the county of the same 
 name, and one of the largest towns in Texas, though 
 the population was then scarcely a thousand souls. 
 Here the Texas Conference assembled on the 23d of 
 December. Most of the members were present ; two 
 only being absent. There had been no deaths among 
 them during the year ; but some of the first band 
 of missionaries were nearly worn out by hard work 
 and exposure. The Conference was re-enforced by 
 four transferred, one readmitted, and three young 
 men admitted on trial. The whole number of names 
 on the Minutes was twenty-three, including seven 
 probationers. The Texas Mission had been insti- 
 tuted four years previously — in 1837; since when it 
 had grown into an annual conference with twenty- 
 three traveling preachers, thirty-six local preachers, 
 and a membership of two thousand seven hundred 
 and ninety-five. The missionary meeting was held 
 on Monday night. The amount collected, in cash, 
 was seventy-four dollars ; after which, one gave four 
 town lots; another, fifteen lots; another, one 
 
 hundred acres of land; two others, three hundred 
 
 16 
 
1 86 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and twenty acres each ; and another, a quarter of a 
 league. 
 
 On the 30th of December, the bishop set out for 
 Austin, distant from San Augustine three hundred 
 and fifty miles. Journeying slowly along, partly from 
 necessity, and partly with a view to preach wherever 
 an opportunity offered, he reached the town of Wash- 
 ington, January 13, 1842, where he stopped to visit 
 the grave of Dr. Ruter, the apostle of Methodism in 
 Texas, who died at his post, May 16, 1838. 
 
 Rev. Martin Ruter, D. D., was born April 3, 1783, 
 in Charleston, Massachusetts, of pious parents. When 
 not more than three years of age, according to his 
 own testimony, he had serious impressions, which in- 
 creased with his years until 1799, when he resolved 
 to become a Christian, and soon after experienced 
 the forgiveness of sins, and united with the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. Impressed deeply that it 
 would be his duty to preach the Gospel, he turned his 
 attention to close and careful study of Divinity. In 
 his fifteenth year he was licensed to exhort, and a 
 year later (1801) was admitted on trial into the New 
 York Conference, and appointed to Chesterfield Cir- 
 cuit. In 1818, the Asbury College, in Baltimore, 
 conferred on him the degree of Master of Arts. In 
 1820 he was sent, by the General Conference, to con- 
 duct the business of the Western Book Concern, then 
 established in Cincinnati. In 1822, the Transylvania 
 University, of Kentucky, conferred on him the degree 
 of Doctor of Divinity. He* was re-elected to the 
 Book Agency by the General Conference of 1824 ; 
 but before the expiration of his second term he was 
 
GRAVE OF MARTIN RUTER. 1 87 
 
 called to the presidency of Augusta College, which 
 office he held about four years. We find him next 
 stationed in Pittsburg, engaged in the more active 
 and congenial duties of the pastorate ; whence, how- 
 ever, he was soon called to Meadville to preside over 
 the Alleghany College. This office he filled with 
 much credit to himself, and great advantage to the 
 University, until the Summer of 1837, when he re- 
 signed his chair for the purpose of undertaking the 
 superintendence of the mission just established in 
 Texas. 
 
 Dr. Ruter was no ordinary man. Though his 
 early advantages were only such as a common-school 
 education afforded, yet in the itinerant field he be- 
 came a literary man, well versed in languages, 
 science, and history. In the pulpit he was solid, 
 grave, warm, and dignified. 
 
 "The mournful spot I sought for," says Bishop 
 Morris, " was easily found without a guide ; the grave 
 being inclosed by a stone wall, and covered with a 
 white marble slab, three feet wide and six lon°:, with 
 a suitable inscription. As we stood under a tree 
 which grew at the foot of the grave, reading the sol- 
 emn epitaph, the sun was disappearing in the West, 
 while a thousand thoughts of the past rushed upon 
 our minds, and forcibly reminded us that our own 
 clays would soon be past. With Dr. Ruter I had 
 often united in preaching the Gospel to crowded as- 
 semblies in Ohio and Kentucky. He now rests from 
 all his toil, enjoying the promised reward." 
 
1 88 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DEATH OF MRS. MORRIS — HIS DAUGHTER'S DEATH — CON- 
 FERENCES ATTENDED. 
 
 ON leaving Washington, the course of Bishop 
 Morris led him through Independence, a little 
 east of which he gained the most commanding ele- 
 vation, perhaps, in the Republic. Standing on a most 
 lovely eminence, the eye rested on a landscape of 
 surpassing loveliness, interspersed with clumps of 
 evergreens, grazing herds, cultivated fields, and 
 meandering streams ; the whole scene filling the mind 
 of the beholder with sensations of admiration and 
 pleasure. Near Independence he tarried two days 
 with Dr. Hoxey, preaching in an academy, which was 
 occupied in common by all the religious denomina- 
 tions, as there was no church in the village or neigh- 
 borhood. The country about here the bishop 
 pronounced the best he had seen in Texas. 
 
 Passing on westward from Independence, the 
 route led him through scenery of great beauty, and 
 even grandeur, for two days. Wednesday, January 
 19th, he reached Rutersville, in Fayette County — 
 a village situated on an elevated prairie, five miles 
 from the Colorado River, distinguished chiefly by the 
 location of Rutersville College, in its immediate 
 
AT AUSTIN. 189 
 
 vicinity. The enterprise probably originated with 
 Dr. Ruter, during his short but useful missionary 
 career in Texas. A Preparatory Department was 
 opened in 1840, and had, at the time of Bishop 
 Morris's visit, about eighty students. On Sunday, 
 January 23d, the bishop preached in the College 
 chapel to a very large and attentive congregation. 
 
 Resuming his travels on Monday morning, he 
 passed up the Colorado River twenty-five miles, and 
 was kindly entertained by Mr. Middleton Hill. Next 
 day it turned quite cold, and he set out in a drizzling 
 rain, which made traveling extremely uncomfortable. 
 But he was met, during the day, by Mr. Whipple, 
 and together they crossed the river, and pressed 
 onward, making the best of their untoward cir- 
 cumstances. By night they reached a delightful 
 neighborhood, which had grown up around a small 
 but lovely prairie, where they were handsomely en- 
 tertained. That night the Indians, who had been for 
 some nights collecting a drove of horses in a pen 
 on Cedar Creek, visited a house in sight of the one 
 in which they lodged, and stole five horses, besides 
 a considerable number on the opposite side of 
 the river. Next clay, Bishop Morris preached at 
 Bastrop, under the roar of artillery ; the signal 
 for collecting minute-men to go in pursuit of the 
 Indians. 
 
 On Thursday afternoon, January 27th, they 
 arrived at the country residence of Judge Webb, 
 two miles from the city of Austin, a remarkably 
 pleasant and inviting situation, in the midst of a 
 grove of live-oaks, on a handsome eminence. Here 
 
190 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the bishop spent several days very pleasantly with 
 the judge and his family, and also had the pleasure 
 of meeting his own son, who had then resided in 
 Texas for three years. 
 
 In consequence of a severe cold which had set- 
 tled on his lungs, he was unable to preach in Austin, 
 much to the disappointment of the society there. 
 In fact, he made but one visit to the city during his 
 stay in the neighborhood, and that was on Sunday 
 morning to hear a sermon by Mr. Clark, the presid- 
 ing elder of the district. The location of the cap- 
 ital of the short-lived Republic, at Austin, did not 
 seem to strike the bishop as a very judicious one. 
 41 The arguments in favor of the location of the 
 capital," he says, " must be chiefly drawn from con- 
 siderations of beauty, romance, and solitude; for be- 
 tween it and the populated part of the country, there 
 is no connecting ligament, but a narrow string of 
 settlements along the Colorado. To reach Austin 
 City from Galveston requires a journey of two hun- 
 dred and seventy-five miles ; and to reach it from the 
 Sabine, on the east, requires a journey of about four 
 hundred. It may be geographically central, but it 
 certainly is not so to the inhabited parts of the 
 Republic." 
 
 On Monday, January 31st, the bishop turned his 
 face homeward, traveling in Mr. Clark's buggy until 
 he reached Houston, where he and his son took 
 passage on a steamer for Galveston. They reached 
 that city the next morning, whence, after resting a 
 few days, they steamed across the Gulf to New 
 Orleans, and with as little delay as possible 
 
DEATH OF MRS. MORRIS. 191 
 
 proceeded up the Mississippi River, reaching Cin- 
 cinnati March I, 1842. 
 
 From this long, difficult, and dangerous episcopal 
 tour Bishop Morris returned to his home to find his 
 beloved wife in rapidly declining health. At the 
 time of his departure she was supposed to be improv- 
 ing, with a fair prospect of recovery ; but during his 
 absence the inflammation had gone from the spine to 
 the lungs, and the disease baffled every attempt to 
 arrest or remove it. She lingered until May 17th, 
 when she joyfully entered that rest which remaineth 
 for the people of God. From a sketch of this "elect 
 lady," prepared for the Ladies Repository, by Rev. 
 Dr. (afterward Bishop) Hamline, we gather some 
 particulars of her life and character. 
 
 Mrs. Abigail Morris was the daughter of Mr. 
 Nathaniel Scales, and was born in Patrick County, 
 Virginia, January, 18, 1793. Her early associates 
 were not religious, but rather of that class who 
 place a higher estimate on the gayeties of the world 
 than upon a life of piety. When about twenty years 
 of age, however, she became sensible of her lost 
 state as a sinner, sought and obtained evidence of 
 pardoning mercy, and united with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. She was married to Mr. (after- 
 ward Bishop) Morris, January, 23, 18 14. Very soon 
 after this union, a great and unexpected trial came 
 upon her. During the latter part of the first year of 
 her married life, her husband began to feel that it 
 was his duty to devote himself to the ministry in the 
 itinerant ranks. Western itinerancy in those days 
 presented so many difficulties, and threatened so 
 
192 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 much privation to the family of the preacher, and 
 especially to one brought up as she had been, that 
 the prospect was not only disheartening, but to a 
 sensitive female overwhelming. We have already 
 related, in the former part of this work, how, in the 
 Fall of 1815, while suffering under a severe attack 
 of intermittent fever, Mrs. Morris was led to yield a 
 hearty assent to her husband's desire to obey what 
 he felt to be a Divine impression. This assent, fully 
 and heartily given, was never recalled. When her 
 husband, discouraged by slender support for his 
 family, or want of success in his Master's business, 
 would talk of locating, she always dissuaded him from 
 it, lest some worse thing should come upon them for 
 deserting a work to which they had been so signally 
 called. 
 
 " For more than thirty years," says Bishop Ham- 
 line, "she was an orderly, living member of the 
 Church ; and for more than twenty-six years suffered 
 the privations incident to the itinerant work, pa- 
 tiently sharing its toils and anxieties, as they fall 
 upon the family of the traveling preacher. While 
 health permitted, she was exceedingly active and use- 
 ful in the work of the Lord, as a leader of female 
 prayer-meetings, visiting the sick, and exhorting all 
 with whom she had influence to flee the wrath to come. 
 When she had strength to speak in the love-feast, 
 the effect was often felt throughout the house, in an 
 unusual manner. 
 
 " Mrs. Morris was a great sufferer from sickness. 
 Few persons ever lived through greater afflictions 
 than she did during the last twenty-five years of her 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. MORRIS, 193 
 
 life. Among the instances of her extreme suffering, 
 the severest previous to her last sickness was in 
 1839, from spinal and neuralgic affection, whereby 
 she was confined to her bed nearly six months, most 
 of the time in extreme agony. This brought her ap- 
 parently to the gate of death. But the grace of God 
 was so manifested to her in that affliction, that the 
 more she suffered, the more she rejoiced ; and the 
 nearer death seemed to approach, the more she tri- 
 umphed through faith in Christ Jesus. Contrary to 
 the expectations of herself, her physician, and friends, 
 she was partially restored, and was able to go about 
 for two years. 
 
 " In November, 1841, she took a severe cold, 
 which fell on her lungs, followed with much pain, 
 great soreness in the chest, a stubborn cough, night- 
 sweats, and loss of flesh and strength ; so that, by 
 midwinter, she was confined to the bed. Bishop 
 Morris was then in Texas, where he failed to receive 
 letters from home, and knew nothing of her condition 
 until he arrived at Galveston, on his return trip, ill 
 February following. He then got merely a verbal 
 report of her illness ; but on landing at New Orleans, 
 he received letters of various dates up to February 
 15th, which created serious fears that he would see 
 her no more on earth. When she embraced her hus- 
 band, who had been absent nearly seven months, and 
 her only son, whom she had not seen for three years, 
 and never expected to see again, she exclaimed, with 
 a tremulous voice, ' Now, Lord, I am ready to depart 
 when it is thy will.' 
 
 " Much of the time during her last sickness her 
 17 
 
194 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 faith was in lively exercise, producing the precious 
 fruits of patience, meekness, resignation, gratitude, 
 and love ; all of which, from time to time, were 
 abundantly manifested in her words and actions, to 
 such an extent as could not be expected in any indi- 
 vidual without a genuine work of grace upon the 
 heart. Among the numerous friends that called 
 to see her during an illness of six months' con- 
 tinuance, very few ever left her room without re- 
 ceiving from her a word of exhortation, admonition, 
 or encouragement : and doubtless the good seed thus 
 sown sprung up in many hearts. On one occasion, 
 after a severe paroxysm of coughing, she said : ' O, 
 that this might be the night of my deliverance ; that 
 I might fly from earth and sin and sorrow, and be 
 at rest forever!' Then, checking herself, she added, 
 1 But I wait the Lord's pleasure.' On Saturday, the 
 9th of April, in the evening, she said, ■ Such a sweet 
 peace came into my mind this afternoon, that I trust 
 never to doubt again that the Lord will sustain me 
 to the end.' " 
 
 On the 26th of April, as the doctor retired from 
 her room, she overheard him say that she had failed 
 much since he saw her last. Referring to this soon 
 after, she said, "It caused joy to spring up in my 
 heart." A day or two later, she said to a friend, " I 
 enjoy a sweet prospect of deliverence from all .my 
 sufferings." And again, "My soul is blessed of the 
 Lord — it surely is ; and if I had a thousand souls, I 
 would trust them all in his hands." 
 
 On the morning of the first Sabbath in May, she 
 said, " I am feeble in body, but rejoice in spirit." 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. MORRIS. 1 95 
 
 She then knew it to be the general opinion of her 
 friends that she could not live more than a clay 
 or two longer ; and, lest her strength should fail 
 her, she that day had the family called to her one at 
 a time, and gave her blessing to each, charging them 
 severally to live for God, and meet her in heaven. 
 This was probably one of the most moving scenes of 
 the kind ever witnessed. She said, among other 
 things, the Lord had often blessed her in health and 
 in sickness, and he then blessed her in prospect of 
 death ; that for her death had no sting ; that she had 
 never felt such a sense of the goodness of God be- 
 fore ; that she had often feared the affection she had 
 for her family would render it difficult at last to give 
 them up ; but she thanked God that his grace that 
 day had enabled her to do it willingly and cheerfully, 
 and leave them in his hands, who would provide for 
 them all needful blessings. 
 
 In the evening she continued in the same happy 
 frame of mind. " Sweet heaven !"she exclaimed, " my 
 happy home ! O, how I long to be there ! But my 
 Father's will be done." On the 12th, at three o'clock 
 in the morning, there was such a sinking, coldness, 
 and difficulty of breathing, that she herself believed 
 death had commenced his work; and when asked 
 how she felt under the impression that she was so 
 near her end, the reply was : " I feel delightful. Jesus 
 is my everlasting friend, and will bear me safely 
 through the dark valley of death." 
 
 On Saturday morning, May 14th, in the midst of 
 great agony, she prayed for patience to suffer all the 
 will of God. After severe coughing and strangling, 
 
I96 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 she said, "It will soon be over; blessed be God for 
 it ! and I pray that the chariot of salvation may not 
 delay." In the afternoon of that day, her physi- 
 cian, Dr. Judkins, to whom she was much attached, 
 called to see her for the last time. She asked him 
 if he did think the struggle would soon be over. 
 On his making an affirmative reply, she said, with a 
 smile, "That is good news." The next morning, it 
 being the Sabbath, she was heard to say : " O Lord, 
 thou art so good ! Precious Savior ! Blessed Re- 
 deemer! O, the rich fountain of redeeming love, in 
 which I shall soon bathe my weary soul forever !" 
 That night her mind became wandering ; in which 
 state, for the most part, she continued till Tuesday 
 morning, May 17th, when she expired. 
 
 Impressive funeral services were held on Thurs- 
 day, the 19th, in the Fourth-street Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church, Rev. Leroy Swormstedt preaching an 
 appropriate sermon, from the words, " Into thine 
 hand I commit my spirit ; thou hast redeemed me, 
 O Lord God of truth." (Psalm xxxi, 5.) 
 
 A wife, who for more than a quarter of a century 
 shared in the toils and privations of a pioneer itin- 
 erant minister, contributing to his usefulness, and 
 cheering him on when his own heart was dismayed by 
 the trials and toils of his work, is entitled to occupy 
 some space in the biography of her husband. We pro- 
 pose, therefore, to extend this sketch of Mrs. Morris 
 further, by glancing at those traits of her character 
 which seem to be worthy of special mention. As a 
 wife and mother she was faithfully devoted to the 
 interests of her family. She sought to promote the 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. MORRIS. 1 97 
 
 temporal comfort of her household. For public, 
 obvious reasons, as well as for personal comfort, a 
 minister's house should be well kept, and arranged 
 with sober taste. No place, except the sanctuary, 
 was so inviting to Mrs. Morris as home. There, with 
 her children, her closet, and her Bible, she was 
 happy. 
 
 She was consistent. Her manners, her conversa- 
 tion, her apparel, her conduct in every relation, and 
 her treatment of all ranks and persons, bore the 
 same stamp of humility, meekness, and benevolence. 
 Probably no person ever succeeded better than she 
 did in suiting her dress to her profession, and to 
 the station she filled in the Church. There 
 was a peculiar plainness and comeliness in her ap- 
 parel ; and happy were it for the Church now, if, in 
 this particular, all " women professing godliness " 
 could imitate her. 
 
 Her patience was wonderful. To estimate it aright, 
 one must remember how long and how severely she 
 suffered, and in what circumstances. Her husband 
 far away, her son in a foreign land, and she almost 
 in despair of beholding either again on earth; withal, 
 possessed of the liveliest sensibility, and her affec- 
 tions gathered around these absent ones with a 
 solicitude indescribable, while her bodily pains were 
 excruciating. Yet she was patient. On one occasion, 
 when a friend suggested the probability of her decease 
 before the return of her husband and son, she was 
 so overwhelmed with sorrow that for a moment she 
 gave free vent to her uncontrollable grief. Soon, 
 however, she became composed, and looking up, said, 
 
I98 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 in a subdued tone, "Well, if Mr. Morris can do 
 more work for the Church by my deprivation, I shall 
 try to be resigned." 
 
 She was an intelligent Christian. She studied the 
 Holy Scriptures. She not only gave the Bible 
 preference over all other books, but made it a matter 
 of conscience to read it every day in the year. If 
 any thing unusual occurred, to prevent reading the 
 ordinary lessons of the day, she made it up at night, 
 frequently by curtailing the hours of sleep. This 
 duty she performed with uncommon delight and 
 profit. There are very few private Christians as 
 familiar with the Bible as she was, being able to turn 
 at once, without a concordance, to almost any promi- 
 nent text in the Old or New Testament, and to quote 
 hundreds of passages from memory. About seven- 
 teen years before her death, while agonizing for the 
 blessing of perfect love, in her own chamber, she 
 experienced that the blood of Christ " cleanseth from 
 all sin." Though she never made a public profession 
 of the grace of sanctification prior to her last sick- 
 ness, in death her testimony was explicit, and she 
 sent an affectionate message to her leader, urging 
 her classmates to seek this full salvation. 
 
 Such were the prominent characteristics of a 
 noble woman, wife, and mother, whose name deserves 
 to be perpetuated with that of her husband. 
 
 In 1842, according to the plan of episcopal visita- 
 tions, Bishop Morris presided over the Pittsburg 
 Conference, at Wheeling, July 13th ; the Erie, at 
 Cleveland, August 2d ; the Michigan, at Adrian, 
 August 17th ; the North Ohio, at Delaware, September 
 
DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER. 1 99 
 
 7th ; the Ohio, at Hamilton, September 28th ; 
 the Indiana, at Centerville, October 19th. On his 
 return home from this tour he found his only daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Jane B. Rust, apparently on the very verge 
 of the grave, wasting away rapidly under the in- 
 sidious and fatal disease that had so recently carried 
 away her mother. By her bedside the bereaved 
 and sorrowing father watched, until her sufferings 
 terminated, November 30th. 
 
 Mrs. Rust was born at "Spicewood Cottage," 
 Cabell County, Virginia, February 27, 181 5, and was 
 baptized the same year by Rev. David Young, of the 
 Ohio Conference. Her constitution was naturally 
 feeble, and her health delicate, all her life ; but that 
 did not materially injure her mild and amiable dispo- 
 sition. Her father says, in a biographical sketch 
 published in his " Miscellany :" 
 
 " She was as steady and thoughtful in childhood 
 and youth as most persons are at mature age. The 
 most striking features of her character were meekness 
 and kindness. When only five years old she read 
 fluently and gracefully. She learned her lessons 
 with great facility, especially such as were committed 
 to memory, and being always diligent in preparing 
 to recite them, seldom failed to stand first in her 
 class ; but was never known to take any credit or 
 praise to herself on that account. When Jane left 
 Science Hill Academy, at Sheibyville, Kentucky, in 
 the fifteenth year of her age, she had acquired all 
 the essential elements of a sound and useful educa- 
 tion, and some of the ornamental branches, and bid 
 fair to excel in literary attainments. The state of 
 
200 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 her health, however, about that time, rendered it 
 necessary that she should exchange the sedentary 
 habits of student-life for the more active employments 
 of the domestic household. 
 
 "At the age of twenty-one she was happily mar- 
 ried to Mr. Joseph G. Rust, of Cincinnati, who had 
 been pious from his youth, and whose natural dispo- 
 sition and moral habits were congenial to her own. 
 She became the mother of three children ; and as 
 she had been a most affectionate, dutiful child to her 
 parents, so she proved herself to be a faithful wife, 
 and tender-hearted but judicious mother. 
 
 "She commenced seeking a change of heart very 
 earnestly, as near as I can recollect, in her ninth year, 
 and for seven years missed no opportunity of going 
 forward to be prayed for when circumstances were 
 such as to allow it. She became a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church in her fourteenth year, 
 but did not obtain a satisfactory evidence of the de- 
 sired change of heart till about two years after. 
 Though her piety was uniform, and her life highly 
 exemplary, she never dealt much in professions of 
 assurance till after the commencement of her last ill- 
 ness ; but then her confidence in God seemed to 
 gather strength in proportion to the increase of her 
 affliction and prospect of death. 
 
 " The last letter which my daughter ever wrote 
 was addressed to me at Delaware, Ohio, and was re- 
 ceived during the session of the North Ohio Confer- 
 ence, from which the following is an extract : ' My 
 hand shakes so, that it is with great difficulty I can 
 hold a pen. I am very glad to hear that you are 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. RUST. 201 
 
 well, and are sustained under your arduous labors. I 
 thank you kindly for all your letters, and especially 
 for the first one. ... I have read it many times 
 over, and still it always interests me. I have been 
 very deeply afflicted since you left home, as you 
 know. The loss of our dear little babe was a great trial 
 to me, and for several days after I felt as if I could 
 not give him up ; but, since that, I feel a sweet resig- 
 nation to the will of the Lord, and would not have 
 him back for asking.' The trembling debility appar- 
 ent on the face of that letter, fixed a deep and pain- 
 ful impression on the father's already sorrowful heart, 
 because it indicated too plainly that her feeble con- 
 stitution was giving way under the influence of fatal 
 disease. 
 
 " Returning home September 12th, my worst fears 
 were fully confirmed. I found her prostrated, and far 
 gone in pulmonary consumption ; but patient and re- 
 signed. She said to me: ' I have never felt like mur- 
 muring during my affliction. The Lord has been 
 good to me all my life. He blessed me wonderfully 
 at the late camp meeting. I there enjoyed the 
 preaching much, as I heard it while lying in my 
 tent. And such singing I never heard before.' In a 
 conversation with me a few days after, she remarked : 
 1 I neither look back nor forward, but live a day at a 
 time. I am in the hands of the Lord, and am will- 
 ing that he should dispose of my case. If I get bet- 
 ter, I shall be thankful on account of my family ; but 
 if not, the Lord will support me to the end.' 
 
 " On the following Sabbath, she was exceedingly 
 happy, and rejoiced aloud, exhorting her brother not 
 
202 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 to be discouraged in seeking religion, for he had a 
 kind, all-sufficient, and willing Savior to go to, who 
 was ever willing to hear the cries of the penitent. 
 The next day she told her physician she never ex- 
 pected to be much better ; but she was resigned, for 
 the Lord had supported her. She said it would be a 
 trial to part with her family ; but she trusted the 
 Lord would give her grace to resign them all cheer- 
 fully into his hands. When I returned from the Ohio 
 Conference, the first week in October, I found her 
 still failing under the wasting influence of cough, 
 chills, fevers, and night-sweats, and fully apprised of 
 her certain approach toward the point of dissolution, 
 but strong in faith, and joyful through hope in our 
 Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 "Monday, 17th, she said to me, 'I am determined 
 to trust in the Lord, come what will ; not that I feel 
 fully prepared for heaven, but God is able to perfect 
 that which is lacking, and I believe he will — bless his 
 holy name!' As I had to leave next morning in 
 the stage, at three o'clock, for the Indiana Conference, 
 I went to her room at two o'clock, that I might spend 
 an hour with her. At her request, I prayed with her 
 once more. She was deeply affected, but rejoiced in 
 spirit. In my absence the property of her father-in- 
 law and husband was destroyed by fire ; and while 
 the fearful conflagration shed a glare of light upon her 
 chamber-window, she thanked God she had a more 
 enduring substance beyond the ravages of the de- 
 structive element, 'an inheritance which is incorrupti- 
 ble, undefiled, and that fadeth not away ;' and exhorted 
 those about her to lay up their treasure in heaven. 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. RUST. 203 
 
 "When I returned from Indiana on the 27th, I 
 found her disease greatly increased, and her strength 
 so much reduced that she was never after able to sit 
 up any ; but she was still patient and resigned, pro- 
 fessing to feel assured that the Lord cared for her, 
 and that he could and would sustain her. When her 
 affliction was extremely painful, she was willing to 
 suffer all the will of God, and would not dare to ask 
 her sufferings less, and prayed only for patience to 
 endure, and grace to support her under them ; and 
 when they were mitigated, she would express much 
 gratitude to her Heavenly Father for a little relief. 
 
 "Sabbath afternoon, November 13th, when I re- 
 turned from church, she said to me : ' Pa, this has 
 been a blessed Sabbath to me ; I have enjoyed a 
 sweet foretaste of that Sabbath which never ends. I 
 was in a struggle all night and all morning for a 
 blessing, and got rather discouraged ; but it occurred 
 to me the Lord could bless me here on a sick bed 
 as well as if I was in the church. I prayed earnestly, 
 and he did bless me in a wonderful manner. I never 
 felt so happy in all my life. I felt that I could en- 
 dure all my sufferings cheerfully, and that I should be 
 a conqueror in death, through the blood of the Lamb. 
 I used to feel so unworthy that I scarcely dared to 
 call myself a follower of Christ ; but he has forgiven 
 me all, and I think I shall never again be tempted 
 to distrust him. He will support me to the end.' 
 
 "Thursday, 17th, just six months from the day 
 her mother died, she made this remark to me in the 
 evening: 'Pa, I have been thinking to-day what a 
 happy meeting I shall soon, have with ma, where we 
 
204 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 shall range the blessed fields together, and on the 
 banks of the river shout halleluiah forever and ever. 
 O, what a blessed thing to be free from all suffering 
 and sorrow ; and, best of all, to see Jesus as he is, 
 and praise him as we ought!' 
 
 " On Monday, the 28th, she had several paroxysms 
 of strangulation, in which we thought her in imme- 
 diate danger of dying. While we were silently wait- 
 ing the next paroxysm to come and hurry her into 
 eternity, she calmly remarked, 'I know not that I 
 shall be allowed the privilege of speaking in my last 
 moments, but I wish it understood that I am perfectly 
 safe ; that God does and will accept me, not for any 
 worthiness of my own, but for Christ's sake, and will 
 save me with an everlasting salvation in heaven.' 
 She then called her husband to her, and with many 
 expressions of gratitude and love for his uniform 
 kindness, and especially for waiting upon her so faith- 
 fully and cheerfully in her sickness, took leave of him, 
 adding her blessing, and commending him to God. 
 Next she called her father, and spoke to him in like 
 manner; then her mother-in-law, pouring out a full 
 heart of grateful affection upon her ; and then another 
 sister, whom she loved much, — giving to each suitable 
 words of encouragement. 
 
 "About five o'clock that evening she passed 
 through another extreme paroxysm of coughing and 
 strangling, in which we fully expected she would ex- 
 pire ; but at last she revived so as to speak, and said : 
 'Jesus is with me ! Jesus is with me ! Jesus is 
 with me ! Death has no sting ; the grave has no 
 victory ! I have the victory through Jesus Christ, 
 
SKETCH OF MRS. RUST. 205 
 
 and I view the grave as a sweet resting place for 
 my body, while my blood-washed soul will rest in 
 paradise !' 
 
 " Her ill turns continued, at irregular intervals, 
 through that night and the next day. In an un- 
 usually severe paroxysm, which occurred on Tuesday 
 evening about five o'clock, she appeared to be beyond 
 all hope of living through it, and the family were 
 called in to witness her departure. She, however, 
 revived again, after a very long and painful struggle, 
 and the first words she uttered were : 
 
 " 'Yonder 's my house and portion fair, 
 My treasure aud my heart are there, 
 
 And my abiding home ; 
 For me my elder brethren stay, 
 And angels beckon me away, 
 
 And Jesus bids me come.' 
 
 "The longest and hardest struggle of the kind 
 occurred on the same evening, at half-past six 
 o'clock, and continued till we really believed her 
 spirit was in the act of departing; insomuch that, 
 when she finally recovered, it appeared similar to a 
 resurrection from the dead. If it were in my power 
 to give the reader a just idea of that agonizing and 
 heart-rending scene, I would not inflict it upon him ; 
 and, if it were practicable, would obliterate the recol- 
 lection of it from my own mind. At the commence- 
 ment of each of these attacks, she expected her 
 release, and with much apparent reluctance returned 
 again to life, praying most earnestly to be set free. 
 Indeed, her disappointment in not obtaining her final 
 deliverance when expected was the most difficult 
 thing to be reconciled to that occurred during the 
 
206 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 whole of her affliction ; but grace was afforded to 
 secure the victory over this also. At one time she 
 remarked : ' You thought that I should have got 
 home before now ; but I feared the news was too 
 good to be true. However, I must wait patiently 
 the Lord's time.' The last paroxysm so prostrated 
 her strength, and was followed by such languor that 
 she was never after able to hold a regular conversa- 
 tion, though she lingered till next morning, November 
 30th, at a quarter past eight o'clock, speaking a few 
 words occasionally of her friends, and of the goodness 
 of God, and frequently repeating the prayer, ' Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit !' and then, without a groan, 
 or any distortion of features, or any struggle 
 whatever, calmly and sweetly slept in Jesus.' 
 
 About the 10th of December, Bishop Morris began 
 an extra tour of episcopal visits, laboring in pro- 
 tracted meetings as follows : Madison, Indiana, ten 
 days ; Vernon, Indiana, three days ; Louisville, Ken- 
 tucky, three weeks ; Jefferson ville, Indiana, one week ; 
 Bardstown, Kentucky, one week ; Shelbyville, Ken- 
 tucky, one week ; Frankfort, Kentucky, one week ; 
 Lexington, one week ; and Maysville, one week. 
 Such excessive toil, added to travel and exposure in 
 a very severe Winter, brought on vertigo of the head 
 and palpitation of the heart in a form so severe that 
 he was compelled to cut short the circuit of his 
 visitations ; and though he continued to perform his 
 official duties, he did not wholly recover from the 
 effects of the attack of that Winter for nearly a year. 
 
 On the 25th of March, 1843, he started for the 
 East, and attended, with Bishop Heckling, the 
 
CONFERENCES ATTENDED. 207 
 
 Philadelphia Conference, at Philadelphia, April 5th ; 
 the New Jersey, at Trenton, April 26th ; the New 
 York, at New York, May 17th ; the Providence, at 
 Warren, June 7th ; the New England, at Boston, June 
 28th ; and the Maine, at Bath, July 19th, — sharing 
 with his colleague in the labors and responsibilites 
 of the work. While at the Philadelphia Confer- 
 ence, the sad intelligence of the death of Bishop 
 Roberts was received. Bishop Morris returned to 
 his home in August, and, after a few weeks of labor 
 in camp-meetings, began his own tour of episcopal 
 labor, presiding over the Kentucky Conference, at 
 Louisville, September 13th ; the Holston, at Abing- 
 don, Virginia, October 4th ; the North Carolina, at 
 Halifax C. H., Virginia, October 25th; the Virginia, 
 at Richmond, November 15th ; thence by way of 
 Baltimore and Wheeling to Cincinnati again, reaching 
 home about Christmas. 
 
 Early in January, 1844, he made a visit to St. 
 Charles, Missouri, where his son, Francis Asbury, 
 was Professor of Languages in the St. Charles Col- 
 lege. While on this visit he preached frequently, 
 both in St. Charles and St. Louis. Returning from 
 Missouri, he again left home, in the latter part of 
 February, for the East, and presided over the Balti- 
 more Conference, at Washington City, March 13th ; 
 the Philadelphia Conference, at Philadelphia, April 
 3d ; the New Jersey, at Trenton, April 17th. At 
 Trenton, he met his colleagues for consultation, pre- 
 paratory to the memorable General Conference of 
 1844, and thus closed his second quadrennium of 
 episcopal labor. 
 
208 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 844 — DISCUSSIONS ON THE SUB- 
 JECT OF SLAVERY MARRIAGE LOUIS- 
 VILLE CONVENTION. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1844 met in the city 
 of New York on the first day of May. It was 
 composed of one hundred and eighty delegates, 
 representatives of thirty-three annual conferences. 
 Bishops Soule, Hedding, Waugh, Andrew, and Morris 
 were present at the opening, and on the second day 
 of the session presented their Quadrennial Address. 
 Early in the session, the subject of slavery came up 
 in a way which seemed to preclude the possibility of 
 avoiding decisive action. A member of the Balti- 
 more Conference, Rev. F. A. Harding, presented an 
 appeal from his Conference, which had suspended 
 him for refusing to manumit slaves which had be- 
 come his property by marriage. For several days 
 this case occupied the attention of the General Con- 
 ference, and was watched with intense interest 
 throughout the Church. Earnest and eloquent 
 speeches were made on both sides ; but the final vote 
 approved the action of the Baltimore Conference — 
 one hundred and seventeen to fifty-six. 
 
 The case, however, which caused the deepest 
 feeling on both sides of the vexed question, and 
 
THE ISSUE STATED. 2C9 
 
 ultimately led to a division of the Church, was that 
 of Bishop Andrew, who had become connected with 
 slavery first by inheritance, and afterward by mar- 
 riage. " The revelation of these facts," says Bishop 
 Clark, in his " Life and Times of Heckling," "produced 
 a profound and painful sensation. In other instances, 
 where the subject of Slavery or Antislavery came be- 
 fore this or preceding General Conferences, there had 
 always been some mode by which the matter could 
 be adjusted to the satisfaction of the great body of 
 the Conference and of the Church, and yet so as to 
 avoid sectional differences. But now a distinct 
 issue was made between the North and the South. 
 For the North to yield, and to give up the principle 
 which had always been preserved inviolate from the 
 organization of the Church — namely, that the Episco- 
 pacy should be kept free from any taint of slavery — 
 would have been not only disastrous to the Church 
 in all the free States, but also, in their judgment, an 
 unwarrantable sacrifice of moral principle. On the 
 other hand, the South, though they had yielded in 
 former years when only the election of men to the 
 episcopal orifice was concerned, were now equally 
 strong in their convictions that for them to yield to 
 the deposition of a bishop because he had become a 
 slaveholder, would be disastrous to the Church in the 
 slave-holding States. In fact, they had come to a 
 point where they must either boldly assert, or forever 
 surrender, the principle long maintained by most of 
 them, — that the mere fact of slave-holding should 
 constitute no impediment to any official station in 
 the Church." 
 
 18 
 
2IO LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 The attention not only of the Church, but of the 
 country, was arrested, and held through weeks of 
 painful suspense, while the discussion of this great 
 case proceeded. The excitement meantime increased 
 day by day, as the full magnitude of the crisis be- 
 came more apparent. A motion was pending ex- 
 pressive of the sense of the General Conference, that 
 Bishop Andrew should desist from the duties of his 
 office so long as the impediment of his connection 
 with slavery remained. Speeches of remarkable 
 ability were made for and against the adoption of this 
 motion. On the 29th of May, the previous question 
 was moved, but failed to obtain a two-thirds vote. 
 Bishop Hedding, who was in the chair, suggested that 
 the Conference intermit its usual afternoon session, in 
 order to afford the bishops time to consult together, 
 with a view to present a plan, if possible, for adjust- 
 ing the difficulties by which they were encompassed. 
 This suggestion was cordially received, and the dis- 
 cussion of the pending motion was postponed until 
 the next morning. 
 
 On the following day, Bishop Waugh presented a 
 communication from the bishops, stating that, in their 
 judgment, under the existing circumstances, a de- 
 cision of the pending question, whether affirmatively 
 or negatively, would most extensively disturb the 
 peace and harmony of the Church ; and that they 
 unanimously concurred in the propriety of recom- 
 mending the postponement of further action in the 
 case of Bishop Andrew until the ensuing General 
 Conference. They further expressed the conviction 
 that, if the embarrassments of Bishop Andrew should 
 
CASE OF BISHOP ANDREW. 211 
 
 not cease before that time, the next General Confer- 
 ence, representing the pastors and people of the 
 several annual conferences, after all the facts in the 
 case had passed in review before them, would be bet- 
 ter qualified to adjudicate the case wisely and dis- 
 creetly than the body then in session. They also 
 suggested that, until the cessation of the embarrass- 
 ment, or the expiration of the interval between that 
 and the next General Conference, such a division of 
 episcopal work might be made as would fully employ 
 Bishop Andrew in those sections of the Church in 
 which his services would be acceptable. 
 
 The bishops, in making this proposition, doubtless 
 felt assured, and perhaps had been assured, that all 
 impediments in the way of Bishop Andrew, growing 
 out of his relation to slavery, would be speedily re- 
 moved if further proceedings in the case were stayed. 
 The question was laid over for one clay. When the 
 subject came up the next morning, Bishop Heckling 
 withdrew his name from the document. He said he 
 had thought it would be a peace measure ; but facts 
 had come to his knowledge which led him to believe 
 that such would not be the case. Bishop Waugh 
 said he considered the proposed measure as a last 
 resort to promote the future peace of the Church ; 
 but he had not been very sanguine upon the subject ; 
 and if it failed, he should not be disappointed. Bishop 
 Morris said he wished his name to stand on that 
 paper, as a testimony that he had done what he could 
 to preserve the peace and unity of the Church. The 
 communication of the bishops was finally laid upon 
 the table, by a vote of ninety-five to eighty-four. On 
 
212 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Saturday, the first day of June, the pending resolu- 
 tion was passed, by a vote of one hundred and ten to 
 sixty-eight. Against this action the Southern dele- 
 gates presented an elaborate protest, which was en- 
 tered upon the journals of the Conference. Subse- 
 quently, on the representations of some of the Southern 
 delegates, a Committee of Nine was appointed, who 
 reported a plan of separation, to take effect on 
 receiving the sanction of the annual conferences, if 
 the Southern brethren found it impossible to retain 
 their ecclesiastical connection with the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church. The final result, as is well known, 
 was the dismemberment of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, sixty years after its organization. 
 
 The General Conference of 1844 elected two ad- 
 ditional bishops (L. L. Hamline and E. S. Janes), who 
 were solemnly inducted into the episcopal office by 
 the usual services, and by the imposition of the hands 
 of Bishops Soule, Hedding, Waugh, and Morris, on 
 the 10th of June. Bishop Soule eventually separated 
 himself from the Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
 became connected with the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South. 
 
 At the close of this General Conference, Bishop 
 Morris returned to his home in Cincinnati, and in a 
 few days proceeded to Louisville, Kentucky, where, 
 on the 25th of June, he was married to Mrs. Lucy 
 Merri weather. After spending a few days with 
 friends in Louisville and Cincinnati, he set out, ac- 
 companied by Mrs. Morris, for the seat of the Rock- 
 river Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. On reaching 
 Milwaukee, he saw, for the first time, a newspaper 
 
CHARGE OF SLA VEHOL DING. 2 1 3 
 
 article, which appeared originally in the Commercial 
 Advertise)-, of New York City, charging him with 
 having become a slaveholder by marriage, and a slave- 
 dealer, whereupon he addressed the following commu- 
 nication to that journal : 
 
 " Milwaukee, July 23, 1844. 
 " Mr. F. Hall, Editor Commercial Advertiser: 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I have just seen, in the Albany 
 Journal of the 12th inst., an article headed 'Another 
 Slaveholding Bishop,' and credited to the Commercial 
 Advertiser, which is highly injurious to me and to 
 the Methodist Episcopal Church, and which, I hope, 
 you will have the goodness to correct. There is but 
 one truth in the whole article; namely, that 'Bishop 
 Morris has married a widow lady in Kentucky.' The 
 statement that she is possessed of slaves is incor- 
 rect ; and the report that I executed a contract, pre- 
 vious to marriage, relinquishing my prospective claim 
 to her slaves in favor of her child by her former 
 marriage, is wholly false. I made no such contract, 
 no such relinquishment, and she had no child, as 
 represented by the writer, to be a party in such 
 transaction. The only connection she had with 
 slavery was nominal, as trustee of her deceased hus- 
 band's estate, under a will which secured, ultimately, 
 the whole of it to her step-son ; and, according to 
 an express provision of the will, her marriage an- 
 nulled the trust, and severed that nominal relation. 
 Neither my wife nor myself has any interest in 
 slave-property, direct or indirect, nor has either 
 of us any connection with slavery, in fact or in form. 
 
 "Yours, respectfully, Tho. A. Morris." 
 
214 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 This communication, which was published by the 
 paper to which it was sent, and copied extensively, 
 soon silenced the reports which had been put in cir- 
 culation concerning the bishop's alleged connection 
 with slavery. His wife's former husband, Dr. Merri- 
 weather, had acquired a few slaves by his first 
 marriage, and they belonged to the first wife's son. 
 Mrs. Morris had been Dr. Merriweather's second 
 wife. She had no children, and claimed no owner- 
 ship in the slaves ; nor had she any connection with 
 them, only as the doctor's will made her one of the 
 trustees to manage his son's property until he be- 
 came of age. At the time of Bishop Morris's 
 marriage to Mrs. Merriweather, that son was of law- 
 ful age, married and settled, having in his own 
 possession all the slaves and other property left him 
 by his father's will. 
 
 At the close of the Rock-river Conference, 
 Bishop Morris proceeded to Iowa City, where the 
 Iowa Conference met, August 14th. He also presided 
 over the Illinois Conference, at Nashville, Washing- 
 ton County, September 4th, and the Missouri Con- 
 ference, at St. Louis, September 25th. From St. 
 Louis, Mrs. Morris returned home to Cincinnati, and 
 the bishop commenced his journey to Tahlequah, in 
 the Cherokee Nation, where the Indian Mission 
 Conference commenced its first session, October 23d. 
 The trip was commenced from St. Louis on the 4th 
 day of October, on a steamer bound for Weston, 
 far up the Missouri River. During the Spring and 
 Summer, the whole of the vast table-lands adjoining 
 the river, except a few elevated points, had been 
 
THE MISSO URI RIVER. 2 1 5 
 
 swept by freshets from hill to hill. Most of the 
 fencing and many of the farm-houses had been de- 
 stroyed ; and, instead of the expected crop being real- 
 ized, the rich soil was washed away, or left covered with 
 a layer of sand from twelve inches to two feet deep. 
 The amount of property lost was, of course, incalcu- 
 lable. A few persons were seen attempting to repair 
 their premises ; but most of the proprietors appeared 
 to have abandoned them in despair. 
 
 The Missouri River now, however, presented a 
 very striking contrast to what it had so recently 
 been. It was so low as to render navigation ex- 
 tremely difficult and hazardous ; but, after the usual 
 amount of sounding, grounding, floundering, sparring, 
 backing off, and going ahead, a safe landing was made 
 one mile below the mouth of the Kansas, and four 
 hundred above the mouth of the Missouri, on the 
 ioth of October, between sunset and dark. The ten 
 or twelve preachers, who had started from St. Louis 
 in company with the bishop, had all left the boat at 
 different points for their circuits ; so that he found 
 himself entirely alone, on the border of the Indian 
 country, without guide or acquaintance, with lodgings 
 to hunt, amid the deepening shadows of night. 
 Shouldering his luggage, he ascended a steep hill, on 
 the summit of which he found a new cabin, occupied 
 by Colonel Chick, who, having been "washed out" 
 by the late freshet, had sought a new home above 
 high-water mark. The bishop was very cordially re- 
 ceived, and kindly entertained by the colonel and his 
 family until next morning. He then started, on 
 horseback, to the Indian Manual Labor School in 
 
2l6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the Shawnee Nation, seven miles distant, where he 
 had appointed to meet a party of missionaries, to 
 proceed together through the Indian country to Con- 
 ference. 
 
 The Indian Manual Labor School was patronized 
 by several tribes ; but the largest number of scholars 
 were children of Shawnees and Dela wares. Since 
 the establishment of this great central school, the 
 small schools previously connected with each tribe 
 had been discontinued, though their respective mis- 
 sionaries continued in the regular missionary work 
 of preaching and visiting. The students varied in 
 age from ten or twelve to twenty years, and num- 
 bered about one hundred and fifty. Bishop .Morris 
 witnessed part of the examination exercises at the 
 close of the regular term. "Their performance," he 
 said, "in spelling, reading, writing, geography, com- 
 position, and vocal music, was such as would do 
 credit to any of our city schools in the United 
 States." Besides obtaining a knowledge of books, 
 the boys were taught practically the business of 
 agriculture, while the girls were instructed in the 
 domestic arts of knitting, spinning, weaving, and 
 housekeeping generally. 
 
 The mission-farm was extensive and productive, 
 embracing five hundred acres, inclosed, of which 
 three hundred were well cultivated, and the balance 
 in grass and pasture, the whole being well stocked 
 with cattle, horses, sheep, hogs, and poultry. Three 
 native buffaloes added to the variety, if not to the 
 value, of the live stock. There was also connected 
 with the Manual Labor School a steam flour-mill, 
 
ENCAMPED FOR THE NIGHT. 2 1 7 
 
 capable of grinding three hundred bushels of wheat 
 per day. 
 
 On Monday, October 14th, the bishop and his 
 company started for the Indian Mission Conference. 
 While some of the party on horseback steered through 
 the border settlements of Missouri, Bishop Morris 
 and three others, in two buggies, took the military 
 road through the territory, which was once a comfort- 
 able road for a new country; but now the bridges 
 were generally destroyed by freshets, and the sloughs 
 very boggy, which rendered the traveling difficult. 
 The company in which the bishop traveled consisted 
 of himself; Rev. L. B. Stateler, Missionary to the 
 Shawnees ; Rev. Thomas Hulburt, late of the Canada 
 Conference, and Missionary among the Chippewas ; 
 and Rev. E. T. Peery, Superintendent of the Indian 
 Manual Labor School. They got a late start the 
 first day, and, after traveling about twenty-five miles, 
 camped for the night. Their tent was made of do- 
 mestic cotton, circular, in the style of Northern 
 Indian habitations, supported by one center-pole, and 
 the base extended by cords and pegs. In this, with 
 buffalo-skins for beds, and buggy-cushions for pillows, 
 they slept comfortably and securely. 
 
 The next day they journeyed about thirty-eight 
 miles, camping for the night on the south bank of the 
 Mary de Zine, in a quiet, pleasant place, where the 
 only interruption of their slumbers was occasioned by 
 noises which arose, now and then, from a neighbor- 
 ing camp of Potawatomie Indians, who were sojourn- 
 ing there. The next day they overtook Rev. Thomas 
 B. Ruble, Missionary among the Potawatomies, and 
 
 *9 
 
2l8 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 a son of Chief Boashman, a young Indian who had 
 been educated at the Manual Labor School, become 
 a Christian, and was now acting as an interpreter. 
 Thus re-enforced, the three carriages formed quite a 
 respectable procession. Early in the afternoon they 
 were caught in a north-eastern rain-storm, accom- 
 panied with high winds, which rendered their open 
 buggies very uncomfortable for the time being; but 
 they pushed on, and late in the evening reached the 
 Mamita, near Fort Scott, where fuel and water could 
 be procured, and where they pitched their tent for 
 the night. Calling at the fort next morning, they 
 laid in a supply of horse-provender, having been noti- 
 fied that this would be the last opportunity for the 
 next fifty miles. That day the air was very chilly, 
 and traveling across the prairies any thing but pleas- 
 ant. When they finally reached the last skirt of 
 timber, on the Drywood Fork, though early in the 
 afternoon, it was too late to attempt to cross the 
 Big Prairie, twenty-three miles across, and they halted 
 for the night. 
 
 The next day they set out early, in a driving 
 snow-storm, and encountered the first real suffering 
 they had experienced on the journey thus far. On 
 Saturday, the 19th, they passed through the Quapaw 
 lands and the Little Shawnee Village, and in the 
 evening arrived at Mrs. Adam's, in the Seneca Nation, 
 where they were kindly received and spent the Sab- 
 bath. The religious services, held in the house of 
 this excellent lady on Sabbath, were peculiarly im- 
 pressive. The congregation contained about sixty 
 persons only ; but among them were Senecas, Stock- 
 
INDIAN MISSION CONFERENCE. 219 
 
 bridges, Shawnees, Cherokees, Africans, Canadians, 
 and citizens from several of the United States. Here 
 the Rev. N. M. Talbott, Missionary among the Kick- 
 apoos, north of the Kansas River, joined the party, 
 and all proceeded together, Monday morning, to Con- 
 ference. 
 
 On Tuesday, 22d, late in the evening, they reached 
 Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, com- 
 monly called the Council Ground. They had not ex- 
 pected to find much of a city here, and were not 
 disappointed. The National Council was in session. 
 It consisted of a lower house, or popular branch, of 
 twenty-four members, and a senate of sixteen mem- 
 bers, occupying a very ordinary building. The im- 
 pression made upon the mind of Bishop Morris, by 
 what he saw and heard here, was, that the Cherokees 
 were making progress in Christianity, civilization, and 
 education, and that they might do well in their new 
 country if they could permanently settle their inter- 
 nal difficulties. At Tahlequah, the party learned that 
 the Conference was to meet in Riley's Chapel, two 
 miles distant, and that the "headquarters" of the 
 Committee of Reception were near the chapel, at the 
 house of Rev. Thomas Bertholf. They reported 
 accordingly, and were soon comfortably provided for 
 in the neighborhood. 
 
 The Indian Mission Conference commenced its 
 first session the next day, Wednesday, October 23d. 
 The Conference included seventeen elders (all of whom 
 were present but one), six deacons, and four licenti- 
 ates, all tried men in the Indian work. About one- 
 fourth of them were native preachers. As all the 
 
220 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 work of this Conference was missionary, there was no 
 trouble about popular appointments or special trans- 
 fers. The bishop stationed all the preachers in less 
 than two hours, and had no occasion afterward to 
 change a single appointment, nor did any one com- 
 plain that his lot was hard. The little band of heroic 
 missionaries were living and working together in the 
 bonds of Christian affection. The religious exercises 
 at the opening of each day's session were conducted 
 in English, and at the close of the session in Choctaw 
 or Cherokee. The business of the Conference was 
 completed by Saturday evening, and on Sabbath the 
 ordinations took place, as usual ; two of those ordained 
 being full-blooded Choctaws, one of whom was a fine 
 English scholar. Upon the whole, the bishop was 
 much pleased with his trip and visit among the Indi- 
 ans, and concluded that the missionary appropriation 
 employed to convert the Indians from sin and heath- 
 enism to Christianity and civilization was very wisely 
 used. From Tahlequah he proceeded to Little Rock, 
 where the Arkansas Conference met, November 20th. 
 Here, on Sabbath, Bishop Morris preached and 
 ordained ministers in the Representatives' Hall of 
 the capital, in the presence of the governor and most 
 of the members of the Legislature, which was then in 
 session. From Little Rock he returned home, clos- 
 ing up a year of extensive and perilous travel, and of 
 much exposure and toil. 
 
 During the months of March and April, I045, 
 Bishop Morris made a special preaching tour through 
 the State of Kentucky, visiting Maysville, Lexington, 
 Frankfort, Louisville, and many intermediate towns. 
 
LOUISVILLE CONVENTION. 221 
 
 This trip was undertaken with a view to promote 
 harmony, allay sectional feeling-, and do something, 
 if possible, to prevent a division of the Church. Actu- 
 ated by these feelings, he attended the Southern Con- 
 vention, held in Louisville, in May, and which re- 
 sulted in the organization of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South. His own somewhat despondent 
 record concerning this effort to pour oil on the 
 troubled waters is: "I accomplished nothing except, 
 perhaps, to involve myself in suspicion on the 
 part of my brethren of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Party prejudice proves often too strong 
 for logic or facts. You may reason with a man's 
 judgment, but not with his passions, either in the 
 North or the South." 
 
 When the result of the Louisville Convention 
 became known, the five remaining bishops in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, at a regular meeting, 
 held in the city of New York, July 2d, came to the 
 conclusion, unanimously, that, under all the circum- 
 stances of the case, they would not be justified in 
 presiding in any of the conferences thus separated 
 from the jurisdiction of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Accordingly, Bishop Morris relinquished 
 his Southern route in favor of Bishop Soule, and 
 presided over the Fall conferences which had been 
 assigned to Bishop Soule prior to his withdrawal 
 from the Methodist Episcopal Church. By this ar- 
 rangement, Bishop Morris passed over nearly the 
 same ground as the year previous, holding the Rock- 
 river Conference, at Peoria, August 20th ; the Iowa, 
 at Burlington, September 3d ; the Illinois, at Spring- 
 
222 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 field, September 17th ; and the Indiana, at Madison, 
 October 8th. 
 
 In the Spring of 1846 he performed much extra 
 labor, visiting and preaching in South-western Ohio 
 and South-eastern Indiana. During this tour, which 
 was made in a buggy, he met with an accident, 
 which, but for a kind Providence over him, might 
 have resulted very seriously, if not fatally. 
 
 He was driving on the National Road in Indiana, 
 and had just passed through Lewisville, between 
 Cambridge City and Knightstown, when he came to 
 a creek, over which was a covered bridge. Having 
 entered the bridge, he discovered, when nearly 
 through it, a long, narrow gangway, thrown from the 
 body of the bridge to an embankment, as a tempo- 
 rary means of passing, which looked dangerous. As 
 it was too late to retrace his steps, and his horse had 
 always appeared gentle, the bishop concluded to 
 make the attempt to cross the dilapidated structure. 
 When about half-way across, the horse became fright- 
 ened, and, suddenly wheeling to the left, went over, 
 carrying the buggy and driver along with him, a dis- 
 tance of some fourteen feet. Two men, who witnessed 
 the accident from a neighboring field, ran to the spot 
 immediately, and found, to their great surprise, that 
 the occupant of the buggy was neither killed nor 
 injured, having received neither bruise nor scratch on 
 his person. The buggy, however, did not come off 
 so well, being considerably damaged by the upset. 
 Fortunately, the mishap occurred near a town, and 
 the vehicle was soon ready for service again. 
 
 Bishop Morris's regular episcopal route for 1846 
 
"HINTS TO YOUNG MEN." 223 
 
 embraced Pittsburg Conference, at Uniontown, July 
 1st; Erie, at Akron, Ohio, July 29th; North Ohio, 
 at Ashland, August 12th ; the Ohio, at Piqua, Sep- 
 tember 2d ; and the Indiana, at Laporte, September 
 17th. He also visited the Ohio Wesleyan University, 
 at Delaware, during the year, and, at the earnest 
 request of the President, Rev. Dr. Thomson, delivered 
 an address to the students, the substance of which, 
 under the title of " Hints to Young Men," was pub- 
 lished in the Ladies Repository, in 1853. A few 
 paragraphs are selected : 
 
 " Whatever lessens our natural tendency to evil, 
 or increases our gracious tendency to good, should 
 be carefully observed and diligently practiced. Bishop 
 Taylor, in his ' Rules of Holy Living,' says, ' Manual 
 labor is one of the best means of driving the devil/ 
 Admitting the truth of this principle, which is 
 strictly philosophical, still I am persuaded that men- 
 tal labor would answer the same purpose just about 
 as well. Perhaps both, alternately, would be still 
 better. While idleness is emphatically the school of 
 vice, cjose application of the mind to the study of 
 literature and science tends to sobriety and virtue. 
 Experience and observation both lead to the conclu- 
 sion that the more one applies himself to mental 
 improvement, the more gravity of character he ac- 
 quires. Who ever knew a young man habitually 
 studious, and really desirous to become respectable 
 in after life, to violate his college rules ? Plots of 
 mischief and insubordination may generally, if not 
 universally, be traced to the idle and vicious, whose 
 object in going to college is not to obtain an education 
 
224 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and prepare for usefulness in the world, but to in- 
 dulge their evil propensity for frolic and mischief, 
 and, of course, to annoy and embarrass others whose 
 example of diligence and propriety of conduct is 
 a reproof to evil-doers. Thus, while it is truly 
 said, ' Idleness is the devil's workshop/ studious 
 habits promote good morals, and contribute to the 
 formation of an amiable character. 
 
 "Application to study is essential in another 
 point of view. Without it, no one ever becomes a 
 critical scholar, or a great man in Church or State. 
 All the books, teachers, and colleges in the world 
 can never make us learned or wise, without close, 
 persevering study. These may assist us, but the 
 work is chiefly our own. Every learned man, in this 
 respect at least, is self-educated. The greatest nat- 
 ural ability never supersedes the necessity of severe 
 mental discipline, unless we are content to be drones 
 in society. If any individuals ever rise to an ele- 
 vated rank in the learned professions, or in the de- 
 partment of science or mechanism, who do not seem 
 to study, their cases are deceptive. Whatever they 
 may appear to be, they are, in fact, hard students, 
 and that, too, for a long term of years. 
 
 " Even such as have risen to distinction in our 
 country, without early advantages of education, have 
 done it "by training their own minds, in after-life, 
 with unusual diligence and untiring perseverance. 
 Of course I do not allude to official elevation, which 
 the chances of party political conflict may confer on 
 unworthy candidates, but to meritorious elevation in 
 general estimation, on the broad ground of intrinsic 
 
"HINTS TO YOUNG MEN." 225 
 
 worth, so that he who possesses it needs neither 
 prefix nor affix to the name his mother gave him to 
 command respect from his contemporaries, or to per- 
 petuate his fame on the pages of history. Whether 
 our object, therefore, is to avoid evil principles and 
 vicious habits on one hand, or to secure the most 
 desirable objects of this life on the other, well- 
 directed and protracted mental effort is all-important. 
 
 "Another and still more essential means of secur- 
 ing the greatest good is personal piety. This, above 
 all things, gives proper direction to the mental and 
 moral powers of man, and prepares him to govern 
 himself and be useful to society. Whatever induce- 
 ment an irreligious man has to restrain him from the 
 way of sin and misery, and to lead him in the path 
 of virtue and happiness, the Christian has likewise. 
 Is he influenced by the desire of knowledge, the 
 esteem of the wise and good, the love of home, com- 
 petence, independence, self-respect, with the affection 
 of friends and confidence of all ? So is the Christian. 
 But, in addition to all these, the religion of the Bible 
 holds out to view moral considerations, such as are 
 unknown in human ethics. It illuminates our dark 
 understanding, dispels the natural ignorance of the 
 human heart by the light of truth, removes its stub- 
 born hardness, and conquers its sinful enmity against 
 God by the soothing accents of mercy ; inspires the 
 most desponding with confidence, and relieves their 
 needless fears ; rolls off the burden of guilt and mis- 
 ery ; sends the laboring conscience peace, and lights 
 up in the soul the fires of heavenly love and joy. 
 
 "While 'newness of life' improves all the refined 
 
226 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 sensibilities of our nature, it arms us with courage 
 to endure with manly fortitude the numerous ills of 
 this probationary state; while it warns us that death 
 is near, it prepares us to die in peace ; while it points 
 us to the general judgment, it whispers in the ear of 
 confidence that the Judge is our best friend, and that 
 all is well. If the apostle of Christ showed us, in 
 anticipation, the world on fire, dissolving the elements" 
 of this temporary abode of man, he, at the same time, 
 assures us that we, 'according to his promise, look 
 for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth 
 righteousness,' to the exclusion of sin and misery, 
 pain and death. Surely, that heaven-born religion 
 that warns us against rebellion, with its present evils 
 and fearful results hereafter, and that leads us in 
 peace and safety through this world to endless bliss 
 and glory, is of more value to us, even here, in self- 
 government and the formation of character, than all 
 of worldly wisdom and its delusive hopes." 
 
 In 1847, Bishop Morris left home in February, for 
 Philadelphia, to attend, in that city, the regular annual 
 meeting of the bishops. He afterward assisted his 
 colleagues at the Baltimore Conference, in Washing- 
 ton ; the Philadelphia Conference, at Wilmington, 
 Delaware ; the New England Conference, at Lynn ; 
 and the New York Conference, at Allen-street, New 
 York. 
 
 His own episcopal circuit that year embraced the 
 Troy Conference, at Albany, May 26th ; the Black- 
 river, at Malone, June 16th ; the Oneida, at Bing- 
 hampton, July 21st ; the Genesee, at Geneva, August 
 25th ; and the Michigan, at Ypsilanti, September 
 
FAST-DA Y SERMON. 227 
 
 15th. He reached home from this tour late in Sep- 
 tember, and in a few days set out on an extra jour- 
 ney through Ohio, "holding forth the word of life" 
 in Dayton, Piqua, Portsmouth, Chillicothe, and Hills- 
 boro. Referring to his visit at the latter place, he 
 says : "An extraordinary storm, freshet, and freeze 
 blockaded me at Hillsboro several days, all roads 
 being impassable. Finally, with much difficulty and 
 peril, I returned to Chillicothe, where I was stopped 
 nearly a week longer, because the bridges were swept 
 away, and the streams impassable. At length I suc- 
 ceeded in reaching Portsmouth, where I sat up two 
 nights watching for boats, which were laid up because 
 the fuel was all swept off. On reaching home, I 
 learned that my wife was water-bound in Louisville, 
 and put off after her. We arrived there at two o'clock 
 in the morning ; could not land at the usual place, 
 but made fast some distance below; got into a yawl 
 covered with ice, and rowed to another boat ; climbed 
 up over her high deck, and thence, by a single plank 
 extended from the boat to the window of a warehouse, 
 we passed through a long, dark room, literally feel- 
 ing our way to the street." 
 
 In view of the unhappy strife which had resulted 
 from the "great secession" of 1845, and the impor- 
 tance of the action of the ensuing General Confer- 
 ence, the bishops, at their meeting in the Spring of 
 1848, unanimously and earnestly recommended that 
 Friday, April 28th, be observed throughout the 
 Church as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer. 
 Bishop Morris preached a sermon on that day, in 
 Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, from Matthew ix, 15; 
 
228 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 "And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the 
 bride chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is 
 with them ? But the days will come, when the bride- 
 groom shall be taken from them, and then shall they 
 fast." This able discourse was afterward remodeled, 
 and appeared in the Methodist Quarterly Review as 
 an article on the " Duty of Fasting." 
 
 He also wrote the following, apparently for private 
 and personal use, on that day : 
 
 "i. I am this day, April 28th, 1848, fifty-four years 
 old. Millions born after have died before me, while 
 my life and health are still perpetuated, a subject of 
 distinguished mercy. 
 
 " 2. All I have and all I am, except sin and mis- 
 ery, I owe to the Methodist Episcopal Church, under 
 God. May I never prove recreant to her, nor ungrate- 
 ful to Him ! 
 
 " 3. Having been a member nearly thirty-five 
 years, and a traveling preacher more than thirty-two 
 years, though much of the time unfaithful and unprof- 
 itable, I am fully satisfied there is no Church which 
 affords more helps to piety in this world, or a better 
 prospect of gaining heaven in the end, than the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church. 
 
 "4. Since the separation of the Southern confer- 
 ences, the peace of the Church has been much dis- 
 turbed by angry controversy on both sides of the 
 line. Many difficult questions remain unsettled ; 
 much trouble may be expected during and after the 
 General Conference of 1848. O, for heavenly wisdom 
 and Christian forbearance! Help, Lord! for vain is 
 the help of man without thy blessing. 
 
BIRTHDAY THOUGHTS. 
 
 229 
 
 "5. The doings of the approaching General Con- 
 ference will exert a powerful influence for weal or 
 woe upon the interests of Protestant Christianity in 
 general, and especially upon those of Methodism in 
 the United States. To this crisis I have long looked 
 as the day of conflict and trial, from which none but 
 God can deliver us. May he deliver! 
 
 "6. To this end may we all confess our sins to 
 him, and forsake them, and consecrate ourselves anew 
 to the service and cause of Christ, that we may build 
 up and not destroy the household of faith ! 
 
 "7. It is a time that calls for firmness and mod- 
 eration. 'United we stand, divided we fall.' ~No dif- 
 ference of opinion respecting Church polity should 
 divide us, unless it be such as to involve conscience 
 or a sacrifice of moral principle. Here I take my 
 stand. The brethren may do what they will, pro- 
 vided they do not require me, against my conscience 
 and principles, to participate in measures ruinous to 
 the peace of the Church and dangerous to the coun- 
 try, and I am with them. Beyond this point, how 
 could I go ? May I not be put to the trial ! 
 
 "T. A. Morris. 
 "Pittsburg, April 28, 1848." 
 
230 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 848 — DIVISION OF THE METHOD- 
 IST EPISCOPAL CHURCH — EPISCOPAL TOURS. 
 
 THE Tenth Delegated General Conference of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church assembled in 
 Liberty-street Church, in the city of Pittsburg, May 
 1, 1848. Bishops Hedding, Waugh, Morris, Hamline, 
 and Janes were present. The Conference was com- 
 posed of one hundred and fifty-one delegates, repre- 
 senting twenty-three annual conferences. The ses- 
 sion was opened in the usual form by Bishop 
 Hedding. 
 
 On the second day, while Bishop Morris was in 
 the chair, the first complaint ever made against his 
 episcopal administration was formally presented by a 
 delegate of the Illinois Conference. It related to 
 the affairs of Ebenezer Church, in St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri, and is substantially embraced in the following 
 extract from the memorial of the members of that 
 society : 
 
 "We complain that we were not only not pro- 
 tected, nor in any way recognized, but that the 
 episcopal influence and patronage were used against 
 us. We refer here to a private letter from Bishop 
 Morris to the then pastor of Centenary Church, 
 
COMPLAINT PRESENTED. 2$ I 
 
 whose zeal for the new Church, since his affiliation 
 with the South at Louisville, has been remarkable. 
 This letter was read previous to the final vote being 
 taken by the societies, and was brought to bear in 
 favor of the Southern organization, deterring the 
 timid from remaining in the Church of their choice ; 
 being assured, on the authority of said letter, that, 
 if we did not join the Church South, we could 
 not be Methodists, nor have any preachers sent 
 us. We addressed a statement of our grievances 
 to the above bishop, at the Rock-river Conference, 
 in September, 1845 ; we reasoned and argued our 
 cause with him, as peculiar and oppressive — that 
 some two or three hundred members, lovers of 
 the old landmarks of the Church, for no offense, 
 should be sacrificed upon a Southern altar as a 
 peace-offering. We only asked for relief or protec- 
 tion for the free exercise of the right of private 
 judgment ; to which the bishop replied promptly and 
 peremptorily, calling our attention to the ' Plan of 
 Separation/ and informing us that there was no 
 provision made for minorities." 
 
 This memorial, after some discussion, was referred 
 to the Committee on Episcopacy. As to the refusal 
 of Bishop Morris to recognize and appoint a preacher 
 to the minority of a charge, after the majority had voted 
 to go into the Southern organization, it is plain that 
 he could not have done otherwise under the then ex- 
 isting " Plan of Separation." The only point in the 
 complaint that really impeached the administration, 
 in the case of the Ebenezer Church, was the alleged 
 letter " To the then Pastor of Centenary Church." 
 
232 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Now, it happened, providentially, that the pastor re- 
 ferred to — Rev. Joseph Boyle — was in Pittsburg, as a 
 visitor, during the first days of the General Confer- 
 ence, and was present when the complaint against 
 Bishop Morris was presented. His testimony, con- 
 cerning the letter said to have been written to him, 
 is contained in the following communication : 
 
 " Bishop Morris, — Dear Brother: In reply to 
 your verbal inquiry whether the pastor of the Cen- 
 tenary Church, in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, 
 received a letter from you, in 1845, in relation to the 
 division of the Methodist Episcopal Church, which 
 was used by him to influence the members of said 
 charge to adhere South, I would say : 
 
 " 1. That I was pastor of the Centenary Church, 
 in St. Louis, in 1845. 
 
 " 2. That no such letter was received by me from 
 you, either in 1845, or at any other time. 
 
 "3. That no letter, purporting to come from you 
 to me, was read to the members of Centenary Church. 
 11 Yours, affectionately, Jos. Boyle. 
 
 "Pittsburg, May 11, 1848." 
 
 On the 18th clay of May, the Committee on 
 Episcopacy, through Rev. P. P. Sandford. Chairman, 
 presented the following report, which was adopted : 
 
 "The Committee also had under consideration a 
 complaint against the administration of Bishop 
 Morris, and adopted the following as their opinion 
 on the subject : 
 
 "The Committee on Episcopacy, to whom was 
 referred so much of the memorial from adhering 
 
OFFICIAL TOUR. 233 
 
 members of the Ebenezer Church, St. Louis, as 
 referred to a certain letter said to have been written 
 by Bishop Morris to the preacher in charge of the 
 Centenary Church, St. Louis, have had the same 
 under consideration, together with other matters con- 
 nected therewith, and have been presented with a 
 letter from said preacher in charge, dated Pittsburg, 
 May 11, 1848, certifying that no such letter was ever 
 received by him ; wherefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That there is no cause of complaint 
 against the administration of Bishop Morris in that 
 matter." 
 
 The General Conference of 1848 was regarded 
 with profound interest throughout the Church. The 
 ecclesiastical connection between the North and the 
 South had been severed by the action of the Louis- 
 ville Convention ; and much confusion, and no little 
 ill-feeling, had resulted, especially on what was called 
 " the border." As the first General Conference suc- 
 ceeding the organization of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South, its proceedings were every-where 
 watched with the greatest anxiety. *' Its delibera- 
 tions," says Bishop Clark, in his " Life and Times of 
 Hedding," " were conducted with universal care and 
 discretion, and the results attained have tended pow- 
 erfully to harmonize and strengthen the Church." 
 
 Bishop Morris's official tour, in 1848, included 
 the Wisconsin Conference, just organized, which held 
 its first session in Southport, July 12th ; the Rock- 
 river Conference, at Belleville, August 2d; and the 
 Indiana Conference, at New Albany, October 4th. 
 
 Some extracts from the bishop's account of his 
 
 20 
 
234 LII ' E 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 trip to the North-west, this year, will be read with 
 interest : 
 
 "At eight o'clock, A. M., June 28th, our train 
 cleared the narrows of Fulton, with its world of 
 lumber and clattering machinery. In a few minutes 
 we were gliding amidst the shadows of lofty forest- 
 trees, along the fertile valley of the Little Miami 
 River, enlivened by birds of various notes and flowers 
 of every hue. How delightful the change ! The 
 stillness of the country contrasts pleasantly with the 
 bustle of a crowded city. Riding in an elegant car, 
 even at the moderate speed of fifteen miles an hour, 
 is quite as agreeable as spinning street-yarn on fooC 
 over burning hot bricks and stone, employing one 
 hand in supporting an umbrella, and the other in 
 relieving the eyes from dust and perspiration. 
 
 "We could not have selected a more pleasant 
 time for our flight across the State of Ohio. The 
 growing fields of Indian corn were spread out before 
 us in richest verdure. The fields of golden wheat — 
 some waving in the gentle breeze, some falling before 
 the sweeping "cradle," and others arranged in clus- 
 tering shocks ; all indicating the greatest abundance — 
 presented a cheerful appearance to the passing trav- 
 eler. Farm-houses, factories, and fresh-looking vil- 
 lages were passed in quick succession, till we halted 
 for dinner at Springfield, eighty-five miles from the 
 city. From this to Urbana, fourteen miles, the rail- 
 road was not quite completed, but in rapid progress. 
 Stages were ready to convey the passengers and 
 their baggage. They put us through to Urbana in 
 an hour and three quarters, where we slept comfortably 
 
ON THE WING. 235 
 
 at the house of our much-respected friend, Judge 
 Reynolds, while the crowd passed on in the night- 
 train. 
 
 " Next day, we took the morning train, affording 
 us, among other pleasures, a full view of the wild 
 meadows, or savannas, of Champaign. County, inter- 
 spersed with lucid streams and fragrant flowers, and 
 swarming with horned cattle, colts, and lambs, con- 
 tentedly cropping the luxuriant herbage. Another 
 object of interest, that day, was the Wyandot Reser- 
 vation. The dust of their fathers and noble chiefs 
 slept there ; but the remnant of their broken tribe 
 were beyond the Kansas. What was recently their 
 hunting-ground, and more recently a mission-station, 
 is now visibly changing into cultivated fields and 
 flourishing villages. How rapidly the aboriginals of 
 America are wasting before the march of civilization! 
 Already scattered and peeled, in a few centuries 
 more they will be numbered among the nations that 
 have been, and are not. Surely, as Christians and 
 patriots, we owe them a debt of kindness. 
 
 " On Friday, a small steamboat brought us to 
 Detroit in seven hours. The scenery on the lake, 
 among the islands, 'and along the Detroit River, was 
 imposing. At Maiden, on the Canada shore, we 
 landed to put some Indians out. They were from 
 Missouri, and brought with them two young prairie- 
 wolves, coupled together in leading-strings, which 
 attracted as much attention as their owners. On 
 reaching Detroit, we stopped at the National Hotel ; 
 but the Hon. Ross Wilkins soon called for us with 
 his carriage, and removed us to his own quiet home. 
 
236 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 He is the Associate Judge of the United States 
 Court for the State of Michigan and a local minister 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and no drone in 
 either office ; for, after sitting all the week on the 
 bench with Judge M'Lean, he preached twice in the 
 country on Sabbath, met class, felt refreshed in spirit, 
 and was ready to resume court business on Monday 
 morning. The Sabbath brought us abundant priv- 
 ileges, and passed off pleasantly. 
 
 "After waiting the arrival of our boat all night, 
 in a state of preparation to move on the shortest 
 notice, our coachman called for us about four o'clock 
 in the morning, and hurried us on board of the Ni- 
 agara, just in from Buffalo, and bound for Chicago ; 
 but they soon got over their hurry, and did not slip 
 cable till half-past six. That day, we took it leisurely 
 through Detroit River, the Flats, Lake St. Clair, and 
 St. Clair River, stopping two hours at one place for 
 wood, and as long at another for coal, preparatory to 
 the long runs ahead. Late in the afternoon, how- 
 ever, we cleared Gratiot, and bore northward on the 
 broad bosom of Lake -Huron. We had hoped to see 
 the sun as he hid himself amid the waters, but a 
 heavy bank of clouds, nearly stationary in the west- 
 ern horizon, obscured him, and changed the appear- 
 ance of the lake from a bright sky-blue to that of a 
 somber purple. 
 
 "As night fell upon us, grave thoughts intruded 
 themselves, — three hundred souls aboard, with only a 
 few inches of timber between them and a sheet of 
 water two hundred and twenty miles long and one 
 hundred and seventy-five broad, with the ordinary 
 
ABOARD THE STEAMBOAT. 237 
 
 risk of collision, explosion, and fire. The visions of 
 other years came up, and* among them the Eurocly- 
 don with which Paul and his fellow-voyagers had to 
 contend, on his way to Rome as a prisoner in chains 
 for the faith of Christ. In that storm no sun, moon, 
 or stars appeared for fourteen days, during which time 
 they labored, prayed, and fasted, till Paul assured 
 them there should be no loss of life, but only of the 
 vessel and cargo, for which he gave a satisfatory 
 reason : 'For there stood by me this night the angel 
 of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear 
 not, Paul ; thou must be brought before Caesar; and, 
 lo ! God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.' 
 What a relief in their extremity ! And how comfort- 
 able our condition in comparison with their perilous 
 one, — all at liberty, all well, on board a noble steamer, 
 well manned and provisioned, walking like a thing of 
 life on the smooth surface, and affording all the lux- 
 uries of life ! Of course we had much to comfort, and 
 but little to render us discontented. 
 
 " The voyage of the lakes, from Buffalo to Chi- 
 cago, is one thousand and seventy-five miles. The 
 Niagara was a new boat of the line, on her sixth trip, 
 and perhaps nearly equal in speed and strength to 
 any other. On the lower deck were crowds of for- 
 eigners, with their piles of chests and movables, 
 figuring in quaint costume, and making their first 
 observations upon America, to whom every thing 
 appeared to be novel, but not unpleasant. In the 
 cabin were men of leisure and pleasure, with their 
 families, seeking new sources of enjoyment — men of 
 business, intent on its accomplishment ; invalids 
 
238 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 traveling for health ; peddlers of books and maps ; 
 tourists exploring new States ; ministers and agents, 
 on ecclesiastical business; and smoking, loquacious 
 politicians — some promenading the deck in solitude, 
 some clustered together in social chit-chat, others 
 attracted by the sound of music and song. 
 
 "After the tea-table was removed, the headquar- 
 ters of amusement seemed to be the ladies' cabin, 
 where many assembled for the purpose of killing 
 time, which hung heavily upon them. The moving 
 agent of the whole operation was a son of Ham, 
 patting his foot and drawing a horse-hair across a 
 piece of cat-gut, which made a kind of screaking 
 noise. He must have been a captain ; for as soon 
 as he commenced tossing his head about, and moving 
 his right arm to and fro, though he gave no other 
 signal or word of command, a number of individuals 
 rose to their feet, commenced running past each 
 other, and facing about, with a regular step to 
 Sambo's violin. The characters under the influence 
 of his enchantment were diversified, — boys and misses, 
 dandies and flirts, men and women. But one who 
 witnessed the affair declared that the commander of 
 our boat beat them all ; that he was the best dancer 
 among them ; and no one seemed disposed to dispute 
 the fact. 
 
 " On the morning of Thursday, 6th July, near 
 Thunder Bay, was witnessed one of nature's most 
 beautiful exhibitions. It was a thin cloud, forming a 
 regular arch, which spanned one-fourth of the visible 
 heavens, the ends resting upon the north and the 
 south, and the greatest elevation over the east. The 
 
TOUR TO THE EAST. 239 
 
 face of it presented every possible hue, — scarlet, deep 
 purple, golden yellow, silver white, pea green, and all 
 intermediate shades. It was apparently stationary, 
 and for one hour increasing in beauty and splendor, 
 till the luminary of day slowly emerged from the 
 "vasty deep," immediately under the center of this 
 triumphal arch, and threw his beams of light over 
 the sparkling waves toward the lofty peaks of the 
 Rocky Mountains. One such manifestation of infi- 
 nite power and wisdom affords more real pleasure 
 than all the galleries of paintings this world contains. 
 
 "We reached Milwaukee on Friday afternoon, 
 where more than two hundred deck and cabin pas- 
 sengers were landed, to disperse through that new 
 country. Milwaukee is about twelve years old, and 
 contains about fifteen thousand inhabitants. It is 
 situated at the mouth of a small river of the same 
 name, which affords a safe harbor. The improve- 
 ments are very respectable for so new a place, and 
 rapidly advancing. Its chief peculiarity is the color 
 of its houses. The bricks are all of a light cream 
 color, owing, probably, to some unusual substance in 
 the natural formation of which they are made, and, 
 when in the building, look as handsome as ordinary 
 bricks painted white, and are said to be very hard 
 and durable." 
 
 In 1849, Bishop Morris left home for the East, 
 February 14th, taking passage for Pittsburg on a 
 steamboat. The weather was intensely cold, and 
 river navigation was rendered both difficult and dan- 
 gerous by the floating ice which met the steamer the 
 second day out. As the cold increased, larger and 
 
24O LIFE OF lUSHOP MORRIS. 
 
 heavier masses of ice were encountered, reaching 
 sometimes from shore to shore, making the friction 
 terrible, as the vessel plowed her way onward and 
 upward against the strong current and all the massive 
 obstruction which it bore. The hope of reaching 
 Pittsburg was soon abandoned ; but after four days of 
 determined and persevering effort, the city of Wheel- 
 ing was reached in safety, and here the bishop and 
 his party remained over Sabbath. At that time, when 
 river navigation was closed, there was but one way 
 to reach Baltimore, — by stage to Cumberland, thence 
 by railroad. The only point to settle was the time 
 to leave. After a severe snow-storm, the weather 
 became very cold on Sabbath night, and a journey 
 by stage-coach over the bleak Alleghanies was a 
 serious matter. But there were difficulties in the way 
 of delay. General Taylor, the recently elected Pres- 
 ident, and his suite, with the usual army of office- 
 seekers and pleasure-takers which pours into Wash- 
 ington on " Inauguration-day," were expected along 
 in a few days ; in anticipation of which, stage-fare was 
 already on the rise. It was decided to push on, and 
 thus avoid the crowd. The proprietors of the coach- 
 lines were scattering flaming handbills, making large 
 promises of superior accommodations, on a "splendid 
 line of Troy-built coaches," so that crossing the 
 mountains might have been regarded, by one not 
 familiar with the' practical operation, as a mere 
 pleasure-ride. "Four coaches," says the bishop, "of 
 the accommodation line, were loaded, of which ours 
 was one. From appearance it had once been a 
 second-class coach of its size, but had seen its best 
 
A CROWDED CO AC//. 24 1 
 
 days, and bore evident marks of a veteran mountain 
 pioneer. 
 
 "It was just large enough to accommodate six 
 .passengers of ordinary stature, and more should not 
 have been required of it. But its unreasonable task- 
 master piled on about a thousand pounds of baggage 
 to begin with ; and then about fifteen hundred 
 pounds of humanity were stowed away inside, con- 
 sisting of ten passengers, or, more technically, 'nine 
 and a half;' one being under size, but not as much 
 under as some of us were over. So that it was not 
 respectful in our way-bill to call us • nine and a 
 half;' for, on an average, we compared respectably 
 with any ten passengers on the train. Besides, we 
 were favored with the usual supply of baskets, satch- 
 els, robes, etc. Our concern did not do a wayside 
 business. We were all. through passengers ; and, 
 when once crowded in and the door forced to upon us, 
 we experienced the practical definition of a squeeze. 
 I will venture to say that the same number of indi- 
 viduals were never before compressed within the same 
 narrow space, and it is to be hoped they never will 
 be again. The word was given, ' All set !' and we 
 dashed off at a merry rate, but not in. a merry mood. 
 To endure the pressure we then felt, during a trip 
 of one hundred and thirty-one miles, was a serious 
 affliction, but one for which there was no remedy." 
 
 ' Finally, after much suffering from the cold, in 
 that cramped, uncomfortable condition, they arrived 
 at Cumberland, and gladly exchanged the hard seats 
 of the rickety coach for the luxurious car which 
 
 awaited them. About twelve hours' ride brought 
 
 21 
 
242 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 them to Baltimore, where the discomforts and fa- 
 tigues of that "cold trip" were soon forgotten amid 
 the cordialities of Christian friends. 
 
 Bishop Morris presided over the Baltimore Con- 
 ference, Staunton, Virginia, March 7th ; the New 
 Jersey, at Burlington, April 18th ; the New York, at 
 Poughkeepsie, May 9th ; the New York East, at 
 Middletown, May 30th ; the Philadelphia, in Phila- 
 delphia, March 28th ; the East Maine, at Bucksport, 
 June 20th ; the Maine, at Augusta, July nth. 
 
 He also attended a meeting of his colleagues at 
 Newark, New Jersey, in April, where, after some 
 consultation respecting our missions in the Missouri 
 Territory, he was appointed to draft a memorial to 
 the Home Department, at Washington, in relation to 
 the expulsion of our missionary, Rev. James Gurley, 
 from the Wyandot Nation. The material portions 
 of this document are subjoined : 
 
 "The Wyandot Indians, formerly of Sandusky, 
 Ohio, now of the territory west of Missouri, have for 
 thirty years past been regularly supplied with mis- 
 sionaries from our Church, except a short interval 
 since the organization of the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, South. When the Wyandots removed from 
 Ohio to their present home, our missionary, Rev. J. 
 Wheeler, who had been their pastor for years, accom- 
 panied them, and remained with them until 1846, 
 when, the Indian Mission Conference having adhered 
 to the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, he re- 
 turned to his own Conference in Ohio. The Wyan- 
 dots were much dissatisfied with their new position 
 in Church affairs, and gave notice to the Church 
 
MEMORIAL OF THE BISHOPS. 243 
 
 South that they would look to us for supplies of 
 ministers ; and accordingly, in 1848, sent a petition 
 to the Ohio Conference for a missionary. This was 
 signed by the official and leading men of the. society, 
 as is usual in such cases. Rev. James Gurley, a 
 minister long and favorably known among us, was 
 selected, appointed, and sent, with a letter of instruc- 
 tions from T. A. Morris. That letter was obtained 
 from Mr. Gurley by Major Cummins, United States 
 Agent near Fort Leavenworth, and, so far as we 
 know, is still in his hands ; otherwise we would here- 
 with forward to you the original. 
 
 " After Mr. Gurley's arrival at Wyandot, the 
 official members of our Church there, in a communi- 
 cation to T. A. Morris, expressed their gratitude and 
 pleasure on his reception among them, and, having 
 heard an idle and false rumor of an intention on our 
 part to recall him, remonstrated strongly against it. 
 Subsequently, however, Dr. Hewitt, Sub-Agent of 
 the Wyandot Nation, had Mr. Gurley arrested, 
 and ordered him to leave the Nation. One fact, 
 to which we beg leave to call your special attention, 
 is, that no exception to the moral, Christian, or min- 
 isterial character or conduct of Mr. Gurley was al- 
 leged, even by Dr. Hewitt, as a reason for expelling 
 him from the Nation ; nor had Mr. Gurley any per- 
 sonal difficulty with any individual there. Yet he 
 was driven off, to the great grief of the Christian 
 society over which he was pastor, consisting of a 
 large majority of the Church members in the 
 Wyandot Nation. 
 
 " Now, what we wish is, to be informed whether 
 
244 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the act of Dr. Hewitt was authorized and sanctioned 
 by the Government, or merely an assumption of 
 power on his part. If the latter, we respectfully ask 
 that the abuse of power may be corrected in such 
 way as the Department may deem proper, the wrong 
 redressed, and our Constitutional rights secured. 
 We know of no reason why our missionaries should 
 be excluded from the Indian Territory, while the 
 missionaries of other Churches are tolerated and 
 protected." 
 
 This communication, signed by all the bishops, 
 was duly forwarded to Hon. Thos. Ewing, Secretary 
 of the Interior. It caused the speedy removal from 
 office of Dr. Hewitt, Sub-Agent at Wyandot, and 
 the restoration of our privileges as a Church in the 
 Indian Territory. 
 
 Bishop Morris, accompanied by his wife, traveled 
 pretty extensively this year, through Maine, New 
 Hampshire, and Vermont. While at Lebanon, New 
 Hampshire, where he spent several weeks, he pre- 
 pared for the press the funeral sermon of Rev. Dr. 
 Levings, in compliance with a request made by the 
 New York Conference. Afterward, he visited the 
 White Mountains, of which he wrote a very enter- 
 taining account, which the reader will find in his 
 volume entitled " Miscellany." 
 
 While filling an engagement at Paterson, New 
 Jersey, in September, he heard of the illness of 
 Bishop Hedding, and set off immediately as his sub- 
 stitute at the Genesee Conference, which met at 
 Albion, New York, arriving there on the second day 
 of the session. 
 
CONFERENCES ATTENDED. 24S 
 
 On his return to Paterson, he found Mrs. Morris 
 quite ill. Her symptoms grew worse, and for three 
 or four weeks her case was regarded as extremely 
 critical ; but, by the blessing of God, she slowly re- 
 gained her health. As soon as Mrs. Morris was able 
 to bear the fatigue of travel, they left Paterson, and 
 proceeded to Philadelphia, where the bishop had 
 secured board for the Winter. During his sojourn 
 in Philadelphia, he preached more than forty sermons, 
 mostly in the city. 
 
 His episcopal tour for 1850 embraced the Prov- 
 idence Conference, which met at Providence, April, 
 3d ; the New England, at Boston, April 24th ; the 
 New Hampshire, at New Market, May 8th ; the 
 Troy Conference, at Saratoga, May 29th ; the Ver- 
 mont, at Bradford, June 12th; the East Maine, at 
 Frankfort, June 26th ; the Maine, at Kennebunkport, 
 July 10th ; the Michigan, at Albion, September 4th ; 
 the Indiana, at Jeffersonville, October 9th. 
 
 He also assisted Bishop Waugh at the Baltimore 
 Conference, and Bishop Janes at the Ohio and North 
 Ohio Conferences, besides attending the annual meet- 
 ing of the bishops, held this year in Philadelphia, 
 and the General Mission Committee Meeting in New 
 York City. In less than eight months, Bishop Morris 
 held twelve annual conferences, in the Spring, Sum- 
 mer, and Fall of this year, and, in addition, had 
 charge of the Foreign Mission work, which involved 
 a very extensive correspondence. Writing commis- 
 sions and letters of instruction, however, was not the 
 most serious part of this business. The chief diffi- 
 culty was to find missionaries. During his term of 
 
246 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 service in this work, from May, 1849, to May, 1851, 
 he appointed one missionary to Liberia, two to China, 
 five to Germany, one to New Mexico, and not less 
 than fifteen to California and Oregon. In view of 
 such abundant labors, involving almost ceaseless 
 travel and constant exposure, we do not marvel that 
 his health had become so impaired by the close of 
 this year that he felt obliged to discontinue holding 
 or attending night services, and restrict himself to 
 one sermon on the Sabbath. 
 
 Bishop Morris's first Conference in 1851 was the 
 West Virginia, which met in Charlestown, June 4th. 
 This was within five miles' of the old homestead 
 where he was born, and spent the first ten years of 
 his life. At the close of the Conference he made a 
 visit to this interesting spot, and thus records his 
 impressions : "The fertile fields in which I first plied 
 the hoe were there ; the Big Kanawha River, in 
 which I was wont to fish and bathe, still flowed on 
 as of old ; the towering mountains on the west still 
 flung their evening shadows over the dear old place. 
 But all besides was changed. The spring of purest 
 mountain-water was neglected ; indeed, buried under 
 masses of sand and gravel, washed down by the 
 mountain torrent. The house that had inclosed it 
 was demolished ; and the lofty forest-trees that, in 
 my childhood, overhung the whole, were cut down. 
 I turned toward the site of the venerable mansion 
 that sheltered me in helpless infancy and happy child- 
 hood, but naught remained except a heap of rubbish 
 where the large stone chimney once stood. The old 
 barn was gone ; the fruit-trees were gone ; and the 
 
SECURING A HOME. 2tf 
 
 grass plot on which I played was plowed and culti- 
 vated, and new improvements at a distance of half a 
 mile on the river bank appeared. Most of the com- 
 panions of my childhood were in another world, and 
 the few who remained in this were far separated 
 from me, and all of us hastening to the end of life's 
 journey." 
 
 From Charlestown he proceeded to Alleghany 
 City, and presided over the Pittsburg Conference, 
 June 1 8th ; thence to the Erie Conference, which met 
 at Warren, Ohio, July 9th ; thence to the North Ohio 
 Conference, at Bellefontaine, July 30th ; thence to the 
 North Indiana Conference, at South Bend, August 
 20th. As he was going to the latter place, when 
 near Connersville, seated in a large nine-passenger 
 coach, alone, the team took fright, ran furiously for 
 some distance, and finally upset the coach. The 
 bishop was pretty severely bruised by the fall, and 
 had a bone fractured in one of his hands, but was 
 thankful to escape with his life. From South Bend 
 he went to the Michigan Conference, at Monroe, Sep- 
 tember 3d ; and thence to the Ohio Conference, which 
 met in Springfield, September 17th, which closed the 
 official work of the year. 
 
 Since his second marriage, Bishop Morris had 
 been without a settled home up to this time ; and we 
 propose now to let him tell the story of his attempt 
 to secure one, in his own words : 
 
 " For many years we had no certain dwelling-place ; 
 but by traveling in Spring, Summer, and Autumn, and 
 boarding where we could during the Winter, we had 
 saved a little toward getting ready to keep house. 
 
248 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 There were several objections to that migratory mode 
 of living: my papers were deranged; it was sometimes 
 difficult to procure suitable boarding; we had no spare 
 room to accommodate a friend, and our health was suf- 
 fering: from confinement to one small room. Under 
 these circumstances we concluded that the time had 
 come for us to look out for some place where we 
 might quietly pass the evening of life. Accordingly 
 we bought and took possession of a residence on 
 Mount Auburn. It was the estate of a deceased 
 minister of another denomination, which had been 
 mortgaged for the deferred payments, and had to be 
 sold as the only means by which the liabilities of the 
 estate could be settled. 
 
 " The Court, on the joint petition of the adminis- 
 trator and guardian, after due consideration, granted 
 an order to sell the premises by public auction. After 
 a month's notice, the sale took place, and the property 
 Was knocked off to M'Cullough and Morris, at its 
 full value; they obtaining a bill of sale, a receipt for 
 the first payment, and the promise of a perfect title 
 as soon as Court should meet and ratify the sale. I 
 bought the place of them, and gave it the name of 
 'Beulah.' In October, 1850, we took possession, put 
 the entire premises in good repair, furnished the 
 house as well as our means would allow, and con- 
 gratulated ourselves on a pleasant settlement for the 
 rest of our days. 
 
 " When the Court met, the administrator allowed 
 weeks to pass without making any return of the 
 sale ; and when we inquired for the reason of the 
 delay, we learned, to our surprise, that he had 
 
SE TTL ED AT" HOME L OD GE. " 249 
 
 employed a lawyer to have the sale set aside. And 
 our astonishment was still greater when we heard, 
 in a few weeks, that he had succeeded. The chief 
 reason assigned by the Court for this strange pro- 
 ceeding was, that the guardian was a non-resident 
 of Ohio — which, however, was as true when his 
 honor ordered the sale as when he set it aside. As 
 I was not inclined to endure the suspense and meet 
 the cost of litigation myself, M'Cullough and Morris 
 refunded what I had advanced, and released me from 
 my contract." 
 
 - Notwithstanding the vexations and annoyances 
 attending this first attempt to settle, Bishop Morris 
 was disposed to regard the result as providential. 
 The situation on Mount Auburn, though very pleas- 
 ant in many respects, would have been inconvenient 
 for himself and his family. He soon after purchased 
 a house on Smith Street, near Fourth, Cincinnati, 
 and, in October, 185 1, took possession of "Home 
 Lodge." 
 
 On the 5th of April, 1852, Bishop Morris left 
 home to attend the New England Conference, as 
 substitute for Bishop Hedding. " Interested com- 
 panies," he says, " had caused to be published a 
 notice that a boat was making regular trips between 
 Cleveland and Erie, so that passengers could avoid 
 staging. I concluded to risk it ; but found, to my 
 sorrow, that I and many others had been imposed 
 upon. There was indeed a boat that kept runners 
 on the railroad to decoy passengers on board, with 
 the positive promise, verbal and printed, to land them 
 at Erie, but with the certain knowledge that it could 
 
250 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 not be done, and had not been done that Spring. 
 This boat took our money on false pretenses, and, 
 after carrying us some distance, put us ashore to 
 take care of ourselves. Thus, after two nights and a 
 day on this vessel, ice-bound, and then two days and 
 a night contending with mud, riding where the team 
 could pull through, and walking over the worst 
 places, we reached Erie, at an expense four times 
 greater than the ordinary fare. I arrived in New 
 York, Friday evening, April 9th, and on the same 
 evening heard of the sad bereavemnt of the Church 
 in the death of the venerable senior bishop, Hedding. 
 On Monday, 12th, I attended the funeral services at 
 Poughkeepsie, saw this eminent servant of Christ 
 committed to his final resting-place on earth, and 
 read over him the burial-service of the Church. His 
 end was as peaceful and triumphant as his life had 
 been laborious and exemplary. He was among the 
 wisest and best of our race." 
 
 After the funeral, Bishop Morris proceeded to 
 Chickapee, where the New England Conference held 
 its session, commencing April 14th. He then re- 
 turned to Poughkeepsie to meet the Episcopal Board, 
 now reduced to three in number. The principal 
 business of this meeting was the preparation of a 
 quadrennial address, which being accomplished, the 
 bishops proceeded together to Boston, the seat of the 
 General Conference of 1852. 
 
EULOGY ON BISHOP HE D DING. 25 I 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 85 2 — ELECTION OF NEW BISH- 
 OPS — CONFERENCES HELD TRAVELS. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1852 assembled in 
 the Bromfield-street Church, in the city of 
 Boston, on Saturday, May 1st, Bishops Waugh, Mor- 
 ris, and Janes being present. The Conference was 
 composed of one hundred and seventy-six delegates, 
 representing twenty-nine annual conferences. The 
 Episcopal Address was read by Bishop Waugh on the 
 second day of the session. It refers with much ten- 
 derness to the death of Bishop Hedding, and pays a 
 deservedly high tribute to his pure and exalted char- 
 acter. "He sustained the highly responsible office 
 of General Superintendent of the Methodist Episco- 
 pal Church," says the Address, "for nearly twenty- 
 eight years. With a strong and discriminating mind, 
 busily engaged for so many years in acquiring knowl- 
 edge and wisdom from various sources of literature 
 and science, of philosophy and religion, we shall not 
 be regarded as extravagant eulogists when we say 
 that he has left few equals in the church, and, take 
 him all in all, no superior survives him. With all his 
 greatness he had the simplicity of a child. His ami- 
 ability, gentleness, and kindness endeared him to all 
 
252 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 with whom he had intercourse — from the prattling 
 child to the youth, to the middle-aged, and to those of 
 old age and declining years. All felt at ease in the 
 society of this truly good man, and were delighted 
 with his unpretending and attractive manners. As a 
 preacher, he had many and great excellences. As an 
 administrative officer, he was justly esteemed unri- 
 valed in the soundness of his opinions, the correct- 
 ness of his constitutional views and legal decisions, 
 and the dignity and urbanity of his manner." 
 
 The address argues at some length against any 
 such modification of the general superintendency as 
 would be likely to result in the introduction of dio- 
 cesan episcopacy, warns the body against ill-consid- 
 ered and radical changes in the system which had 
 worked so admirably in the past, reviews the condi- 
 tion and prospects of the Church, recommends an 
 extension of the probationary term of traveling preach- 
 ers from two to four years, reviews the missionary, 
 publishing, educational, and Sabbath-school interests 
 of the Church, and recommends an increase of the 
 Episcopal Board. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 25th, after a few moments spent 
 in silent prayer, the Conference proceeded to ballot 
 for four bishops. The result of the first ballot was 
 the selection, by the requisite majority, of Levi Scott, 
 Matthew Simpson, Osmon C. Baker, and Edward R. 
 Ames, who were solemnly inducted into the episco- 
 pal office, according to the prescribed form, on Thurs- 
 day, May 27th. 
 
 The General Conference of 1852 closed a quiet, 
 harmonious session, on the first day of June. Its 
 
ACCOUNT OF TRIP EAST 253 
 
 action on the great questions under consideration 
 gave general satisfaction to the Church. After the 
 final adjournment, Bishop Morris held the New York 
 Conference, at the Bedford-street Church, June 9th ; 
 the Black-river, at Ogdensburg, June 23d ; the East 
 Genesee, at Honeoye Falls, August 18th ; and the 
 Genesee, at Lockport, September 8th. He also as- 
 sisted Bishop Janes at the Cincinnati Conference, and 
 Bishop Baker at the South-eastern Indiana Conference, 
 reaching his home in Cincinnati about the middle of 
 October. 
 
 In 1853, the Plan of Episcopal Visitation assigned 
 to Bishop Morris the Baltimore Conference, March 
 2d ; the Philadelphia, March 2^\ ; and the New Jer- 
 sey, April 13th. Of his trip East he gives, in the 
 Western Christian Advocate, the following highly char- 
 acteristic account : 
 
 " On Tuesday, February 22d, I walked to the Book- 
 room, post-office, ticket-office, and back to ' Home 
 Lodge/ having journeyed on foot three miles through 
 a cold rain to complete arrangements for getting 
 myself and trunk on the morning express-train. Dur- 
 ing the night the rain changed to sleet and snow. 
 Wednesday morning, before six o'clock, we heard the 
 ponderous wheels of the omnibus rolling up to the 
 door. As I dragged out my trunk, over stone steps 
 and pavement all covered with ice, the unwelcome 
 announcement came, 'You must hand it up, or I can 
 not get it on.' It was a hard lift to stand on that 
 ice and raise a heavy trunk to the driver's seat ; but 
 this was the condition alone on which it was to be 
 taken. Great folks, these omnibus men! Being the 
 
254 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 first in, I had for a time plenty of room ; but soon 
 the driver was wheeling to the right and left, ringing 
 door-bells, and hallooing for passengers, some of whom 
 seemed to be in no special haste. After one hour 
 thus employed, we reached the depot, obtained bag- 
 gage-checks, and were ready to take seats ; but, as 
 usual, each car was secured by a lock at one end, 
 and a rough specimen of humanity at the other, to 
 keep out all but such as showed tickets, and to dis- 
 tribute passengers to his own liking. Your ticket 
 may read, 'One first-class passage;' but if he says, 
 4 Forward car, sir,' there is no remedy. So it is with 
 all the crowded lines, as far as I know. Yet when 
 one can congratulate himself that he is not left, but 
 is rapidly leaving space behind him, he may well 
 afford to endure these little inconveniences. Such as 
 left without breakfast were fully ready for it in Co- 
 lumbus, where, for about ten minutes, they played a 
 merry tune with knives, forks, and plates, during 
 which time the substantial were evidently diminished, 
 and good temper proportionably increased ; for noth- 
 ing earthly contributes so readily to the quietude of 
 a hungry man as a good dinner. 
 
 "Leaving Columbus, I found myself in a car 
 poorly furnished and much crowded. The stove re- 
 sembled, both in size and form, an old-fashioned 
 stone jug with a long neck. It contained but little 
 fuel, and less fire, and was densely surrounded by 
 standing passengers making curious observations 
 upon its appearance and want of heat. The seats 
 were hard, springs stiff, and motion irregular, some- 
 times giving us a vertical cant, and then a horizontal 
 
HOTEL INCONVENIENCES. 255 
 
 jerk, causing our heads to swing to and fro, as if stag- 
 ing on 'corduroy.' But on we drove, rattle and dash, 
 clatter and crash, thunder and splash, at the risk of 
 flying off the track and throwing the train into a con- 
 fused heap. Yet no mishap occurred. In the after- 
 noon, the kind-hearted conductor removed me one car 
 back, where I found comfortable accommodations, for 
 which I felt grateful. That day, between the south- 
 western and north-eastern portions of Ohio, we real- 
 ized changes, both as to cloud and climate, reminding 
 us of the Scotch editor's weather-table : ' First it 
 blewed, then it snewed, then it thewed, and then 
 it friz.' 
 
 " On arriving at Cleveland, at seven o'clock P. M., 
 we found the north-west wind sweeping over the lake, 
 almost sufficient to congeal the blood and vitals. The 
 steam of the locomotive was driven back into the 
 depot, so as to obscure the lamps and render them 
 of little use. In the midst of darkness, there was 
 quite a scramble for baggage. After a detention of 
 three-quarters of an hour, my own was secured, and 
 I was taken to the Hotel, which had been repre- 
 sented as a first-class house. I was sent to a room 
 in the fourth story, which I found to be a very con- 
 tracted affair, without fire-place or stove. To spend 
 the evening there was out of the question, and I 
 returned to the office, filled with clouds of tobacco- 
 smoke, which I endured as long as I could, then flew 
 to the door for a breath of fresh air, till the cold would 
 drive me back into the smoke again. Thus I alter- 
 nated between frost and sickening fumes till ten 
 o'clock, when I ascended to the elevated scuttle where 
 
256 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 I was to pass the night, and which I did as well as I 
 could, in a very dirty bed. 
 
 "Thursday, the ride to Pittsburg was rather cold 
 for comfort, except to the nice young men who se- 
 cured all the choice seats near the stove, leaving the 
 rest of us to contend with the severity of the weather 
 as best we could, by striking our feet together to 
 keep up a free circulation. Friday, at a quarter to 
 twelve, I left Pittsburg on the Pennsylvania Central 
 Railroad, traveled all night, passed the seven inclined 
 planes safely, and reached Harrisburg on Saturday 
 morning before sunrise ; and the same day went 
 down on the Cumberland Valley Railroad to Cham? 
 bersburg, where I spent the Sabbath very agreeably, 
 and preached in our excellent and well-filled church. 
 Monday evening, I passed on to Hagerstown in a 
 horse-car, and was ready for the opening of the 
 Baltimore Conference, March 2d." 
 
 After a protracted and laborious, but, on the 
 whole, pleasant, session of ten days, Bishop Morris 
 spent a week in Baltimore, enjoying the hospitalities 
 of the "Monumental City." He devoted a day to 
 visiting among the fathers and their families, of 
 whom he makes this pleasant record : 
 
 14 Accompanied by a friend, I rode to Hookstown, 
 and called at ' Pilgrim's Rest,' to see the venerable 
 and Rev. Henry Smith, now, I believe, about eighty- 
 four years old. We found him out, with his coat off, 
 trimming pea-sticks; for he has an acre lot which he 
 cultivates with his own hands, the products whereof, 
 together with conference dividends, are his living for 
 
 o 
 
 himself and family. He informed us that, while the 
 
REV. JOSHUA WELLS. 2 $7 
 
 weather allowed him lo take out-door exercise, he 
 ate, slept, and felt comfortably ; but when confined to 
 the house he felt the worse for it. He still preaches 
 occasionally, appears to be quite cheerful, enjoys the 
 society of Christian friends, and is patiently waiting 
 for his Lord to call him home. While we prayed 
 together, the Divine presence was sensibly felt among 
 us. He is a Methodist preacher of the original 
 stamp, both in appearance and spirit. 
 
 "From thence we rode to the residence of Rev. 
 Joshua Wells, a snug little place of several acres, a 
 mile or two north of Baltimore. He is nearly eighty- 
 eight years of age, if I remember right, and has been 
 a traveling preacher sixty-four years. Though unable 
 to preach now, he still recites with precision and 
 animation the stirring incidents of his early ministry, 
 as well as the oppositions and triumphs of American 
 Methodism in his day. His personal appearance is 
 such as to command respect from all. His protracted 
 ministerial service calls for gratitude, and his concil- 
 iatory manners plant him firmly in the affections of 
 the Church. His pious companion, only a few years 
 younger than he, was suffering severe pain, without 
 hope of relief here; but suffering joyfully, in prospect 
 of being soon removed to the heavenly rest, where 
 there is no pain forever." 
 
 Leaving Baltimore, Bishop Morris proceeded to 
 Harrisburg, in which city the Philadelphia Confer- 
 ence assembled, March 23d. The session was a very 
 pleasant one. "Immediately after," says the bishop 
 in one of his letters, " I went to Philadelphia, think- 
 ing that, if any storm should arise over the city 
 
 22 
 
258 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 appointments, I should be in the place to meet it; 
 but none came. Indeed, it was the calmest time I 
 ever witnessed there at the close of the Philadelphia 
 Conference." 
 
 After a visit of several days in the city, he took 
 boat down the Delaware River to Salem, New Jersey, 
 one of the oldest and most pleasant towns in the 
 State. Adjoining the church, in Salem, is a cemetery 
 of great interest on account of some honored names 
 there inscribed ; and, among others, that of Rev. Asa 
 Smith, formerly of the Philadelphia Conference, who 
 died in 1847, aged seventy-five years. Near the top 
 of his head-stone is the device of a Bible, open at 
 John xi, 25: "I am the resurrection and the life." 
 Three rods east of this grave is a plain, handsome 
 monument of marble, over the remains of Rev. Thos. 
 Ware, one of the patriots of 1776; converted in 
 1781 ; entered the itinerant ranks in 1783; witnessed 
 the organization of the Methodist Episcopal Church 
 in 1784; was a member of the First Delegated Gen- 
 eral Conference in 1812; was one of the early Book 
 Agents ; and died, in 1842, aged eighty-three years. 
 About two rods from his monument stands a very 
 ordinary slab, to indicate the resting-place of a very 
 extraordinary man — Rev. Benjamin Abbott — who, 
 after distinguishing himself in his youth as a fighter, 
 became converted, and was twenty-three years a 
 member, sixteen years a local preacher, and seven 
 years a traveling preacher in the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church. He was a revivalist of marvelous 
 success, "a son of thunder," who accomplished vast 
 good in his day, by the strength of his faith, and the 
 
ADVICE TO GRADUATES. 259 
 
 power of the Holy Spirit which attended the word 
 spoken by him. He died in 1796, aged sixty- 
 four years. 
 
 After a pleasant Sabbath in Salem, Bishop Morris 
 proceeded to Bridgetown, New Jersey, where the New 
 Jersey Conference met, April 13th. 
 
 Returning from the East, he attended the Com- 
 mencement exercises of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
 versity at Delaware, and dedicated the new university 
 chapel, preaching on the occasion with unusual power 
 and effect. A few weeks later, he was present at 
 the graduating exercises of the Wesleyan Female 
 College of Cincinnati, and, as President of the Board 
 of Trustees, presented the diplomas to the young 
 ladies, with the following remarks : 
 
 " Ladies, — Long-looked-for has come at last ; the 
 hour of your release is here. To-night you escape 
 from college confinement, and to-morrow celebrate 
 your jubilee. To gain the. point of graduation has 
 cost you years of toil and solicitude ; but that anx- 
 ious toil is passed, and you do not regret it. With 
 nimble step and merry heart you return to your 
 parental homes, exchanging college halls for domestic 
 retreats, and classmates for the companions of your 
 childhood. You will, however, not be wholly de- 
 pendent on friends ; for you carry with you the 
 means of self-entertainment — though considerations 
 of usefulness will suggest contact with society. Dis- 
 appointment may be expected ; for the theory of life 
 as you study it in books, and practical life with its 
 stern realities, are different things. To succeed, 
 practically, you will need the grace of perseverance, 
 
260 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 of patience, of forbearance, of resignation. For the 
 ills of life, the best antidote is the love of God in 
 Christ. Other friends you may have ; but Christ is 
 a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. As you 
 proceed in life's pilgrimage, carry with you these 
 deeds of privilege; and when, in after years and in 
 scattered positions, you look upon them, you will re- 
 member your protracted sojourn at the Wesleyan 
 Female College, and the many friends who now 
 cluster around you in the Queen City. When life 
 and its perils are passed, may we all meet in heaven!" 
 
 His next appointment was to preach the annual 
 sermon to the students of the Indiana Asbury Uni- 
 versity at Greencastle, during the exercises of Com- 
 mencement-week, which occurred in July. We find 
 an amusing account of his journey to fulfill this 
 engagement, in the Western Christian Advocate, 
 August 3, 1853: 
 
 "On Wednesday, July 13th, my wife, grand- 
 daughter, and I enjoyed a ride of two hours to 
 Dayton, where we passed the afternoon and evening 
 pleasantly with our friends. The cars for Green- 
 ville — headquarters of Dr. Durbin's first circuit — 
 left Dayton at five o'clock in the morning. To 
 gather up the family from different rooms, get the 
 baggage removed to the depot, and all stowed away 
 in time, was a hard scuffle. This over, I hurried to 
 the ticket-office, and found it locked, the functionary 
 of that department being averse to early rising, 
 doubtless ; but soon after getting under way I drove 
 a bargain with the conductor. For nine dollars he 
 furnished us with three oblong squares of pasteboard, 
 
RAILROAD TACTICS. 26 1 
 
 on which was printed, 'Dayton, Greenville, and 
 Indianapolis.' Our iron pony, though a sprightly 
 little fellow, was rather too weak in the back for the 
 load he had to carry. On a level plain he could jog 
 fifteen miles an hour, and on a descent twenty ; but 
 on an ascending grade he could scarcely make five. 
 When we reached Union, where we should have con- 
 nected with the train from Bellefontaine to Indian- 
 apolis, that train had passed on ; and ours gave 
 chase, but failed to overtake it. We passed through 
 Winchester like a whirlwind. In vain the passengers 
 for that place remonstrated against being taken be- 
 yond their destination — resistance to the authority 
 of a conductor is fruitless. On reaching the first 
 watering-stand west of Winchester, the iron horse 
 was unhooked from the train, and, single-handed, 
 went careering over the plain toward Muncie ; but 
 for what purpose we were left to guess. 
 
 "In about half an hour, by a retrograde motion, 
 he returned and resumed his burden. The signal to 
 reverse the wheels was given, and we found ourselves 
 crawfishing. Having previously learned from the con- 
 ductor that our car would go through to Indianapolis, 
 and that we would breakfast at Muncie, we now sup- 
 posed that, after returning to Winchester to leave the 
 passengers for that place, we would resume our course 
 westward. It was a mistake. Our baggage was all 
 pitched out on the platform at Winchester ; and 
 though no proclamation was made, or word of expla- 
 nation given in the cars, it became evident that the 
 contract was violated, the trip abandoned, and we left 
 to provide for ourselves. There was no remedy but 
 
262 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 to wait patiently for the evening train. Adopting the 
 maxim, 'What can not be cured must be endured,' 
 we went to a public house, where, at ten o'clock, we 
 breakfasted. The evening train was due at five 
 o'clock and forty minutes, but did not arrive until 
 seven. In the mean time, Mrs. Morris became so sick 
 that, to proceed that night was impossible, and we 
 remained till morning. The morning train was due 
 at seven o'clock. We were punctual. After waiting 
 an hour and a quarter, we saw smoke ; then heard 
 the quick, heavy breathing of the metal horse, 'faint, 
 but pursuing.' We hurried aboard the train, which 
 moved forward a few paces, backed on a side-track, 
 and stood still till nine o'clock, when, having obtained 
 a clear track, we resumed our course, and on the 
 third day completed the trip from Cincinnati to Indi- 
 anapolis. 
 
 "On Saturday morning I had the pleasure of 
 preaching the opening sermon of a quarterly-meeting, 
 at the Depot Charge, Indianapolis, where the breth- 
 ren are favored with a pleasant revival of religion. 
 In the afternoon we rolled down to Greencastle, 
 where, on the following day, I was to preach to the 
 students. By remaining in-doors Saturday evening I 
 missed hearing Rev. Aaron Wood's lecture on ' Pro- 
 gress,' which, from the many allusions made to it, I 
 judged to have been a rare treat. Indeed, it was 
 more than hinted by some who heard it, that the 
 elements of popular elocution and power still lingered 
 among the Alumni of old 'Brush College,' the school 
 of itinerant prophets in the west. On Sunday after- 
 noon I gave the young men a plain, simple talk on 
 
STEAM BOA T MANNERS. 263 
 
 'Wherewith shall a young man cleanse his way? by 
 taking heed thereto, according to thy word.' (Psalm 
 cxix, 9.) As the discourse was not written, and I 
 had never learned the refined art of reading sermons, 
 they had to take it after the old Methodist fashion, 
 off-hand." 
 
 On the 20th of September, Bishop Morris left 
 Cincinnati for Missouri and Arkansas. Being de- 
 tained a day in Louisville on private business, he 
 missed the regular packet, and was obliged to take 
 passage on a small transient boat, much crowded and 
 poorly provided with accommodations. "The cap- 
 tain," says the bishop, "was exceedingly accommo- 
 dating to all under his care. When stewards and 
 cabin-boys chose to swear and act the rowdy, they 
 did so without rebuke. One printed rule of the boat 
 required all games to cease at ten o'clock, yet the 
 blacklegs gambled for money from dark to sunrise, 
 then went to bed, and had breakfast sent to their 
 rooms at ten o'clock. When preaching was proposed, 
 the captain was not only willing, but placed the table, 
 books, and chairs, went all through the boat and 
 called in the hearers, got them seated in due order, 
 and then retired. To every one he had a pleasant 
 word, was especially kind to ministers, and had we 
 not been witnesses to so much wickedness, our time 
 would have passed pleasantly. 
 
 "After a tedious voyage of five days we reached 
 St. Louis, and immediately went aboard a Missouri- 
 river packet. On that craft also we had the usual 
 variety of good, bad, and indifferent people. They 
 kept an excellent table, the officers were civil and 
 
264 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 kind, but the crew was of the worst material. It is a 
 long time since we heard as much profanity in one 
 week as we did among those firemen, deck-hands, and 
 cabin-boys. The Missouri River was very low. Our 
 boat was large, carrying about one hundred and fifty 
 tons of freight, and a large number of passengers, 
 and had hard work to cross some of the bars, espe- 
 cially one at the mouth of Osage River. In six days 
 we made fast at St. Joseph, five hundred and sixty 
 miles, by water, from St. Louis. 
 
 "Nebraska Territory presented a wild appearance. 
 The Kickapoo village, consisting of wood huts, is on 
 a commanding elevation, in full view from the river. 
 White squatters are also occasionally seen in the 
 Indian Territory. Should the Government effect a 
 treaty for it, there will soon be people enough there 
 to form a State. Missionaries will soon be needed 
 among them. St. Joseph is a growing town ; and 
 would be more so, only for the encroachments of the 
 river, which has already swept away one corner of it. 
 A plan is now devised to stay this work of destruc- 
 tion. From thence to Newark, via Savannah, we 
 passed over an undulating region of exceedingly fertile 
 land, some prairie, but most of it covered with forest- 
 trees of ash, linn, walnut, oak, etc., with undergrowth 
 of sumach and hazel. It is thickly settled by enter- 
 prising families from most of the Western States." 
 
 The Missouri Conference commenced its session 
 at Newark, October 5th. There were, at that time, 
 about fifty preachers in the body, including those on 
 trial. The session was a harmonious and pleasant 
 one, and closed on Monday. 
 
JOURNEY TO ARKANSAS. 26$ 
 
 In company with Rev. J. M. Chivington, Mission- 
 ary to Wyandot, the bishop left Newark on Tuesday, 
 October nth, for Fayetteville, the seat of the Arkan- 
 sas Conference. Their vehicle was a sort of stage- 
 vvason, and their team consisted of two horses, one 
 well "broke," and the other not, so that they set off 
 on the journey with some misgivings. The first day's 
 drive, however, brought them, without any serious 
 mishap, to St. Joseph, where they completed their 
 outfit by adding a lantern, matches, and tin cup. On 
 Thursday they crossed the Missouri River at Weston 
 Ferry, and entered Nebraska Territory, passing Fort 
 Leavenworth, and traveling through the lands of the 
 Stockbridge Indians. On Friday they reached Wyan- 
 dot, and visited Mrs. Armstrong, a daughter of the 
 lamented Rev. Russel Bigelow. They found her 
 living comfortably in a good home, supporting her- 
 self, in part, by teaching. Saturday they went to 
 the mission premises, then occupied by Dr. Klepper, 
 late missionary, and remained with him over the Sab- 
 bath. The bishop made his first effort at public 
 speaking through an interpreter, on Sunday, and was 
 not very much pleased with the method. 
 
 Leaving the mission-house on Monday. October 
 17th, they pursued the difficult and tedious journey 
 to Arkansas. Over dim prairie-roads, through dark 
 and gloomy forests, through rain and mud, they 
 pushed on by day, obtaining such accommodations 
 as they could find by night ; and on the seventh day 
 reached Fayetteville. On Wednesday, October 26th, 
 the Conference was opened in the usual manner. 
 The sessions were held in a public hall. The first 
 
 2 3 
 
266 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 day four members were present, besides sixteen pro- 
 bationers. The next day six brethren were admit- 
 ted into full connection, and one was received by 
 transfer. Fifteen were subsequently admitted on 
 trial ; and ten were continued on trial. At the close 
 of the session the roll stood thus : Eleven members, 
 and twenty-five probationers ; total, thirty-six. The 
 preachers reported one thousand two hundred and 
 eighty-nine members, four hundred and sixty-five 
 probationers, thirty local preachers, and twenty-two 
 colored members, — making a grand total of one 
 thousand eight hundred and forty-two. 
 
 Bishop Morris found the Arkansas Conference 
 about as large as when he originally organized it in 
 1836; but, in the mean time, the great secession of 
 1845 na d swept into the Church South most of the 
 preachers and people. It was deemed practicable 
 and advisable, under all the circumstances, to close 
 the session on Saturday night, which was done, with 
 the understanding, however, that all the brethren 
 would remain over Sabbath, to witness the ordinations 
 and assist in the religious services. 
 
 This long and fatiguing trip of three thousand 
 three hundred miles was safely accomplished, and the 
 bishop found himself again in " Home Lodge," about 
 the middle of November. 
 
 During the Winter, besides preaching often' in 
 Cincinnati, he visited several of the interior towns 
 uf Ohio, preaching with great acceptance and profit 
 always, and encouraging the pastors in their work. 
 He also wrote several valuable articles for the 
 Church press. We subjoin a few passages from a 
 
A PIONEER PREACHER. 267 
 
 very interesting sketch of a remarkable man, Rev. 
 James Axley : 
 
 " Long as I had been crossing the path of that 
 notable man, and much as I had heard of him among 
 the people, my first sight of him was not obtained 
 until the Autumn of 1837. That year the Holston 
 Conference met at Madisonville, eastern part of 
 Tennessee, some ten miles from which Mr. Axley, 
 then in a superannuated relation, resided. The first 
 day of the session, after the adjournment, I was 
 walking to my lodgings alone, when I heard a brother 
 some forty steps behind me say to another, 'Yonder 
 comes brother Axley.' Looking ahead, I observed a 
 man advancing toward me whose person was im- 
 posing. He was perhaps five feet eight inches high ; 
 not corpulent, but very broad and compactly built, 
 formed for strength ; his step was firm., his face was 
 square, complexion dark, eyebrows heavy, appearance 
 rugged ; dressed in the costume of his fathers, with 
 straight-breasted coat, and broad-brimmed hat pro- 
 jecting over a sedate countenance. His wide-spread 
 fame-as a natural genius, without any early educa- 
 tion, and especially the numerous incidents I had 
 heard of him as a Western pioneer, had excited in 
 me a greater desire for his personal acquaintance 
 than that of any other living man I had ever seen, 
 except Jacob Gruber. The sound of his name falling 
 on my ear, involuntarily quickened my pace, and we 
 were soon together. As I neared him I held out 
 my right-hand, and received his, when the following 
 salutations were exchanged: 
 
 " ' How are you, brother Axley ?' 
 
268 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 " ' Who are you ?' 
 
 " ' My name is Thomas A. Morris.' 
 
 " Then, surveying me from head to foot, he 
 replied : 
 
 " ' Upon my word, I think they were hard pushed 
 for bishop-timber when they got hold of you.' 
 
 " ' That is just what I thought myself, brother 
 Axley.' 
 
 " ' Why, you look too young for a bishop.' 
 
 "'As to that, I am old enough to know more 
 and do better.' 
 
 " I never heard brother Axley preach ; but, ac- 
 cording to popular fame, his pulpit performances 
 were practical, forcible, and left a deep and abiding 
 impression on the multitudes that thronged to hear 
 him. To this day, we occasionally hear allusions 
 made to a sermon he preached in Baltimore, during 
 the General Conference of 1820, of which he was 
 a member. It must have been a potent sermon, to 
 be remembered so distinctly for the third of a cen- 
 tury. I have heard also, very frequently, allusions 
 to his pulpit performances in different parts of the 
 Western country, where he had operated to good 
 purpose as a traveling preacher, more particularly in 
 Kentucky and Tennessee. But perhaps the effort 
 which occasioned the most talk, and obtained the 
 greatest notoriety, was the one said to have been 
 made in his own section of the country, and was 
 commonly known as ' Axley's Temperance Sermon.' 
 It should be known that East Tennessee, in those 
 days, was regarded as a great country for producing 
 peach-brandy, and for a free use of it ; also that the 
 
TEMPERANCE SERMON. 269 
 
 'New Lights' abounded there, familiarly called Schis- 
 matics, and that Church members who rendered 
 themselves liable to a disciplinary process would oc- 
 casionally go over to them, as a city of refuge, where 
 they felt safe from its restraints. With this prelim- 
 inary, I proceed to give a passage from the sermon, 
 on the authority of a highly respectable Methodist 
 minister : 
 
 "'Text: "Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord 
 reward him according to his works." — 2 Tim. iv, 14. 
 
 "'Paul was a traveling preacher, and a bishop, I presume, 
 or a presiding elder at least; for he traveled extensively, and 
 had much to do, not only in regulating the societies, but in 
 sending the preachers here and there. He was zealous, labo- 
 rious, would not build on another man's foundation, but formed 
 new circuits, where Christ was not named; "so that from 
 Jerusalem, and round about Illyricum, he had fully preached 
 the Gospel of Christ." One new place that he visited was 
 very wicked — Sabbath-breaking, dancing, drinking, fighting, 
 and swearing abounded ; but the word of the Lord took effect, 
 there was a great stir among the people, and many precious 
 souls were converted. Among the subjects of that work, there 
 was a certain noted character, Alexander by name, and a still- 
 maker by trade; also one Hymeneus, who was his partner in 
 the business. Paul formed a new class, and appointed brother 
 Alexander class-leader. There was a great change in the 
 place; the people left off their drinking, swearing, fighting, 
 etc., and the stills were worked up into bells and kettles, 
 and thus applied to useful purposes. The settlement was 
 orderly, the meetings were prosperous, and things went well 
 among them for some time. But one year they had a pleasant 
 Spring; there was no late frost, and the peach-crop was 
 abundant. I do suppose, my brethren, that such a crop 
 was never known before. One Sunday, when the brethren 
 met for worship, they gathered round outside of the meet- 
 ing-house, and got to talking about their worldly affairs — as 
 you know people sometimes do, and a very bad habit it is — 
 
2yO LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and one said to another, "Brother, how is the peach-crop 
 with you this year?" "O," said he, "you never saw any 
 thing like it; they are rotting on the ground under the trees; 
 I don't know what to do with them." "How would it do," 
 inquired another, "to still them? The peaches will go to 
 waste, but the brandy will keep; and it is very good in certain 
 cases, if not used to excess." "I should like to know," said 
 another, "how you could make brandy without stills ?" "Why, 
 it was answered, "brother Alexander is as good a still-maker 
 as need be, and brother Hymeneus is another; and rather than 
 see the fruit wasted they would, no doubt, make us a few." 
 
 " 'The next thing heard on the subject was a hammering in 
 the class-leader's shop; and soon the stills in every brother's 
 orchard were smoking, and the liquid poison streaming. When 
 one called on another, the bottle was brought out, with the 
 remark, "I want you to taste my new brandy; I think it is 
 pretty good." So they tasted, until many of them got about 
 half drunk, or perhaps three-quarters. Soon the society was 
 all in an uproar ; and Paul was sent for, to come and settle the 
 difficulty. At first it was difficult to find sober, disinterested 
 ones enough to try the guilty ; but finally he got his committee 
 formed, and the first one he called to account was Alexander, 
 who pleaded not guilty. He declared that he had not tasted, 
 bought, sold,or distilled a drop of brandy. "But," said Paul, 
 "you made the 'stills,' otherwise there could have been no 
 liquor made; and if no liquor were made, no one would be 
 intoxicated." So they expelled him first, then Hymeneus; and 
 went on until the society was relieved of all still-makers, dis- 
 tillers, dram-sellers, and dram-drinkers, and peace was once 
 more restored. Paul says: "Holding faith and a good con- 
 science ; which some having put away, concerning faith have 
 made shipwreck ; of whom is Hymeneus and Alexander, 
 whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to 
 blaspheme." » " 
 
 In the early part of 1854, Bishop Morris visited 
 Urbana, Oxford, Dresden, Roscoe, Coshocton, Cleve- 
 land, and New Richmond, preaching at all these 
 points greatly to the edification of the Churches. He 
 
MEE TING OF B OA RD OF BISHOPS. 2 7 1 
 
 presided over the Black-river Conference, at Cam- 
 den, New York, May 31st, and on his return home 
 immediately arranged a plan of extra appointments 
 for the Summer, embracing a large number of charges, 
 chiefly in the State of Ohio. His official tour of con- 
 ferences for this year embraced the Wisconsin, at 
 Janesville, August 29th ; the Rock-river, at Lewis- 
 town, Illinois, September 13th ; the Iowa, at Dubuque, 
 September 27th ; the Illinois, at Springfield, Octo- 
 ber 1 ith. 
 
 About the first of December he left home to attend 
 the annual meeting of the bishops in the city of Bal- 
 timore. The entire Board — Waugh, Morris, Janes, 
 Scott, Simpson, Baker, and Ames — were present, and 
 the meeting was continued for six days. While 
 together, they reviewed the administration of each, 
 revised the Plan of Episcopal Visitations for the ensu- 
 ing year, surveyed the whole fi^Jd of the home and 
 foreign work, and made a distribution of the latter as 
 well as of the former. The foreign work assigned to 
 Bishop Morris was Western Europe, including Ger- 
 many, France, Sweden, and Norway. It was not ex- 
 pected that he would personally visit these foreign 
 missions, but select, commission, and send forth labor- 
 ers, as the exigencies of the work might demand, and 
 superintend them by correspondence. 
 
 In 1855, Bishop Morris presided over the West 
 Virginia Conference, at Wheeling, May 30th ; the 
 Pittsburg, at Johnstown, June 13th ; the Erie, at 
 Newcastle, July nth; the Ohio, at Athens, Septem- 
 ber 5th ; the Cincinnati, at Urbana, September 26th; 
 and the Kentucky, at Maysville, October nth. 
 
272 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 In addition to his ordinary official duties this 
 year, Bishop Morris made many extra visits to the 
 Churches within easy reach of his home, every-where 
 preaching the Word. He also wrote several articles 
 for the periodical press, the chief of which were: 
 "My Pocket Bible," "State of Religion," and "Fast 
 People," published in the Ladies Repository? 
 
EPISCOPAL ADDRESS. 273 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 85 6 — LITERARY AND EPISCOPAL 
 LABORS. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1856 assembled in 
 the Representatives' Hall of the capitol in the 
 city of Indianapolis, on the first day of May, as usual. 
 Bishops Waugh, Morris, Janes, Scott, Simpson, Baker, 
 and Ames were present. The opening religious serv- 
 ices were conducted by Bishop Waugh. The Con- 
 ference was composed of two hundred and twenty 
 delegates, representing thirty-eight annual confer- 
 ences. The Episcopal Address was read on Saturday, 
 the third day of the session, by Bishop Janes. As 
 the original draft of this document was prepared by 
 Bishop Morris, at the request of his colleagues, a 
 brief resume of its contents may be appropriately 
 given here. After the usual congratulatory opening 
 sentences, and a tribute to members of the preceding 
 General Conference, who had died since its session, 
 the address refers, with gratitude to the great Head 
 of the Church, to the prosperity enjoyed during the 
 last quadrennial period. The increase of traveling 
 preachers in that time had been 958 ; of local peach- 
 ers, 910; of members and probationers, TJ^J. But 
 the numerical table did not exhibit all the fruit of 
 
274 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 that four years of labor. Very many new houses of 
 worship had been erected, better provision had been 
 made for the support of the ministry than ever before, 
 and the contributions of the Church for missions and 
 other benevolent objects had been largely augmented. 
 
 The address suggested certain changes of Disci- 
 pline; namely, — I. The rule requiring the concurrent 
 advice of all the annual conferences, to authorize the 
 bishops to call an extra session of the General Con- 
 ference. 2. The ratio of representation, now so great 
 as to render the body too large for the rapid and 
 convenient transaction of business, should be reduced, 
 so as to authorize not less than one representative for 
 every thirty members of annual conferences. 3. A 
 change was recommended in the section defining the 
 method of proceeding against accused traveling preach- 
 ers. The tribunals were too large to hope for the 
 undivided attention of all the members during the 
 progress of a complex case, and the loss of time to 
 a large body of pastors was a serious one, to be obvi- 
 ated, if possible. It was recommended that such 
 cases be referred to a select number, not exceeding 
 fifteen. 
 
 The address then reviews, in detail, the various 
 interests of the Church — Educational, Publishing, the 
 Tract Cause, Sunday-schools, and Missions — accompa- 
 nied with such suggestions as the exigencies of each 
 department seemed to call for. The General Confer- 
 ence was also informed that, in compliance with the 
 request of the Troy, Erie, North Ohio, and Wiscon- 
 sin Conferences, different resolutions, asking a change 
 in the General Rule on Slavery, had been laid before 
 
CONFER EA'CES A TTENDED. 275 
 
 all the annual conferences for their concurrence, but 
 that no one of these resolutions received the consti- 
 tutional majority of the members of the annual con- 
 ferences. 
 
 The modifications of Discipline recommended in 
 this Address were all adopted. The session was a 
 protracted one, the final adjournment taking place on 
 the fourth day of June ; but the proceedings generally 
 were harmonious, and the results satisfactory. Rev. 
 John Hannah, D. D., and Rev. Frederick J. Jobson, 
 were present as delegates from the British Wesleyan 
 Conference, and, by their personal intercourse and 
 admirable public addresses and sermons, greatly 
 strengthened the bonds of union between two bodies 
 of a common origin. Bishop Simpson and Rev. John 
 M'Clintock, D. D., were elected delegates to the 
 British Conference. 
 
 After General Conference, Bishop Morris presided 
 over the Troy Conference, at Burlington, Vermont, 
 June 1 8th ; the Wyoming Conference, at Binghamp- 
 ton, New York, July 2d ; the Genesee Conference, 
 at Medina, New York, September 3d; the Detroit 
 Conference, at Adrian, September 17th ; and the 
 Michigan, at Coldwater, October 1st. 
 
 Soon after reaching home from this tour, he and 
 Bishop Ames were summoned to Chicago, to attend 
 a meeting of the Western Book Committee, held for 
 the purpose of appointing an editor to the Northzvest- 
 ern CJiristiaii Advocate, a place made vacant by the 
 death of the brilliant and lamented Rev. J. V. Wat- 
 son. Rev. Thomas M. Eddy was chosen, and was 
 twice subsequently re-elected to the position by the 
 
276 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 General Conference. On the journey home from Chi- 
 cago, the train on which Bishop Morris was a passen- 
 ger was thrown from the track, but very fortunately 
 no one was injured by the accident. A cold and 
 cheerless night, passed in the forest while the train 
 was being righted, was better than broken bones — a 
 result from which all were glad to have escaped. 
 
 On the 8th of November he left home for New 
 York, to attend the meeting of the General Mission 
 Committee, the Missionary Anniversary, and the 
 annual meeting of the bishops. On his way east, 
 he spent a Sabbath in the city of Cleveland, and 
 preached to a large congregation. While in New 
 York, he preached several times in that city and in 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 In 1857, Bishop Morris attended the New Jersey 
 Conference, which met at Trenton, April 8th, Bishop 
 Scott presiding, and, after assisting his colleague 
 three days, proceeded to fill his own appointments, 
 which were, that year, as follows : The New York 
 Eastern Conference, which met in Brooklyn, April 
 15th ; the New Hampshire, which met in Lawrence, 
 Massachusetts, April 30th ; the East Maine, which 
 met in Camden, May 20th ; the Ohio, which met in 
 Chillicothe, August 26th ; the Cincinnati, which met 
 in Piqua, September 9th ; the South-eastern Indiana, 
 which met in Aurora, September 23d ; and the Indi- 
 ana, which met in New Albany, October 1st. 
 
 About this time Bishop Morris wrote, and pub- 
 lished in the Ladies Repository, an article entitled : 
 "My Father in the Gospel," a sketch of Rev. David 
 Young, which, both on account of the writer and the 
 
REV. DAVID YOUNG. 2 J J 
 
 subject, is entitled to a place in this biography. We 
 make room for the material parts of the sketch : 
 
 "Mr. Young was one of the few Methodist preach- 
 ers whom I knew prior to my becoming a Methodist. 
 Our acquaintance began in the Fall of 1812, when 
 he was presiding elder on Muskingum District, then 
 including, in its ample range, Zanesville, Marietta, 
 and North-western Virginia, where I resided, and 
 where he was perfectly at home, being himself a 
 native of Washington County, Virginia, born March 
 9, 1779. Most of my early views and impressions of 
 Methodism were derived from him. It is true, I had 
 felt conviction for sin from childhood, and that Robert 
 Caseboult, then a class-leader, had taken interest for 
 me, and talked with me, before I heard Mr. Young, 
 and I was seriously inquiring for the way of life. 
 But in July, 18 13, while I listened to David Young 
 preaching at camp-meeting, on the Parable of the 
 Sower, I was brought to form a solemn purpose to 
 seek earnestly for salvation till I should obtain it. In 
 August I joined a small country class as a penitent 
 seeker on trial. I had prayed in secret for months, 
 but made little progress till I took this decisive step, 
 and thus drew a separating line from my irreligious 
 associates. The conflict with sin thus renewed, con- 
 tinued till some time in November, when I obtained 
 some relief and comfort, and on Christmas I received 
 a clear sense of pardon, and a full "spirit of adop- 
 tion." In the mean time, I missed none of Elder 
 Young's quarterly-meetings. At one of them he bap- 
 tized me in the presence of a multitude ; and the 
 same day on which he poured the water on my head, 
 
278 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the Lord poured plentifully his Spirit into my heart. 
 When I was recommended* by the society for license 
 to preach, Elder Young examined me before the Quar- 
 terly Conference. He also wrote and signed my first 
 license to preach, dated April 2, 1814. In 181 5 he 
 employed me as junior preacher on a circuit, and in 
 1816 I was admitted on trial by the Ohio Confer- 
 ence. From that till 18 18, being separated in the 
 work, our acquaintance was .perpetuated by free cor- 
 respondence; but from 18 18 to 1820, he, being super- 
 annuated, was my constant hearer in Zanesville, where 
 he resided. He continued his efforts in every prac- 
 ticable way for my improvement, and, indeed, till I 
 graduated to elder's orders, he took as much interest 
 in my ministerial education as if I had been his 
 natural son. 
 
 " In person, Mr. Young was tall and slender, but 
 straight and symmetrical. His step was elastic. 
 He wore the straight-breasted coat and the broad- 
 brimmed hat usual among early Methodist preachers. 
 His yellow hair, all combed back, hung in. great pro- 
 fusion about his neck and shoulders, giving him an 
 imposing appearance. His deep-blue eyes were 
 prominent, and exceedingly penetrating. I heard a 
 Virginia lawyer say 'he could withstand the direct 
 contact of any preacher's eye in the pulpit he ever 
 saw, except David Young's ; but his always made 
 him quail.' 
 
 " In manners, he was a finished gentleman, well 
 raised, and familiar with the rules of polite society. 
 The social element was not largely developed in his 
 composition ; at least, not apparently so in general 
 
CHARACTER AND EDUCATION, 279 
 
 society. When with his personal friends, there was 
 no more pleasant companion than he was ; and to 
 strangers he was civil and very respectful, except 
 they took improper liberty, or asked an impertinent 
 question, when they were pretty sure to receive a 
 stern rebuke. Any individual, however weak or ob- 
 scure, approaching him as an inquirer after truth for 
 its own sake, never failed to profit by his ample 
 instruction ; but woe unto the captious fault-finder 
 who rudely attacked him or his creed. Willi such a 
 man he did not stop to argue ; but demolished him 
 with one withering sarcasm, and passed on. When 
 a weak but conceited predestinarian attacked him on 
 perseverance, saying, ' So, Mr. Young, you believe in 
 falling from grace, do you?' he promptly replied, 'I 
 believe in getting it first.' 
 
 " Mr. Young was a man of respectable erudition. 
 Prior to his entering the ministry, he taught a gram- 
 mar-school for young men. Subsequently he jead as 
 many books, as well selected, and understood them 
 as thoroughly, as any man of my acquaintance. He 
 was possessed of extensive knowledge on general as 
 well as on theological subjects. Philosophy, general 
 history, laws of nations, systems of government, and 
 our own Federal and State affairs, were with him 
 familiar topics. He was particularly well versed in 
 Church history and Methodist jurisprudence. Who- 
 ever enjoyed a free conversation with him was en- 
 lightened by it. He abounded in incident, and had 
 a rare talent for narration, both in the pulpit and in 
 social life ; yet, as a minister, he was grave and dig- 
 nified. No man conducted a public religious service 
 
280 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 more solemnly or impressively than he did, especially 
 in reading the Scriptures and in prayer. He was 
 deeply experienced in the work of saving grace. I 
 heard him say in a love-feast, before a large assembly 
 of Christian friends, 'he knew where and when he 
 was converted, and where and when he was sanc- 
 tified.' And, allowing for his constitutional pecul- 
 iarities, he honored his profession. His deep religious 
 emotion was always apparent in his prayers and ser- 
 mons. While preaching, his eyes were generally 
 suffused with tears of sympathy ; and occasionally 
 they fell like drops of rain, as if the great deep of 
 his heart was broken up. On special occasions, 
 while applying the momentous truths of the Gospel, 
 he stood on his knees in the pulpit, and with many 
 tears entreated sinners, as in Christ's stead, to be 
 reconciled to God. Such appeals were not easily 
 resisted ; for at such times he spoke and exhorted 'in 
 demonstration of the Spirit and of power.' 
 
 "Among the most noted Methodist preachers of 
 their day, were William Beauchamp, Samuel Parker, 
 and David Young, each of whom excelled in his own 
 way. Beauchamp was the most instructive, Parker 
 the most persuasive and practical, and Young the 
 most overpowering. It was my good fortune, when 
 young in the ministry, to hear them all. Under the 
 preaching of Beauchamp, light seemed to break on 
 the most bewildered understanding ; under that of 
 Parker, multitudes of people melted like snow before 
 an April sun ; while under the ministry of Young, I 
 knew whole assemblies electrified by one paragraph, 
 as suddenly and sensibly as if coming in contact 
 
EFFECT OF MR. YOUNG'S PREACHING. 28 I 
 
 with a galvanic battery. I have myself, under some 
 of his powerful appeals, felt cold tremors coursing 
 down both sides of my spine, and the hair on my 
 head apparently standing on end. On some camp- 
 meeting occasions, where the surroundings were 
 unusually exciting, under his preaching whole multi- 
 tudes simultaneously sprang from their seats and 
 rushed as near to the pulpit as they could stand to- 
 gether, seemingly unconscious of changing positions. 
 His force was not in imagination or declamation, but 
 in the proper combination and earnest presentation 
 of Gospel truth. And the deep impressions thus 
 made were generally lasting ; for the truth was 
 applied to many hearts by the Holy Spirit. While 
 he greatly excelled as a preacher, he was a man of 
 mark, wherever known. In his own Conference, he 
 was among the few acknowledged as leaders ; and in 
 the General Conference his weight was felt and 
 admitted, as a business man and a leader." 
 
 In 1858, the death of Bishop Waugh, which oc- 
 curred on the 9th of February, and the impaired 
 health of Bishop Simpson, made necessary a revision 
 of the Plan of Episcopal Visitations. The year was 
 one of extraordinary labor to such of the bishops as 
 were able to perform service, especially to such as 
 began to feel the weight of years. In the Spring, 
 Bishop Morris presided over the Kentucky Confer- 
 ence, at Covington, March 25th ; the Minnesota, at 
 St. Paul, April 15th ; the West Wisconsin, at La 
 Crosse, April 29th ; and the Wisconsin, at Beloit, 
 May 1 2th. Of his trip home from Beloit, the bishop 
 gave an interesting account to the readers of the 
 
 24 
 
282 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Northwestern Christian Advocate \ from which we take 
 a few passages : 
 
 "The Conference at Beloit terminated a pleasant 
 session, May 18th ; and, at half-past six next morning, 
 I left for home. About noon I reached Chicago ; 
 and, after surveying the new church-edifice on 
 Wabash Avenue, and enjoying the hospitalities of 
 Dr. Eddy, I got off at half-past nine o'clock at 
 night, amid falling showers and darkness profound, 
 all which availed nothing to arrest the progress or 
 depress the spirits of one homeward-bound. 
 
 "While my strange fellow-passengers were mostly 
 nodding or snoring, and my afternoon nap had re- 
 lieved me of all sense of drowsiness, it became a 
 question, 'How shall I pass the night?' Now, riding 
 in the cars generally revives in me the spirit of song, 
 especially when returning home from a hard campaign ; 
 but only the spirit. My singing days for the enter- 
 tainment of others are past ; but I often hold a 
 concert with myself, as I did that night. My plan 
 of self-entertainment was soon arranged — the pro- 
 gramme being as follows : 
 
 "I. 'I am weary of straying, 
 O, fain would I rest,' etc. 
 
 2. ' O thou God of my salvation, 
 
 My redeemer from all sin,' etc. 
 
 3. ' How sweet the name of Jesus sounds 
 
 In a believer's ear,' etc. 
 
 4. ' O, sing to me of heaven, 
 
 When I am called to die,' etc. 
 
 5. 4 Joyfully, joyfully, onward I move,' etc 
 
 6. ' Have you heard, have you heard, 
 
 Of that sun-bright clime,' etc. 
 
RAILROAD MISERIES. 283 
 
 " Now, whatever be thought of the performance, 
 the programme was excellent. These pieces are 
 some of my favorites. I found I could repeat them 
 all from memory. It was a free concert, — went off 
 well. The effect was delightful, and the performance 
 filled most of the time from Michigan City to La- 
 fayette ; my manner being to hum the tunes, re- 
 peating the words in a subdued voice, so that when 
 the train is under way I am heard only by myself. 
 
 "Arrived at Lafayette, at about five o'clock in 
 the morning, we were all roused by the proclamation 
 of the conductor, that 'the passengers for Indianapolis 
 and Cincinnati remain over here till three o'clock 
 this afternoon.' On this unwelcome intelligence, we 
 held a colloquy with the conductor, which elicited 
 the fact that the detention was caused by a broken 
 bridge, and that those who preferred it could con- 
 tinue on the New Albany and Salem Railway to 
 Greencastle, and thence to Indianapolis. Thinking 
 that better than waiting ten hours, I determined to 
 try it, and was soon off again. 
 
 "As we neared the deep chasm at Crawfordsville, 
 the train came to a stand-still, when we were politely 
 informed, 'The passengers will have to do a little 
 walking here.' We all promptly obeyed orders. To 
 our right was a bluff not to be passed. On our left, 
 from the lowest step of the car, we had to let our- 
 selves down some two or three feet. The platform 
 to land on was a hill-side falling off at an angle of 
 about forty-five degrees. For some distance, we 
 clambered along as we could without slipping down ; 
 then, through sludge and over logs, till we found a 
 
284 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 sloping point leading down toward the ravine. The 
 ladies' dresses got well varnished with Hoosier loam. 
 When down, our next feat of activity was to leap 
 over a narrow stream of water. Then came the hard 
 pinch, — to ascend the bluff beyond. It was nearly 
 perpendicular ; but the grade was reduced by exca- 
 vating steps obliquely, at intervals of two feet or 
 more, on which to rise. The young and light pas- 
 sengers went up quickly; but with .my heavy over- 
 coat, covering two hundred and thirty pounds of 
 humanity, locomotion was difficult, as the muscles of 
 my lower limbs testified on gaining the summit, where 
 we found another train waiting. This tedious and 
 painful transfer was made necessary by the destruc- 
 tion of the bridge which had spanned that fearful 
 chasm, but had been carried away by a recent freshet. 
 "On reaching Indianapolis, and finding I had two 
 or three hours to wait, I called on my faithful friend, 
 Rev. Augustus Eddy, and baptized my namesake, 
 his grandson, Zara Morris Edwards, of Red Wing. 
 That evening, May 20th, I reached my quiet ' Home 
 Lodge.' One circumstance connected with this trip 
 was remarkable : Between Clinton, Wisconsin, and 
 Cincinnati, I did not see in the cars a man, woman, 
 or child I *had ever seen before, to my knowledge. 
 This suited me exactly, as then situated. I love the 
 society of friends when in a condition to enjoy.it; 
 but when I have been talked to one week right 
 straight along, day and night, in the chair and out 
 of it, I am so worn out that solitude becomes at once 
 a luxury and a medicine." 
 
 Bishop Morris next presided over the Upper Iowa 
 
CONFERENCE SESSIONS. 285 
 
 Conference, at Lyons, August 25th; thence to the 
 Iowa Conference, at Fairfield, September 8th ; thence 
 to the Illinois Conference, at Griggsville, September 
 22cl ; thence to the Southern Illinois, at Olney, Octo- 
 ber 6th ; and thence home. 
 
 The annual meeting of the bishops was held in 
 Chicago, December 2d. Present, Morris, Janes, Baker, 
 and Ames ; absent, Scott and Simpson. The plan 
 made out at this meeting was subsequently remod- 
 eled, to enable one of the bishops to visit the Pacific 
 Coast, and preside over the California and Oregon 
 Conferences. On account of family affliction, Bishop 
 Morris was assigned to such work as would require 
 the least travel and absence from home. He presided 
 at the Kentucky Conference, Alexandria, March 20, 
 1859; tne North Indiana, at Logansport, April 7th; 
 the West Virginia, at Parkersburg, April 20th ; and 
 the Pittsburg, at Alleghany City, April 27th. Leav- 
 ing home on Tuesday, April 19th, he arrived at 
 Parkersburg on the same evening, and opened the 
 session of the West Virginia Conference next morn- 
 ing. Closing this Conference session on the following 
 Monday, he had one day in which to* reach Alleghany 
 City. Taking the Baltimore train on Monday night 
 to the Grafton Junction, he there waited for the early 
 morning train for the West, by which means he 
 reached Wheeling on Tuesday in time to connect 
 with the train from Bellaire through Steubenville ; 
 and thus, by traveling day and night, reached the 
 seat of the Pittsburg Conference on Tuesday evening. 
 
 Early in June the bishops met in Pittsburg to 
 revise their Plan, with a view to send one of their 
 
286 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 nnmoer to the Pacific Coast, as before stated. Bishop 
 Baker was designated for that service. Bishop Mor- 
 ris's Fall conferences this year were the Delaware, 
 at Fremont, Ohio, September 14th ; and the North- 
 west Indiana, at Greencastle, September 28th. In 
 addition to his regular official duties, he wrote out 
 for publication "A Discourse on Methodist Church 
 Polity," a sermon which he had delivered in the 
 Spring at the sessions of the North Indiana and Pitts- 
 burg Conferences, and which had been requested for 
 publication by both those bodies. As this sermon 
 embodies the bishop's mature thoughts on our Church 
 polity, the substance of it seems well entitled to a 
 place in his biography. We begin with the paragraph 
 entitled, "The Starting-point," on the sixteenth page: 
 "In Methodism, the starting-point is the love of 
 God as developed in redemption, in the gift of the 
 Spirit, and the Divine call to the work of the min- 
 istry. Without redemption, there is no possible sal- 
 vation for sinners ; without the Holy Spirit, there 
 could be no personal application of the benefits of 
 redemption ; and without some one be called to teach 
 us, we should remain ignorant of our blood-bought 
 privileges, as Paul said to the Romans: 'For whoso- 
 ever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be 
 saved. How, then, shall they call on him in whom 
 they have not believed ? and how shall they believe 
 in him of whom they have not heard ? and how shall 
 they hear without a preacher? and how shall they 
 preach except they be sent ?' Now, suppose a nation 
 in which there is not one experimental, practical 
 Christian : how would the saving knowledge of the 
 
METHODIST CHURCH POLITY. 287 
 
 truth first be communicated ? To convert souls is 
 God's work ;• but he usually employs human instru- 
 mentality to teach them their lost condition and their 
 remedy. We say, usually, but not necessarily ; for he 
 can work with or without outward means. He, how- 
 ever, so far as we know and believe, employs only 
 such as possess the knowledge necessary to be im- 
 parted to others. Sinners can not savingly enlighten 
 each other. It requires a converted man to get other 
 men converted, or they must be operated on by the 
 Holy Spirit, independent of human interference. 
 Then, to originate a work of saving grace, we may 
 rationally conclude, where there are no examples of 
 it previously, God must do one of two things, — first, 
 he would send a converted man from some Christian 
 country to teach, warn, and invite souls to Christ ; or, 
 secondly, he would, by his Word and Spirit, awaken, 
 enlighten, and call some sinner, grant him repent- 
 ance, faith, pardon, regeneration, and adoption, and 
 then send him out among his neighbors to tell them 
 what the Lord had done for him and was willing to 
 do for them. In either case, there is a missionary in 
 the field. And when he gets one soul converted, he 
 has one witness and one helper. Their united influ- 
 ence will prevail with others, and the work will 
 enlarge itself till the number will require an under- 
 standing as to the terms of fellowship. 
 
 "A Little Organization. — When converts are 
 multiplied from units to tens, some kind of organiza- 
 tion becomes necessary to maintain unity and peace. 
 They may begin with a record of the names of all 
 the converts or persons proposed for membership. 
 
288 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 These form the nucleus of the Church. The mis- 
 sionary pastor and his children in the Gospel are of 
 one heart and mind. To remain so they must adopt 
 some simple code based on the Bible, defining their 
 faith and practice. They must agree on the Scrip- 
 tural standards of morality and godliness, to prevent 
 future difficulty; also the respective rights and duties 
 of pastor and members, when and where they will 
 meet for religious worship, and what shall be the 
 order of their public and social exercises. They will 
 likewise need certain officers to promote the. inter- 
 ests of the society in its various departments, and 
 strengthen the hands and hearts of pastor and people. 
 They who are strong in faith,* gifted in prayer, and 
 apt to teach, are appointed leaders of prayer-meetings 
 and class-meetings. Active and pious sisters may be 
 highly useful among the serious, the sick, and the 
 poor. Such brethren as may possess deep piety, 
 sound judgment, and business habits, are elected stew- 
 ards to take charge of the secular affairs of the 
 Church. They who have financial skill and general 
 influence in Church extension are chosen as trustees. 
 And such as have aptitude to teach and manage chil- 
 dren and youth are assigned to the Sabbath-school 
 department. Thus they proceed to perfect the little 
 organization so as to bring their entire forces into 
 requisition. 
 
 "Again : as such local societies or Churches come 
 up in other places, attention becomes necessary to 
 connectional arrangements. All the societies wish- 
 ing to belong to the ecclesiastical confederation, and 
 come under the same general jurisdiction, must adopt 
 
METHODIST CHURCH POLITY. 289 
 
 the same articles of faith and rules of discipline ; for 
 ' how can two,' or more, ' walk together, except they 
 be agreed?' By such union the societies mutually 
 strengthen and encourage each other. In an early 
 stage of the process of organization, it becomes indis- 
 pensable to settle fully and securely the 
 
 w Terms of Membership. — As the work pro- 
 gresses and prospers, many persons may desire ad- 
 mission ; and some, perhaps, not regarded as suitable 
 to be received ; and others, already received, not prof- 
 itable to be retained. Mere personal preference is 
 not a safe rule. Religious experience and moral 
 deportment must be regarded as the standards of 
 qualification. Our fathers, who gave us the outline 
 of the present system of Methodist discipline, made 
 a capital hit when they adopted the rule requiring a 
 probation of at least six months prior to regular 
 membership — a rule still enforced in all cases, ex- 
 cepting such as bring letters of recommendation 
 from orthodox sister Churches as worthy members. 
 The condition of admission on trial is, 'A desire to 
 flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved from 
 sin.' But this desire, to become available, must be 
 evinced in three ways, — I. By doing no harm, by 
 avoiding evil of every kind, etc. ; 2. By doing good, 
 etc. ; 3. By attending upon all the ordinances of 
 God, etc. If the pastor knows the candidate to 
 come up to this standard, he can admit him on trial 
 at once. But in the absence of such personal knowl- 
 edge the rule is, ' Let none be admitted on trial ex- 
 cept they are recommended by one you know, or till 
 they have met twice or thrice in class,' so as to form 
 
 2 5 
 
290 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 some opinion of their fitness. The wisdom of this 
 rule is apparent on the face of it. To profess a 
 change of heart, and to make some show of outward 
 reformation, are easy ; but a probation of six months, 
 subjecting the candidate to weekly class examina- 
 tions, both as to his religious exercises and daily 
 deportment, is a much safer test of sincerity and 
 consistency than a single profession at any one time. 
 
 "The conditions of full membership after proba- 
 tion are three, — first, a recommendation by a lea'der 
 with whom the candidate has met at least six months 
 on trial, who has every opportunity to know his 
 religious state, daily walk, and general bearing ; 
 secondly, he must be consecrated to God in baptism, 
 either in infancy or adult age, this being the initiating 
 ordinance into the visible Church of Christ ; thirdly, 
 he must, 'on examination by the minister in charge, 
 before the Church, give satisfactory assurance both 
 of the correctness of his faith, and his willingness to 
 observe and keep the rules of the Church.' These 
 conditions are few and simple, but indispensable; 
 and, taken altogether, they show conclusively that 
 our Church is at least as well guarded against impo- 
 sition in the reception of members as any other 
 Church. When any one has fully complied with 
 them, the pastor, in the name and on behalf of the 
 whole Church assembled, extends to him the right- 
 hand of fellowship, and pronounces him a member. 
 
 "Acquired Rights. — By becoming a member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, you acquire 
 rights which you never had before, and never could 
 have possessed without such membership. And, 
 
METHODIST CHURCH POLITY. 29 1 
 
 first, you secure an interest in all the Church property, 
 which, in houses of worship, parsonages, cemeteries, 
 and institutions of learning, amounts to at least 
 twenty millions of dollars. There may be a few 
 houses of worship occupied by our preachers and 
 people which are not regularly conveyed to the 
 whole Church, but are held in trust for the use of 
 the local societies connected therewith ; in these 
 your connection with the Church at another place 
 gives you no title. Such deeds of conveyance are 
 unfortunate. They are not according to our Dis- 
 cipline ; and we may hereafter be turned out of such 
 houses, if the local authorities holding them should 
 become disaffected toward our Church. Now, we do 
 not say that brethren holding and occupying such 
 houses are not good Christians or good Methodists ; 
 but we do say that their title to the property is not 
 Methodistical. Secondly, by becoming a member of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church you have acquired a full 
 share in all her privileges. This includes an interest 
 in her sympathies, her prayers, and her ample means 
 of religious instruction and encouragement ; in her 
 ordinances, including the holy eucharist ; and in her 
 powerful ministry and pastoral oversight. You have 
 secured a right to attend and participate in all her 
 religious meetings for public and social worship, 
 whether for expounding and hearing the Gospel, for 
 prayer and praise, or for mutual edification by 
 reciting personal experience. You have all the 
 privileges found in any other evangelical Church, 
 with class-meeting and love-feast into the bargain, — 
 two choice means of religious improvement at once 
 
292 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 profitable and delightful. Without intending any 
 offense to others, we here say there is no Church in 
 this country blessed with a more spiritual living 
 membership than ours is, though there is much room 
 for improvement among us ; no Church affords more 
 helps or better encouragement to a godly life than ours 
 does. And as to our doctrinal views, we have never 
 had occasion to waste much time or strength in 
 adjusting them ; for our unity in this respect has 
 been unparalleled from the beginning of our history 
 to the present time. None of our losses by secession 
 were occasioned by doctrinal controversy ; but always 
 rose out of conflicting views on questions of expe- 
 diency — views intemperately urged by brethren of a 
 restless spirit and a reckless purpose. Certainly, our 
 doctrinal unity is cause of devout thankfulness to the 
 whole Methodist family. Thirdly, these acquired 
 rights are secured to you on such a firm constitu- 
 tional basis that no earthly power can deprive you 
 of them till you willfully forfeit them by disobedience 
 to, or some personal violation of, the rules of the 
 Church. The idea of some, that a Methodist 
 preacher has power in himself to dispossess a layman 
 of his membership in any case, is entirely groundless. 
 That he had such authority once, in the infancy of 
 Methodism, is admitted ; but it was found to be un- 
 safe for the members, and was therefore taken from 
 him at an early period. Nothing that a member can 
 do authorizes a pastor to exclude him till he is 
 regularly tried and found guilty by his fellow-laymen. 
 And if any preacher in charge were to exclude a 
 member without a Disciplinary trial, such preacher 
 
METHODIST CHURCH POLITY. 293 
 
 would receive severe censure by the Conference 
 where he is amenable, and justly too. 
 
 "The Ministry. — Between the members and 
 pastors there are active agents for good, — class-lead- 
 ers, exhorters, and local preachers. The leaders are 
 appointed by the preacher in charge, to aid him in 
 his pastoral work of visitation and prayer and in- 
 struction. Exhorter's license is granted by the pastor 
 on recommendation of the members, and renewed 
 annually on that of the quarterly conference. Local 
 preacher's license is granted by the quarterly confer- 
 ence on the recommendation of their respective 
 societies, and renewed annually when their gifts, 
 grace, and usefulness will warrant such renewal. 
 Local preachers are eligible to deacon's orders in 
 four years, and to elder's orders in eight years. 
 There are in our Church over seven thousand local 
 preachers, deacons and elders. Among so many, 
 there may be some drones ; but in general they are 
 worthy brethren, co-operating with the regular pastors 
 to extend the kingdom of Christ. 
 
 "The pastors proper, in our Church, are regular 
 traveling preachers. How they become such, is a 
 question worthy of special consideration. There are 
 two general systems of preparing men for the Gospel 
 ministry. One is, to select boys who may or may 
 not be converted, and who subsequently may or may 
 not be called of God to preach, and educate them for 
 the ministry. But our system is, to select young men 
 who are both converted and called, in the judgment 
 of their brethren, and train them in the ministry, 
 uniting the study and practice of theology all the 
 
294 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 way through. This we have proved to be a success- 
 ful system of training ministers. The details of our 
 system are briefly these : A young man feels himself 
 moved by the Holy Spirit to the work of the ministry. 
 His brethren, where he resides, being acquainted 
 with him and his gifts and graces, . . . recom- 
 mend him to the quarterly conference for license. 
 Here he is examined as to his belief of our doctrines 
 and Discipline ; also his experience and call to the 
 work. This examination is conducted by the presid- 
 ing elder in presence of the conference; and, if ap- 
 proved, he is granted license to preach. Next, after 
 a proper trial of him as a preacher, he is recom- 
 mended by the quarterly to the annual conference 
 for admission on trial as a traveling preacher. If 
 received, he is assigned to a field of labor, usually as 
 the colleague of a more experienced minister. Then 
 there is given him a course of study, embracing 
 science and theology, and extending through four 
 years. 
 
 Presiding Elders. — The office of presiding elder 
 is simply one of appointment by the bishop for exec- 
 utive purposes. A presiding elder's district includes 
 about twelve pastoral charges, more or less, each of 
 which he visits four times a year, to preach, adminis- 
 ter the ordinances, and hold quarterly conference. 
 He takes charge of all the elders and deacons, the 
 traveling and local preachers and exhorters, in the 
 district, and is required to see that every part of the 
 Discipline is carried out ; that the interests of the 
 missionary, Sabbath-school, and tract causes are prop- 
 erly cared for. He presides in the appeal trial of 
 
ME THODIS T CHUR CH POLITY. 295 
 
 excluded members, and decides all questions of law 
 in the quarterly conference. He also directs young 
 men to their course of studies, and examines the can- 
 didates for orders; he receives, employs, and changes 
 preachers in the interval of conference and absence 
 of the bishop ; and such as are disorderly he brings 
 to account by committee, or reports them to confer- 
 ence. He also is consulted by the bishop as to the 
 arrangement of the work and appointment of the 
 preachers to it, etc. It will be seen readily how im- 
 portant this office is to the great itinerant system. 
 If this part of the machinery be removed, the whole 
 is in confusion. An error in selecting the officer is 
 no argument against the office. The people might 
 prefer a popular preacher on the district, but sound 
 judgment and executive skill and administrative abil- 
 ity are much more important in a presiding elder than 
 popular talent in the pulpit; at least, this is the 
 opinion of such as have most experience. 
 
 "The office first appears on the Minutes of 1785, 
 where an elder's name stands at the head of each 
 district, but without the prefix 'presiding,' till 1789, 
 since which period the Minutes in this respect have 
 been uniform. A usage of so long standing is entitled 
 to respectful consideration. It has, however, higher 
 claims than age confers on the score of utility. The 
 experiment has proved itself successful. No pruden- 
 tial regulation in our Church has done so much to 
 render our itinerant ministry effective, except the 
 general superintendency, as the office of presiding 
 elder. 
 
 " The Appointing Power. — This pertains to the 
 
2g6 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 general superintendency. We have now — 1859 — s ' x 
 bishops, neither of whom claims any local diocese. 
 They are jointly responsible for the oversight of the 
 whole connection ; they divide it into six parts, each 
 taking his route for one year, and then changing, so 
 that each in his turn presides in all the conferences. 
 One of our official duties is 'to fix the appointments 
 of the preachers ' under certain rules of limitation 
 well understood among us. In our peculiar organiza- 
 tion, many individual rights are relinquished for the 
 general good. Ministers relinquish any real or sup- 
 posed right of preference for places, with an under- 
 standing that the members are not to choose their 
 pastors, but to receive whomsoever are sent. This is 
 as fair for one party as the other. Of course, the 
 execution of such a system requires the agency of a 
 third party, the bishops. Now, the Church has con- 
 fidence in the appointing power, or she has not. If 
 she possesses confidence in us, why complain of our 
 action in the premises? If confidence be wanting, 
 why not remove the appointing power into other 
 hands? By a certain constitutional process, the power 
 to appoint the preachers might be transferred from 
 the bishops to a committee of preachers and laymen; 
 or, what would virtually amount to the same thing, 
 abolished entirely, leaving ministers and members 
 free to make their own arrangements. But what, 
 then, would be the fate of the itinerancy ? 
 
 "The General Conference. — Thus far we have 
 discoursed chiefly on the executive affairs of our 
 Church, but now turn our attention, for a few minutes 
 only, to her rule-making department. The, General 
 
METHODIST CHURCH POLITY. 297 
 
 Conference is corn posed of delegates from all the 
 annual conferences, who collectively represent and act 
 for the entire connection of ministers and members. 
 They meet quadrennially, and remain in session about 
 one month. . . . Besides revising the Discipline, 
 they elect bishops, book agents, editors, correspond- 
 ing secretaries for the Missionary, Sabbath-school, 
 and Tract Societies, and regulate the publishing 
 interests of the whole Church ; they fix the boundaries 
 of all the annual conferences, try appeals of expelled 
 or censured traveling preachers, adjust the general 
 finances of the Church, and examine carefully the ad- 
 ministration of the annual conferences, as recorded in 
 their respective journals. They also are the tribunal 
 to which the bishops are amenable, and hold them to 
 strict account, both for their personal conduct and 
 official administration, — all of which is right and 
 proper. As to their legislative authority, the Disci- 
 pline declares : ' The General Conference shall have 
 full power to make rules and regulations for our 
 Church, under the following limitations and restric- 
 tions.' We name some of the things which it can 
 not do: 'The General Conference shall not revoke, 
 alter, or change our Articles of Religion, nor estab- 
 lish any new standards or rules of doctrine contrary 
 to our present existing and established standards of 
 doctrine.' Again: 'They shall not revoke or change 
 the General Rules of the United Societies.' Again : 
 'They shall not do away the privileges of our min- 
 isters or preachers of trial by a committee, and of 
 appeal.' Yet any of these restrictions, except the 
 one covering our Articles of Religion, may be removed 
 
298 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 by the concurrent action of three-fourths of all the 
 voters of all the annual conferences and two-thirds of 
 the General Conference. In all things not thus re- 
 stricted, the delegates are free to act for the whole 
 Church." 
 
 The discourse then goes on to answer a few 
 popular objections to Methodist polity; the first being 
 that " the membership have no check upon the 
 ministry." To this the bishop replies, first, our de- 
 pendence upon them for men to keep up the minis- 
 terial force to carry on the work is a check. All the 
 conferences, both annual and General united, could 
 not make one traveling preacher without the pre- 
 action of lay members recommending him for that 
 purpose. And, secondly, the members hold a check 
 over their ministers in the form of material aid. We 
 are as dependent on them for the means as we are 
 for the men to carry on the work. 
 
 To another objection, that "the members are not 
 allowed any representation in the conferences," it is 
 replied that " we may concede, first, that the present 
 representation of members is indirect, more so than 
 would be satisfactory in civil affairs;" and "we con- 
 cede, secondly, that if the members of our Church 
 really desire a direct representation in the confer- 
 ences, with all its expense, trouble, and responsibility, 
 they should have it. If the members gen- 
 
 erally ever do request it, the General Conference will 
 respond with fraternal kindness, as they always have 
 done." "As to what would be a safe and suitable 
 plan of lay representation, I acknowledge myself 
 unprepared to suggest, and would rather wait for 
 
CLOSE OF QUADRENXrUM. 299 
 
 time to develop our wants, and the indications of 
 Providence for the best method of supplying them." 
 
 In i860, Bishop Morris presided over the East 
 Baltimore Conference, at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, 
 February 29th ; the New Jersey Conference, at Salem, 
 March 14th ; and the Providence Conference, at New 
 Bedford, Massachusetts. March 28th, which closed the 
 official labors of another quadrennial period. 
 
300 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF i860 — AN INTERESTING OCCA- 
 SION REMOVAL TO SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 THE Thirteenth Delegated General Conference 
 assembled at St. James's Hall, in the city of 
 Buffalo, New York, on the 1st of May, i860. Pres- 
 ent — Bishops Morris, Janes, Scott, Baker, Ames, 
 and Simpson. 
 
 Bishop Morris called the Conference to order, and 
 conducted the opening religious services. This Con- 
 ference was composed of two hundred and twenty- 
 one delegates, representing forty-seven annual confer- 
 ences. The session continued until June 4th, and 
 was occupied largely with the discussion of proposed 
 new rules on the slavery question, the Committee on 
 that subject having recommended the amendment of 
 the General Rule, so that it should read : " The 
 buying, selling, or holding of men, women, or chil- 
 dren, with an intention to enslave them." To carry 
 this resolution required a two-thirds vote, which it 
 failed to receive. There were one hundred and 
 thirty-eight votes for it, and seventy-four against it. 
 
 The subject of Lay Representation also called 
 forth an animated discussion, and was finally disposed 
 of by providing for the submission of the question to 
 
COMMEMORATION SERVICES. 301 
 
 a vote of the "male members over twenty-one years 
 of age, and in full connection," between the sessions 
 of the respective annual conferences in 1861 and 
 1862 ; and further providing that the bishops should 
 lay the same question "before the annual confer- 
 ences, at their sessions in 1862." 
 
 On the nth of May, solemn and impressive 
 services were held in commemoration of Bishop 
 Waugh, the senior member of the Episcopal Board, 
 who had died February 9, 1858, and to which appro- 
 priate and affectionate allusion was made in the 
 Episcopal Address at the opening of the Conference. 
 Bishop Morris, at the request of his colleagues, con- 
 ducted the services, selecting for his text the twenty- 
 eighth verse of the eleventh chapter of Second 
 Corinthians: "Beside those things that are without, 
 that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all 
 the Churches." 
 
 The Christian ministry, he remarked, is a subject 
 of paramount importance. It is enough to fill the 
 head, hands, and heart of any man for life. Two 
 things should be kept in view in executing this high 
 trust, — first, we should aim to come up to the Gospel 
 standard as nearly as possible ; and, secondly, we 
 should never presume to go beyond it. In the New 
 Testament we have ample instruction in regard to 
 the practical duties of the office, and also illustrious 
 examples of their observance. Paul says, " Be ye 
 followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." Now, 
 while we are to imitate Paul in regard to his self- 
 sacrifice, his ardent zeal, and his persevering efforts 
 to save souls, it does not follow that we may be his 
 
302 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 successors in all respects. The general theme of the 
 discourse would be, Paul and his Successors ; and on 
 this subject the bishop proposed to discuss three prop- 
 ositions, — i. There are some things pertaining to the 
 ministry of Paul, with regard to which we can not 
 be his successors ; 2. There are some things, in 
 which we do not desire to be his successors ; 3. 
 There are some things, in which we may and ought 
 to be his successors. 
 
 I. On the first point, it was remarked that Paul 
 possessed the gift of tongues ; that is, in the sense 
 of speaking many languages. Paul, no doubt, had 
 the knowledge of some languages acquired in the 
 usual way, — by persevering application to study. But 
 he also possessed the knowledge of many languages 
 by direct inspiration. He said, " I speak with tongues 
 more than you all," etc. Secondly, Paul was endowed 
 with the spirit of prophecy. He spoke as he was 
 moved by the Holy Ghost. He very distinctly, in 
 his letter to the Thessalonians, prophesied the apos- 
 tasy of the Romans, under the personification of " the 
 Man of Sin." He also prophesied the downfall of 
 that corrupt power : " Then shall that Wicked be re- 
 vealed, whom the Lord shall consume," etc. He also 
 said, "The Spirit speaketh expressly that, in the 
 latter days, some shall depart from the faith," etc. 
 These passages are sufficient to show that St. Paul 
 was an inspired prophet. Thirdly, he was endued 
 with the gift of miracles. He rebuked Elymas, the 
 sorcerer; and there fell upon him a mist of darkness, 
 and he went about seeking some one to lead him by 
 the hand. When the damsel, possessed of the spirit 
 
COMMEMORATION SERMON. 303 
 
 of divination, became an annoyance to the apostles, 
 Paul turned and said to the spirit, " I command thee, 
 in the name of Jesus Christ, come out of her ;" and 
 the spirit did so the same hour. When Paul was 
 shipwrecked, and the viper came out of the fire and 
 fastened on his hand, and when the barbarians 
 looked for him to have fallen down dead, he shook 
 off the viper, and it did him no harm ; and they 
 changed. their minds, and thought he was a god. In 
 the same island was Publius, whose father was sick 
 of a fever ; and Paul went in to him, laid his hands 
 upon him, and prayed for him, and he was instantly 
 healed. In one instance — that of Eutychus — he 
 raised the dead. 
 
 Again: he was an apostle, and in that office has 
 no successors. The apostles were a peculiar class 
 of ministers, instituted for a special purpose, to be 
 perpetuated for a short time. Their mission was to 
 establish Christianity by appealing to the facts of the 
 Gospel history from personal knowledge ; and, when 
 necessary, confirming their statements by working 
 miracles. This was sufficiently done in one ordinary 
 life-time. Then they disappeared from the stage of 
 life, mostly by deaths of violence, and have no 
 successors. 
 
 II. There are some things pertaining to the 
 ministry of Paul, with regard to which we do not 
 want to be his successors. 
 
 The bishop spoke here of the privations, opposi- 
 tion, suffering, personal violence, and abuse which 
 St. Paul endured. But, besides these things, he had 
 the care of all the Churches. The work was great, 
 
304 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the opposition powerful, and there was a continual 
 influx of difficult questions upon the apostle, respect- 
 ing doctrines and practical duties — questions of ex- 
 perience, of discipline, and of dispute — all pouring 
 upon him at once ; insomuch that Dr. Clarke calls 
 them an " insurrection of cases," and gives it as his 
 opinion that the difficulties from within were a greater 
 burden than all the pressure from without. 
 
 III. Concerning the things in the ministry of Paul, 
 with regard to which we may and ought to be his 
 successors, Bishop Morris said that, while the apostle 
 was endowed with extraordinary gifts, he practiced 
 all the ordinary duties pertaining to Christian life, 
 and exercised all the ordinary functions of the min- 
 istry, and in these things we should be his successors. 
 First, he was a converted man. So, we trust, we are 
 converted, and have felt the power of Christ's resur- 
 rection and the fellowship of his sufferings. Again: 
 he believed in a progressive spiritual life. He did 
 not teach that when men and women are born again 
 they are born full-grown, but that they are "babes 
 in Christ." He exhorted Christians to ''grow in 
 grace," and to "learn the principles of the doctrine 
 of Christ, and go on unto perfection." And what he 
 taught he practiced : "This one thing I do, forgetting 
 those things which are behind, and reaching forth 
 unto those things which are before, I press toward 
 the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in 
 Christ Jesus." We believe in these doctrines : Par- 
 don, regeneration, the witness of the Spirit, and holi- 
 ness. In these regards we claim to be the succes- 
 sors of the apostles. 
 
DUTIES OF A BISHOP. 305 
 
 In the next place, Paul was called of God to 
 preach. He is very specific on this point. Neces- 
 sity was laid upon him to preach the Gospel. We 
 have the same feelings. We do not regard the min- 
 istry as a mere profession. All our ministers have 
 professed to be moved by the Holy Ghost. Paul was 
 a traveling preacher. Round about from Jerusalem 
 to Illyricum, he fully preached the Gospel of Christ. 
 When we read his journal in the New Testament, we 
 are led to inquire, Is there any thing analogous to 
 this in modern Church annals ? Something very 
 similar we find in the career of Wesley in England, 
 and Asbury in America; and we rejoice to know 
 that many of their sons strive to follow them. Paul 
 was also a pastor; he had the care of all the Churches, 
 and was, officially and practically, a pastor as well 
 as a preacher and an apostle. Bishop Morris then 
 sketched the duties of a bishop in the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church, embracing the supervision of the 
 temporal and spiritual interests of the Church, the 
 immense amount of travel necessary in the discharge 
 of these duties, ranging from five thousand to twenty 
 thousand miles per annum, the heavy official corre- 
 spondence required, and the responsibility of appoint- 
 ing the ministers to their several fields of labor. He 
 said that, to do the work of a Methodist bishop, "as 
 we are expected to do it, requires the faith of Abra- 
 ham, the patience of Job, the courage of Paul, the 
 meekness of Moses, the wisdom of Solomon, the elo- 
 quence of Apollos, and the paternal love of John." 
 He then added a remark which produced a general 
 smile, notwithstanding the solemnity of the occasion ; 
 
 26 
 
306 life of bishop morris. 
 
 and we reproduce it as illustrative of the quiet humor 
 for which the bishop was always noted: "Notwith- 
 standing all the responsibilities and privations and 
 sacrifices and labors it will bring upon them, there 
 are competent brethren who are willing to accept the 
 office rather than that the good cause should suffer." 
 
 The sermon closed with a full and interesting 
 biographical sketch of Bishop Waugh, and reflections 
 and lessons suggested by the sad bereavement of the 
 Church. It occupied an hour and a quarter in the 
 delivery, and was listened to with profound interest 
 by an audience of more than two thousand persons. 
 Our brief abstract of the discourse is taken from the 
 notes of the General Conference reporter, published 
 originally in the Daily CJiristian Advocate. 
 
 On the sixteenth day of the session, Rev. J. K. 
 Gillett rose to a question of privilege, and stated that 
 there was in the house a member of the Michigan 
 Conference who had something to present to the 
 body which would interest every member. He moved, 
 therefore, that Rev. Mr. Morgan be introduced. On 
 being introduced to the Conference, Mr. Morgan ex- 
 hibited a plain silver watch, once the property of 
 Bishop Asbury, and which he desired to present to 
 Bishop Morris, with the understanding that at his 
 death it should be given to the senior of the remain- 
 ing bishops, and thus always be in the hands of the 
 oldest incumbent of the episcopal office. On receiv- 
 ing it, Bishop Morris said: "This is the first watch 
 that was ever presented to me. But I would rather 
 own it than the finest gold repeater ever made. I 
 perceive that its voice [holding it to his ear], like 
 
"SALUBRIA." 307 
 
 my own, is feeble ; and I am told that its mainspring 
 is weak. Probably, like myself, it is nearly worn out. 
 I accept it with earnest thanks, and will soon trans- 
 mit it to my successor, and go, I trust, to meet its 
 former venerated owner in the house not made with 
 hands." 
 
 On the 28th of May, the following resolution was 
 adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That in view of the advancing age of 
 Bishop Morris, the senior superintendent, he be not 
 required to travel at large through the connection, 
 but be left at full liberty to perform only such official 
 labor as he and his colleagues may judge proper." 
 
 On the adjournment of General Conference, Bishop 
 Morris returned to Cincinnati to make arrangements 
 to remove to Springfield, Ohio, which he had fixed 
 upon as his future home, and where, early in the 
 Spring, he had made a purchase of property suitable 
 for a residence. His new home was occupied June 
 20th, and a highly characteristic description of the 
 "place," which he named "Salubria," appeared soon 
 after in one of the Church papers, as follows : 
 
 "The house, though not elegant, is substantial, 
 roomy, and comfortable. The inclosed ground is an 
 oblong square, at the angle of Mill and Harrison 
 Streets, measuring two hundred feet on the former, 
 and four hundred and fifty on the latter. It embraces 
 the buildings, yard, garden, 'truck-patch,' and cow- 
 pasture, and contains a fraction over two acres, ex- 
 clusive of an outside strip left for a pass-way. There 
 are a few apple, peach, cherry, and plum trees on the 
 ground, with a limited number of ornamental shade- 
 
308 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 trees, and a good supply of natural forest-trees, of 
 which the most noted is a sturdy oak in the north- 
 west corner of the yard, about nine feet in circumfer- 
 ence at the base, and nearly one hundred feet high, 
 which, with other trees, affords a pleasant afternoon 
 shade. 
 
 "The live-stock on the premises is as follows: I. 
 Job, our favorite family horse, looks pleased with his 
 new apartments and supply of provender, and moves 
 gracefully in harness. His .character is decidedly 
 good. Ladies drive him, and feel secure. He is as 
 indifferent to the whistle of a locomotive or the report 
 of cannon as to the hum of a bee ; gentle as a lamb, 
 and patient as the man of Uz. 2. 'Belle/ our pres- 
 ent dependence for milk and cream. 3. Two white 
 pigs, which willingly relieve us of the kitchen-scraps. 
 4. One dozen pullets, white, yellow, brown, and 
 speckled. The leader of this feathered tribe is Peter, 
 a very pompous bird, dressed in fancy colors, moving 
 around with an appearance of self-gratulation. In 
 one respect, he is useful ; by his stentorian voice he 
 lets us know how the night-watches pass, and when 
 the day dawns. 5. Clarinda, with her family of black, 
 brindle, and spotted kittens. 6. Snap, our terrier-pup, 
 full of life and mischief, yet a favorite of the family. 
 In addition to this show of life and comfort, the peo- 
 ple are kind and agreeable, treating us more like old 
 friends than new-comers. So far, we enjoy the change 
 from city to country as well as we expected ; and if 
 we can pass the Winter pleasantly, will be fully sat- 
 isfied here. My calling has occasioned frequent re- 
 movals. I have been a citizen of four States; but 
 
AN INTERESTING GIFT 309 
 
 have probably found my last camping-place this side 
 of Jordan." 
 
 The bishop' s Fall tour of conferences embraced 
 the East Genesee, at Lima, August 22d ; the North 
 Ohio, at Ashland, September 12th ; and the Detroit, 
 at Dexter, Michigan, September 26th. At the East 
 Genesee Conference, Rev. D. D. Buck, on behalf of 
 Mrs. Chapin, of Geneva, New York, presented Bishop 
 Morris with a pair of spectacles formerly owned and 
 worn by Bishop Asbury, — the donor being the same 
 lady who, at the General Conference, presented Bishop 
 Asbury's watch to Bishop Morris. On receiving the 
 spectacles Bishop Morris said : 
 
 " I am very much obliged to the good lady for 
 her interesting gift. I will carefully preserve it, and, 
 if I live to return home, I will deposit the spectacles 
 in the drawer with the watch which was given me 
 by the same lady at the General Conference in 
 Buffalo. I never saw Bishop Asbury ; but, as nearly 
 as I can recollect, I reached my first circuit in Ohio 
 on the day on which he died. I am glad to receive 
 the glasses through which he read the Word of Life. 
 I have long esteemed Bishop Asbury as the great 
 apostle of American Methodism. By these glasses I 
 am forcibly reminded of my own infirmities. When 
 I was about eighteen years of age I received injuries 
 in the optic nerves. For three years I had to wear 
 goggles out of doors, and spectacles within. It was 
 to many a matter of great doubt whether I should 
 have eyes or not. At last I quit doctoring, and my 
 sight mended more in the next three months than it 
 had in the previous three years. My eyes continue 
 
310 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 better till to-day ; nevertheless, I still have to use 
 two pairs of glasses. I change during divine service, 
 as I can not read with the same with which I look 
 out upon the congregation. So I work along. Bishop 
 Asbury has got beyond the need of glasses. I pre- 
 sume his eyes are like 'apples of gold in pictures of 
 silver.' I hope to reach that happy place. Brethren, 
 pray for me, that I may hold faith and a good con- 
 science to the end." 
 
 Bishop Morris met his colleagues and the General 
 Mission at New York in November, but was hastened 
 home by news of his wife's illness. Soon after his 
 return, he addressed a communication to the editor 
 of the Western Christian Advocate — Dr. Kingsley — 
 from which we make an interesting extract : 
 
 " Perhaps, Doctor, some of my friends would like 
 to know how I am passing my sixty-seventh Winter. 
 If so, I am happy to say, Rather pleasantly, all 
 things considered. In the early years of my min- 
 istry I knew no vacation. Winter and Summer, 
 Spring and Autumn, were alike busy seasons. Then 
 I preached once a day, on an average, the year 
 round ; but now my average is about once a week. 
 As our work is now arranged, we have no confer- 
 ences in Winter, and but few in Summer. Our 
 press of official duties is in the Spring and Fall. So 
 I am keeping close Winter quarters here ; but with 
 a good grate, and plenty of bituminous coal, I am 
 able to maintain a temperature of sixty-five degrees, 
 thanks to kind Providence. Moreover, in my quies- 
 cence I enjoy some communion with my brethren, 
 and learn a little of the affairs of our Church, our 
 
PLAN OF READING. 3 1 1 
 
 country, and the world, — in all of which I take a 
 deep interest. As to my means of information, ex- 
 clusive of my library, I receive four monthlies, ten 
 weeklies, one tri-weekly, one daily, and numerous 
 pamphlets. These afford daily employment. My 
 evenings, however, are tedious ; for, with eyes habit- 
 ually weak, and now becoming quite dim, I do not 
 attempt to read at night. To worry through by day- 
 light, I read many of the newspaper articles as Con- 
 gressmen read their bills the first and second times, 
 ' by their titles.' To be more exact, there are some 
 things in the papers which I generally read, and 
 some which I generally do not read. Among those 
 which I usually read are leading editorials, contribu- 
 tions on proper subjects over responsible names, 
 well-timed articles on the state of the Church, the 
 country, and the world, and items of general news. 
 Among the things which I generally do not read are 
 poetry, anonymous articles, long lectures, political 
 speeches, speculative theology, and all matters in- 
 volving personal quarrel or violent political conflict. 
 When in middle life, I dreaded two things which I 
 saw might overtake me, — i. The necessity of cur- 
 tailing my ministerial labor, and becoming partly 
 inactive and inefficient ; but by a gradual process I 
 have gotten over this difficulty, and am content to 
 do what little I can. 2. I dreaded old age. I ex- 
 pected to see the world appear murky, and the 
 Church appear as a moral desolation, and that life 
 would become a burden. But I experience nothing 
 of all this. My health remains comfortable, my mind 
 cheerful and spirit buoyant, and I am pleasantly 
 
312 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 passing the evening of life. In reviewing the past I 
 see some things to regret, and some from which to 
 draw consolation. Upon the whole, I have no wish 
 to repeat life's campaign, lest, instead of making it 
 better — of which there is much need — I should make 
 it worse. Wishing to be thankful for the past, and 
 hopeful for the future, I leave myself and my family, 
 my Church and my country, in the hands of God, 
 praying him, through Jesus Christ, to hasten the 
 world's conversion." 
 
 In 1861, Bishop Morris commenced his official 
 labors by presiding over the Missouri and Arkansas 
 Conference, at St. Louis, March 7th ; thence to the 
 Kansas Conference, at Atchison, March 21st; thence 
 to the Nebraska Conference, at Nebraska City, 
 April 4th. Of the first he says : 
 
 "The Missouri Conference closed a pleasant ses- 
 sion on the 13th of March. The religious exercises 
 were refreshing. This body embraces some able and 
 earnest men, not easily diverted from their good pur- 
 poses. Under the financial pressure of the past year, 
 the work indicated more signs of contraction than 
 expansion, but without much loss in the membership. 
 The ministers there had not only the difficulties 
 common to new countries, such as hard work, rough 
 fare, and poor pay, but also such as pertain to their 
 peculiar position in a slave State ; of which I need 
 here say nothing, as the particulars have been suf- 
 ficiently detailed in the Central Christian Advocate. 
 If the Government rights up, and its political 
 affairs become settled, they expect to live and 
 prosper in Missouri ; but if not, they intend to 
 
CONFERENCE AT A TCHISON. 3 1 3 
 
 do as well as they can. No more should be 
 required." 
 
 He left St. Louis, March 15th, on the steamboat 
 Warsaw, and reached Hannibal the next day. Here 
 he found the St. Joseph train waiting; and by it 
 arrived at Macon City the same evening, Saturday, 
 where he spent the Sabbath. On Monday morning 
 he resumed the journey, reaching St. Joseph late 
 that night. Next morning, taking the Platte County 
 Railroad, he arrived in good time at Atchison, the 
 seat of the Kansas Conference. He says : 
 
 "Atchison is a young city, rising up in a location 
 resembling an ample theater. Here is the depot of 
 the Kansas Relief Society. The streets were daily 
 crowded with wagons and teams from the interior, so 
 that it was difficult to pass. The facts heretofore 
 published respecting the destitution of Kansas were 
 confirmed by the preachers from every part of the 
 State as substantially true. These ministers are 
 sunburned, hardy men, who have endured much hard 
 service, and look as if they were ready for more. 
 They did up the business of the Conference with 
 order and dispatch. The work is arranged into six 
 districts, one of which embraces Pike's Peak, and is 
 called the Rocky Mountain District ; Rev. J. M. 
 Chivington, Presiding Elder. This brother is some- 
 times called the Rocky Mountain infant. His phys- 
 ical dimensions are those of a giant, with a soul 
 large in proportion. He wears a robe made of wolf- 
 skins, with the tails for tassels. I told him that I 
 had read of a wolf in sheep's clothing, but never 
 before saw a sheep in wolf's clothing. 
 
 27 
 
3 14 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 i; The dust in Kansas was nearly suffocating 
 whenever a train moved. Whether in the street or 
 on the common, it rose like a cloud, and was whirled 
 in every direction by the wind ; which is more furious 
 there than I have witnessed elsewhere, except in 
 Minnesota. If they have there a calm day or night, 
 it is an exception to the general rule. The wind 
 whines, growls, yelps, howls, bellows, and thunders ; 
 and then comes a blast, the effect of which resembles 
 the tread of an earthquake. If a brief lull ensue, it 
 is only to gather strength for another onslaught; and 
 so it goes on, day and night. One good effect is, 
 the malaria is dispersed, and the country is mostly 
 free from bilious disease. The people generally look 
 very healthy." 
 
 On Wednesday, March 27th, the bishop, accom- 
 panied by Dr. Hitchcock, one of the Western Book 
 Agents, crossed over to St. Joseph, Missouri, a city 
 at that time of twelve thousand inhabitants, on the 
 Missouri River, and in the midst of a country of great 
 beauty and fertility. They remained here over Sab- 
 bath, preaching to the feeble society in their humble 
 chapel. It was, however, a day of rest and refresh- 
 ment to both preachers and people. On Monday eve- 
 ning they took a steamer for Nebraska City, and, 
 with some unavoidable delays, accomplished the jour- 
 ney by Wednesday night, arriving at about eight 
 o'clock in a drenching rain-storm. " Being informed 
 that the boat would proceed on a few miles to a 
 wood-yard before lying up for the night, we went 
 ashore as soon as she landed, hoping to find a hack; 
 but there was none l here, and we had no alternative 
 
FIRST SESSION NEBRASKA CONFERENCE. 3 I 5 
 
 but to take it on foot. The night was very stormy. 
 The first step from the gangway was into mud, and 
 every subsequent step from that to the hotel was into 
 mud. It was very adhesive mud ; our feet went in 
 easily enough, but the trouble was to get them out. 
 The darkness was such as to be felt. To find the 
 way without a guide was simply impossible; but a 
 fellow-passenger who resided in the city kindly offered 
 to pilot us to a hotel. He went before, repotted pro- 
 gress, and we followed by the sound of his voice. 
 Our way led over hills and hollows, which made it 
 exceedingly tiresome. The rain, driven by a fierce 
 wind, struck us obliquely, and with great force. When 
 we reached the hotel, distant about half a mile from 
 the landing, my outer garments were wet with rain, 
 and my under ones equally so with perspiration." 
 
 The Nebraska Conference commenced its first 
 session April 4, 1861, and adjourned on the following 
 Monday evening. It was a small body, embracing 
 but little over twenty preachers, and the work was 
 arranged into two districts, covering the inhabited 
 parts of the territory. The prospects, however, were 
 encouraging, and the Nebraska has grown to be a 
 large and flourishing Conference. 
 
 In the Autumn of this year, Bishop Morris pre- 
 sided over the Cincinnati Conference, at Springfield, 
 September 4th, and the South-eastern Indiana, at 
 JerTersonville, September 18th. In consequence of a 
 long and severe illness of Mrs. Morris, he did not 
 attend the Fall meeting of the General Mission Com- 
 mittee, at New York, and the annual meeting of the 
 bishops took place at " Salubria," December 12th. 
 
316 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 In the early part of this year, the great rebellion 
 against the civil government of the United States 
 was inaugurated in the slave-holding States of the 
 Union, and the people were profoundly agitated in 
 view of the alarming prospect. Fort Sumter had 
 already been fired upon, and armed treason was boldly 
 flaunting defiance in the face of the national author- 
 ities. It will interest the reader of this biography to 
 know the views of the senior bishop of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church at this critical and trying period 
 of the country's history. On the 17th of May, 1S61, 
 he addressed a communication to the Ceiitral Chris- 
 tian Advocate, St. Louis, Missouri, from which we 
 quote a few paragraphs : 
 
 "All party strife about Republicanism and Democ- 
 racy, about Abolition and Pro-slaveryism, should be 
 suspended. The choice now is between law and 
 anarchy. The question at issue before the American 
 people is, Government or no Government. It has 
 but two sides, and* we can employ but two parlies. 
 Let all the friends of God and their country take the 
 affirmative side of this question, and the rest may 
 take the negative side or no side at all, as they like. 
 He that is not for us is against us. There is no 
 middle ground. Every friend to his country can ren- 
 der her some aid. Some can take the field, and o.thers 
 can contribute toward defraying the expense ; and 
 they who can neither give nor fight can pray. 
 
 " No attempt is, or has been, made by the Federal 
 Government to deprive the secessionists of any right 
 secured to them by the Constitution of the United 
 States. On the contrary, the favors of the Govern- 
 
BISHOP MORRIS'S PATRIOTISM. 317 
 
 ment have been lavished upon them in undue propor- 
 tion. Secesssion, therefore, is rebellion without any- 
 plausible excuse, and will result in the destruction of 
 its authors and leaders, and many of those engaged 
 in it. One thing is cause of deep regret ; that is, 
 many innocent persons will suffer with the guilty. 
 This is unavoidable from their involuntary relation to 
 the revolutionary movement. As for us who adhere 
 to the Union, we have little to fear, and can say with 
 David, ' Though a host should encamp against me, 
 my heart shall not fear : though war should rise 
 against me, in this will I be confident.' It remains 
 for Christians to watch, pray, trust in God to save 
 the country, and calmly wait for the result." 
 
 Bishop Morris never faltered for a moment either 
 in his patriotic devotion to the cause of the Union, 
 or his faith in the ultimate triumph of the Federal 
 arms ; and in the darkest days of the Rebellion, when 
 many friends of the Government were filled with 
 gloomy forebodings, the national flag, the banner of 
 beauty and the emblem of freedom, was always seen 
 floating from the outer wall of " Salubria." 
 
 In 1862, the bishop's Spring work began with the 
 Philadelphia Conference, which met in the city of 
 Philadelphia, March 19th. The session lasted ten 
 days, and the pressure of responsibility and toil was 
 so great that symptoms of Ins old disease — paralysis — 
 revived, insomuch that he faltered and reeled. On 
 the last day of the session — the appointments having 
 been all arranged, ready for announcement — finding 
 himself in constant danger of prostration, he called 
 Rev. T. J. Thompson to the chair, and, putting into 
 
318 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 his hands the business of the Conference, left the city 
 fur Elizabeth, New Jersey. Exemption from all care, 
 with a few day's rest, so far restored him that he was 
 able to preach in Elizabeth on the following Sabbath. 
 
 He next presided over the Newark Conference, at 
 Newton, New Jersey, April 2d, and on the final ad- 
 journment of that body, on the 9th, left for home 
 in a severe snow-storm, which had so increased in 
 fury by the time he reached the high mountain range 
 west of Altoona, in Pennsylvania, that the train was 
 detained by the snow-drifts for ten hours, the passen- 
 gers spending a gloomy, cheerless night in the cars. 
 He finally reached home safely on the nth of April. 
 
 Bishop Morris's Fall tour this year embraced the 
 Ohio Conference, which met at Zanesville, Septem- 
 ber 2d ; the Central Ohio, at Greenville, Septem- 
 ber 17th; and the Genesee, at Batavia, New York, 
 October 1st. 
 
 During this year he addressed a letter " To the 
 Younger Classes of Methodist Preachers," through 
 the columns of the Church papers, on "The Study 
 of the Discipline," the substance of which is sub- 
 joined as worthy of permanent record, and entitled 
 to serious consideration from all classes of Methodist 
 preachers : 
 
 "1. Do not rely upon second-hand information; 
 but go to the fountain-head, the Discipline, and learn 
 for yourselves what is required of you, and how to 
 perform it. 2. Do not read the Discipline merely as 
 a history, or treatise on morals, but study it as an 
 ecclesiastical code. Study it consecutively. When 
 you take up one topic, never leave it till you learn 
 
STUDY OF THE DISCIPLINE. 319 
 
 all the book contains in relation to it. For example : 
 You wish to know something respecting the qualifi- 
 cations, duties, and appointment of stewards. Turn 
 to the index, find the word 'steward,' and then 
 examine carefully every page of the book where ref- 
 erence is made to the subject, comparing one point 
 with another, and you have, in comprehensive form, 
 the whole matter. Having mastered it, pursue the 
 same course in regard to the duties of trustees, class- 
 leaders, exhorters, local preachers, preachers in charge, 
 presiding elders, and bishops ; also as to rules re- 
 specting Sunday-schools, Missionary Society, and 
 other benevolent institutions, not omitting the circu- 
 lation of religious books and periodicals. In the 
 same way ascertain the business of leaders' and 
 stewards' meeting, of quarterly, annual, and General 
 Conferences, and so of all the rest. 
 
 "Again : Do you wish to know how Church mem- 
 bers are received, what are their privileges, duties, 
 and responsibilities, and how they are to be tried for 
 various offenses ? .the whole process is clearly laid 
 down in the Discipline, and easily understood. In 
 this way you may obtain more reliable information, 
 without neglecting other duties, in one year, than 
 you could acquire by correspondence in twenty years. 
 Then, too, you will have the satisfaction of feeling 
 somewhat independent, and ready for any case which 
 may come up in your charge. Instead of having to 
 write and wait for information, you can proceed with 
 a case understandingly at once. 
 
 " 3. Such knowledge as may be thus readily de- 
 rived from the study of the Discipline, is highly valu- 
 
320 LIFE OF BISHOP MO KRIS. 
 
 able in many respects. It would greatly increase 
 your efficiency and usefulness in the pastoral office, 
 and secure an improved condition of the work, and 
 by consequence you would have better charges. It 
 would vastly augment your influence both with the 
 ministry and the laymen. It would save the bishops 
 the labor of writing, annually, hundreds of letters in 
 answer to questions on rule and administration, and 
 leave them more time for other duties. To know 
 how to enforce our rules properly, is a material part 
 of ministerial qualification. Though a brother could 
 preach like an angel, yet if he possess no business 
 tact or governing faculty, he will leave every charge 
 to which he is sent, in confusion, which will render 
 him unacceptable generally among the people. 
 
 "4. Finally, exhort the members, offical and pri- 
 vate, to obtain, read, and study the latest edition of 
 our Discipline, that they may understand their own 
 rights and duties. Some of them have obsolete edi- 
 tions, and others have none. Some who own the 
 book seldom read it with care ; so that many of our 
 members know nothing of the rules except what they 
 learn incidentally, by occasionally witnessing their 
 execution. Shame on any Church member who re- 
 mains willfully ignorant of the rules of his own 
 Church. And double shame on any pastor who 
 encourages such ignorance by his example. Time 
 spent in exhorting members on this duty is not lost; 
 for the more knowledge they have of our rules, the 
 more easily they are governed by them." 
 
 In 1863, Bishop Morris presided over the Ken- 
 tucky Conference, at Covington, February 26th; the 
 
" pulpit force:' 321 
 
 Western Virginia Conference, at Fairmount, March 
 
 18th ; the North Indiana, at Wabash, April 9th; the 
 North Ohio, at Mount Vernon, September 2d ; the 
 Indiana, at Washington, September 16th ; and the 
 North-west Indiana, at Michigan City, September 30th. 
 
 He also, during that year, communicated to one 
 of the Church papers his ideas on the subject of 
 "Pulpit Force," saying, among other things: 
 
 " So far as I can see, our chief deficiency is at 
 this point, — ive lack force in our pulpit performances. 
 The orthodoxy of our ministers is bnt little ques- 
 tioned ; our educational advantages are considerable, 
 and increasing ; we have comfortable Churches, well 
 filled with auditors who appreciate and support the 
 Gospel. In all these respects we are more highly 
 favored than our fathers were. Yet in practical use- 
 fulness they excelled us ; their preaching was more 
 successful than ours is. As pulpit orators we are but 
 children, compared to our fathers in Christ. Many 
 of our early Methodist ministers spoke with such 
 wisdom and power as their enemies could not gain- 
 say or resist. Now, if we would be alike successful, 
 we must aim to wield the same power which our 
 fathers did, and for the same purpose ; that is, to 
 glorify God in the salvation of men, women, and 
 children. In order to do this, we should have respect, 
 first, to the choice of subjects, selecting such as plead 
 directly to the heart and conscience of our hearers. 
 Here we often fail. A well-put, logical argument, 
 on a speculative question, may interest the curious, 
 and elicit a little praise or censure, according to the 
 notions of critics respectively ; but few are perma- 
 
322 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 nently benefited by it. The great truths of the 
 Gospel — such as human depravity, the atoning sacri- 
 fice of Christ, the agency of the Holy Spirit, and 
 man's personal salvation — are the most effective pulpit 
 topics. 
 
 "Secondly, we should preach those doctrines in 
 faith, nothing doubting. When we faithfully execute 
 the commission which God has given us, why should 
 we doubt his blessing upon his own word ? But, to 
 maintain full confidence in the Gospel message, we 
 must ourselves be living examples of its power to 
 save. Then our preaching will be 'in demonstration 
 of the Spirit, and of power.' Thirdly, let us not bur- 
 den ourselves with notes to look at in the pulpit ; 
 the) r are worse than useless. Who would think of 
 moving a multitude by reading a manuscript, with 
 his finger on the lines, and his eyes on the words? 
 He might as well attempt to box with his hands 
 tied, or to run with his feet hoppled. Away with all 
 such incumbrances. Give us a clear field, with head 
 and heart full of the subject on hand, with faith in 
 vigorous exercise ; let us look our auditors fully in 
 the eyes, and watch to see where the word takes 
 effect, where the sword of the Spirit strikes, and 
 repeat the blows till the sinner yields to be saved 
 by grace." 
 
 In 1864, Bishop Morris presided over the West 
 Virginia Conference, at Parkersburg, March 16th, and 
 the North Indiana Conference, at Knightstown, April 
 6th. At the session of the West Virginia Conference 
 the following paper was adopted : 
 
 " Whereas, we have been permitted once more to 
 
COMPLIMENTARY RESOLUTIONS. 323 
 
 have our beloved and venerable senior bishop, Rev. 
 T. A. Monis, D. D., preside over our annual session ; 
 and zuJicrcas, his presence and counsel here have 
 been of inestimable advantage to his brethren and 
 sons in the Gospel, on whom, in this his native 
 State, it has devolved, in these days of darkness and 
 rebuke, to stand in the breach and sustain the ban- 
 ner which God has given us for his cause and truth ; 
 therefore, 
 
 u 1. Resolved, That we express our gratitude to the 
 great Head of the Church for permitting us to meet 
 Bishop Morris again in an annual conference. 
 
 "2. Resolved, That we rejoice in that grace which 
 has brought our beloved bishop to the completion of 
 half a century in the work and ministry of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ and his Church. 
 
 - " 3. Resolved, That we tender to Bishop Morris 
 assurances of our hearty sympathy with him amid 
 the growing infirmities and disabilities of age, and 
 our continued prayers that, if it be God's will, he 
 may long be spared to occupy the exalted position 
 which he has so long sustained in the Christian min- 
 istry, and to bless the Church and the world with 
 his advice and prayers. 
 
 "4. Resolved, That a certified copy of these reso- 
 lutions be presented to Bishop Morris. 
 
 "Alexander Martin, 
 "James Drummond. 
 
 "Parkersburg, West Virginia, March 21, 1864." 
 With the session of the North Indiana Confer- 
 ence Bishop Morris closed his sixth quadrennial of 
 episcopal labor. 
 
324 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 GENERAL CONFERENCE OF 1 864 UNION CHAPEL CASE, CIN- 
 CINNATI SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 
 
 THE General Conference of 1864 assembled in 
 Union Church, in the city of Philadelphia, on 
 Monday, the second day of May. Bishops Morris, 
 Janes, Scott, Simpson, Baker, and Ames were 
 present. The Conference was composed of two 
 hundred and sixteen delegates, representing forty- 
 nine annual conferences. The opening religious 
 services were conducted by Bishop Morris. After 
 the organization of the Conference in the usual 
 manner, the following preamble and resolutions, 
 submitted by Rev. E. Thomson, D. D., were adopted 
 unanimously, by a rising vote : 
 
 " Whereas, our beloved senior superintendent, 
 Thomas A. Morris, has completed his half-century 
 of ministerial service, a service scarcely interrupted 
 by sickness, and rendered in various relations — 
 pastoral, editorial, and episcopal — and with uniform 
 acceptance, and which brings him to his seventieth 
 year with a reputation unsullied, an eye undimmed, 
 and a natural force which, though abated, is still 
 strong ; therefore, 
 
 " 1. Resolved, That we recognize with gratitude 
 
PATRIOTIC RELIGIOUS SERVICES. $2$ 
 
 the hand of God in prolonging the life and preserv- 
 ing the health, the mind, and the fair fame of our 
 venerable superintendent. 
 
 "2. Resolved, That Bishop Morris is hereby re- 
 spectfully requested to preach before the Conference, 
 at some period convenient for him, a discourse noting 
 the progress of the Church during his past minis- 
 terial life, with such observations and counsels as 
 the review may suggest to him." 
 
 A resolution was also adopted, on the first day of 
 the session, requesting the trustees of the church in 
 which the Conference held its sittings, to display the 
 flag of the United States over the building during 
 the sessions of the body. 
 
 As the country was now in the very crisis of the 
 great Rebellion, we are not surprised to find a fur- 
 ther resolution adopted, on the motion of Rev. Gran- 
 ville Moody, D. D., that " Friday, May 6th, be set 
 apart as a day of fasting and prayer to Almighty 
 God, on behalf of our country in this hour of her 
 peril ; and that the occasion be observed by appro- 
 priate religious services, morning, afternoon, and 
 evening, in the several Methodist churches of this 
 city ; and that our people throughout the country be 
 requested to observe similar services on that day, in 
 their several places of religious worship." 
 
 Early in the session, an address to President 
 Lincoln was adopted, expressing to him the loyalty 
 of the Church, her earnest devotion to the interests 
 of the country, and her sympathy with the Chief 
 Magistrate in the great responsibilities of his high 
 position. 
 
326 LIFE OF BISI10T MORRIS. 
 
 " In this present struggle for the Nation's life," 
 says the address, " many thousands of her members, 
 and a large number of her ministers, have rushed to 
 arms, to maintain the cause of God and humanity. 
 They have sealed their devotion to their country 
 with their blood, on every battle-field of this 
 terrible war. 
 
 " Our earnest and constant prayer is, that this 
 cruel and wicked rebellion may be speedily sup- 
 pressed ; and we pledge you our hearty co-operation 
 in nil appropriate means to secure this object. 
 Loyal and hopeful in national adversity, in prosperity 
 thankful, we most heartily congratulate you on the 
 glorious victories recently gained ; and rejoice in the 
 belief that our complete triumph is near. 
 
 " We honor you for your proclamations of liberty, 
 and rejoice in all the acts of the Government de- 
 signed to secure freedom to the enslaved. 
 
 "The prayers of millions of Christians, with an 
 earnestness never manifested for rulers before, daily 
 ascend to Heaven, that you may be endued with all 
 needed wisdom and power. Actuated by sentiments 
 of the loftiest and purest patriotism, our prayer shall 
 be continually for the preservation of our country 
 undivided, for the triumph of our cause, and for a 
 permanent peace, gained by the sacrifice of no moral 
 principle, but founded on the Word of God, and 
 securing, in righteousness, liberty and equal rights 
 to all." 
 
 The address was conveyed to President Lincoln 
 by a Committee of five distinguished members of the 
 Conference ; namely, Bishop Ames, and Reverend 
 
UNION CHAPEL CASE. 327 
 
 Doctors Cummings, George Peck, Charles Elliott, 
 and Moody. The reply of the President will ever 
 be regarded as among the most eloquent and beau- 
 tiful utterances of that great statesman. He said : 
 
 "Gentlemen, — In response to your address, 
 allow me to attest the accuracy of its historical 
 statements, indorse the sentiments it expresses, and 
 thank you, in the Nation's name, for the sure 
 promise it gives. 
 
 " Nobly sustained as the Government has been 
 by all the Churches, I would utter nothing which 
 might in the least appear invidious against any; 
 yet, without this, it may fairly be said that the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than 
 the best, is, by its greater numbers, the most im- 
 portant of all. It is no fault in others that the 
 Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, 
 more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to 
 heaven than any. God bless the Methodist Church ! 
 Bless all the Churches! And blessed be God, who, 
 in this our great trial, giveth us the Churches!" 
 
 During the session of this General Conference, a 
 memorial was presented from Union Chapel, Cincin- 
 nati, complaining of the administration of Bishop 
 Morris in their case, and referred to the Committee 
 on Episcopacy. Union Chapel was organized, in 
 1849, by a number of active and influential Meth- 
 odists of Cincinnati, with the avowed object of pro- 
 moting certain changes in the polity of Methodism. 
 The property was held by trustees, in trust for the 
 society; the rule then existing, requiring "men and 
 women to sit apart," was ignored ; and a resolution 
 
328 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 was adopted by the "Official Board," declining the 
 responsibility of furnishing the customary support to 
 the presiding elder, on the ground that the services 
 of such an officer were useless. The position as- 
 sumed by this charge, in opposition to the usages of 
 Methodism generally, produced more or less irrita- 
 tion ; but appointments were made to it, from time to 
 time, of such ministers as the Official Board selected 
 without consultation with the presiding elder of the 
 district, and generally from other conferences. 
 
 In' the Fall of 1859, R- ev - George C. Robinson, 
 of New York, a young and brilliant minister, was 
 appointed pastor of Union Chapel. Under his min- 
 istry the Church was greatly prospered, and he be- 
 came much endeared to the people. Very soon, 
 however, in consequence of failing health, he was 
 compelled to relinquish his pulpit, and desist from 
 active labor. Under the directions of his physicians, 
 he went abroad, and sought by travel in Europe to 
 repair his broken constitution ; the congregation 
 meantime continuing his salary, and securing as a 
 supply for their pulpit the Rev. W. A. Snively, who 
 held a supernumerary relation to the East Baltimore 
 Conference. The relation of Mr. Snively as pastor 
 of Union Chapel was duly legalized by the proper 
 authorities ; and he continued to fill the pulpit ac- 
 ceptably during the unexpired term of Mr. Robinson. 
 
 On the 5th of August, 1861, the Official Board 
 appointed a Committee of three to address Bishop 
 Morris on the subject of a ministerial supply for the 
 ensuing year; and in this communication to the 
 bishop a request was made that Union Chapel be 
 
UNION CHAPEL CASE. 329 
 
 left "to be supplied," with the understanding that 
 Mr. Snively would be employed for another year. 
 The letter to Bishop Morris closed with these words: 
 
 " We will only add that Union Chapel is essen- 
 tially Methodist, and has not the remotest idea of 
 ignoring its relationship to the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, whatever may be said to the contrary ; and 
 we therefore beg your attention to our own state- 
 ment, and compliance with our request, unless it be 
 absolutely impossible, in which case we desire to be 
 informed, in order that we may take action in regard 
 to some other course." 
 
 Bishop Morris, for reasons that will appear here- 
 after, declined acceding to the request of the Board, 
 and appointed Rev. George C. Crum, D. D., one of 
 the leading ministers of his Conference, as pastor of 
 the charge. Soon after the adjournment of the Cin- 
 cinnati Conference, the Official Board of Union 
 Chapel was convened, and a resolution adopted de- 
 clining to receive Dr. Crum as their pastor. This 
 action was subsequently indorsed by a meeting of 
 the congregation. In view of these facts, Bishop 
 Morris advised the presiding elder of the district to 
 drop Union Chapel from his plan, and hold no quar- 
 terly-meeting there, nor furnish any supply, until 
 the brethren of that society conformed to law. and 
 order. 
 
 On the 28th of October, 1861, at a meeting of 
 
 the Official Board, a resolution was adopted " that* 
 
 Bishop Morris be, and he is hereby, requested to 
 
 transfer, or to secure the transfer of, Rev. W. A. 
 
 Snively to this [Cincinnati] Conference, and appoint 
 
 28 
 
330 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 him to Union Chapel, as a final disposition of this 
 entire question." This resolution, with others re- 
 lating to the presiding eldership and the loyalty of 
 Union Chapel to Methodism, having been duly for- 
 warded to Bishop Morris, he sent the following reply : 
 
 "Springfield, O., November n, 1861. 
 " To the Official Members of Union Chapel, Cincinnati: 
 
 " Dear Brethren, — Your resolutions of the 4th 
 and 7th inst. are before me ; the first and second of 
 which refer chiefly to the office and administration 
 of your presiding elder, who is responsible to the 
 Annual Conference for his administration, as I am to 
 the General Conference for mine. Presuming that 
 he understands his official duty, and is aiming to 
 perform it as best he can under the circumstances, I 
 need not enter into the special pleadings in his case. 
 I find it enough for me to meet and sustain my own 
 official responsibilty. 
 
 " You request me to transfer, or secure the trans- 
 fer of, Rev. W. A. Snively to this Conference, and 
 appoint him to the pastorate of Union Chapel, as 
 a final disposition of this entire question. 
 
 " I am obliged to decline compliance with this 
 request, for the following reasons : 
 
 " 1. It would be a violation of official instructions 
 given to the bishops by the General Conference 
 of i860, namely : 
 
 "'1. Resolved, That while we cheerfully accord to our ex- 
 cellent superintendents their constitutional right to supply 
 the general work by transfers when necessary, we respect- 
 fully request that transfers may never be made solely at the 
 personal solicitation of the preacher desiring to be trans- 
 
1 II E BISHOP'S A CTION. 3 3 I 
 
 ferred ; nor jet to gratify tlie wishes of any one charge, be- 
 tween whom and the proposed appointee, negotiations have 
 been previously made. 
 
 "'2. Resolved, That negotiations for special appointments 
 in the pastoral work between individual ministers and societies, 
 prior to the exercise of the regular appointing power in our 
 Church, is contrary to our economy, and injurious to our itin- 
 erant system.' — Journal General Conference, i860, pp. 224, 398. 
 
 " No comment is necessary to show that to com- 
 ply with your request would be a palpable violation 
 of this instruction, for which I would be justly 
 held responsible. This alone would prevent my 
 compliance. 
 
 " 2. The crowded state of the Cincinnati Con- 
 ference. Not an individual was admitted or read- 
 mitted, at its last session, for want of room. Dr. 
 Crum is still without any place, and some half-dozen 
 members of Conference, now in the army, should 
 they return, would find themselves without any field 
 of ministerial labor ; and for me to add to the bur- 
 den, by transferring more ministerial force to this 
 Conference, would be an unreasonable impropriety. 
 
 " 3. The practice of certain charges negotiating 
 with individual ministers to become their pastors, 
 and then merely asking the bishop to ratify their 
 own proceedings, is embarrassing to the appointing 
 power, and, in my judgment, contrary to the rules 
 and regulations of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; 
 and should be discouraged by all concerned, as far 
 as possible. For these very sufficient reasons, I re- 
 spectfully decline compliance with your request in 
 the case of Mr. Snively. 
 
 "As this may be my final response, I wish to say 
 
3 32 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 a few other things. As to the legitimate exercise 
 of the appoining power, and the motives which influ- 
 ence it, you will please observe that we profess to be 
 governed by the Discipline, and not by the local 
 regulations of Union Chapel, or any other charge, — 
 however pleasant it might be to gratify personal 
 friends. . . . When churches are not conveyed 
 to the Methodist Episcopal Church, according to the 
 Discipline, she claims no legal right to enforce her 
 authority. Such Churches can only be supplied with 
 her preachers by consent of parties. While such 
 Churches secure to our ministers the free use of 
 their pulpits and the right to administer the Dis- 
 cipline, and will receive and support them on such 
 terms, we may supply them with pastors, and good 
 may be done ; but when such Churches cease to 
 comply with these terms, all we can do is to with- 
 hold the supply of pastors, and let them fall back on 
 their own resources. As to the terms on which 
 Union Chapel can hereafter be recognized (as stated 
 in my fourth reply, of October 28th), after a careful 
 review, I find no cause to change. It will' be ob- 
 served that I said nothing about a new deed, believ- 
 ing, as I did, that all these terms could be met under 
 your existing title. They who assumed and exercised 
 the rejecting power could at any time adopt the 
 opposite policy, and receive the preacher sent ; and 
 he who locked the door on us could unlock it, or 
 they who directed him to close the door could direct 
 him to open it ; and the trustees who secured the 
 pulpit to ministers of their own choosing could 
 secure it to our ministers if they would. I therefore 
 
THE BISHOP'S LETTER. 333 
 
 kindly, but firmly, adhere to the terms laid down in my 
 said fourth reply. Whether Union Chapel shall again 
 appear on the Minutes of the Cincinnati Conference, is 
 contingent on her coming to the terms of the Disci- 
 pline — at least, so far as my administration is concerned. 
 
 "From the time that Union Chapel received the 
 first pastor from the Cincinnati Conference, in 1852, 
 I tried for years to conciliate good feeling, and to 
 obliterate all unpleasantness that had arisen between 
 her members and the Conference, and to accomplish 
 which I favored certain measures of accommodation 
 in regard to transfers, beyond what some brethren 
 considered consistent with my official obligation, 
 hoping that in due time things would settle down 
 into a regular course, and that Union Chapel would 
 receive pastors from the Conference as other charges 
 do. But in this I am disappointed. She still claims 
 the right to select her own pastors, and so general 
 is the dissatisfaction of other charges on account 
 thereof, that the peace of the Church requires our 
 strict adherence to rule and order. 
 
 "It is not in anger that I say these things, 'but 
 speak the truth in love.' I have no pleasure in your 
 d stitution, and at any time when you choose to 
 signify your acceptance of the above terms, we will 
 at our earliest convenience furnish you a pastor from 
 the Conference whose physical capacity to do the 
 work of Union Chapel charge will not be questioned. 
 "Yours, very truly, T. A. Morris." 
 
 The fourth reply, of October 28th, referred to in 
 this letter, contains the condition laid down by the 
 
334 LIFE 0F BISHOP MO RR1S. 
 
 bishop, on which he would consent to restore Union 
 Chapel to its place in the Minutes of the Conference, 
 and appoint a pastor, in the following words : 
 
 "When the brethren of Union Chapel shall give 
 satisfactory assurance that they will receive and sup- 
 port such preacher as may be appointed by the proper 
 authorities to serve them, either as presiding elder 
 or pastor, and that such regular appointees shall have 
 full use of the pulpit and the right to administer the 
 Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church, as in 
 other regular Methodist Churches, then they may 
 expect to have attention and supplies equal to those 
 of other city charges, and not before, from me." 
 
 Instead of complying with these terms, the Official 
 Board of Union Chapel, at a meeting held Septem- 
 ber 22, 1862, resolved to "refer the questions in- 
 volved in this controversy" to the General Conference 
 of 1864. 
 
 This was accordingly done, as we have already 
 stated ; and on the 21st day of May, and the seven- 
 teenth day of the session, Rev. J. M. Trimble, D. D., 
 Chairman of the Committee on Episcopacy, presented 
 the following report, which was adopted : 
 
 "Your Committee have examined the memorial of 
 Union Chapel, Cincinnati Conference, complaining 
 of the administration of the bishops in their case, and 
 also the official correspondence which it occasioned. 
 
 "They find the facts to be, that, in 1861, the 
 minister appointed as pastor of Union Chapel was 
 rejected by the officiary, not because of any thing 
 personally objectionable in the appointee, but because 
 the officiary aforesaid had not been consulted in the 
 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 335 
 
 matter of the appointment, they desiring to retain 
 the services of a man who had already been regularly 
 appointed to them the preceding two years. Further, 
 that they not only voted to reject the pastor ap- 
 pointed, but advertised in the daily newspapers that 
 Union Chapel was without a pastor, and locked the 
 doors of the Church on Sabbath morning, thus exclud- 
 ing the pastor and presiding elder, claiming for 
 themselves the right to do so because of the pecul- 
 iarity of their deed. Under these circumstances, 
 Bishop Morris released the minister appointed to 
 Union Chapel, and notified the Official Board that he 
 could not consent to the appointment of another 
 preacher to the charge, except upon the following 
 conditions, namely: I. That the official and private 
 members should jointly agree that hereafter they 
 would support such ministers of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church as her regular appointing authority 
 should from time to time appoint to the pastorate of 
 Union Chapel ; 2. That they should receive such 
 presiding elder as should from time to time be ap- 
 pointed to the district including Union Chapel, and 
 pay their proper proportion of his claim, according 
 to Discipline; 3. That the trustees of Union Chapel 
 should guarantee to such regular appointees, whether 
 as pastors or presiding elders, the free use of the 
 pulpit. 
 
 " He further stated to them as follows : Union 
 •Chapel is in a state of insubordination, and if it 
 remains so till next Conference it will be left off the 
 list of Conference charges, and cease to appear in our 
 official Minutes. 
 
336 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 "In accordance with this, Bishop Morris gave 
 special instruction to the presiding elder to give cer- 
 tificates of membership to all loyal members desiring 
 to remove their relation to some other charge. 
 
 "At the session of the Cincinnati Conference, in 
 1862, these terms not having been complied with, 
 Union Chapel was stricken by the presiding bishop 
 from the list of Conference charges. 
 
 " In all this, so far from seeing any thing to cen- 
 sure, the Committee believe the administration to 
 have been wise and just, and that Bishop Morris is 
 to be commended for the firmness with which he 
 maintained the Discipline and order of the Church. 
 "J. M. Trimble, Chairman. 
 "T. M. Eddy, Secretary >." 
 
 On the 26th of May, the Committee on Episco- 
 pacy submitted the following preamble and resolu- 
 tions, which were adopted : 
 
 "Whereas, our honored and beloved senior super- 
 intendent, Rev. Thomas A. Morris, has for nearly 
 half a century rendered valuable and effective service 
 in -various important relations to the Church, and for 
 nearly thirty years has officiated acceptably and 
 usefully as a general superintendent ; and whereas, 
 his advanced age demands a respite from his arduous 
 labors ; therefore, 
 
 "Resolved, That whether Bishop Morris shall con- 
 tinue to travel and perform episcopal duties during 
 the next quadrennial term, and, if so, to what extent, 
 shall he be left to his judgment and that of his epis- 
 copal colleagues. 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 337 
 
 "Resolved, That our satisfaction with the eminent 
 and highly useful services of our venerated senior 
 superintendent is recorded with profound gratitude 
 to God, and with fervent prayers that we may long 
 enjoy his presence and counsels, and that his path 
 may ' shine more and more unto the perfect day."' 
 
 On the 20th of May, the Episcopal Board was 
 strengthened by the election of Davis W. Clark, 
 Edward Thomson, and Calvin Kingsley, and on Tues- 
 day, the 24th, they were solemnly ordained and set 
 apart to the work of bishops of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal Church in the United States of America. 
 
 In compliance with the request made by the Con- 
 ference on the first day of the session, Bishop Morris 
 preached his semi-centennial sermon on the 10th of 
 May. Before commencing his sermon, the bishop 
 said that, to prevent misunderstanding, he would 
 make a brief explanation. In the resolution request- 
 ing this service, allusion was made to the completion 
 of his fiftieth year in the ministry; nearly two of 
 these years, however, had passed before his reception 
 into the Ohio Conference in 18 16. He then pro- 
 ceeded to deliver the following: 
 
 SERMON. 
 
 ♦'As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord : My 
 Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, 
 shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, 
 nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from hence- 
 forth and forever." — Isaiah lix, 21. 
 
 "A covenant is an agreement between parties, 
 
 with certain stipulations by which the parties are 
 
 bound. The parties in this case are the Lord and 
 
 29 
 
33§ LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 his believing people. 'And the Redeemer shall come 
 to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression 
 in Jacob, saith the Lord. As for me, this is my cov- 
 enant with them, saith the Lord.' 'This is my cove- 
 nant', with the members of Zion — with God's believing 
 people — 'saith the Lord : My Spirit that is upon thee 
 and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall 
 not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth 
 of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, 
 saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.' 
 
 "Our blessed Lord, when about to leave his dis- 
 ciples and ascend into heaven, promised that he 
 would give them 'another Comforter, that should abide 
 with them forever.' And in another place he said : 
 'But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
 unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, 
 which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify 
 of me ;' so that the Holy Ghost, vouchsafed to the 
 Church of God through all the successive ages of the 
 Christian dispensation, is given to believers. We 
 think that the Spirit spoken of in the text, however, 
 has reference to the disposition of the new hearts of 
 God's believing and saved people, and which is to 
 be perpetuated among them and their posterity to 
 the end of time. This promise is not restricted to 
 any one branch of the Christian Church. I am very 
 far from believing that all the good people in the 
 world are in our Church. I believe there are many 
 as good in other denominations. We make no oppo- 
 sition to any living branch of the Church of Christ. 
 Yet we shall take the liberty, on this occasion, to 
 speak more especially of our own denomination as 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 339 
 
 being more immediately identified with it, and best 
 acquainted with its history. 
 
 "The first Methodist society was formed in 
 England in 1739, nearly one hundred and twenty- 
 five years ago. Since that, the society has branched 
 out all over England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, 
 and, by missionary enterprise, has reached some of 
 the heathen nations of the earth. The first American 
 society was organized in 1766, ninety-eight years ago. 
 In two years from this time we shall be celebrating 
 the Centenary of American Methodism, and we hope 
 and pray for a time of refreshing from the presence 
 of the Lord. 
 
 " Methodism has become a great power on both 
 sides of the Atlantic ; and it is well worth while to 
 inquire what is the secret of this great success. To 
 take in the whole subject in one brief discourse, is 
 simply out of the question. We propose to speak 
 to-day on one topic ; namely, the Spirit of Methodism. 
 That is our topic. 
 
 " I. And, in the first place, the Spirit of 
 
 METHODfSM IS THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 
 
 " Pilate, the Roman Governor, said to our blessed 
 Lord while under examination, 'What is truth?' Of 
 course, our Savior did not condescend to answer the 
 question in that connection ; but he did answer it in 
 another connection. When praying for his disciples, 
 he said, ' Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word 
 is truth.' Here it is, brethren : the Bible is truth — 
 the basis of civil government, the standard of morals, 
 of doctrine, of experience, and of practice ; the 
 standard from which there is no appeal. And the 
 
340 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 view of Bible truth received and taught by the 
 Methodist Church is at once brief and comprehen- 
 sive. It embraces all that is essential to salvation. 
 The doctrine of the fall of man, of the redemption 
 of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ, of the gift 
 and operations of the Holy Spirit, to enlighten us, to 
 ennoble us, and to dispose us to the exercise of 
 repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ; the doctrine of justification by faith, 
 of regeneration by the power of the Holy Spirit ; 
 the doctrine of holiness, or sanctification ; the doc- 
 trine of perseverance, or continuance in well-doing ; 
 the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, the 
 resurrection of the body, the general judgment, and 
 eternal rewards and punishments in heaven and 
 hell, — these are the great outlines of the system, 
 and at the same time it is brief and comprehensive. 
 It omits, among other things which are merely spec- 
 ulative, the old doctrine of predestination of individ- 
 uals to life and death, on the one hand ; and, on the 
 other hand, Arianism, and Socinianism, and Pelagi- 
 anism, and Unitarianism, and Swedenborgianism, and 
 Universalism, and Mormonism, and all similar forms 
 of semi-infidelity. Now, the Churches formerly called 
 orthodox, but now more generally called evangel- 
 ical, embrace in their creeds the five points of Cal- 
 vinism, namely : Total Depravity, Particular Election, 
 Partial Redemption, Effectual Calling, Infallible Per- 
 severance. And, fifty years ago, the Church that did 
 not subscribe to these points of doctrine was scarcely 
 recognized as a Church of God. 
 
 "But Methodism came along, and shed light upon 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 34 1 
 
 these dark points. She presented her five points, 
 which we think are better than theirs ; namely, 
 first, all men are sinners ; second, all men are re- 
 deemed ; third, all men are called ; fourth, as many 
 as obey the call are chosen ; fifth, of those chosen, 
 such as endure to the end shall be saved. 
 
 "We do not propose to discuss any of these five 
 points of either system ; but we name them only to 
 reach general results. And we say that Methodist 
 doctrine has fixed a deep and lasting and general 
 impression upon the Protestant Christianity of the 
 times, and has greatly modified the views of other 
 branches of the Christian Church. Allow us here 
 to inquire, Do you know any Church, in these days, 
 in which the five points of Calvinism are plainly and 
 pointedly and fully taught ? If you do, you know 
 more than we do. But, on the other hand, the five 
 points of Methodism, in substance, are preached in 
 most of the evangelical Churches ; and the people 
 joyfully receive them, and subscribe to them gen- 
 erally. 
 
 " II. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Revival. 
 
 "That is, the spirit of reanimation. To revive is 
 to reanimate, to bring to life that which was dead. 
 A state of sin and unbelief is a state of spiritual 
 death ; but a state of faith and salvation is a state 
 of spiritual life. And, hence, the apostle to the 
 Ephesians said, 'And you hath he quickened/ 
 brought to life, ' who were dead in trespasses and 
 sins/ And again: 'The law of the spirit of life in 
 Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin 
 
342 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 and death.' But, brethren, when we speak of revival 
 in this connection, we have no reference to the re- 
 vival of dogmas and rituals, but to a revival in the 
 sense of spiritual life. And, in this regard, Method- 
 ism has taken an advanced position, and is leading 
 on the sacramental host of God's elect. 
 
 "Before we had the light of Methodism, if a man 
 spoke of knowing that his sins were forgiven, he was 
 called ignorant, deluded, and fanatical. But now 
 there are thousands who can bear witness to this 
 truth without fear. Before the light of Methodism 
 dawned upon the Churches, you might have selected 
 many who were regarded as good men from those 
 denominations deemed orthodox ; but what could 
 they tell about their religious experience? They 
 usually said, when questioned upon this subject, If I 
 was converted, it was because I could not help it ; 
 if I enjoy religion, I do not know it; if I have it, I 
 can not lose it ; and if I lose it, I never had it. 
 This was about the sum and substance of their re- 
 ligious experience. But it is not so now, brethren. 
 There are multitudes of men, not only in our own 
 Church, but in all the evangelical Churches, who can 
 give a clear and Scriptural account of their conver- 
 sion. Most of them can tell you the time when, the 
 place where, and the circumstances under which, they 
 passed from death to life. They will inform you that 
 they were converted, not because they could not 
 help it, but. when they desired this great blessing. 
 When they earnestly prayed to the Lord Jesus 
 Christ to bestow it upon them, they received it ; and, 
 having now obtained it, they can say: 'Whereas I 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 343 
 
 was blind, I now see;' 'We know that we have 
 passed from death unto life, because we love the 
 brethren ;' ' He that believeth on the Son of God 
 hath the witness in himself.' Because they are sons, 
 they can say, 'God hath sent forth the Spirit of his 
 Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!' and that 
 'the Spirit itself beareth with our spirit that we are 
 the children of God.' Here, then, is advancement in 
 the spirit of revivals, and we rejoice in it. 
 
 "III. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Enterprise. 
 
 " We did not wait for the people to become 
 Christians, and to organize themselves into Churches, 
 and to erect houses of worship, and then call us to 
 their pulpits ; but we went out into the highways 
 and hedges, into destitute places, both in the rural 
 districts and the suburbs of cities. We went not 
 only where Christ was named ; but we went to the 
 regions beyond, and pointed sinners to the Lamb of 
 God that taketh away the sins of the world, and 
 warned them to flee the wrath to : come. The Word 
 took powerful effect. We saw streams of water 
 break forth in the dry places, and the wilderness 
 blossom as the rose. There was a terrible shaking 
 among the dry bones, and they became covered 
 with sinews and flesh, and lived ; and, in thousands 
 of instances, they who were not a people became the 
 people of the Lord. We tried to execute upon the 
 broadest practicable scale the great commission of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, 'Go ye into all the world, 
 and preach the Gospel to every creature.' . 
 
 " In order the better to do tliis, we formed as 
 
344 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 many congregations as possible, and called them cir- 
 cuits ; and sent out laborers two by two, as Christ 
 sent out his disciples. One was the preacher in 
 charge, and the other was his colaborer and assistant. 
 The circuit usually consisted of from twenty-four to 
 forty congregations. 
 
 " The first three circuits which I traveled em- 
 braced from twenty-eight to forty appointments, all 
 of which were to be reached every twenty-eight 
 days. To do this required a journey of at least 
 three hundred miles on each of these circuits; and 
 this journey was not performed by railroad, nor in 
 the mail-coach, nor in 'the private carriage, gliding 
 smoothly over the graveled pike, but upon horse- 
 back, and over roads that would now be generally 
 regarded as almost impassable ; and yet, so far were 
 we from curtailing these plans and endeavoring to 
 relieve ourselves of these burdens, we were continu- 
 ally on the lookout for chances to enlarge our work. 
 If we heard of any neighborhood that was destitute 
 of the Gospel, we went directly to it and talked with 
 the people ; and, if one man in the settlement would 
 open his house for preaching, we made it an appoint- 
 ment, and the next time we came around we were 
 there. When we had an appointment we filled it ; 
 not if it was conve7iient, or if the weather was pleas- 
 ant, and we could do it without sacrifice, but always, 
 unless providential circumstances, over which we had 
 no control, prevented us. If we wanted to gather a 
 congregation, we had to be punctual ; and if we 
 wanted to hold a congregation, we could not disap- 
 point them. When the streams were swollen, we 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 345 
 
 sometimes found great difficulty in crossing them. 
 If we could find a bridge or a boat, it was well ; but 
 if we could not, we committed ourselves to Prov- 
 idence, and, plunging in with our horse, forded or 
 swam the stream. This is what we mean by the 
 spirit of enterprise. 
 
 " IV. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Sacrifice. 
 
 " Ours was a citizen ministry, called forth from 
 different avocations. Some were lawyers, some phy- 
 sicians, some teachers, some mechanics, some mer- 
 chants, and some were farmers, who were converted 
 and called of God to the work of the ministry. 
 They were received and educated, not for the minis- 
 try, but in the ministry; and connected the study 
 and practice of theology together. These men, com- 
 ing from the people, were sent back to the people, to 
 preach, not the technicalities of the schools, but the 
 Gospel of the grace of God, in plain, unvarnished 
 language, which the people well understood ; and the 
 effect was glorious. 
 
 " But where was the sacrifice? asks one. I an- 
 swer, They sacrificed, first, their secular calling. 
 Whatever they depended upon for the support of their 
 families they relinquished, whether it was commerce 
 or law or agriculture, or whatever it may have been. 
 They had to promise to devote themselves wholly to 
 God and his work. 
 
 11 In the next place, they were called upon to 
 sacrifice their homes. We do not say their homes 
 were spacious or elegant ; but they were homes nev- 
 ertheless, and contained all of earth that was dear to 
 
346 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 them ; and, much or little, they had to be sacrificed 
 for this itinerant ministry, and we became pilgrims 
 and sojourners, as all our fathers were. And all this 
 under the old quarterage rule, with small prospect 
 of a support. 
 
 "No provision was made for houses for the preach- 
 ers. There was no estimate for family expenses, and 
 ho claim was recognized but the quarterage claim, 
 and we were fortunate if half of that was received. 
 
 "For the first twelve years of my itinerant min- 
 istry, with my wife and two children, I kept an exact 
 account of my expenses and receipts, and the con- 
 trolling rule with us was, not to buy what we wanted, 
 but only what we could not do without. I credited 
 the Church not only what I received from the stew- 
 ards, but also all I received for marriage-fees and in 
 private presents. At the end of the twelve years I 
 struck the average, and found that during that time 
 I had received one hundred and sixty-six dollars, 
 sixty-six and two-third cents per annum. With this 
 I had to buy horses, pay house-rent, meet all expense 
 of feeding, clothing, and educating the children, and 
 pay all our charities ; that is to say, in so far as these 
 receipts came shorty of meeting our bills, the balance 
 came out of our private means. We say, then, that 
 the spirit of Methodism is the spirit of sacrifice. 
 
 "V. The Spirit of- Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Progress. 
 
 "I allude more particularly in this to numerical 
 progress. When I joined the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church, in 18 1 3, the aggregate of her communicants 
 in all the States and territories and in Upper Canada, 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 347 
 
 and upon the whole Continent of America, was less 
 than one quarter of a million. I think it was about 
 two hundred and thirty-six thousand. Now our or- 
 ganization proper, after deducting our brethren in 
 Canada, who left us quietly and for good reasons 
 connected with their civil institutions ; and the Prot- 
 estant Methodists, who left us for reasons satisfactory 
 to themselves; and the 'True Wesleyan ' organiza- 
 tion, who left us on account of slavery ; and our 
 brethren in the South, who left us on account of the 
 'irrepressible conflict,' and who took away nearly 
 two thousand preachers and near a half-million of 
 members, — after deducting all these, we have now, 
 in our own organization, a fraction less than one mill- 
 ion. Then we have a little problem for the mathe- 
 matician : If one quarter of a million of Methodists 
 produced during the past fifty years one million of 
 members, what will one million produce in fifty years 
 to come? The answer is, four millions. But this is 
 only a part of the question, as you will perceive ; for 
 the quarter of a million of fifty years ago was the 
 nucleus not only of our own denomination, but of 
 all the Methodist organizations upon the continent, 
 which now, taken with our own denomination, will 
 probably approximate two millions. This taken into 
 consideration, the question will assume this form : 
 If a quarter of a million in -fifty years has produced 
 two millions, what will two millions produce in fifty 
 years to come ? The answer is, sixteen millions. 
 
 " ' But, pray,' says one, ' how do you know that 
 this win be so ?' I answer, I did not say that we 
 know it will ; but in this calculation we follow the 
 
348 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 example of the statesmen, who will take the official 
 record or census, and, ascertaining what was the 
 population at a given time, will compute the in- 
 crease for each decade, and tell you what popula- 
 tion may be expected, say at the end of the century. 
 Now, what we claim is, that our figures are just as 
 reliable as theirs; and if they can give the proximate 
 number of the population, we can do the same of 
 Methodism. 
 
 "VI. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Improvement. 
 
 "I know of no better word to cover the numerous 
 items I wish to name. For example, the general 
 style of living among our people has greatly changed. 
 I know most about the Western States, where I was 
 born and brought up, and from whence I have hailed 
 for seventy years; and I speak that I do know, and 
 testify that I have seen, when I say that, fifty years 
 ago, in all the Western States, our people, as a gen- 
 eral thing, lived in log-cabins of rude construction, 
 with clapboard roof and puncheon floors. These cab- 
 ins generally had but one apartment, which answered 
 for kitchen and dining-room, sitting-room and parlor, 
 library and dormitory, class-room and chapel. I have 
 gone into the loft of these cabins many times in the 
 severest Winter weather, where there was no fire, 
 and slept with nothing overhead but the thin roof, 
 and a few logs around me, with large openings 
 between them, and with the covering very scant, and 
 have often arisen in the morning to find my bed cov- 
 ered with snow. I have, in many instances, taken 
 my pillow and placed it across my feet, and placed 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON 349 
 
 my coat over that, not merely to prevent suffering 
 from cold, but to keep from freezing stiff. Now our 
 people live in large and commodious houses, conven- 
 iently arranged and well furnished. When we look 
 back fifty years to our puncheon floors and clapboard 
 roofs, tin cups and pewter plates and spoons, and then 
 look at the carpets and side-boards and cushioned 
 chairs and silver tea-sets which we now have, we 
 hardly know ourselves; yet our consciousness tells us 
 that we are the same people, though under different 
 circumstances. 
 
 " How was it with regard to our churches ? There 
 were none hardly deserving the name; and what we 
 had were mostly built of logs, and these were Mike 
 angels' visits, few and far between.' Now we have 
 as many and as comfortable churches as any denom- 
 ination in the land. Indeed, the statistics of the 
 census credit us with more money invested in church 
 property than any other denomination. How about 
 our Sunday-schools? I answer, fifty years ago we had 
 none. It may seem strange to you, but it is true as 
 preaching, that I had been a traveling preacher four 
 years before I had seen a Sunday-school. The first 
 I saw was at Zanesville, Ohio, and was in connection 
 with a Presbyterian Church. I visited it, and thought 
 it a good thing ; and, as we had none, I took my 
 little daughter, now in heaven, and led her to the 
 superintendent, who kindly welcomed her to the 
 school. Now we have these schools by thousands, 
 teachers by tens of thousands, and scholars by hun- 
 dreds of thousands. But how about our tracts in 
 those days? I answer, we had none, or next to none. 
 
350 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Now they are scattered broadcast through all the 
 land. 
 
 " How about our periodicals ? I answer, we had 
 none. Now we have many, and our religious weeklies 
 are scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Then 
 we had but few books, except such as were imported 
 from England ; but now we are not ashamed to com- 
 pare our Methodist Book Concern with any publish- 
 ing-house in America. 
 
 " How about our educational institutions ? I 
 answer, we had no public institutions of learning. 
 Private members may have taught private schools, 
 but we had no schools under the control of the 
 Church. Now we have about thirty colleges for 
 young men, two Biblical institutions for young min- 
 isters, while of seminaries and academies we have 
 more than a hundred. 
 
 "But what about our missionary cause? I an- 
 swer, we had no missionary society in those days. 
 In regard to this, I beg a little indulgence, and to be 
 heard with some degree of particularity. When I 
 was on the Marietta Circuit, from 1816 to 18 18, I 
 had in my society, in Marietta, a colored man by -the 
 name of Stewart. He was an exemplary man, and 
 prayed in our prayer-meetings. He was industrious 
 and economical, and had earned the means to buy 
 good clothes, a horse and saddle, and had pocket- 
 money besides. 
 
 "In the Fall of 18 17 he suddenly and mysteri- 
 ously disappeared. He was not in debt or in trouble, 
 that we knew of, and we could not, in any way, 
 account for his disappearance. • Early next Spring he 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 35 I 
 
 returned, and came straight to my house, and gave 
 an account of himself during his absence. In the 
 Fall of 18 1 7 it was impressed upon his mind that it 
 was His duty to go in a north-west direction from 
 Marietta, and deliver a message to some people, he 
 knew not to whom. At first he tried to shake off the 
 impression ; but, failing in this, he mounted his horse 
 and started. He went on until he reached the Wyan- 
 dot Indians, at Upper Sandusky, in Ohio, when he 
 said at once this was the people to whom he was sent. 
 He went straight to the Indian agent and told him 
 he had a message from God to the Indians. The 
 agent, as was very proper, demanded his credentials; 
 but he had none, as he was only a private member 
 of the Church, and had not even his certificate of 
 membership with him. Of course, he received no 
 encouragement from the agent ; but he went to the 
 Indians and talked to them privately, and they agreed 
 that he might address as many as would come 
 together. Several came together in one of their wig- 
 wams, and among them, another colored man. His 
 name was Jonathan Pointer, and he had formerly 
 lived with my uncle on the Big Kanawha River, and 
 was captured in childhood by the Indians, and had 
 learned the Wyandot language. He served as Stew- 
 art's interpreter, and while he talked the Indians 
 wept. And when he was through, they came around 
 him and said, 'Preach morel and he did so, and an 
 adjoining Quarterly Conference took cognizance of 
 him, and licensed him to preach, and, by the blessing 
 of God, he had a great revival among the Indians. 
 "At the session of the Ohio Conference at Steu- 
 
352 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 benville, in 1818, a report of Stewart's revival among 
 the Indians was presented, and Bishop M'Kendree, 
 who was there, said, ■ We must have a mission among 
 the Wyandots.' But the question was, Where shall 
 the money come from ? We had no flowing treasury, 
 but the brethren said, We will raise the money here, 
 and now. We raised the money entirely among the 
 preachers ; for we then sat with closed doors. Some 
 gave five, and some ten dollars ; and in a few mo- 
 ments money enough was raised to send a missionary 
 to the Wyandots. In the Spring of 18 19, the news 
 of these things had reached New York, and the 
 brethren there formed the Missionary Society of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. They formed it upon 
 a good and broad basis, making all the annual con- 
 ferences auxiliary societies. When the Ohio Con- 
 ference met at Cincinnati, in 1819, it approved the 
 organization of the Missionary Society, and ordered 
 collections to be taken in the several charges. And at 
 Chillicothe, in 1820, they had a report of the moneys 
 raised for the missionary cause, and I recollect that 
 a member inquired, 'What shall we do with this mis- 
 sionary money?' After some discussion, it was voted 
 that T. A. Morris be appointed to receive it and for- 
 ward it to New York. This gave me an opportunity 
 to know how much there was of it. Let it be re- 
 membered that the Ohio Conference then embraced 
 the whole of the States of Ohio and Michigan, as 
 well as parts of Indiana, Virginia, and Kentucky. 
 From all this region the contributions for the mis- 
 sionary cause were to be aggregated, and all came 
 into my hands; and what do you suppose was the 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 353 
 
 amount? It was nineteen dollars, and a fraction over. 
 Now, compare this with the present, and behold 
 the difference! In 1863, the treasurer of our Mis- 
 sionary Society received over four hundred thousand 
 dollars ; and, my brethren, I shall be greatly disap- 
 pointed and excessively mortified if, in 1864, our con- 
 tributions do not reach half a million dollars. That 
 is the lowest amount that will sustain the missionary 
 work now undertaken. 
 
 "VII. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Loyalty to the Civil Government. 
 
 "It is the doctrine of our Church and of the 
 Scriptures, that we should revere and submit our- 
 selves to the civil authority. This is in our Articles 
 of Religion. It was put there in the year 1784, 
 when the Church was first organized, and there it 
 stands, as a monument of our loyalty, to this hour. 
 But we are taught this duty by higher than human 
 authority. Paul says: 'Let every soul be subject 
 unto the higher powers. For there is no power but 
 of God ; the powers that be are ordained of God. 
 Whoever, therefore, resisteth the power resisteth the 
 ordinance of God : and they that resist shall receive 
 to themselves damnation.' Now, if we understand 
 the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, rebellion is a 
 crime of a high order, one expressly forbidden by the 
 Word of God ; and any man who is guilty of it 
 deserves to be expelled from the Church of Christ. 
 
 "VIII. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Patriotism. 
 
 "After the Southern Rebellion had developed 
 itself in such magnitude that our President became 
 
 3° 
 
354 MFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 satisfied that there was not power enough in the 
 army, as it then existed, to put it down, he called for 
 volunteers. And who responded ? I answer that, 
 so far as we know, all Churches did nobly ; but it is 
 true, nevertheless, that we have more than any other 
 denomination who are in the service of our country. 
 We have at least one hundred thousand Church 
 members who have been mustered into the service 
 of the United States. And many of our preachers, 
 also, have gone — some as privates, some as captains, 
 and a great many as chaplains ; probably twice as 
 many as from other denominations. There are three 
 members of this General Conference, regular ministers, 
 who have done service for their country as colonels, 
 moving at the head of their regiments amid showers 
 of leaden and iron hail, leading the van of the host, 
 amid the shouting and tumult of battle. These are 
 unfailing indications that the spirit of Methodism is 
 the spirit of patriotism. 
 
 "IX. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Liberty. 
 
 " I do not mean liberty for a man to do what he 
 pleases without answering to any body. We do not 
 mean, either, liberty for a man to do what he pleases 
 with the rights of other men with impunity ; but we 
 mean the spirit of liberty, in opposition to slavery. 
 Slavery has been the great difficulty and bone of 
 contention for years. It has divided our Church, 
 and now it seeks to divide the country. We have 
 had, for years, this standing question in our Disci- 
 pline, 'What shall be done for the extirpation of the 
 great evil of slavery?' but we could not answer the 
 
SEMI-CENTENNIAL SERMON. 355 
 
 question. Philosophers tried, and were bewildered ; 
 statesmen tried, but were overwhelmed and con- 
 founded ; ecclesiastical bodies sought its answer, but 
 found dismay and failure ; but God has interposed, 
 and furnished the answer in the present war for the 
 Union. 
 
 '■ The leaders of the Rebellion in the South, 
 while fighting for slavery, have done more for its 
 extirpation, in the last three years, than Congress 
 and all the State Legislatures could do in thirty 
 years ; and although slavery has not been extirpated, 
 it is prostrate and bleeding, and has received a blow 
 from which it can never recover. It has already 
 upon its brow the cold sweat of death ; and we pray 
 that it may speedily give up the ghost ! 
 
 " X. The Spirit of Methodism is the Spirit 
 of Liberality. 
 
 u Now, whoever supposes (and some have so sup- 
 posed) that the Methodist polity is a narrow and 
 contracted one, and who publishes that supposition, 
 simply proves that he knows not what he says, nor 
 whereof he affirms. When were ever the plans and 
 operations of Methodism contracted ? Our illustrious 
 founder took the world for his parish, and we are 
 trying to follow his example. We never have seen 
 the day when we did not preach free grace and a free 
 communion ; and what Church has done or could 
 have done more? We pray, with the apostle, 'Grace 
 be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in 
 sincerity!' We cordially believe, with Paul, that 'it 
 is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, 
 that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
 
356 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 sinners,' even the very chief of sinners. We believe 
 that Methodism will live to accomplish its grand 
 mission, to spread Scriptural holiness over these and 
 all lands. Some have said that the world is soon 
 coming to an end ; and some have gone so far as 
 to fix the year and the day ; but, thank God ! the 
 world still moves, and we believe that many things 
 will come to pass before the end comes. One thing 
 is, that the Word will be preached to all nations. 
 We believe, also, that the Southern Rebellion will be 
 crushed, slavery abolished, the Union of the States 
 restored, a permanent peace established ; and last, 
 though not least, after all this, we shall have such a 
 revival of the work of God as the world has never 
 seen. We have the dawning of this glorious day 
 already; and we believe the sun will soon arise in 
 full splendor, and from every hill and valley go up 
 the shout, ' Halleluiah ! the Lord God Omnipotent 
 reigneth !' " 
 
GENERAL CONFERENCE, 1868. 357 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 j SUPERANNUATION — CLOSING YEARS OF LIFE — DEATH AND 
 
 FUNERAL SERVICES. 
 » 
 
 BISHOP MORRIS returned from the General 
 Conference of 1864 to his home in Springfield, 
 Ohio, in comfortable health, but physically unable to 
 take part with his colleagues in the active work of 
 the Episcopacy. He remained during the next quad- 
 rennium in the forced retirement which his health 
 absolutely demanded. But in May, 1868, we find 
 him at the seat of another General Conference — 
 Chicago — and assisting in the opening exercises of 
 that occasion. He called the body to order, and 
 directed the secretary of the last General Conference 
 to call the roll. When that was done, Bishop Morris 
 said, in substance: 
 
 " This is the twelfth General Conference, in reg- 
 ular, consecutive order, at which I have been pres- 
 ent—at four as a delegate, and at eight as a bishop; 
 and I have no recollection of ever hearing so many 
 delegates answer to their names on the first day of 
 any session as at this." 
 
 Besides Bishop Morris, Bishops Janes, Scott, 
 Simpson, Ames, Clark, Thomson, and Kingsley were 
 present at the opening of this General Conference. 
 
358 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 Bishop Baker was detained by ill health, but was 
 present after the first week. 
 
 A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, de- 
 scribing the bishops as they sat together on the plat- 
 form, says of the senior: "The central figure of the 
 group is the venerable Bishop Morris, once and for 
 many years a resident of Cincinnati. His portly 
 mien, placid countenance, imperturbable equanimity, 
 and rare good sense, are as noticeable in his old age 
 as at any former period of his long, laborious, and 
 glorious life." 
 
 Although not able to preside often over the ses- 
 sions of this General Conference, Bishop Morris was 
 seldom absent from his seat among his colleagues, 
 and was an attentive and deeply-interested listener 
 to the proceedings. The first question which elicited 
 much interest or discussion was on the admission of 
 provisional delegates, who had been sent up as repre- 
 sentatives of mission conferences, organized mainly 
 in the South, under a special provision of former 
 General Conferences. The debate on this question 
 was exceedingly animated and able, and while the 
 legal arguments were very clear and strong against 
 the constitutionality of the proposed measure, yet 
 the argumentum ad hominem on the opposite side 
 was still stronger, and the provisional delegates were 
 admitted to seats as members of the Conference by 
 an immense majority. 
 
 The next question of general interest was the 
 subject of Lay Delegation. The General Conference 
 of i860 had submitted this question to a vote of the 
 male membership, and it had been lost by a large 
 
BIR THDA Y CEL EBRA TION. 359 
 
 majority. In the mean time, however, the subject 
 continued to be agitated. The Methodist, an inde- 
 pendent paper published in New York, advocated the 
 measure with great zeal and ability, but several of 
 the Advocates were scarcely less earnest and no less 
 able in promoting the measure. Evidently a great 
 change had come over the Church in regard to this 
 question since the negative vote a few years before. 
 The subject was now brought before the General 
 Conference by a large number of petitions, of which 
 an overwhelming majority were in favor of lay repre- 
 sentation. The discussion was long, warm, and elo- 
 quent on both sides. Bishop Morris took no part in 
 this debate, of course ; but he had openly and warmly 
 espoused the cause of lay delegation, and in private 
 conversation advocated it. 
 
 The final action of this General Conference was 
 the submission of a plan to a vote of the people, and 
 then to the annual conferences. The result was an 
 affirmative vote in both cases by decided majorities, 
 and the plan was consummated at the ensuing Gen- 
 eral Conference, held in Brooklyn, in 1872. 
 
 A very pleasant episode in the quiet life of Bishop 
 Morris, during this quadrennium, was the celebration 
 of his seventy-sixth birthday, which occurred April 
 28, 1870. About thirty persons, representing various 
 Churches and interests were present, on invitation ; 
 those having the matter in charge deeming a larger 
 company unadvisable, owing to the feeble health 
 of Mrs. Morris. After a generous lunch, C. M. 
 Nichols, Esq., Editor of the Springfield Republic, 
 read the following paper, prepared by Bishop Morris : 
 
360 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 "BIRTHDAY REFLFXTIONS. 
 
 "I was born in Kanawha County, Virginia, April 
 28, 1794, and am this day seventy-six years old. 
 Unbroken forests, the homes of wild beasts and 
 scarcely less wild and savage men, have disappeared 
 before the march of civilization. Where once stood 
 the log meeting-house, now appears the spacious 
 Church, with lofty spire pointing heavenward. In 
 place of the rude wooden school-house of former 
 times, we have now the amply endowed college. 
 Where we once traveled on horseback, through for- 
 ests and almost impassable roads, we now go at our 
 ease in palatial cars, at the rate of twenty-five or 
 thirty miles per hour. Once our homes were log 
 huts ; but now we have pleasant houses, well furnished 
 with all needed conveniences and comforts. The 
 United States have increased in population from three 
 millions to thirty-five millions, and from thirteen to 
 thirty-seven States ; and still they come. 
 
 "Only a few years since, millions of our people 
 were slaves, who are now free to enjoy life and engage 
 in the pursuit of happiness, equal before the law with 
 others. 
 
 "In Church matters great changes have taken 
 place, and in none more than in our own denomina- 
 tion. When I was born, the 'Methodist Episcopal 
 Church in the United States of America' was ten 
 years old, a feeble and persecuted band. When I 
 joined her communion, in 1813, all the Methodists 
 in the United States and territories, including those 
 of Canada West, numbered less than a quarter of a 
 
SIR TIIDA V REFLEC TIOXS. 36 1 
 
 million. Now, including all branches of Methodism, 
 there are, in the above limits, between two and three 
 millions of communicants. 
 
 "These are great changes to occur in one man's 
 life-time ; and yet I see nothing in the general aspect 
 of affairs to warrant the anticipation of less success 
 in the future, but much to encourage the hope of 
 still greater prosperity. We are better provided with 
 churches and school-houses than heretofore, and are 
 better able to sustain our missions, both foreign and 
 domestic, than we ever were, both as to men and 
 means. The general revivals now in progress will be 
 followed, it may be presumed, by greater activity in 
 our missionary work. 
 
 "It is true, indeed, that depraved human nature 
 remains the same, amid all the boasted improvements 
 of the times, and requires the same power to renew and 
 control it as formerly. But Jesus is 'the same, yester- 
 day, to-day, and forever.' He is our only hope. We 
 are fallen, miserable, and helpless ; but Christ is mighty 
 to save, and strong to deliver. Let us look to him. 
 
 " I have attended twelve quadrennial sessions of 
 the General Conference — four as a delegate, and eight 
 as one of the presiding officers ; though at the last 
 one I was little more than an interested spectator. 
 Whether I shall ever attend another is very uncer- 
 tain ; God knoweth. Two of my beloved colleagues, 
 much younger and stronger than myself, have quite 
 recently died at their posts of duty ; they rest from 
 their labors, and their works do follow them. May 
 we follow Bishops Thomson and Kingsley as they 
 followed Christ ! 
 
 3 1 
 
$62 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 " If Methodists prove faithful to God and true to 
 their trust, they will accomplish the object of their 
 mission, which is to spread Scriptural holiness over 
 these lands. Let them adhere to the doctrines and 
 polity of Methodism — to class-meetings, love-feasts, 
 congregational singing, free sittings, and, above all, 
 cherish the experience of a heart-felt religion, — and 
 ail will be well. Brethren, pray for me. 
 
 "Thomas A. Morris. 
 
 11 Salubria, April 28, 1870." 
 
 At the close of the reading of this paper, a hymn 
 was sung ; after which, Hon. E. G. Dial, of Spring- 
 field, came forward, and presented the bishop an 
 elegant gold watch, the gift of a few friends, in the 
 following words : 
 
 " Dear Bishop Morris, — We are here to-day, 
 with hearts overflowing with kindly feeling, to greet 
 you. You have experienced the joys and sorrows 
 of more than three-quarters of a century ; and we 
 come to join hearts and hands with you and your 
 beloved consort, on this your seventy-sixth birthday. 
 You enjoy at least usual health to-day. You have 
 more than ordinary elasticity of spirits for one at your 
 time of life. For these blessings we devoutly thank 
 God. And, now, these brethren — ministers and lay- 
 men of Springfield, your friends and neighbors — have 
 directed me to present you, as a token of their love 
 and esteem, this beautiful watch. Their affection 
 for you and your wife is at least as pure as this 
 refined gold. Accept it in the spirit in which it is 
 given. It will keep the hours for you, well and 
 
MRS. LUCY MORRIS. 363 
 
 truly, until angel hands shall mark you the time on 
 the dial-plate of eternity." 
 
 The bishop was quite surprised, and greatly af- 
 fected. He briefly and touchingly expressed his 
 gratitude for the valuable and unexpected gift. 
 
 Mrs. Morris was then made the recipient of a 
 handsome present at the hands of E. C. Middleton, 
 Esq. ; after which, the venerable Geo. Brown, D. D., 
 of the Methodist Protestant Church ; Rev. A. H. 
 Bassett, D. D., of the same Church ; Rev. A. 
 Lowrey, D. D., Presiding Elder of Springfield Dis- 
 trict ; Rev. Reuben Miller, Rev. J. W. Gunn, and 
 others, — were called out, and responded in very 
 happy remarks and reminiscences of the past. 
 
 These somewhat private and domestic matters 
 may not be of great importance, or of general in- 
 terest ; and yet, after all, they go to make up a 
 faithful history of a public life. Though taciturn to 
 a fault at times, there was, notwithstanding, a per- 
 sonal magnetism about Bishop Morris which at- 
 tracted all classes to him. In the community where 
 he last resided- — Springfield, Ohio — he was greatly 
 beloved by all denominations; and his neighbors 
 and friends embraced every suitable occasion to give 
 expression to the high regard in which they held him. 
 
 In the following year — 1871 — Mrs. Morris, who 
 had long been an invalid, suffering at times the se- 
 verest pains, died in great peace; but her gain was 
 unspeakable loss to her husband. In a communica- 
 tion to the Western Christian Advocate, soon after 
 this bereavement, Bishop Morris said: 
 
 11 Lucy Morris was born in South Carolina, May 
 
364 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 27, 1800. She was converted while praying in secret, 
 at the age of nine years. She united with the Meth- 
 odist Episcopal Church, in Louisville, Kentucky, in 
 August, 1B19. She was married to the writer, June 
 25, 1844, being at that time the widow of Dr. 
 Merriweather. 
 
 " During her illness, which was long and severe, 
 she was wonderfully sustained by grace, showing 
 herself resigned, peaceful, and happy. On Thursday, 
 October 5th, she received a signal baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit, which caused her to rejoice aloud with 
 all her remaining strength. She said, among other 
 things, ' Last night I was so happy in Jesus that my 
 bed was made to feel soft as downy pillows.' Sunday, 
 November 5th, was her last Sabbath on earth, which 
 she passed in the company of her family, who re- 
 mained to commune and worship with her in the 
 sacred sanctuary of home. On Monday afternoon, 
 November 6, 1871, at about three o'clock, she slept 
 in Jesus. 
 
 "She was a genial, kind-hearted, Christian lady. 
 She was scrupulously honest. Her early opportu- 
 nities were good, for the times. After leaving school, 
 she made considerable efforts to improve her knowl- 
 edge. Her favorite study was history, both ancient 
 and modern ; but, of all books, she preferred the 
 Bible, which she read daily. She became well 
 versed in the Holy Scriptures, especially the histor- 
 ical parts. She excelled in the management of 
 household affairs." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Lowrey, long a neighbor and friend of 
 the family, writing of Mrs. Morris, said : 
 
DEATHS IN THE Er ISC OPAL RANKS. 365 
 
 "She will be remembered as a cultivated lady — 
 comely in person, graceful in manners, gentle and 
 pleasing in address, amiable in disposition, refined in 
 feelings, polite in social intercourse, prudent and 
 chaste in conversation, generous and sympathetic to 
 all, especially to the needy. As a Christian, she was 
 sincere and profoundly conscientious. She had a 
 rich spiritual experience." 
 
 For more than a quarter of a century had this 
 excellent lady shared the itinerant bishop's lot. She 
 had made his home a happy retreat from the cares 
 of the world and the perplexities of official life — the 
 abode of order, quiet, and love. It was therefore a 
 peculiarly severe blow, now in old age and feeble- 
 ness, to be separated from one whose life had con- 
 tributed so much to the comfort and happiness of 
 his own. 
 
 In the Spring of the year 1872, the bishop, with 
 the assistance of a traveling companion, made the 
 journey to Brooklyn, New York, where the Sixteenth 
 Delegated General Conference of the Methodist 
 Episcopal Church assembled, on the first day of 
 May. At all but three of these General Conferences 
 Bishop Morris was present, as delegate or presiding 
 officer. And although he performed no official act 
 at the last, except to call the body to order on the 
 first day, yet he was seldom absent from his place 
 on the platform, and was a deeply interested observer 
 of the proceedings. 
 
 During the quadrennium now closed, death had 
 made sad havoc in the ranks of the Episcopacy. 
 Four of these honored and beloved chief pastors of 
 
366 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 the Church — Baker, Clark, Thomson, and Kingsley — 
 had fallen. On the sixteenth day of the session, 
 very solemn and appropriate services were held in 
 memory of the lamented dead. The opening devo- 
 tional exercises were conducted by Rev. J. M. Reid, 
 D. D. ; after which, Bishop Simpson read brief 
 sketches of the lives and characters of the deceased 
 bishops. 
 
 We quote the closing paragraphs only of these 
 sketches. They very happily bring out the salient 
 points of the characters described : 
 
 " Bishop Baker was a man of deep and consistent 
 piety, of unusually quiet and modest deportment, a 
 clear thinker, a successful teacher, an accurate writer, 
 a sound theologian, a good preacher, and, as a bishop, 
 careful and systematic in all his work. For his 
 sweet and gentle spirit and his amiable manners, as 
 well as for his learning and talent, he was beloved 
 by a large circle of friends, and enjoyed the confi- 
 dence and esteem of the Church. He died at Con- 
 cord, New Hampshire, December 20, 1871, in the 
 fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 " Bishop Clark was a man of decided views, and 
 great firmness of purpose. As a preacher, he was 
 able and successful. His sermons were carefully 
 prepared, and full of instruction. As a writer) he 
 was clear, forcible, and exact ; as a bishop, he was 
 careful in arranging the details of official duties, 
 prompt in his decisions, and commanding as a pre- 
 siding officer. His religious experience was clear 
 and triumphant. As he approached the close of life, 
 his expressions were both consoling and encouraging 
 
MEMORIAL ADDRESSES. 367 
 
 to his family. He rejoiced in Christian song, and 
 the music of hymns soothed his pain and restlessness. 
 He repeated, many times, 'The Lord is my refuge 
 and strength, a very present help in trouble. Amen ; 
 amen.' He died at Cincinnati, Ohio, May 23, 1871, 
 in the fifty-ninth year of his age. 
 
 " Bishop Thomson was a man of decided con- 
 victions, and of deep piety; tender and gentle as a 
 woman, but firm and unwavering as a hero. His 
 reading was extensive and varied. As a speaker, he 
 was eloquent; as' a writer, he had few equals for 
 aptness of expression, and simplicity and beauty of 
 style. In every position, as pastor, teacher, editor, 
 and bishop, he worked successfully, and more than 
 met the expectations of the Church. He died as he 
 lived, in calm and peaceful trust and confidence in 
 God. He died at Wheeling, while on his way from 
 the West Virginia to the Pittsburg Conference, 
 March 22, 1870, in the sixtieth year of his age. 
 
 " Bishop Kingsley was a clear and accurate 
 thinker, a sound theologian, a ready and skillful 
 debater. As a preacher, he was forcible and con- 
 vincing ; as a writer, strong and logical. He was a 
 man of earnestness of character, deep piety, great 
 devotion to the Church, and of unwearied activitv. 
 Of apparently strong and vigorous constitution, the 
 Church expected from him long life and great use- 
 fulness; but in a moment, in a strange land, the 
 chariot came down, and he ascended from the summit 
 of Lebanon, on which he had just been gazing. He 
 died at Beyroot, Syria, April 6, 1870, in the fifty- 
 eighth year of his age." 
 
368 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 After the reading of these sketches, addresses 
 were made by Drs. Curry, Thayer, Hitchcock, and 
 Moses Hill, commemorative of the lives and services 
 of the deceased bishops. 
 
 On the first day of this session, immediately 
 after the calling of the roll, Bishop Janes stated that 
 the bishops were ready to report the vote of the 
 several conferences on the change of the Second 
 Restrictive Rule, providing for the introduction of 
 lay delegates into the General Conference. Where- 
 upon, at the request of the Conference, Bishop 
 Simpson presented the following: 
 
 " Dear Brethren, — The last General Conference 
 devised a plan for lay delegation, which they recom- 
 mended to the godly consideration of our ministers 
 and people. In connection with this plan, they di- 
 rected the bishops to lay before the several annual 
 conferences a proposed alteration of the Second Re- 
 strictive Rule, and to report the result of the vote 
 thereon to this General Conference. 
 
 " In compliance with said action, we laid before 
 each of the annual conferences the proposition to 
 alter the Second Restrictive Rule, by adding thereto 
 the word 'ministerial' after the word 'one,' and, after 
 the word 'forty-five/ the words, 'nor more than two 
 lay delegates for any annual conference.' Each con- 
 ference voted on said proposition, and the aggregate 
 result is as follows : 
 
 For the proposed change, 4»9 I S 
 
 Against the proposed change, . . . 1,597 
 
 Blank, 4 
 
LAY DEL EG A TION. 3 69 
 
 " Should the General Conference desire it, we are 
 prepared to report the vote by conferences. 
 
 " In behalf of the bishops, M. Simpson." 
 
 After the reading of this report, a paper, signed 
 by Drs. J. T. Peck, W. L. Harris, R. S. Foster, G. 
 Haven, and T. M. Eddy, was presented and read, 
 ratifying the change of the Second Restrictive Rule, 
 declaring the Plan for Lay Delegation adopted, and 
 inviting the lay delegates elected under it to take 
 their seats as members of the General Conference. 
 
 The vote on concurring with the annual confer- 
 ences in changing the Second Restrictive Rule, 
 was as follows : 
 
 Ayes, 283 
 
 Nays, 6 
 
 Absent or not voting, 3 
 
 The vote on ratifying and adopting the plan was 
 252 to 36, and that on admitting the lay delegates 
 to seats, 288 to 1. And thus was consummated, 
 with wonderful unanimity, a most important change 
 in Methodist polity — a change which Bishop Morris, 
 with that rare sagacity for which he was remarkable, 
 foresaw years before as inevitable, and to which he 
 gave his unqualified approval. 
 
 The wisdom of the measure was clearly apparent 
 at a later stage of the proceedings of the General 
 Conference, when it became necessary to take up 
 and adjust certain matters of difference between the 
 Agents of the Book Concern at New York. For 
 the happy settlement of that most unfortunate strife, 
 which was wholly one of financial management, the 
 
37o life of bis nor MORRIS 
 
 Church is largely indebted to the business skill and 
 training of the lay delegates. 
 
 At this General Conference there could be no 
 question, as there had been at the preceding one, of 
 the necessity of re-enforcing the episcopal body. 
 Accordingly, eight additional bishops were elected, 
 increasing the effective force to twelve. The newly 
 elected bishops were, Thomas Bowman, William L. 
 Harris, Randolph S. Foster, Isaac W. Wiley, Stephen 
 M. Merrill, Edward G. Andrews, Gilbert Haven, and 
 Jesse T. Peck. With a view to distribute this large 
 episcopal force as equally as possible throughout the 
 work, and to secure the presence and influence of the 
 bishops where they were most needed, the Confer- 
 ence, with great unanimity, designated the special 
 location of each. Although this action looked di- 
 rectly to special and local oversight, it was not 
 intended to destroy or impair the unity or general 
 superintendency of the bishops. 
 
 Soon after the adjournment of this General Con- 
 ference — that is, on the 6th day of June, 1872 — Bishop 
 Morris was married to Miss Sarah Bruscup, a lady 
 of suitable age, of thorough culture, of high social 
 standing, of earnest piety, and well adapted to be an 
 agreeable companion and a helpmate. 
 
 About a year later — April 28, 1873 — on his sev- 
 enty-ninth birthday, we find another social gather- 
 ing in the pleasant home of the venerable bishop. 
 Friends were there from Delaware, Cincinnati, and 
 elsewhere, to join their congratulations with those of 
 the bishop's more immediate neighbors and fellow- 
 citizens of Springfield. Judge Dial read a biograph- 
 
LETTER TO THE CONFERENCE. 37 1 
 
 ical paper, addresses were delivered by Bishop Wiley 
 and Rev. Dr. Moody, and a poem, written for the 
 occasion, was read by Mrs. Bishop Thomson. Bishop 
 Morris responded to all these earnest and eloquent 
 words of congratulation in suitable and very touching 
 language. This occasion was of more than ordinary 
 interest to the bishop, as an assurance that, although 
 now on the "retired" list, he was not forgotten. 
 
 The last annual conference which the bishop was 
 able to attend was the Cincinnati. Its session in the 
 Autumn of 1873 was held in Springfield. Bishop 
 Ames presided, and was entertained at "Salubria." 
 He came into the conference-room on the morning 
 of the last day of the session, bringing intelligence 
 that Bishop Morris was extremely ill, and might not, 
 and probably would not, recover. The bishop, how- 
 ever, rallied, and for a twelvemonth longer was in 
 comparatively comfortable health. 
 
 His last official act was to administer the sacra- 
 ment of baptism to a grandchild of his friend and 
 former colleague, Bishop Clark, a son of E. W. and 
 Katie Clark Mulliken, at their home in Springfield. 
 
 On Thursday, August 27, 1874, while the Cincin- 
 nati Conference was in session at Wilmington, Ohio, 
 a communication was received from Bishop Morris, 
 and read as follows : 
 
 - "Springfield, Ohio, August 24, 1874. 
 "To Rev. Bishop Foster and the Cincinnati Conferettce, in Conference 
 assembled. 
 
 "Dear Brethren, — I wish to say a few things 
 to you in regard to my health, and some other mat- 
 ters. The 28th of last April, I entered my eighty- 
 
372 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 first year. I have but little pain or sickness for one 
 of my age. I sleep well. My digestion is excellent, 
 and, apart from the infirmities incident to my time 
 of life, I am very comfortable. I, however, take but 
 little part in the active duties of life, and, having 
 served my day and generation as God has given me 
 ability, I am now resting in the quietude of my 
 home. True, I am no longer able to go in and out 
 before you, to sit in your councils, and take part in 
 your deliberations, yet my heart and sympathy are 
 with you ; and for Zion's prosperity my tears shall 
 fall and my prayers ascend until my release is signed, 
 and I go to join the Church triumphant in the skies. 
 "As to my religious enjoyment, it is not increased 
 by exemption from labor, but rather the contrary. 
 This, however, is what I expected; and I find it 
 requires more grace to suffer than to do the will of 
 my Heavenly Father. But, although this is the case, 
 I am by no means destitute of enjoyment. No, clear 
 brethren ; I find the religion I so long preached to 
 others is able to bring peace and assurance to the 
 heart in retirement, as well as when in the heat of 
 the battle, leading forth the conquering hosts to cer- 
 tain victory. Thank God for the Christian's hope ! 
 It comforts and sustains amid all the vicissitudes of 
 life, and to the trusting heart makes bright the future. 
 In reviewing the past, I have only this to say, that 
 God has been very good to me. Most of my associ- 
 ates in the ministry, as well as many loved ones, have 
 passed away. I yet linger on the shore, and soon 
 expect to cross the river. I am nearing the Jordan, 
 and in the course of nature can not stay here much 
 
RESPONSE TO LETTER. 373 
 
 longer ; but beneath me are the everlasting arms, 
 and, through riches of grace in Christ Jesus my Lord, 
 I hope to anchor safely in the harbor of eternal rest. 
 In all probability, this is the last time I shall address 
 you. Before another session of your Conference I 
 may be safely home. Therefore, in conclusion, per- 
 mit me to say, dear brethren, live for God ; preach 
 Christ and him crucified ; seek not the applause of 
 men, or the honor that cometh from the world ; but 
 so live that, in the great day of accounts, you can 
 say, ■ Here am I, and the souls thou hast given me.' 
 Praying the Great Head of the Church to direct in 
 all the deliberations of the present session of Confer- 
 ence, I am, dear brethren, 
 
 "Yours, fraternally, T. A. Morris." 
 
 A Committee, consisting of Rev. J. F. Wright, 
 D. D., and Revs. M. Dustin, E. H. Field, and J. F. 
 Marlay, was appointed to prepare and report to the 
 Conference a suitable response. On Monday morn- 
 ing the Committee reported the following response, 
 which was adopted by a rising vote : 
 
 " Wilmington, August 28, 1874. 
 
 "Bishop T. A. Morris, — Reverend mid Dear 
 Brother: The undersigned have been appointed a 
 Committee to respond to your letter of fraternal 
 greetings addressed to the Cincinnati Conference, and 
 read at the opening of the present session. 
 
 "We assure you that your communication was re- 
 ceived by your brethren of this body with sincere 
 pleasure, and listened to with profound emotion. 
 
 "We congratulate you that, in the good providence 
 
374 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 of God, your life has been spared so long to the 
 Church and the world, and that now, at fourscore 
 years of age, you enjoy so comfortable a state of 
 health. 
 
 "Our common and fervent supplication for you is, 
 that God may still have you in his holy keeping; 
 that he may continue to bless you with bodily health, 
 and keep your soul in perfect peace. 
 
 "We need hardly assure you of our high appreci- 
 ation of your long and faithful services to-the Church. 
 In performing the various, and oftentimes difficult 
 and responsible duties assigned you, you have made a 
 record of which the whole Church feels justly proud. 
 
 " No man living, probably, whose life has been so 
 active and public, has spoken or written fewer words 
 which, dying, he could wish to blot. 
 
 "Dear and venerated Father, — we do most ear- 
 nestly commend you to God and the word of his 
 grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you 
 an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. 
 
 " Pray for us, that we, who have entered into your 
 labors, may be worthy sons and successors in the 
 Gospel. 
 
 " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of 
 God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with 
 you always ! 
 
 "Signed on behalf of the Cincinnati Conference. 
 "John F. Wright, M. Dustix, 
 
 "E. H. Field, J. F. Marlay." 
 
 The letter of Bishop Morris was dictated two 
 days before the Conference convened. On Wednes- 
 
DEATH. 375 
 
 day, August 26th, he awoke in his usual health, and 
 expressed a desire to ride out ; but, while the prep- 
 arations were being made, he suddenly grew worse, 
 and from this attack never rallied. He did not seem, 
 however, to realize his nearness to eternity until 
 Friday morning, when he inquired of Mrs. Morris if 
 she thought he would die before night. She said 
 that she had no such thought; but added, "We can 
 not tell what a day may bring forth." He replied, 
 "Whatever the result may be, all is well — all is. 
 right!' He afterward said to his wife that he wanted 
 her to tell him frankly whenever she thought the 
 hour had come. 
 
 On Saturday morning, he was observed to draw 
 his bed-quilts closely around him, as if cold. On 
 being asked by his wife if he thought it was a chill, 
 he said, "Why, no, wife ; it is a death coldness." On 
 the following day — Sabbath — Philip Phillips, accompa- 
 nied by a few friends, spent an hour with him in sing- 
 ing and prayer. He greatly enjoyed this service, and 
 frequently, during the singing, exclaimed, " How sweet ! 
 how beautiful !" During the prayers, too, he seemed 
 much engaged, responding frequently and earnestly. 
 On Monday evening, when his wife expressed a fear 
 that he might soon be called away, he said, promptly, 
 "All is right; all is right!" She asked him, then, 
 how the future looked, and his cheerful, ready re- 
 sponse was, " The future looks bright !" And in this 
 frame of mind he lingered until Wednesday, Septem- 
 ber 2d, at noon, when he slept in Jesus. 
 
 The funeral services were held in the High-street 
 Methodist Church, Friday, September 4th, at two 
 
37^ LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 o'clock P. M., under the direction of the pastor, Rev. 
 L. Clark, and Rev. W. I. Ellsworth. The attendance 
 was very large, embracing many ministers of the 
 Cincinnati and Ohio Conferences. The pall-bearers 
 were Rev. J. M. Walden, D. D., Rev. W. Herr, Rev. 
 W. L. Hypes, Rev. J. W. Cassatt, Rev. T. H. Pearne, 
 D. D., Rev. T. H. Monroe, P. P. Mast, Esq., and 
 Judge E. G. Dial. 
 
 After the singing of the 1086th hymn, prayer 
 was offered by Rev. W. Herr. A biographical sketch 
 of the bishop was then read by J. F. Marlay ; after 
 which, brief remarks were made, as follows : 
 
 ADDRESS BY REV. J. M. TRIMBLE, D. D. 
 
 u My first meeting with Bishop Morris was in 
 June, 1824, at Athens, the seat of the Ohio Uni- 
 versity. He was returning from General Conference, 
 which was held that year in Baltimore. He spent 
 several days with us, visiting his brother Calvary, 
 and preached on Sabbath. I next met him at Ur- 
 bana, during the session of the Ohio Conference 
 held in that place in September, 1829. This was 
 his first meeting with the Ohio Conference after his 
 transfer from Kentucky. He was greeted with great 
 cordiality by the senior members of our body, and 
 heartily welcomed back to their fellowship. His 
 sermon at this Conference, on Sunday afternoon, in 
 the Presbyterian Church, I shall never' forget. His 
 subject was, the Resurrection of Christ ; and the 
 effect was thrilling, resulting in a general outburst 
 of praise all over the house. In 1830, during his 
 pastorate at Columbus, he visited Chillicothe, and 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESSES. S77 
 
 preached several times very acceptably ; the under- 
 standing at the time being that my colleague, Rev. 
 John H. Power, would aid him in a meeting in Co- 
 lumbus, appointed for April, 1 83 1. Sickness in my 
 colleague's family prevented him from going, and he 
 sent me. 
 
 " I left Chillicothe on Friday, reached Columbus 
 on Saturday, and, being a stranger, went directly 
 to the parsonage, a little frame building with two 
 small rooms, in the rear of the Church. Brother 
 Morris insisted on entertaining me, and I was their 
 guest for six days. Their home was a very pleasant, 
 though a contracted one. Mrs. Morris — one of God's 
 noble women — made sunshine every-where in their 
 humble domicile. During that week ninety persons 
 were added to the Church, most of whom were con- 
 verted. I next met him at a camp-meeting held by 
 the circuit and Columbus Station, a few miles north 
 of the .city. Bishop M'Kendree was there, with 
 twenty or more preachers, on their way to the Ohio 
 Conference, soon to assemble in Mansfield. This 
 occasion was a memorable one, on account of the 
 presence and ministrations of Bishop M'Kendree. 
 
 "In 1833, I was stationed in Cincinnati, with 
 Rev. J. B. Finley as my senior colleague, and Rev. 
 T. A. Morris as presiding elder. Here my acquaint- 
 ance with him became more intimate, and my love 
 for him increased. It seemed impossible not to love 
 him, he was so kind and brotherly in his intercourse 
 with his preachers. In April, 1834, he was appointed 
 editor of the Western Christian Advocate, and brother 
 Finley was placed in charge of the district. The 
 
378 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 death of Dr. Sargent, and the failing health of brother 
 J. M'D. Mathews, left the station work to John 
 Collins and myself. Five preaching-places, with 
 preaching three times every Sabbath in two of them, 
 made the work onerous, and it became necessary to 
 call on the Book-room officials, editors, agents, and 
 clerks, as well as our local preachers, for help. The 
 work of procuring supplies devolved principally on 
 me ; and I have it to say that I never asked brother 
 Morris to preach without receiving a cheerful and 
 prompt affirmative response: but I can not say this 
 of all to whom I applied. 
 
 " His family was in my pastoral charge ; and I 
 was frequently in their home, to receive cheer and 
 encouragement from sister Morris. Her record is on 
 high ; and her devotedly pious daughter, Jane, a fac- 
 simile of the mother in every thing good, joins her 
 in the rest that remains for the people of God. 
 
 "Bishop Morris was possessed of a goojd mind, 
 well disciplined by his own efforts in self-culture. 
 He was so amiable in his manners, and so affable in 
 his intercourse with his fellow-men, that he made 
 many friends, and few, if any, enemies. I loved to 
 hear him preach. He always quit when he was done, 
 and generally when there was a most blessed sense of 
 the Divine presence manifest in the audience. But 
 he has passed to his heavenly home, where we hope 
 to meet him. 
 
 " O, that God may graciously minister comfort to 
 these bereaved ones ! Look up, ye sorrowing ones, 
 and beyond the river ; your beloved is there to join 
 his brethren, who have passed on before him, in the 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESSES. 37^ 
 
 delightful employments. and enjoyments of heaven, in 
 their song of salvation to God and the Lamb ! 
 
 "And you, my dear brother, son of my venerated 
 friend,* you will not be separated long from the dear 
 ones who await your coming in the home of the 
 blest. That sainted mother, who nursed you, who 
 clasped you to a bosom glowing with pure affection 
 for her child, will hail you ; with outstretched arms 
 she will welcome you, and leading you up to the 
 Throne, will say, Here, blessed Savior, is the son for 
 whom I wept, prayed, and labored in yonder world, 
 washed in thy all-cleansing blood, — I present him 
 now to thee, to be crowned an heir of everlasting 
 life ! O Lord, gather all the family at last to share 
 the bliss of heaven !" 
 
 ADDRESS BY REV. JOHN F. WRIGHT, D. D. 
 
 " The itinerancy of Thomas A. Morris and myself 
 in the Methodist Episcopal Church was long con- 
 temporaneous. I was admitted into the Virginia 
 Conference, February 20, 18 15 ; and he into the 
 Ohio Conference, September 3, 18 16. In the Fall 
 of 182 1, when I was received by transfer into the 
 Ohio Conference, brother Morris was transferred to 
 the Kentucky Conference, where he spent seven 
 years — laboring three years on circuits, two in sta- 
 tions, and two as presiding elder on the Green-river 
 District. In 1824, we were both delegates to the 
 General Conference, held in May, in the city of 
 Baltimore. 
 
 " Our first acquaintance, personally, was formed 
 * Rev. F. A. Morris, D. D. 
 
3 SO LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 at this General Conference, which to me was agree- 
 able, and very pleasant. Five years later, he was 
 transferred back to Ohio, and appointed to Lebanon, 
 in the Lebanon District, of which I was then pre- 
 siding elder. We were thus brought into close asso- 
 ciation ; so that our acquaintance soon ripened into 
 friendship, which culminated in an intense fraternal 
 love, that never ceased. 
 
 "In the Fall of 1829, I invited him to meet me 
 at a quarterly-meeting held at old ' Union Church/ 
 near Xenia, and assist in the labors of the pulpit. 
 The meeting was a success throughout, but the love- 
 feast was glorious ; and the effect, under the sermon 
 of brother Morris, was remarkable. His text was, 
 • The poor have the Gospel preached to them.' 
 
 "We have just heard, from Dr. Trimble, of a ser- 
 mon preached by brother Morris during a Conference 
 session at Urbana, and the effect it produced. No 
 one could describe that scene. All we can say is, 
 It was the Lord's doings, and it was marvelous in 
 our eyes. We had the aid of brother Morris at sev- 
 eral other quarterly-meetings, and at some camp- 
 meetings, while I remained on the district, and always 
 found him not only an efficient laborer, but an accept- 
 able and successful minister of Christ. 
 
 "In May, 1832, the General Conference sent me 
 to Cincinnati as Assistant Book Agent, with the 
 Rev. Charles Holliday as my colleague. It was not 
 long until a weekly religious periodical, in connection 
 with the Western Book Concern, was urged, as a 
 matter of necessity, by many of the preachers and 
 people in the West. 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESSES. 38 1 
 
 "After being much talked about in private cir- 
 cles, it was finally laid before the Western Confer- 
 ences ; and it is believed that they were unanimous 
 in petitioning the authorities of the Church to estab- 
 lish such a paper. The Book Committee and the 
 Agents in Cincinnati laid the matter before the 
 authorities of the Church in New York, and they 
 gave their cordial consent and co-operation to the 
 publication of a paper under the name of Western 
 Cli ristian A dvoca te. 
 
 "The next thing was to find a man well qualified 
 to edit such a paper, and the authorities in Cincin- 
 nati selected Thomas A. Morris as, in their judgment, 
 competent to do the work. This choice was ratified 
 in New York, and I- was appointed to communicate 
 the result to the editor elect, who was serving the 
 Church at that time as presiding elder of Cincinnati 
 District, and residing at Madisonville. About two 
 months later, the first number of the Western Chris- 
 tian Advocate was issued, May 2, 1834. 
 
 " Brother Morris was as acceptable and useful as 
 an editor as he had been as a preacher and pastor. 
 He served the Church in this position two years, to 
 the satisfaction of the patrons and readers of the 
 paper. As editor, he was regarded as wise, judicious, 
 and careful to conform his views to the doctrines, 
 government, and Discipline of the Church he served. 
 His editorials were strikingly characterized by per- 
 spicuity, brevity, and force. 
 
 "As an associate and companion in labor for the 
 cause of Christ and the Church, brother Holliday and 
 myself found him to be very agreeable and pleasant. 
 
382 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 It may be safely affirmed, I think, that no three 
 officers of the Church ever associated and worked 
 together with more harmony, peace, and brotherly 
 love than we did. 
 
 "In May, 1836, the Quadrennial Session of the 
 General Conference was held in Cincinnati. It was 
 decided to strengthen the Episcopacy by the election 
 of three additional bishops. The election was made 
 the order of the day for May 24th. At the appointed 
 hour, when the order of the day was called, Rev. W. 
 Winans, of Mississippi, said : 'As the brother is not 
 present, I will take the liberty to nominate Wilbur 
 Fisk, of the New England Conference, for the office 
 of a bishop.' On the first ballot, Beverly Waugh and 
 Wilbur Fisk were elected, while T. A. Morris lacked 
 but one vote of an election. After one or two other 
 ballots without an election, brother Morris arose and 
 said, ' Mr. President, I earnestly desire to withdraw 
 my name from this canvass, and beg my friends to 
 cast no more votes for me.' Very soon, however, it 
 was announced that he was elected a bishop of the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 "At the close of the General Conference, Bishop 
 Morris immediately entered upon the duties of his 
 new office and sphere of labor. My associations with 
 him, however, did not cease with his elevation to the 
 Episcopacy. As Book Agent, I had occasion to visit 
 many of the same annual conferences, and often to 
 travel with the presiding bishops. I kept an account 
 one year, and found that I traveled with one bishop 
 that year more than eight thousand miles, principally 
 in steamboats and mail-coaches. 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESSES. 383 
 
 " I was frequently thrown into the company of 
 Bishop Morris, and I have no doubt we traveled 
 together many thousand miles during the eight years 
 I remained in the Book Agency, after he left the ed- 
 itorial chair. We had many opportunities to com- 
 mune together, and we had a great variety of subjects 
 for conversation. It gives me great pleasure now, 
 while I linger a little behind him, to retrospect the 
 past, and recall many of the interviews we had in 
 the journey on earth, some of which he adorned with 
 plain, practical, luminous truths, as with jewels. These 
 I have stored away among the richest and sweetest 
 memories of my life. 
 
 " His first wife, a daughter of Nathaniel Scales, 
 of Virginia, was raised within a few miles of the place 
 of my nativity, in North Carolina. I knew her well. 
 Two children — Jane and Francis Asbury — were the 
 fruit of this marriage, and they both experienced 
 religion in their youth. I knew and felt a deep inter- 
 est in them while they were seeking salvation. Jane, 
 some years later, married Mr. Joseph G. Rust, of Cin- 
 cinnati. After a short but happy married life, she 
 died, leaving a son and a daughter. Asbury entered 
 the ministry, and is now an honored and useful mem- 
 ber of the Missouri Conference of the Church South. 
 God bless the descendants of my lamented friend, 
 and may religion never wear out in the family ! 
 
 " Since Bishop Morris's partial retirement, on ac- 
 count of repeated and severe shocks of paralysis, we 
 have not been much together. I have visited him 
 occasionally, and sometimes we have met at confer- 
 ences and other meetings. We, however, kept up a 
 
384 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 correspondence. After his second stroke of paralysis, 
 I wrote him a letter of sympathy and comfort. Though 
 I did not expect an answer in his own hand, as he had 
 been paralyzed on both sides, yet he replied with un- 
 usual promptness, saying that, although both hands 
 were affected, he was not entirely helpless in either. 
 
 " I inferred from the closing words of this letter 
 that he was impressed it would be the last he would 
 write to me. He closed it as he had not done any 
 previous one. These were his words : 
 
 " 'And when the great reunion takes place above, 
 may we all be there, complete in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord ! Yours, as ever and forever, 
 
 " ' T. A. Morris.' 
 
 " I close this address in some of the words of 
 David, in his lamentation at the death of Jonathan. 
 They accord well with my feelings at this hour: 
 'How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the bat- 
 tle! O, Jonathan, thou wast slain in thy high places. 
 I am distressed for thee, my brother ; very pleasant 
 hast thou been unto me.'" 
 
 ADDRESS BY REV. F. MERRICK. 
 
 "And now it remains that we perform the last 
 office of friendship left us, to our departed and ven- 
 erable friend and pastor, that we bear his remains to 
 the grave, there to rest until the morning of the resur- 
 rection. But not with unmingled sadness do we per- 
 form this office. Death, it is true, is a sad event. 
 
 'Yea, though promises and hopes strive to cheat its sadness; 
 Full of grief, though faith herself is strong to speed the soul ; 
 For the partner of its toil is left behind to endure the ordeal of 
 change.' 
 
FUNERAL ADDRESSES. 385 
 
 "And it is sad. to be separated, though but for a 
 season, from those we love. And yet, in the case of 
 our departed friend, how much there is to relieve this 
 sadness, — the past, full of pleasant memories ; the 
 present, of precious consolations ; the future, of glori- 
 ous hopes ! A life so simple, so pure, and so true, 
 can not be recalled but with pleasure. As a son, a 
 brother, a husband, and father; as a citizen, pastor, 
 and bishop, he met with the utmost fidelity, and per- 
 formed with singular propriety the duties which these 
 relations impose^ with what fidelity and propriety, 
 those who knew him best will the most highly appre- 
 ciate. As a writer and preacher he will long be held 
 in grateful remembrance. And who would wish to 
 forget the quiet humor which, as a subtle aroma, 
 ever pervaded and enlivened his private conversation 
 and public discourse ? or the no less subtle and quiet 
 pathos with which; at times, he melted all hearts, 
 while he impressed upon them the great truths apper- 
 taining to their spiritual well-being? 
 
 "To know Bishop Morris was to respect and love 
 him. Few had more friends — who fewer enemies ? 
 Pleasant, indeed, is the memory of such a life and 
 character. And the present, with all its sorrows, is not 
 devoid of consolation. That body, worn by disease and 
 oppressed with the infirmities of age, is at rest ; and 
 the spirit, which for years had increasingly felt the 
 limitations of its earthly environs, is now free, and, 
 without doubt, unspeakably blessed in the activities 
 and associations of its heavenly home. Absent from 
 the body, present with the Lord. Escaped from 
 earth, at home in heaven. 
 
 33 
 
386 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 "And the future ! What a vista opens to the eye 
 of faith, as Revelation, piercing the veil, sheds its 
 light upon things to come! How pleasant to know 
 that for our departed friend there is to be eternal 
 progress in knowledge and virtue; deeper and still 
 deeper insight into the character and works of God, 
 and especially into the mystery of sin and redemp- 
 tion, as an unfolding of that character, in the most 
 wonderful manifestation of its wisdom and love; and 
 higher and still higher attainments in all that is 
 ennobling and God-like ; and for us, his relatives and 
 friends, who to-day mingle our tears in a common 
 sorrow, reunion with him amid those scenes of ever- 
 increasing light and glory ! 
 
 " Let us, then, as we bear these remains to the 
 tomb, mingle with our tears the thanks of grateful 
 and adoring love to Him who gave to us and to the 
 Church one so worthy to be enshrined in our affec- 
 tions and memories, and through whose mercy the 
 grave becomes the portal to endless joys. 
 
 "To the bereaved family circle I dare not approach, 
 even with words of sympathy and consolation. Your 
 sorrow, dear friends, and your consolation, are alike 
 too sacred for the intermeddling of a stranger. You 
 know who appoints the sorrow, and from whom 
 comes the consolation. The only office becoming me 
 is to commend you, as most sincerely and devoutly 
 I do, to Him who is an ever-present help in time of 
 trouble, and in whom all grace abounds. 
 
 "For us all, this hour has its lessons. Life, death, 
 immortality. What means life ? In what consists its 
 true significance ? How terrible the fact of probation ! 
 
BURIAL SERVICES. 387 
 
 Life, a probation for eternity ! This cold form re- 
 minds us that our probation will soon be closed, 
 our accounts sealed up, our destinies fixed. Who can 
 mistake the lesson ? 
 
 " Brethren in the ministry, the time left us for 
 proclaiming the great salvation is short. Those lips, 
 once so persuasively eloquent in its proclamation, are 
 now mute in death. Ours, too, will soon be silent. 
 Upon some of our heads these reverend hands once 
 rested, as we took upon ourselves our solemn ordi- 
 nation vows. Around this coffin let us renew those 
 vows. Henceforth, with increased earnestness, let us 
 preach that Gospel he so delighted to preach, and 
 preached with so much fidelity and success. Upon 
 us may his mantle fall, and to us may there be given 
 of that holy anointing by which his ministrations 
 were made so rich in spiritual results. 
 
 "The night cometh. Let us work while it is day. 
 And when the last hour shall come to us, may it, 
 like his, be peace." 
 
 The choir then sang very beautifully the favorite 
 hymn of the bishop : 
 
 "My latest sun is sinking fast!" 
 
 after which, a long and solemn procession slowly 
 wended its way through the streets of Springfield to 
 Fern Cliff Cemetery, where the impressive burial- 
 service of the Church was read, and all that was 
 mortal of Bishop Morris was consigned to "the house 
 appointed for all living." 
 
388 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AN ESTIMATE OF BISHOP MORRIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE 
 
 CHARACTERISTICS — RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE. 
 
 AS one of the last in the long line of Methodistic 
 heroes, and as perhaps the very last of the 
 pioneer bishops, the subject of this memoir must 
 ever hold a high place among the leading men of the 
 Church. He belonged emphatically to that class of 
 men who are content to be known by their fruits — 
 whose lives are made up of deeds rather than words. 
 And no one, certainly, who has followed the writer 
 through these pages, will deny that Bishop Morris 
 was as faithful and abundant in performance as he 
 was modest and quiet in profession. It seems fitting, 
 therefore, that a little space in his biography should 
 be devoted to a nearer personal inspection of the 
 man, as well as to an analysis of a character so 
 beautiful and symmetrical. 
 
 Bishop Morris was not, perhaps, what would be 
 called a man of commanding personal appearance, 
 though, in his prime, he was by no means destitute 
 of the noble mien and dignified bearing which are 
 popularly associated with high position. His portly 
 physique, placid countenance, paternal manners, and 
 perfect self-control, as well adorned the presidential 
 chair of a deliberative body as if he had been born 
 
PERSONAL TRAITS. 389 
 
 to lead. His natural embonpoint increased in later 
 life, to decided corpulency, of which he was a little 
 sensitive, as will be noticed in his article, inserted in 
 the body of this work, entitled "Lean vs. Fat." But 
 his complexion was so fair, clear, and beautiful, his 
 face so kindly and gentle in its expression, and his 
 personal habits so scrupulously neat, that he was, 
 upon the whole, and even to extreme old age, a man 
 of attractive appearance. 
 
 His health in early life seems to have been frail 
 and uncertain. It was mainly on that account that 
 he hesitated so long about entering the itinerant 
 ranks ; and it was apparently an unsettled question 
 in his own mind, for years, whether he would be able 
 to go on in the regular work after he had entered 
 upon it. It seems surprising that he was physically 
 equal to the severe hardships and dangerous ex- 
 posures of his long and laborious life. To a modern 
 itinerant, the story herein related, of horseback jour- 
 neyings through track-less forests, of nights spent in 
 cold and cheerless swamps with no roof but the sky, 
 of swimming swollen streams, of hunger and want, 
 of incessant labor for the public good with very little 
 appreciation or support from the public, seems almost 
 incredible. And yet, when it is considered that 
 Bishop Morris, while performing this excessive labor, 
 was much of the time a sufferer from some form of 
 disease ; and that his immense circuits of travel re- 
 quired very long separations from a delicate and 
 invalid wife ; and that, for many years, he almost 
 literally paid his own way in the ministry out of a 
 slender private income, — it seems, indeed, almost 
 
SgO LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 utterly inexplicable that he was so sustained in 
 health, and that he was able, through it all, to main- 
 tain so equable a spirit. It is, however, but one 
 more chapter in that wonderful book of Providence, 
 illustrating and confirming the words, "As thy days, 
 so shall thy strength be." 
 
 In the matter of mental culture, Bishop Morris 
 belonged to a class of men whose exact status it is 
 difficult to define. A scholar he certainly was not, 
 in the popular sense of that word, and yet he was 
 by no means an unlearned man. He was what 
 might be called, in the best sense of the much- 
 abused expression, a self-made man — as, indeed, were 
 many of the moral giants of those days. We have 
 seen that schools were few in number and poor in 
 quality in the region of country where his school- 
 days were passed ; and yet it was his good fortune 
 to be a pupil for some time in the best school ac- 
 cessible — a grammar-school, taught by a thoroughly 
 educated Englishman, near his father's house. In 
 this school young Morris acquired no doubt the 
 elements of a good English education, and, probably, 
 some knowledge of the ancient languages ; for, years 
 afterward, he pursued the study of Greek with good 
 success on horseback, while passing around his cir- 
 cuits. He was always a student ; and his sermons, 
 essays, and editorials furnish abundant evidence of a 
 wide range of reading, as well as of a mind of rare 
 natural endowments. His style was epigramatic, 
 clear, and forcible. In this respect, a very competent 
 critic has said that no minister in our Church has 
 more nearly resembled Mr. Wesley than Bishop 
 
CHARACTERISTICS. 39 1 
 
 Morris. His printed sermons are characterized by 
 the same simplicity of style, the same pith and di- 
 rectness, the same lucid arrangement, and the same 
 earnest and practical enforcement of the truth.* 
 
 It was one of Bishop Morris's most remarkable 
 characteristics that he could, while displaying on all 
 occasions immovable firmness of purpose in what he 
 believed to be right, so demean himself as to give no 
 offense. It will be recalled how he passed through 
 the stormy days of the so-called radical controversy, 
 and the still fiercer antislavery agitation, as well as 
 the great conflict in the Church which culminated in 
 the separation of the Church South, with decided 
 opinions, firmly held and fearlessly expressed, yet 
 with the sincere respect and confidence of all parties. 
 It was this rare characteristic which secured for him, 
 in a very marked and unusual degree, the love of the 
 whole Church, throughout his entire life. He was 
 as free, perhaps, as any man could be, from offensive 
 self-assertion and mere dogmatism. The respectful 
 deference he paid to the opinions of others, and the 
 modesty with which he dissented from his brethren, 
 could not fail to win the admiration of an opponent 
 even. That men were sometimes aggrieved at the 
 course he felt it his duty to pursue, is certain ; but 
 it is equally certain that Bishop Morris was incapable 
 of treating his ministerial or other brethren with dis- 
 respect. And this trait of his character deserves to 
 be carefully noted by those who are called to exer- 
 cise episcopal functions. Men may possess learning, 
 genius, eloquence, so as to speak with lips which 
 
 * Ladies' Repository, November, 1874. 
 
392 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 seem touched almost with celestial fire ; and yet they 
 may be, at the same time, characterized by such 
 faults of temper and manner as to excite the preju- 
 dices of their fellow-men, and so destroy their influ- 
 ence and usefulness utterly. 
 
 The apostle Paul took especial pains not to give 
 needless offense, and, so far as he could do so with a 
 good conscience, he became "all things to all men;" 
 not for the purpose of gaining popularity, but that 
 he might win souls to Christ. It can hardly be 
 questioned that, in this respect at least, Bishop 
 Morris was in the line of " apostolical succession." 
 In matters not affecting the great interests of relig- 
 ion, he was exceedingly pliable and conciliatory, and 
 easy to be entreated. It is doubtful whether any 
 man ever had, or could have, more perfect mastery 
 of his tongue. Who ever heard him, under the 
 greatest provocation, say an ill-tempered or bitter 
 word ? Who ever saw him, amid the vexations or 
 annoyances of the chairmanship of an annual confer- 
 ence, lose his temper or self-control ? He never 
 made a profession of Christian perfection ; and yet, 
 if to live Christ-like, if always to exhibit the lovely 
 spirit of him who was meek and lowly, and whose 
 words, actions, and whole deportment were kind, 
 eentle, and attractive, is to have attained to that ex- 
 alted state of grace, then those who knew him best 
 will concede to Bishop Morris what he did not claim 
 for himself. 
 
 As a presiding officer, Bishop Morris has been 
 referred to since his death by a. judicious critic, who 
 knew him long and intimately, as " the beau-ideal 
 
CONDUCT AS A BISHOP. 393 
 
 of a Methodist bishop." It is certainly safe to affirm 
 that, from the beginning, the Church has had no 
 bishop whose administration was more universally 
 acceptable. Bishop Morris was a man of rare prac- 
 tical wisdom — it was usual, throughout his life, to 
 speak of him as a man of remarkable common 
 sense — and his judgment of men and measures was 
 seldom at fault, and rarely questioned. He has been 
 referred to sometimes as a man who had few, if any, 
 salient points, and whose character is therefore not 
 easily defined. It is true, doubtless, that he had no 
 gift or grace in marked prominence, because his 
 common sense, or practical wisdom, prevented the 
 cultivation of one grace or talent at the expense of 
 others. He was a symmetrically developed charac- 
 ter; he cultivated his mental and moral faculties 
 proportionately, "growing into a perfect man, unto 
 the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." 
 And it was this ability to view all subjects periscop- 
 ically — from every point of view — and to take in the 
 true measure and capabilities of men "for the work," 
 in a practical common-sense way, that made Bishop 
 Morris so successful as 'a presiding officer in an 
 annual conference. He never departed, in estimating 
 men in the ministry, from the old and safe Method- 
 istic criterion, "gifts, graces, and usefulness;" and 
 no bishop ever succeeded better in putting the right 
 man in the right place. 
 
 Methodist ministers always felt safe when they 
 were in his hands ; for they knew him to be inca- 
 pable of using the power of his official position to 
 gratify a personal preference, or redress a private 
 
394 LIFE 0F BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 grievance. His quick and accurate judgment of men, 
 his sterling honesty, which made it instinctive with 
 him to do what he believed to be right, his deep and 
 tender sympathy with his brethren in the pastorate, 
 his uniform kindness of disposition, his perfect self- 
 control, and his inflexible decision, were among the 
 qualities which conspired to make him peculiarly the 
 man for the office he filled for so many years, with 
 so much honor to himself, and so much usefulness 
 to the Church. It is highly probable, furthermore, 
 that his popularity as a presiding officer was enhanced 
 not a little by that quiet humor which, in the words 
 of another, "as a subtle aroma, pervaded and enliv- 
 ened his private conversation and public discourse." 
 As the president of a conference, he was not in the 
 habit of flaunting his authority in the faces of his 
 brethren. He affected no superiority, and was never 
 apparently much concerned about his official dignity. 
 He put on no prelatical airs, indeed, of any kind ; 
 for he never felt that his office lifted him above the 
 fellowship and sympathy of his brethren. On this 
 account he was easily approached by preachers and 
 people, and his patience in hearing statements, and 
 sometimes counter-statements, was inexhaustible. 
 
 The characteristic of Bishop Morris which, as 
 much at least as any other, accounts for his success, 
 was his unaffected humility. When the apostles- dis- 
 puted among themselves which should be primate in 
 Christ's kingdom, he taught them that ambition and 
 self-seeking and love of pre-eminence, instead of gain- 
 ing them preferment in his kingdom, would but post- 
 pone their preferment. He that desires the office of 
 
MODESTY. 395 
 
 a bishop desires a good work, not because it lifts him 
 above his brethren, but because he is afforded an 
 opportunity, as Saint Paul did, to "labor more abun- 
 dantly," and make himself "the servant of all." The 
 extreme diffidence and shrinking modesty with which 
 Bishop Morris entered upon the work of the min- 
 istry — his painful and embarrassing doubts about his 
 call to the work, growing mainly out of his deep con- 
 viction of his own unfitness for it — the evident reluc- 
 tance with which he entered upon the office and work 
 of a bishop, and his desire to resign it at the end of 
 his first quadrennial term ; and, in short, his unas- 
 suming manner in public and in private, and his whole 
 course through life, attest sufficiently that he was 
 remarkably endowed with that rarest of the Christian 
 graces, humility. As pastor, editor, and bishop, he 
 held high positions among his ministerial brethren ; 
 but the positions always sought him: he was the 
 farthest possible remove from an ecclesiastical office- 
 seeker. And so meekly did he wear his honors, that 
 it may be doubted seriously whether he ever excited 
 a feeling of envy in any breast. Bishop Morris was, 
 in the best sense, a progressive man, not one who 
 despised old things because they are old, but one 
 who, carefully studying the signs of the times, could 
 see, in the mighty movements that are going on in 
 the world, evidences that the race is yet in the in- 
 fancy of a glorious manhood yet to be developed, and 
 that the world's best days are yet to come. While, 
 in accordance with the universal tendency of old age, 
 he lingered much in the past, and loved to recall the 
 heroic times of Methodism, yet he indulged in no 
 
396 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 gloomy forebodings of the future, but always ex- 
 pressed himself as confident that still better days 
 were in store for the Church and the world. 
 
 In his "Reflections," written on his seventy-sixth 
 birthday, and published elsewhere in this volume; 
 after speaking in glowing terms of the progress of 
 the Church since he entered the ministry, he. adds: 
 "And yet I see nothing in the general aspect of 
 affairs to warrant the supposition of less success in 
 the future, but much to encourage the hope of in- 
 creasing prosperity." In the general progress of the 
 country, in which the Church necessarily participates, 
 so far as regards her material resources and exterior 
 accommodations, changes, more or less important, in 
 matters of mere form and polity, become a necessity. 
 At such times, a conciliatory and progressive policy 
 is the dictate alike of religion and common sense. 
 
 Thus when, a few years ago, the question of " Lay 
 Representation" was reopened, Bishop Morris had 
 the sagacity to see that, however premature some 
 former discussions of the subject might have been, 
 yet now the altered circumstances of the Church 
 required such a modification of its government, and 
 accordingly he gave the measure his unqualified ap- 
 proval. Its overwhelming success before the laity 
 and the conferences was due to the influence of no 
 one name more than to that of the senior bishop. 
 
 On the question of slavery, also, Bishop Morris 
 was doubtless a conservative in his early life. Born 
 and raised in a Slave State, and for seven years of his 
 ministerial life necessarily in contact with the system 
 in its mildest forms — as it existed in Kentucky and 
 
opinions. 397 
 
 % 
 Tennessee — we are not surprised to find that, while 
 
 he was in no sense a pro-slavery man, yet when 
 charged with being "an Abolitionist," as he journeyed 
 through the extreme South, he felt the title to be, 
 and spoke of it as being, the reverse of compliment- 
 ary. And yet when the Church South was organ- 
 ized, strong as were the ties that bound him to the 
 section in which he was born, and great as were the 
 inducements held out to him to connect himself with 
 that organization, he did not hesitate or falter an 
 instant in his allegiance to the Methodist Episcopal 
 Church. Like many other wise and good men, by 
 constitutional temperament inclined to conservative 
 views, Bishop Morris was led along by steps and 
 stages to a full realization of the enormities of slavery, 
 and finally to the conclusion that it was indeed, in 
 the language of the wise and illustrious Wesley, "the 
 sum of all villainies." 
 
 And from the hour when bloody treason fired on 
 Sumter, through all the dark and gloomy days of 
 the great slavery Rebellion, the Star-spangled Banner 
 floated day and night from the flag-staff of "Salu- 
 bria ;" nor did any one rejoice more sincerely in the 
 final overthrow and complete extirpation of slavery 
 than Bishop Morris. 
 
 While always open to conviction, and ever on the 
 alert for truth, and never ashamed to modify his 
 views on sufficient grounds, he was, at the same 
 time, a man of remarkable firmness. Always ready 
 to adopt new views if they were supported by reason 
 and sound argument, yet he had no fickleness — no 
 fondness for change — no disposition to take up new 
 
398 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 things simply because they were new. His opinions 
 were never hastily formed. His belief in the Chris- 
 tian religion, and his opinions on the great themes 
 of Revelation, were the result of earnest and prayer- 
 ful consideration. His adoption of the creed of 
 Methodism was in consequence of a careful compar- 
 ison of the doctrines therein taught with the Holy 
 Scriptures; and, although the influence of early train- 
 ing, and the prevailing prejudices of the day would 
 stand as very strong barriers in the way. of his doing 
 so, yet he could not do otherwise, with his instinctive 
 honesty, than become a Methodist, when satisfied 
 that it was his duty to do so. He was certainly no 
 bigot. He recognized all Christians as fellow-soldiers 
 in the same great army of Immanuel, and joyfully 
 co-operated with them in every possible way ; and 
 yet it was from a very thorough conviction of their 
 truthfulness and importance that he uttered the fol- 
 lowing words, in 1859, m a sermon on "Methodist 
 Church Polity," preached before the North Indiana 
 and Pittsburg Conferences, and published in the same 
 year, at the request of those bodies: 
 
 "Brethren, hold on to your doctrines, especially 
 of general atonement, the witness of the Spirit, and 
 of full salvation. Hold on to your experience of 
 grace. Hold on to your Discipline. Hold on to your 
 peculiar usages, to class-meetings, love-feasts, con- 
 gregational singing, revival meetings, the mourners'- 
 bench, and to kneeling in prayer. Hold on to itin- 
 erancy, and, as far as may be, to the circuit system ; 
 to the presiding eldership, and to general superintend- 
 ency. In a word, hold on to every thing essential 
 
AS A PREACHER. 399 
 
 to the success of Methodism ; for it has saved mill- 
 ions now in heaven, and millions more in Europe 
 and America who are still heading for the world of 
 light and peace above." 
 
 As a preacher, Bishop Morris was distinguished 
 for clearness, simplicity, directness, and brevity. His 
 manner in the pulpit was quiet, and yet earnest; 
 while his style was conversational, it was, at the 
 same time, sufficiently animated. In the early days 
 of his ministry, before his health was impaired by 
 repeated attacks of paralysis, he was often very elo- 
 quent, and at times would raise an audience to the 
 highest pitch of religious fervor and enthusiasm. 
 Drs. Wright and Trimble both refer, in their remarks 
 made at the funeral, to a sermon preached once at 
 Urbana, during a conference session, the effect of 
 which upon the audience was very remarkable ; and 
 it is certain, from the testimony of many others also, 
 that a very unusual power often accompanied his 
 discourses, even when he seemed least to strive after 
 effect. Still, Bishop Morris was never, perhaps, what 
 would be called a popular preacher. The work of the 
 minister was, in his judgment, evidently too high and 
 holy and serious for the employment of meretricious 
 arts. He felt that he had a message from God to 
 the people, and he delivered it with the dignity and 
 solemnity becoming an embassador of Christ. Flights 
 of fancy, flowers of rhetoric, startling and sensational 
 declamation, profundity, in the sense of saying what 
 neither he nor others understood, and originality, in 
 the sense of teaching doctrines contrary to the Word 
 of God, however popular. with multitudes of hearers, 
 
400 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 are pulpit methods which Bishop Morris could 
 scarcely have been tempted to employ. And yet his 
 printed sermons are worthy to be studied as models. 
 His clear, terse style; his short, simple, and pointed 
 sentences ; his sound theology and sound sense, con- 
 stantly remind the reader of John Wesley's incom- 
 parable discourses. One peculiarity of the bishop as 
 a preacher, and which might well be studied and 
 imitated by his successors in the Gospel ministry, 
 was his habit of closing when he was done. Often 
 when the interest was at its height, when there was 
 no flagging of attention on the part of his hearers, 
 and with apparent abruptness even, he would close 
 the Bible and sit down, leaving his congregation 
 wondering at the suddenness of the conclusion. 
 
 Upon the whole, we may say of Bishop Morris's 
 preaching as we have said of his character, — it lacked 
 the salient points, perhaps, which render character- 
 ization easy and obvious. And yet this very lack, so 
 to speak, was in consequence of the fullness and com- 
 pleteness and thoroughness of his prepa'ration. His 
 sermons were symmetrical, doctrinal, practical, and 
 thoroughly evangelical ; not by chance, or because he 
 had a genius for sermonizing, but as the result of 
 deep and earnest study. If he preached, as he rarely 
 did, a sermon of considerable length, he was in the 
 habit of saying, apologetically, that his discourse was 
 unusually long because he "had not had time to make 
 it short." And although his delivery of sermons was 
 always what is called extemporaneous, no one per- 
 haps was ever more painstaking and conscientious in 
 preparing for the pulpit. 
 
AFFECTIONAL NATURE. 40I 
 
 Bishop Morris was a man of very strong local 
 attachments and warm personal friendships, and no 
 estimate of his character would be just which ignored 
 his social and affectional nature. Amid all the long 
 and weary journeyings of life, home was always the 
 one dear spot to which his '* heart untraveled fondly 
 turned." He had many pleasant temporary homes 
 among the kind and generous people whom he served 
 in various relations ; but " Spice Flat Cottage," " Mount 
 Olivet," "Home Lodge," and "Salubria," were espe- 
 cially dear to his heart. The minute and humorous 
 description of the last-named place, given elsewhere 
 in these pages, shows the depth and tenderness of 
 his attachment to the home of his old age. While 
 the bishop was reticent, almost to a fault, in general 
 society, he was a delightful companion in the circle 
 of his intimate personal friends. A vein of pleasant 
 humor often ran through his fireside talks which 
 made them exceedingly agreeable, and he had an 
 inexhaustible fund of anecdotes, personal and other- 
 wise, with which he almost always spiced his conver- 
 sation. But, while an occasional flash of wit indicated 
 latent stores of that dangerous weapon, and while his 
 quick and keen appreciation of the ludicrous would 
 sometimes raise a laugh at the expense of another, 
 he was the last man in the world to wound the feel- 
 ings of any one by a mere wanton use of such powers. 
 Indeed, the humor of Bishop Morris was not of the 
 broad, coarse kind. It pervaded his conversation, in 
 the language of Dr. Merrick, already quoted, as "a 
 subtle aroma," and was usually so quiet and delicate 
 in its character that its aromatic flavor was lost by 
 
 34 
 
402 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 passing through too many hands. For this reason, 
 mainly, there has been no attempt in this volume 
 to reproduce the numerous anecdotes related of 
 Bishop Morris. Many of them, aside from their ac- 
 cessories, and disconnected from the circumstances 
 which gave them birth, would be pointless and un- 
 profitable. Besides, they are not the things, however 
 innocent and proper, for which Bishop Morris would 
 wish to be remembered. 
 
 Of his personal religious experience the bishop 
 spoke seldom, and always with great modesty and 
 reserve. In this respect he so nearly resembled an- 
 other eminent senior bishop — Rev. Elijah Hedding, 
 D. D., — that the masterly portraiture of the latter, 
 drawn by his distinguished biographer, the late Bishop 
 Clark, would apply equally well to Bishop Morris. 
 
 " He was a man of deep and unaffected piety. 
 His religion was not devoid of feeling ; but it rested 
 rather upon the basis of principle than of emotion. 
 It was at the farthest remove from asceticism, or that 
 repulsive austerity which so often makes religion 
 itself seem unamiable. In him, trifling and levity 
 found no place ; but cheerfulness — the genial sun- 
 shine of the heart — diffused its loveliness all around 
 him. There was no self-reliance, no confident nor 
 high professions ; but there was what was far better, — 
 piety, silent but incessant, consistent, deep, all-per- 
 vading ; working out practical results, producing 
 genuine fruits, forming the character, regulating the 
 life. No one can doubt his deep experience of the 
 things of God and of the sanctifying of the blood of 
 Jesus. But of this last he avoided making any 
 
MORRIS AXD HEDDING COMPARED. 403 
 
 public profession. This may have resulted as much 
 from the extreme modesty of his nature, the poor 
 estimate he always formed of himself and of his per- 
 formances, and his painful consciousness of his errors 
 and imperfections, as from his profound sense of the 
 high responsibility attached to such professions. He 
 may, too, have thought that the profession that he 
 was a sinner, seeking salvation through the blood of 
 Jesus, was more fitting to his condition and more 
 congenial to his feelings than any other." 
 
 This paragraph, as we have very slightly modified 
 it, might as well have been written originally for 
 Thomas A. Morris as for Elijah Hedding. Its writer, 
 after a life of distinguished usefulness, died as glo- 
 riously as he had lived ; and now his own " Life- 
 story " is a rich addition to the biographical literature 
 of the Church. He, too, had avoided making a pro- 
 fession of great attainments in religion, in explanation 
 of which his biographer, Rev. Daniel Curry, D. D., 
 makes the following statement, which, no doubt, is a 
 fair presentation of the views and feelings of Bishop 
 Morris also: "To the doctrine of Christian perfec- 
 tion, as expounded by Wesley in his best-matured 
 statements, and interpreted by other points in the 
 Wesleyan theology, he yielded a most hearty assent. 
 He contemplated a ripeness of Christian experience 
 that, in a qualified sense, might be called 'perfection,' 
 as not only an ideal toward which Christians should 
 be always pressing, but as a state of still-progressing 
 grace that may be reached. But his deep convictions 
 respecting the infinite majesty and all-consuming 
 holiness of God's law, and of the exceeding sinfulness 
 
404 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 of sin, as it inheres in fallen souls — his deep con- 
 sciousness of his own heart's infirmities, and the 
 severity of his judgments upon himself" — might 
 well make one of his sensitive nature and extreme 
 humility hesitate as to the propriety of a particular 
 and prescribed form of professing it. 
 
 Undoubtedly, that sterling honesty which was 
 always a conspicuous trait in the character of Bishop 
 Morris would naturally incline him to great circum- 
 spection in making any profession of personal attain- 
 ments which it was not clearly his duty to make. 
 He was of that class of men who would rather pro- 
 fess too little than too much in regard to themselves, 
 and who, while conceding to others of a different 
 mind the largest liberty as to their forms of profes- 
 sion, are at the same time fully persuaded that a life 
 wholly given up to the service of God, and regulated 
 and governed by the precepts of the Gospel, is, after 
 all, one of the best possible evidences of genuine 
 Christian character. 
 
 Bishop Morris was not a demonstrative man. 
 His religion exhibited itself as a uniform, active, 
 holy principle of obedience to the will of God ; and 
 it permeated his whole life, private and public. He 
 was "a doer of the Word, and not a hearer only." 
 It was also characteristic of the man to speak spar- 
 ingly and modestly of himself. He had, in fact, a 
 deep dislike for whatever bore even the semblance 
 of egotism ; and for any thing like mere ostentatious 
 display or parade he had a hearty and wholesome 
 contempt. That such a man should be somewhat 
 reserved in speaking of his religious attainments, and 
 
IN VIEW OF DEATH. 40$ 
 
 the exercises and frames of his mind, seems entirely 
 natural. But there were times when he spoke fully 
 and freely concerning his religious experience ; and 
 no one, perhaps, ever enjoyed a more uniform, tran- 
 quil, and peaceful state of mind. 
 
 His letter to the Cincinnati Conference, dictated 
 only a few days before he breathed his last, very 
 beautifully expresses his feelings in view of the near 
 approach of death : 
 
 " I find the religion I so long preached to 
 others is able to bring peace and assurance to the 
 heart in retirement, as well as when in the heat of 
 battle, leading forth the conquering hosts to cer- 
 tain victory. Thank God for the Christian's hope ! 
 It comforts and sustains amid all the vicissitudes of 
 life, and to the trusting heart makes bright the future. 
 In reviewing the past, I have only this to say, that 
 God has been very good to me. Most of my associ- 
 ates in the ministry, as well as many loved ones, have 
 passed away. I yet linger on the shore, and soon 
 expect to cross the river. I am nearing the Jordan, 
 and in the course of nature can not stay here much 
 longer ; but beneath me are the everlasting arms, 
 and, through riches of grace in Christ Jesus my 
 Lord, I hope to anchor safely in the harbor of 
 eternal rest." 
 
 This, which may be regarded as the dying testi- 
 mony of Bishop Morris, is eminently characteristic 
 of the man. While it is pervaded throughout by a 
 spirit of humility as lovely as it is rare, it is, at the 
 same time, the blessed language of the full assurance 
 of faith and hope ; an assurance so strong and com- 
 
406 LIFE OF BISHOP MORRIS. 
 
 forting, even down to the last moment of his life, 
 that he could say, with his dying breath, " The 
 
 FUTURE LOOKS BRIGHT." 
 
 The life of Bishop Morris is of special interest 
 to the communion he served with so much fidelity 
 and for so long a period of time, for the reason that 
 he is the last of the general superintendents whose 
 personal experience extends far back into what is 
 often and very properly called the heroic period of 
 Methodism. At his birth, the Methodists of the 
 United States, white and colored, numbered less 
 than severity thousand ; he lived to see them a great 
 and powerful section of the grand army of Imman- 
 uel — three million strong. And the reader of this 
 biography will not need to be told that, in promoting 
 this wonderful growth, few men were more efficient 
 than Thomas A. Morris. 
 
 His life embraced a most interesting period of 
 the history both of the country and of the Church. 
 His official responsibilities were accepted with the 
 modesty which is always characteristic of real merit, 
 and discharged with the fidelity and courage of a 
 hero. On the episcopal bench a place is vacant 
 which can not be easily filled ; for his wisdom in 
 council was the most distinguishing feature of his 
 long career as a bishop. Always recognized and ap- 
 preciated by the Church, even down to his extreme 
 old age, this quality of his mind was of special and 
 incalculable service in those early and formative 
 days of Methodism in which he bore so prominent 
 a part. 
 
 And now, the story of his eventful life, of his 
 
CLOSE OF THE RECORD. * 407 
 
 early struggles and sufferings, of his incessant labors, 
 of his extensive journeyings, of his strange adven- 
 tures, of his dangerous exposures, will read, even to 
 many of this generation, more like a tale of romance 
 than of reality. And, as we close this record, we 
 seem to have reached the end of one distinct and 
 unique period in the annals of American Methodism ; 
 an epoch made memorable for all time, in ecclesiastical 
 history, by names that were not born to die. 
 
 THE END. 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 0035521520 
 
 tftf>3 
 
 WIG 
 
 938.6 M833 
 
 «&*"